Posts Tagged ‘CalSTARS’
Friday, June 20th, 2014
Believe it or not, there seem to be a few actual glimmers of sanity in California in the latest roundup:
Texas: Not just leading the nation in jobs, but doing it more equitably as well.
“The income gap between rich and poor tends to be wider in blue states than in red states.” More: “Texas has a lower Gini coefficient (.477) and a lower poverty rate (20.5%) than California (Gini coefficient .482, poverty rate 25.8%).” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
Perhaps the biggest crack in the “Blue State” model this month was a state superior court judge ruling that California’s teacher protection laws were illegal, because they violated the equal protection clause for students. How the Vergara vs. California decision plays out on appeal is anyone’s guess, but just recognizing that union contracts that keep crummy teachers employed harms students is a huge step forward.
New California payroll and pensions numbers are now available. “The data shows that public compensation in California is growing more out of control, threatening the solvency of the state and local governments.” Let’s take a look at a few locales, shall we?
Will wonders never cease: CalWatchdog calls the just-passed California budget “fairly prudent.”
The legislature also passed a law almost doubling the amount of money school districts pay into CalSTARS.
But don’t let that fool you: California’s legislature is still crazy.
Especially since California Democrats just elected a new Senate leader guaranteed to pull them to the left.
But Republicans are poised to torpedo California Democrat’s Senate supermajority.
Desert Hot Springs is contemplating dissolving it’s police force to avoid bankruptcy. (By my count, 21 Desert Hot Springs police officers make more than $100,000 a year in total compensation. Including five officers who make more than the Police Chief…)
San Bernardino has evidently reached agreement with CalPERS in it’s ongoing bankruptcy case, but no details have been reported.
They also closed a gap in a yearly budget thanks to some union concessions. But one union is balking, and its members are threatening to join the SEIU instead.
The California town of Guadalupe considers bankruptcy. One problem is that the town has been illegally transfering money from dedicated funds (like water bills) to general funds. “If voters do not pass three new taxes in November, Guadalupe is expected to disband its police and fire departments, enter bankruptcy or disincorporate, meaning it would cease to exist as a city.”
Ventura County residents collection enough signatures to force a ballot measure on pension reform. Response? A lawsuit to keep it off the ballot.
Los Angeles 2020 Commission goes over what changes the city needs to avoid a future where “40% of the population lives in ‘what only can be called misery,’ ‘strangled by traffic’ and hamstrung by a ‘failing’ school system.” Response? “Meh.”
Sickout among San Francisco municipal bus drivers. Good thing poor people don’t depend on buses for transportation…
Huge growth in Texas apartment complexes.
California’s prison system illegally sterilizes female inmates against their will.
The Obama Administration Department of Education is driving the California-based Corinthian for-profit college chain out of business.
A Californian discusses why relocation to Texas might be attractive, and hears the pitch for Frisco, Texas.
“‘Building a business is tough. But I hear building a business in California is next to impossible,’ Perry says.”
California regulators can’t be arsed to come out and check flaming tap water.
California bill to add warning labels to soft drinks fails.
California-based nutritional supplement maker Natrol files for bankruptcy, mainly due to class action suits. I note this because I’ve found their 3mg Melatonin to be really effective as a sleep aid.
Tags:Border Controls, Budget, California, CalPERs, CalSTARS, Desert Hot Springs, education, Frisco, Guadalupe (California), Los Angeles, pension crisis, Regulation, San Bernardino, SEIU, Stockton, Texas, unions, Vallejo, Ventura County, Vergara vs. California, Welfare State
Posted in Border Control, Budget, Regulation, Waste and Fraud, Welfare State | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014
Lots of news on the Texas vs. California front. An audit turns up $31 billion in California budget mistakes, Democrats hike the minimum wage there, Jerry Brown tries to do something about the growing CalSTARS pension deficit, and people and businesses continue to depart the “Golden State” for Texas…
You know how Democrats were crowing that California had a budget surplus? Forget about it:
The California Bureau of State Audits set off a scandal on June 1st by disclosing that the State Controller’s Office made accounting misstatements amounting to $31.65 billion. The timing of the announcement may be devastating to the Democrats who expected to use their super-majority to pass billions of dollars in increased spending, but may now find the net effects of the accounting restatements are a $7 billion General Fund deficit.
