AB32 Crisis

Why should we worry about Assembly Bill 32 (California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006)? This bill was passed and signed into law by the Governor 4 years ago. It hasn’t affected me in the slightest, so why should I get involved? Besides, I have things to do, places to go and people to see. This sounds all too familiar to those of us who fight for the rights of the uninformed. They are uninformed by choice and that’s ok, but not when they vote for politicians who craft and pass a bill as dangerous to our way of life as this one. Remember that the liberal, progressive Democrats have been in control of the California Legislature for more that 40 years. They own the current problems that face this state, including AB32. Here is the answer to a couple of the above questions as to why you should worry.

First the main emphasis of this Bill will go into effect in 2011 (9 months from now). Secondly it will cost businesses over $49,000 per year and homeowners more than $3800 per year. Tell me, do you want to give another $3800 of your dollars away to an unproven theory? I don’t. And who do you think will pay for that $49,000 businesses will incur? The consumer; that’s you and me. It’s called “cost adjustment”. Bear in mind that the government has no money but that which they take from us. It’s called taxes and fees. Both the State Government and the Federal Government feed from the same trough and we are the ones that fill that trough with our hard earned dollars. I know of a few elected officials that work hard, but none of them work as hard as you or I do and they generally get paid a lot more than we do. Remember, also, as my friend Thom said, “they work for us and not the other way around”. We must balance our budgets every month or work harder and produce more. Our politicians just go to that trough again for more money.

AB32 is only a 17-page document and I urge you to go on the Internet and print yourself a copy(www.arb.ca.gov/cc/docs/ab32text.pdf). One of the first things you should notice is that it is a State mandated local program with no reimbursement to the local governments (page 3). This means that local governments must tighten their belts to comply or come up with new taxes or fees to cover their costs. You pay for this and the State doesn’t have to feel the bite of their actions. Note please that counties receive about 14 cents on the tax dollar to run the county. Next is the authority given to the California Air Resources Board (CARB from here on). CARB is empowered to make the rules and regulations needed to achieve the goal of reducing Green House Gases from the current level to the 1990 level by 2020. Furthermore, they are authorized to require reporting and verification of that reporting of statewide Green House Gases from the sources. And finally they are empowered to monitor and enforce the rules, regulations and reporting and they set the fees or fines for the infringements (page 2).

What a money making deal this is. CARB has all the government factions; legislative, judicial, enforcement and sentencing all in one place. Don’t get on the wrong side of CARB on this one. Third, this bill is all about money (page 4). California seems to believe that by enacting this program it will be at the “forefront of national and international efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gasses”. Accordingly it’s predicted that such action will positively effect our “economy, technology centers, financial institutions and businesses.” California hopes to make a bundle from new green businesses coming into the state which according to one local writer could be as many as 112,000 by the year 2020. I’m sure that will make up for the 650,000 manufacturing businesses that have thus far left California for greener pastures (pun intended) according to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. Then you must ask yourself why would a green business settle in California with all its unfriendly business regulations when it could go to Nevada, produce the same product and make a larger profit? If you will recall, most businesses have a profit motive.

Still, you’re not convinced as to why you should get involved. Chapter 3 is all about definitions and most are scary, but one in particular caught my eye (page 6i). “Greenhouse gas emission source”; this can be “any source or category of sources”. I think this could include you and me and our house and our car and our lifestyle. What do you think? Right now CARB is targeting businesses, transportation, and greenhouse gases from all electricity consumed in the state. The big ones first. Transportation is not just your buses and businesses are not just your big factories. Diesel engines are one of the main focuses and those are used in all of our transportation forms, whether they are transporting people or goods. Diesel engine refits or upgrades can cost between $20,000 and $80,000 per vehicle and that cost is passed on to you and me the consumer. This is not just the big trucking company, this could be the local backhoe operator, the independent logger, moving company, and farmer or as I stated before, in definitions, “any source” including the small home business. Any small business can be that source and, as such must report all its greenhouse emissions to CARB who will then verify that the reporting is accurate (page 7). In the case that CARB finds inaccuracies, enforcement and fines apply. The fines are set by CARB.

