| September 15, 2008 |
Final Debate on the State Budget |
|
|
Mr. President: According to the State Controller’s reports, last year, our tax structure produced $96 billion in actual revenues – a record year. We budgeted $103 billion and spent $107 billion. In short, our spending exceeded our revenue by $11 billion and exceeded our adopted budget by $4 billion. This year, if the economy gets no worse, we can expect to produce $97 billion in tax revenues. Claims that the revenues will be higher are based on accounting gimmicks that mask the numbers but do not change the underlying reality. This budget authorizes $104 billion and if last year was any indication, we can expect to spend at least $108 billion. So the next budget will see us $11 billion further behind than we are right now. |
| August 29, 2008 |
Debate on the State Budget |
|
|
Last year, when some in this chamber assured us that the budget was not only balanced, but included the biggest budget reserve in the state's history, others of us issued an urgent warning that the budget was dangerously unbalanced and that we were fast running out of the time needed to implement reforms. The State Controller reports that during last year we received $96 billion in revenues – a new record -- but spent $107 billion. And now we're running out of money. |
| July 21, 2008 |
Statement to State Water Resources Control Board |
|
|
Your board meets today to consider revoking permits that are necessary for proceeding with construction of the Auburn Dam. I'm sure there'll be a detailed legal discussion on both sides involving exactly what constitutes due diligence in overcoming the endless legal obstacles that have delayed this project since it was first authorized by Congress in 1965. |
| January 30, 2008 |
Global Warming Curriculum - SB 908 (Simitian) |
|
|
I would gladly vote for this bill if there was a requirement that the curriculum on global warming be science-based and balanced. That discussion and examination is desperately needed not only in our schools but in the halls of government. |
| January 14, 2008 |
Houston I. Flournoy |
|
|
Mr. President: I rise with sadness to note the passing of former State Assemblyman and former State Controller Houston I. Flournoy. Hugh Flournoy truly was a remarkable and rare public servant who never lusted for political positions except as a means to a higher end. Though he was disdainful of politics in general and political office in particular, he cared very deeply about this state and its people. |
| October 9, 2007 |
SB(2X) 2 – Perata - Water Bond |
|
|
California's water shortage is real. The last major dam built in this state was the New Melones in 1979. In the intervening time, the population has grown from 23 million to 38 million people. California now stores less than one year's water consumption in the entire system, which is why the prospect of even a moderate drought has become ominous. |
| August 21, 2007 |
Speech by Senator McClintock Opposing SB 86 on Property Seizures, Senate Chambers |
|
|
This bill is opposable on many grounds, but I want to focus on the provisions related to the state's practice of looting safe deposit boxes and retirement and college funds under the pretense that they are abandoned solely because their owners have set them aside for three years. The federal district court has issued an injunction ordering the state Controller to cease this practice. |
| August 21, 2007 |
Senator McClintock's Speech Opposing the 2007-08 Budget, Senate Chambers |
|
|
The budget package that comes before us today is at least slightly improved over what was put before the Senate the night it walked off the job and went on summer holiday on August 1st. At least an effort has been made to balance the budget on paper. And that's something, since we just closed the last budget year with what appears to be the biggest budget deficit in California's history, a deficit that has reduced the $10 1/2 billion budget reserve that we began the last year with to around $4 billion. |
| August 1, 2007 |
Speech by Senator McClintock on the Budget Act, Senate Chambers |
|
|
Mr. President:
I'd like to begin with a brief review of the numbers in this budget and the very real risk it runs. Let's begin with the $3.5 billion reserve. This is actually what is left out of the $10.5 billion reserve that we began the last fiscal year with. That should be a warning right there: we started with $10.5 billion in the bank at the beginning of last year. We're now down to $3.5 billion. Still, you'd think that's more than enough to cover the $700 million deficit in the budget now before us. |
| July 24, 2007 |
Budget Letter |
|
|
You have asked under what circumstances I could support SB 77, the budget act for FY 2007-08. In my judgment, the largest general fund budget the state can safely sustain under current conditions is slightly over $100 billion, or $8.3 billion more than was spent just two years ago and $21.7 billion more than was spent at the outset of this administration. Here are my thoughts on the scope of the problem and on what immediate steps can be taken to address it. |
| June 7, 2007 |
SB 48 (Perata) Socialized Health Care |
|
|
On June 7, 2007 the Senate passed SB 48 that establishes universal mandatory health insurance. This is what Senator McClintock said in opposition to the measure: Mr. President: This measure imposes a "pay or play" mandate on businesses – spend 7½ percent of your payroll on health care, or pay the state to do so. One little problem – the courts have already ruled that such "pay or play" mechanisms were pre-empted by Congress when it enacted ERISA. So the central feature of this bill is already moot. |
| June 7, 2007 |
SB 375 (Steinberg) Preferred Growth Scenario |
|
|
SB 375 requires all regional transportation planning decisions and all transportation funding to be limited to a "preferred growth scenario," that requires a minimum housing density of 10 units per acre. It was adopted by the Senate on June 7, 2007. Here is Senator McClintock’s speech in opposition to the bill: |
| June 4, 2007 |
SB 1019 (Romero) Open Police Proceedings |
|
|
It is a fairly well established principle that public servants work for the public and the public has a right to know what they're doing with the authority the public has loaned to them. For this reason, we have the open records act and the open meetings act – to assure the sun can shine on all aspects of governmental business. There's one inexplicable exception: when it comes to those who exercise life or death control over people's lives – who literally have official sanction to hurt them, incarcerate them, even kill them to enforce our laws and protect the public. |