Snip.
As the former Treasurer of Orange County, California it is my preliminary judgment that under state law the negative $7.847 billion impact from overstating general fund assets and revenues and overstating deferred tax revenues may create an “on-budget” deficit to the state’s $96.3 billion “General Fund Budget.”
From the same audit: “There was a deferred tax-revenue figure posted as $6.2 billion when it was actually $6.2 million.”
California Senate votes to hike minimum wage to $13 an hour. It’s like they want to export ALL their jobs to Texas.
Wealth continues to move from high tax states to low tax states. “The nine states without a personal income tax gained $146 billion in new wealth while the nine states with the highest income tax rates lost $107 billion.”
Union-dominated states are sinking further into economic stagnation as Democratic politicians increasingly dominate the local political climate. In 2012, California Democrats won a supermajority in both houses of the legislature and proceeded to accelerate a tax and spending spree that has been ongoing for two decades. For example, California now has the nation’s top state income-tax rate, at 13.3 percent.
Those kind of policies have consequences. The Manhattan Institute released a report in 2012 that found that since 1990, California had lost nearly 3.4 million residents to other states with lower tax rates.
Snip.
The U.S. is swiftly becoming a tale of two nations. States that are following the Reagan model of low taxes and incentives are booming while states that are opting for the Obama model of wealth redistribution and European welfare-state economics are stagnating.
Texas’ unemployment rate “has now been equal to or below the national average since January 2007 and below California’s rate—4th highest in the nation—for 93 consecutive months.”
A look at how many more billions per year California taxpayers will be coughing up for the inevitable CalSTARS bailout.
“Alameda Unified’s pension costs could nearly triple and those of its teachers could rise by 25 percent under Governor Jerry Brown’s proposal to reform the California State Teachers Retirement System.”
But even though its a step in the right direction, Brown’s proposals stretch out installments so far that they’re still not fiscally responsible. “Even with the higher rates, the debt would continue to grow until 2026. That’s because the amortization over 32 years means the payments would essentially not even cover the interest costs for the first 12.”
And the assumptions behind the repayment schedule sound like fantasy: “The state still faces a huge unfunded liability in the teachers’ pension fund—the governor’s proposal would increase employee’s contributions by 3 percent and increase school district’s by nearly 2 ½ times and it would still take 30 years to close the gap with a generously estimated 7.5 percent annual return.”
Judge rules CalPERS can be sued for mishandling a long-term insurance program.
Thanks to various legal rulings, there will be more felons on California streets. “Release on parole continues a steady climb in California. In just the past five years, over twice as many convicts serving life sentences have been paroled than in the last two decades combined.”
Cargo aviation firm Ameriflight is relocating from Burbank to Dallas/Ft. Worth.
Sony Pictures Imageworks visual effects house is relocating to Canada.
Tesla narrows down list of possible factory locations to Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. Not on the list: His home state of California. “The winning state will need to have all the necessary permits approved by the time Tesla plans to break ground next month. With the onerous requirements of the California Environmental Protection Act (CEQA) and other environmental regulations, Tesla would be lucky to break ground by 2017 – when its battery factory is scheduled to open.”
New effort to bring California’s underfunded health liabilities onto the books. “Legislation in the early 1990s created an investment fund for California state worker retiree health care, but lawmakers never put money in the fund.”
Remember the FBI agent who shot and killed a suspect connected with the Boston marathon bombing? Turns out he receives $50,000 a year in disability pay from the Oakland Police Department. And he’s been getting that since 2004, when he retired at age 31. “59% of Oakland Police Department retirees have received disability retirements.” (Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.)
Why people are moving to Texas:
As a growing number of Americans choose to call Texas home, it is critical that policymakers not lose sight of the reasons why: low taxes, limited government, and personal responsibility. Liberty is popular. That’s a message that needs reinforcement, particularly at the local level where some of the macro level trends involving taxes, spending, and debt are moving in the wrong direction. We can keep Texas and our cities beacons of prosperity and flourishing — but to do that, we must understand the principles that got us here, and defend them in policy and the public square.