With the governor and legislature’s approval, the California Air Resources Board has become a self-supporting money-making organization with little or no oversight. With a little, if any needed, extrapolation, AB32 can be extended to any and all of us, controlling where we live, how big our house is, how we travel, where we shop, and on and on. There is a companion Bill to AB32 and that is SB375 (www.arb.ca.gov/cc/sb375/sb375.htm) passed by the legislature in 2008. SB375 deals with zoning and land use, automobiles, right down to the community level (page 1&2). Specifically it speaks of walkable and sustainable communities, individual homeowners’ greenhouse gas emissions, type of travel, building sites, housing needs based on income, open space, conservation easements and a bundle of other measures that, in fact, restrict the land area that can be developed in the future. The plan is renewable every five years and only contains policy mandates on local planning.

The two Bills represent everything we have feared from our government. Together they continually reduce the amount of land that is capable of being developed through mandated policy on local General Plans, Conservation easements, Zoning and other regional land use policy. The greenhouse gas emissions controlled in AB32 are directly applied to homeowners in SB375. If these Bills are allowed to stand, our whole way of life and that of our children and grandchildren will change and country living will be a thing of the past except for the few that manage to live on farms. Once our mobility, food supply, water supply along with our housing choices are controlled by government there will be very little we can do to correct the situation.

We cannot let this happen. Not now, not ever. There is an initiative petition called the “CA Jobs Initiative” that puts AB32 on hold until the state unemployment rate holds at 5.5% for one year. It is a must that you seek out and sign this petition and get it on the November ballot for passage. When the Governor signed AB32 California’s unemployment rate was 4.8%. Now four years later it is 12.7% and shows no signs of declining. Businesses are leaving our state, people are leaving our state, taxes and out of control spending are going up and, according to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, we currently have a rolling $20 billion deficit for the next 5 years. We must band together and stop this nightmare here in our state. There is a saying that as California goes, so goes the nation. Exporting any part of either AB32 or SB375 would be a terrible legacy for the people of California. Get the Bills, read the Bills and join us in turning back this tide.

Thinking it Through

What is the infantile lack of ability to think things through that afflicts a considerable number of people these days? For instance, spreading the wealth, Robin Hoodism if you will. Taking from the rich to give to the poor or more bluntly Socialism. This, at first blush, may sound like a good scheme. After all don’t the rich have more than enough money to fully support at least some of those less fortunate? The answer is probably in the affirmative. Sure they do. So, how is it that we manage this massive transfer of wealth? We know that if the government manages it, a whole new bureaucracy will be needed and the cost of that alone will consume the majority of the transferred wealth. How much do we take from the rich and how much do we give to the poor? Who decides who is rich and who is poor? How many people who are close to the poor line and working 40 plus hours a week would quit their job and take a little less money not to have to work at all? All these folks not working will definitely affect the job market as there is less people to hire and when a business hires it will cost them more to pay the employee so their profit margin either goes down or they must raise their prices. If the business owners accept a lower profit margin then they have less wealth to transfer so they must lower their standard of living. The employee who will no longer get his annual COLA or any raises must now accept his place in life and soon he will see the merits of not working at all for less money.

It is not difficult to see the vortex that is created here. Sooner or later the system reaches the point of diminishing returns, where it can no longer support itself and falls apart, leaving those on the dole with no income whatsoever; hungry and on the street, they will have no skills and they won’t be happy.

If you think any government program through, you wind up with similar results. Why? Well, one reason is because the government has no money of its own. Whatever the source, the funds eventually come from the consumer. Import, export taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, etc, etc, etc. And don’t forget fees that are taxes by another name that require a smaller percentage of votes to pass on to us. Any money the government has, either directly or indirectly, comes from us. Even if they print more of it, our debt increases and who is responsible for that? You guessed it, you and me. The only money the government has originates with you and me. This cannot be anymore clear. Any time the government gets involved in any program, the price of that program goes up, if for no other reason than the bureaucracy that must be created to manage it. Even as small a business as I own, when gasoline prices went to $4.00 per gallon, I didn’t pay for the increase, my hourly rate went up appropriately. When larger businesses receive cost increases, they pass it on to the consumer. It doesn’t work any other way.

