Saturday’s Sacramento Bee had a story about the increasing heat from the Governor to raise taxes by $5 billion a year.  The paper quoted me:

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, said the governor has little sway with GOP legislators because some of his closest advisers are Democrats, he is ineligible to run for re-election, and he has now broken his vow not to support a tax hike. 

“It’s like the final repudiation of his Republicanism,” DeVore said.
http://www.sacbee.com/111/v-print/story/1179657.html 

More taxes at this time is not the answer.  California is now the 4th highest taxed state in America.  We have the highest income tax, the highest state sales tax rate, the highest gas tax, the highest corporate tax in the West and our property taxes are only at the national average.  Is it any wonder that we have the 4th highest unemployment rate in the nation?  Raising taxes at this time will only worsen our economic situation.   

As for spending, our overall state spending has increased 40 percent since the recall in 2003, some $41 billion more in the general and special funds.  I cautioned about this coming train wreck two years ago when I implored my colleagues to restrain spending. (See: http://republican.assembly.ca.gov/members/a70/Index.aspx?page=VIDEO&id=68)  

For new revenue, I have proposed opening our state territorial waters (3 miles and in) to slant drilling to recover the $120 billion in oil we know about.  I have also proposed increasing the royalty rate to 22%.  This would yield more than $26 billion in new state revenue without raising taxes.  We could securitize this revenue stream if we wished, gaining us about $10 billion in the present fiscal year that we could use to completely close the deficit and build up a rainy day fund.  Majority Democrats are growing more interested in this idea.

High energy costs and a desire to do something about reducing greenhouse gas emissions has caused Californians to shift their opinion in favor of nuclear power for the first time in more than 30 years, according to a just-released Field Poll.  The San Francisco Chronicle covered this story today in a piece entitled, “Nuclear plants, offshore drilling gain support.”  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/07/16/MN0511QA3H.DTL

The article mentions my two-year effort to lift California’s 32-year ban on the construction of modern nuclear power plants:

California law prohibits new nuclear plants within the state until the country has a long-term solution for handling radioactive waste. But Orange County Assemblyman Chuck DeVore said Californians are starting to see the technology as a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions. For the past two years, he has pushed legislation to lift the moratorium and says he will do so again.

‘Not physically possible’

“Clearly, opinion is beginning to shift, and I’m delighted,” said DeVore, R-Irvine. “Physics and economics dictate that we can’t generate the amount of power we’ll need in this state without nuclear power if you want these kinds of greenhouse gas reductions. It’s not physically possible.”

Physics, if course, the reason why we need nuclear power as it and hydroelectric are the only large scale sources of 24/7 baseload power that do not also produce massive amounts of carbon dioxide.  In fact, nuclear power is about 6.5 million times more powerful, pound-for-pound, than coal. 

Lastly, some critics openly question how nuclear power can be a solution for our high oil and natural gas costs.  It’s simple, really.  Energy, like oil, is fairly fungible; meaning that one source of energy can often displace another.  In California, it goes like this: we burn natural gas to make 42 percent of our power, increased use of nuclear power to make electricity can offset additional natural gas use while also charging electric cars at night with the surplus electricity, natural gas not used to make electricity can then power CNG cars, trucks and buses at a lower cost.  It’s all supply and demand. 

Also, please consider becoming a supporter of mine on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Chuck-DeVore/22771210763.  Being a supporter will make it easier for us to keep in touch.  Obama uses Facebook as a major online tool in his campaign (he has about 1.1 million supporters on Facebook). 

All the best,

Chuck DeVore
California State Assemblyman, 70th District