On Wednesday, the Assembly Republican Caucus met in a daylong session to discuss the budget and other policy matters.  The Education Budget briefing was of particular interest.  The Assembly Republicans are working on a plan that, unlike the Governor’s proposed budget, does not suspend Prop. 98, the 20-year-old educational funding formula passed by initiative. 

The Republican education budget for K-14 (Prop. 98) plan includes:

1) A modest year-to-year growth in education spending versus the roughly $1 billion real reduction in spending proposed by the Governor
2) An increase in per student spending over the current budget year
3) Education and budgetary reforms aimed at getting more money into the classroom

Of course, the plan would require support from the majority Democrats who so far only appear intent on proposing tax increases to solve the now $8 billion deficit problem.  In fact, the Democrats have proposed at least $25 billion in tax increases to date, including reducing the child dependent tax credit which would raise taxes by $2.4 billion, costing the average family of four $400 per year. 

With effort, we can pass a balanced budget, increase education spending, rather than enact a cut, and not increase taxes. 

The coming months will tell.

All the best,

Chuck DeVore
California State Assemblyman, 70th District
www.ChuckDeVore.com

After more than a year of trying to push the boulder of modern nuclear power uphill in California, it is nothing short of fantastic to have Gov. Schwarzenegger put his considerable shoulder into the effort too. 

Shane Goldmacher over at the SacBee just reported on the Governor’s pro-nuclear comments over at the Capitol Alert blog.  In part:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is making waves in energy circles after saying Friday that nuclear power has “a great future” and that it is time to “relook at that issue again rather than just looking the other way and living in denial.”

Schwarzenegger, who has made environmentalism a centerpiece of his governorship after signing a landmark greenhouse gas reduction law in 2006, decried environmental “scare tactics” that “frighten everyone that we’re going to have another blowup and all of those things.”

Referring to a recent conversation he had with John Bryson, CEO of Edison International, Schwarzenegger said of nuclear power, “I think that’s a very important kind of a subject that we ought to debate over in the future because we’re talking about carbon free, you know, power and energy.”

“There’s no greenhouse gas emissions,” he later said of nuclear power.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, an Irvine Republican who floated an initiative to lift California’s ban on nuclear power last summer, has already seized on the comments as a positive sign.

“I’m delighted to see Gov. Schwarzenegger now out front on this vital issue. California cannot meet its global greenhouse gas reduction targets nor meet its growing need for clean energy without modern nuclear power,” wrote DeVore, who voted against AB 32, the 2006 measure which requires California to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020, on his blog.

DeVore has authored two pieces of legislation, AB 1776 and AB 2788, on nuclear power again this year.

In addition, Doug Wilson, the chairman of Townhall.com, just penned this piece on the importance of local elected officials, writing in part:

As you might expect, many conservatives have long-since taken this message to heart. For example, while Washington has bickered and bantered about our energy crisis, state leaders have taken concrete action to address the problem.

Consider the efforts of Chuck DeVore, a Republican legislator in the California State Assembly. DeVore recently stumped for a bill that would legalize nuclear power in the state. He was blocked by the Democrats, but now Governor Schwarzenegger announced to the Wall Street Journal that it is time for the Golden State to relook at nuclear power if it ever wants to meet energy demands for the future. DeVore has played a big role in bringing the issue out to the forefront and now he may gain real traction with the governor’s endorsement.

To be sure, conservatives may disagree on the merits of his nuclear bill. But that aside, we should applaud DeVore and his colleagues for taking action to address a problem that Washington refuses to confront in a serious manner. In order to maintain the strength of the conservative movement, we need to follow DeVore’s lead and advance state and local solutions for other issues such as healthcare, education and immigration.

This is great progress.  I encourage anyone who can to write a letter to their state legislator to encourage them to support AB 1776 and AB 2788.

All the best,

Chuck DeVore
California State Assemblyman, 70th District
To Comment, see: http://www.chuckdevore.com/blog/index.php

That the Chinese Communist Party dictatorship in Beijing is obsessed with Taiwan, Tibet, and Turkestan – the “Three Ts” – is well known to most China-watchers.  Now, on the eve of the Beijing Summer Olympics, it appears that all three Ts are in play, much to the discomfort of Chinese ruling elite. 

