An Open Letter to Assemblymember Kevin McCarty

By Lance Christensen
04/25/2023
RE: Assembly Constitutional Amendment 9 – OPPOSE, UNLESS AMENDED Dear Assemblyman McCarty, I write in respectful opposition to Assembly Constitutional Amendment 9 (ACA 9) as it is presently constituted. Full disclosure – I was the runner-up candidate for the constitutional office of Superintendent of Public Instruction on the November 2022 general election ballot. While considering the following comments...

TAGS: California Legislature, education, education reform, Kevin McCarty, Lance Christensen

Assemblyman Isaac Bryan’s Assault on Working Families

By Edward Ring
04/24/2023
Bryan is also sponsoring a bill to gut California’s 112-year-old initiative and referendum process so voters no longer have veto power over California’s Democrat-controlled legislature. It isn’t hard to figure out who controls everything Assemblyman Isaac Bryan does in the California State Legislature. In the November 2022 election, every single one of the first 29 of...

TAGS: California government unions, California Labor Federation, California Legislature, California public sector unions, California State Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez

AB 421: SEIU’s Bid to Gut California’s 112-year-old Referendum and Initiative Laws

By Will Swaim
03/31/2023
In the devil’s workshop we call the state legislature, government union leaders are hard at work — destroying another of California’s democratic institutions. Fresh off the shutdown of Los Angeles Unified schools and the overthrow of their own elected president — and facing steep declines in membership and revenue — Service Employees International Union (SEIU) activists are...

TAGS: AB 421, California Legislature, Referendum, seiu, seiu local 1000

A Catalog of California’s Anti-Janus Legislation

By Edward Ring
06/07/2018
No state in America is as firmly in the grip of public sector unions as California. For nearly twenty years, union controlled Democrats have exercised nearly absolute power in the State Legislature. Over the past few years, as they have slipped in and out of having a two-thirds majority, and often with the help of...

TAGS: California Legislature, Janus vs AFSCME

California unions show rare impotence as they deal with coming Supreme Court ruling

By Steven Greenhut
03/07/2018
Sacramento — California’s public-sector unions are so accustomed to getting their way in the state Capitol that it’s almost entertaining watching them respond to a coming U.S. Supreme Court decision that is likely to slash their political and economic power. They are sponsoring a variety of bills designed to mute that decision, but there’s surprisingly...

TAGS: California Legislature, Janus, U.S. Supreme Court, Unions

Bill would make meal-delivery services ripe for union organizing

By Steven Greenhut
09/12/2017
Sacramento — One of California’s burgeoning “new economy” business models is the meal-subscription plan, by which companies such as Blue Apron send recipes and prepackaged gourmet ingredients to subscriber’s homes – everything they need to prepare a fresh meal. It’s great for folks who like to cook, but have little patience for grocery shopping. Blue...

TAGS: California Legislature, Jerry Brown, Unions

Government Created Energy Blackouts Coming to a City Near You

By Katy Grimes
06/13/2016
Most countries around the world think that it’s a good thing to have cheap energy. But in California, we have plenty of cheap energy available, just not the political will to access it. California depends on natural gas-driven turbines and hydroelectric generators to provide just 38 percent of its oil needs. The state imports 12 percent...

TAGS: California, California budget, California Legislature, cap and trade, debt, Democrats, economy, electricity, energy, Government, Jerry Brown, Katy Grimes, regulations, Sacramento

High Costs of Pro-Union Agreements & Policies Negates Transportation Tax

By Jon Coupal
05/20/2016
According to my father, in the 1950s and ’60s, California had the best transportation agency in the entire world. But all that changed with the election of a new, anti-growth, small-is-beautiful governor by the name of Jerry Brown. Now, fast forward 40 years. Governor Brown, version 2.0, proposes a budget that assumes a big increase...

TAGS: California Legislature, Jerry Brown, Project Labor Agreements, Senator John Moorlach

Government Union's New Taxes on Working Californians Stopped in Legislature – For Now

By Jon Coupal
09/17/2015
It’s been a long year in the Capitol for those of us who advocate against higher taxes, crushing regulations and wasteful government spending. The good news is that California taxpayers have prevailed in virtually all the major tax fights this year. The bad news is that, because the legislature convenes for two-year sessions, this is...

TAGS: California Legislature, government unions, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Prop. 13