| May 31, 2007 |
Speech in Opposition to SB 61 (Runner) Toll Roads |
|
|
This measure allows CalTrans to begin charging tolls for public highways and removes legislative oversight over those charges. We're told this is necessary to add desperately-needed highway capacity. But wait a second. Today, Californians pay the third highest tax per gallon of gasoline in the nation. And yet we rank 43rd in the nation in our per capita spending on highways. |
| May 31, 2007 |
Speech in Opposition to SB 900 (Corbett) Restricting Mobile Home Park Conversions |
|
|
In the early 1980's, this legislature determined that almost all of the problems arising from mobile home parks was caused by conflicting property rights: One person's home sits on another person’s land. It became crystal clear that the solution to this conflict is for the homeowner to purchase the land. For this purpose, the legislature granted home owners the right of first refusal, access to various loan guarantees and a number of other measures to promote the ability of homeowners to purchase their own land. The measure before us today is a gigantic step backwards. |
| May 31, 2007 |
Speech in Opposition to SB 920 (Oropeza) Using Tax Records to Seize Property |
|
|
The abuse of the state's power of escheat – the seizing of property after just three years of inactivity – is finally beginning to get the attention it deserves. |
| May 29, 2007 |
SB 77 (Ducheny) Budget Spot Bill |
|
|
It is important to note what is going on here and what is supposed to be going on. There is a world of difference. This is supposed to be the Senate budget bill. And that’s the way it was until about 15 years ago. Each of the budget sub-committees by this time had gone over every line item in the budget. And when they voted – it meant something. They were actually acting on the budget. The full budget committee had then met and put finishing touches on that plan. And when they voted – it meant something. |
| May 29, 2007 |
SB 861 (Wiggins) North Coast Rail Authority |
|
|
Let's be clear about what we're doing. You've heard of the bridge to nowhere. This is the Railroad-In-Name-Only. The North Coast Railroad Authority was created in 1989 to service the north coast along an abandoned Southern Pacific Route, and was transferred to the state dole in 1992. Since 1992, the Railroad has not run a single train. Not one. And yet, it has consumed and continues to consume, transportation resources intended for actual rail service, while every year promising that "someday" they’ll actually run a train. |
| May 14, 2007 |
SB 37 – Electoral College |
|
|
This measure is flawed on a number of different levels. The first is that it attempts to use an interstate compact to do an end-run around the amendment process. But interstate compacts without Congressional approval are themselves forbidden under the United States Constitution in these explicit words: "No state shall, without the consent of Congress…enter into any agreement or compact with another state." If you want to amend the constitution – amend the constitution. There's a constitutional process for doing so. But don't use an illegal means that attempts to cut out of the decision ALL of the states in our union. |
| May 7, 2007 |
Gil Ferguson R.I.P. |
|
|
I have known many upstanding and exemplary leaders in the state legislature during my 21 years here. The very finest of them passed away yesterday. For a decade on the Assembly floor, Gil Ferguson stood as an outspoken champion of simple principles of liberty and fairness, and did so with a gentle eloquence and good humor that commanded attention and respect. |
| April 26, 2007 |
Senate Debate - AB 900 (Prison Bonds) |
|
|
I would like to begin with some stubborn facts. According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, for fiscal year 06-07, it will cost California taxpayers $42,000 per year for each inmate in the California Department of Corrections. And yet, the U.S. Department of Justice reports it only costs them $25,000 per inmate and Illinois Department of Corrections reports its costs at $23,000 per inmate. Florida reports an average of just $18,000 per inmate – less than half of the $42,000 we now pay in this state. These are not subtle differences. |
| April 11, 2007 |
Senator Tom McClintock’s remarks to the Senate Education Committee in support his bill SB 268 |
|
|
This measure rescinds the in-state tuition subsidy for illegal immigrants attending state universities and community colleges that was granted by AB 540 in 2001. Under current law, California taxpayers provide non-residents of the state of California – including foreign nationals illegally in the United States – the same in-state tuition subsidy as legal California residents – as long as they have spent three years in and graduated from a California high school. To put it simply, an illegal immigrant pays around $7,000 per year to attend the University of California. An American citizen from Nevada pays $24,000. |
| April 9, 2007 |
Tax Increases "Off the Table" |
|
|
We have a simple budget announcement to make this morning: TAX INCREASES ARE OFF THE TABLE: 15 Senators and 31 Assembly members have now signed written contracts with their constituents NOT TO RAISE TAXES – more than enough to stop any 2/3 tax measure. And the Senators and Assembly Members with us today are here to demonstrate their commitment to maintain that pledge throughout the upcoming budget deliberations. |
| June 27, 2006 |
Budget Speech |
|
|
Here is the great paradox of the budget before us: despite a 23 percent increase in revenues in the last three years, we’re running the biggest deficit in California’s history. Let's review the numbers.
Income: $94.4 billion
Spending: $101.3 billion
Deficit: $6.9 billion
|
| April 27, 2006 |
Senate Concurrent Resolution 113 (SCR 113) |
|
|
Listening to Senator Alarcon talk about the views of the American Founders on immigration caught my attention and my interest. I am quite familiar with the writings of Benjamin Franklin on the subject and Senator Alarcon may be very surprised to learn that there was no more ardent or vigorous critic of illegal immigration than Benjamin Franklin.
|
