This editorial page has long sought to ignore the partisan labels of lawmakers in favor of judging their substantive policy stances. There are generally some divides between, for example, progressive and moderate factions in California’s Democratic Party. But those divides are getting smaller and smaller, based on recent votes, to the detriment of the Golden State.
On Monday, for example, the California Assembly overwhelmingly approved Senate Bill 799, ridiculous legislation introduced by Sen. Anthony Portantino of Glendale that would pay out unemployment benefits to striking workers.
California’s unemployment insurance system is designed to help workers who are involuntarily out of work and need support until they can find work. It is not designed to subsidize strikes. If unions wish to orchestrate strikes, they can and should pay for them themselves.
Being thoughtful and prudent with our unemployment system is even more important considering the fact that California’s unemployment system is already deeply indebted. The state of California, as of last count, owed $18 billion to the federal government from borrowing it needed to undertake to maintain the solvency of the unemployment insurance system.
SB 799 has been pushed hard by Big Labor. And in several so-called “moderate” Democrats in Southern California, they found allies. This includes Assemblymembers Sharon Quirk-Silva of Orange County, James Ramos of San Bernardino and Sabrina Cervantes of Riverside, who voted to advance SB 799.
In another measure of how unreliable the “moderates” are, consider the votes of the Legislature last week on ACA 1 and ACA 13, which individually and taken together constitute direct attacks on Proposition 13.
ACA 1 seeks to make it easier for local governments to get bonds and special taxes (typically parcel or sales taxes) approved by lowering the threshold for approval from the current two-thirds to just 55%.
Both Cervantes and Quirk-Silva voted in favor of this blatant attack on taxpayers across the state. Not to his credit, Ramos strategically decided not to vote either way.
ACA 13 is a particularly cynical measure aimed at thwarting the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act, a ballot measure set for the November 2024 ballot which, among other things, would affirm that special taxes put before voters should be approved by a two-thirds vote. This was the norm for years thanks to Proposition 13 until court rulings created loopholes undermining the two-thirds requirement under certain conditions.
ACA 13, by contrast, would require voters to approve the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act with a two-thirds vote for it to pass. This is Sacramento game-playing at its worst. And voting in favor of this cynical attack on taxpayers and voters were Sabrina Cervantes and James Ramos. To her credit, Quirk-Silva voted against ACA 13.
And remember, politicians like Cervantes, Quirk-Silva and Ramos are among those considered among the least radical.
But here they are, making life harder for taxpayers and rewarding their union and fellow government cronies.
—The Editorial Board, Southern California News Group