Some California cities have hidden taxes just to fund government worker pensions. (Hat tip: Pension Tsunami.)
Lawsuit over California teacher’s union seniority rules to go to trial.
Jerry Brown may let California commit more Kelo-like eminent domain abuses.
Sriracha followup: The Irwindale City Council voted Wednesday night to drop its declaration that the hot sauce plant was a public nuisance.
Just so I’m not accused of glossing over the occasional bit of bad Texas economic news, Motorola Mobility (which is owned by Google) is closing their Texas smartphone assembly plant. But I think this says more about Motorola Mobility’s viability in a smart phone market dominated by Apple and Samsung than about Texas’ economy…
Tags:Ameriflight, Budget, California, CalPERs, CalSTARS, Crime, Democrats, Economics, pension crisis, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sriracha, Tesla Motors, Texas, unions
Posted in Budget, Crime, Democrats, Economics, Texas, unions, Welfare State | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, October 8th, 2013
With budget issues occupying the nation, now’s time yet again to compare Texas’ successful Red State model with California’s failing Blue State model:
Like Detroit’s retirement fund (or Greek public servants), some retired Sacramento government employees were evidently used to receiving thirteen monthly checks a year. Now a federal judge has said enough.
People Stockton’s bankruptcy plan screws: creditors and taxpayers. And who won’t be required to take a haircut? CalPERS retirees.
Vallejo took much the same tack during their bankruptcy (higher taxes and no pension reform). Well, guess what? They’re broke again.
CalPERS isn’t the only underfunded California retirement system. There’s also CalSTRS, the teacher’s retirement system. “CalSTRS’ funding ratio falling to 67% in 2012 from 98% in 2001, well below the 80% considered fiscally sound.”
That might have something to do with the fact that 6,609 retirees receive more than $100,000 from CalSTARS annually.
CalPERS? 12,1999 receive more than $100,000 annually. Topped by Bruce Malkenhorst, of the corrupt city of Vernon, who pulled in more than a half-million annually, until the pension review board cut it back to a “mere” $115,000.
Big problems still loom for CalPERS.
“Regardless of what happens in bankruptcy court, California’s local governments, especially cities, are facing years, or even decades, of fiscal distress from rapidly rising pension costs.”
Marian County’s pension debt clocks in at a hefty $2.3 billion.
The California State Auditor’s own report can be read here:
We believe the State continues to face eight other significant high-risk issues: the state budget, funding for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, funding retiree health benefits for state employees, funding for deteriorating infrastructure, ensuring a stable supply of electricity, workforce and succession planning, strengthening emergency preparedness, and providing effective oversight of the State’s information technology.
California’s new feudalism. “Like medieval serfs, increasing numbers of Californians are downwardly mobile, and doing worse than their parents.”
The 10 year anniversary of the Gray Davis recall. “We learned that the problem wasn’t just Davis and that simply changing who is governor wasn’t enough to make California government work. Schwarzenegger wasn’t a bad governor, but he failed to solve the state’s basic budget problems.”
With a wave of people signing up for ObamaCare, what is California to do? Why, obviously, cut Medicaid payouts!
Attention illegal aliens: Go to California if you want a driver’s license.
Al Jazeera headline: Tea party makes California inroads. Actual story: “For the first time, the tea party’s California caucus has a table at the state’s Republican fall convention.” That’s less an “inroad” than an “in-driveway”…
Rick Perry to California: “We don’t judge success on the number of people we have on public assistance.”
“Texas’ unemployment rate has now been lower than the national average, and California’s, for 80 consecutive months.”
Texas now has the best credit rating in the world.
“The Rainy Day Funds of Texas and Alaska alone are now larger than the stabilization funds of all other states combined.”
USAA is expanding in Plano.
500 Republicans moving to Texas every day?
In non-political, Halloween-related California news, it’s tarantula mating season in California. Just in case you needed another reason to leave California…
Tags:Arnold Schwarzenegger, Budget, California, CalPERs, CalSTARS, Gray Davis, ObamaCare, pension crisis, Rick Perry, Texas, unions, welfare, Welfare State
Posted in Budget, ObamaCare, Texas, unions, Welfare State | 1 Comment »