Commentators Question Value, Motivations of California Legislature’s Far Left Political Agenda

By David Kersten
09/12/2016
The 2015-16 Legislative Session is in the books but some high-profile commentators are questioning what appears to be a far leftward drift in the policy agenda of the liberal California Democrat Legislature that has forgotten about the state’s middle class and the need to grow our economy. The dust has not even settled on the end of session battles, and there is...

TAGS: Jon Coupal, Public Policy Institute of California

High Speed Rail Is ‘On Track’ to Incur Billions in Overruns

By Jon Coupal
08/22/2016
Editor’s Note: This article by Jon Coupal provides an update on what has to be one of the biggest con jobs ever perpetrated on California’s voters – “High Speed Rail” that will never make a profit, will never move significant numbers of people, will not even be “high speed” in many sections of track, cannot...

TAGS: high speed rail, Jon Coupal

Funding Pensions for Unionized Government Workers – It's Never Enough

By Jon Coupal
10/15/2015
Editor’s Note:  Here’s another government pension horror story coming from Chicago. If you think it can’t happen here, think again. California’s political system, state and local, is just as dominated by government unions as Illinois. At least in Illinois, Governor Rauner is using every legal and political weapon he can possibly muster to fight these unions....

TAGS: HJTA, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Jon Coupal, Prop. 13

Government Unions Move to Extend "Temporary" Income Tax Increases

By Jon Coupal
10/12/2015
A coalition of government employee unions has filed an initiative that would extend the temporary income tax hikes that were contained in Proposition 30 and approved by voters in 2012. If this seems like, in the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “déjà vu all over again,” it’s not your imagination. This is just the tax...

TAGS: California tax increases, government unions, HJTA, Jon Coupal, public employee unions, tax increases

Union Controlled State Legislature Shuts Down Debate on Minimum Wage

By Jon Coupal
07/24/2015
“End of discussion!” is what those on the political left yell in your face when they know they are losing an argument. It is also the name of a compelling new book by Mary Katharine Ham and Guy Benson with the revealing subtitle of “How the Left’s Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and...

TAGS: Jon Coupal

California's Government Union Quandary – Support More Taxes Yet Claim Budget "Surpluses"

By Jon Coupal
07/13/2015
Californians know them well. They are the Proposition 13 “blamers.” They blame Proposition 13 for everything they see or even imagine as negative in the state of California. Some years ago, a newspaper editorial asked if Proposition 13 was responsible for a measles epidemic saying it may have limited the availability of vaccine. A national...

TAGS: HJTA, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Jon Coupal, Proposition 13

Split Roll and the Bottomless Hole

By Larry Sand
05/19/2015
A union-led initiative wants to eliminate Prop. 13 benefits for businesses. California’s Prop. 13, wildly popular on both sides of the political aisle, is under siege by unions. Using the Orwellian name “Make It Fair,” a coalition led by the California Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers, SEIU and their friends has decided that they...

TAGS: California Federation of Teachers, California Teachers Association, Dan Walters, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Jerry Brown, Jon Coupal, Mike Antonucci, Prop. 13, Prop. 30, Richard Rider, seiu, split roll, Taxifornia

Union Offensive Against Prop. 13 Gains Momentum

By Jon Coupal
05/18/2015
There’s a joke about public sector union bosses making the rounds in Sacramento lately:  What happens when the California Legislature hands over a blank check to the California Teachers Association (CTA)?  It’s returned the next day marked “insufficient.” No matter that spending on schools is up 36 percent over the last four years, the state...

TAGS: California Teachers Association, Jon Coupal, Service Employees International Union