Turkestan has been brewing for some time.  In Xinjiang (a.k.a. Turkestan a far-Western province with a large Muslim ethnic group known as the Uighurs “Wee-gars”) Chinese security officials are increasingly worried about separatists whom they say are returning home from al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  The militants’ target?  The Beijing Olympics.  The well-trained guerillas are said to be entering China by crossing the rugged mountain ranges that form the border between Afghanistan and China (my book, China Attacks, opens with Chinese security forces attacking Muslim guerillas in that same area).  Recently, Chinese authorities detailed two disrupted plots involving bomb making and an attempt to blow up a passenger jet.

(more…)

I’ve been working on ending California’s ban on the construction of new, safe, and clean nuclear power plants since December 2006.  Since that time, I’ve found supporters and allies all over the California – just not very many in the state Capitol.  In Fresno a wide spectrum of labor and business wants to build a reactor to provide clean and reliable energy.  California’s construction trade unions want nuclear power – it means jobs and affordable electricity.  The California Republican Party unanimously endorsed nuclear power at their convention in September 2007.     (more…)

Stand by for a dose of bad political theater today in Sacramento as the Democrats vote to increase what is already the nation’s highest gas tax by another $1.2 billion dollars. But it’s OK, as it’s “for the children.” As far as political drills go, this one is pretty spectacular. By law, preliminary school layoff notices have to go out over the weekend, so, the Democrats scheduled this vote to raise taxes on the oil industry to spend more on government education for the eve of the layoff notices. The Democrats’ proposal would levy a 6 percent tax on all oil produced within the state and impose a 2 percent tax on oil industry profits – none of which is supposed to be passed on to the consumer (a near impossible task). California produces 40 percent of its own oil and most of its own refined product (gas and diesel) and even refines almost 100 percent of Nevada’s fuel and about 60 percent of Arizona’s fuel. So, a 6 percent tax on California oil will mean that foreign oil, crude from places like Iran and Venezuela, will instantly have a 6 percent cost advantage on California oil (the U.S. Constitution prohibits California from taxing imports). With foreign oil cheaper, Californians will buy more of it, rendering us more dependent on foreign oil at a time when we should be becoming more independent of foreign oil while at the same time devastating California’s domestic oil production. Newspaper coverage of this political drill has been balanced. As the lead Republican in the Assembly on tax policy, I was quoted in five newspapers overnight:“It’s just bad political theater,” said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, vice chairman of the Revenue and Tax Committee. “If this bill ever made it into law, it would increase the cost of gas at the pump and . . . increase our reliance on foreign oil from places like Venezuela and Iran.” “It’s clearly a political drill that will devastate California’s own oil production, and make us not only reliant on oil from out of state but out of the country,” said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine.“It’s bad political theater masquerading as responsible tax policy,” said Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, the ranking Republican on the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee. “It’s actually bad fiscal and energy policy.”“This really is a drill,” said DeVore. “I wouldn’t want to insult the Democrats’ intelligence that they actually believe in the policies they’ve advocated. Clearly, these policies would devastate California’s domestic oil production.”DeVore said the proposal would “devastate oil production in California if it’s passed,” and would lead to an increase in Calfornia’s gas prices, despite language in the bill that specifically prohibits oil companies from passing the cost of the new tax on to consumers.

DeVore said the speaker timed his proposal close to Friday, the day when school districts must issue preliminary layoff notices to administrators and teachers, to drum up public support for taxes.

The Assembly is expected to vote on the bill in the afternoon. But it’s unlikely the legislation will survive because a tax measure requires a two-thirds vote and Republicans refuse to support it, according to Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, vice chairman of the Assembly Revenue and Taxation committee.DeVore today called the bill nothing but political theater on the part of the speaker by introducing a controversial bill just before the Legislature takes off for spring break.

Related Stories:

• Sacramento Bee
• San Jose Mercury News
• Capitol Weekly
• San Francisco Chronicle