There is no such thing as a government funded program. There are only consumer/ taxpayer funded programs, period. The next time some politician talks about a program to benefit a certain group of people, grab your wallet. If he is bringing to this state large money for special projects, grab your wallet. It is all our money and we deserve better management of it. Think it through.

They Still Don't Get It

On April 15th Thom Forsythe, his daughter Ciera and I went to a party in Sacramento, a Tea Party. Thom and I do a couple of Community Access Television shows at NCTV, Channel 11, so our intent was to interview anyone we could and get enough footage for two or three half-hour shows on NCTV. I interviewed and Thom ran the camera while Ciera went off and shot background. I guess we shot about three hours or more for future editing. My conservative estimate of attendance is 12,000 to 15,000. These people felt it necessary to take the day off from work and participate in sending a message to our elected representatives in California and Washington. Will it work? Only time will tell. It is a good start and we must persist through any venue we have.

We conducted 50+ interviews and, without exception, those interviewed were polite, well versed and respectful. They were also very angry at the way they are being treated by their elected officials. I spoke with electricians, plumbers, carpenters, teachers, newscasters, celebrities, homemakers, equipment operators, mechanics, sales people and as many others as I could. Only one person refused me an interview and I’ll talk about him later. The responses to questions were very much along the same line; too much spending, wasteful spending, lack of respect for the taxpayer and working man, out of control elected officials, too high taxes and too big of a government. The one question that I asked almost all of the persons interviewed was can we sustain this momentum and the answer was most always “ we must”.

There were those who thought that the police presence was over the top. I did not think so. There was a mounted unit, a bicycle unit, four shooters on the roof of the Capitol, but their rifles were never in view, six or more CHP patrolmen, who were very low-keyed and I’m sure there were a requisite number of undercover officers mingling with the crowd. To those who think this was over the top, I might remind them that there were, by my count, less than 30 Law Enforcement personnel to control more than 12,000 demonstrators. Further, it is the duty of the CHP to protect the Capitol and it is the duty of Law Enforcement to assure that our right to protest goes unhampered. The officers that I saw were pleasant, friendly and congenial. I was glad they showed a presence at this event.

Several politicians spoke at the event, as did some celebrities. Eric Hogue, KTKZ 1380AM, was the general emcee. Our own Representative, Tom McClintock, was a key speaker, among others. Most of the state legislators, with the exception of Assemblyman Dan Logue and Senator Sam Aanestad, hid under their desks and refused to come out and meet the people. Dan Logue, against the advice of his staff, left a meeting for a short while and came out to see the people. I saw Sam Aanestad standing on the steps of the Capitol talking to folks. I interviewed Tom McClintock, a Fox 40 newscaster, the chair of the Republican Chairman’s Association, our own County Chair Bill Neuhardt, McClintock’s field rep Kim Pruitt, Vets just back from Iraq, a WWII vet who was stationed in Alaska, Eric Hogue and Mike Reagan(twice). What a class act they all were, particularly Mike Reagan. We interviewed Mr. Reagan early in the day but had some technical problems and lost the interview. Later, as we were packing up I saw him walking down the steps of the Capitol. I explained our technical difficulties and asked if he had another minute or two. He graciously consented and we got our interview. What a classy guy.

Nobody there could have considered this gathering anything but a grassroots rally and protest; except, of course, the likes of Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi who referred to all of us as funded by the high end. Pelosi said of the Tea Party, “We call it astro turf. It’s not really a grassroots movement. [Supported] by some of the wealthiest people in America, to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of the middle class.” Liberal economist Paul Krugman said, “The tea parties don’t represent a spontaneous outpouring of public sentiment. They are AstroTurf (fake grass roots) events, manufactured by the usual suspects.” Krugman went on to indicate that we were all dupes to “the work of a party hi-jacked by hard liners and financed by the usual right wing billionaires.” If you were there, you know that Pelosi and others still don’t get it.

The absence of public officials and elected representatives, except for the few I mentioned, speaks volumes for their concern for their constituents and we heard it loud and clear. Where were they? They were actually in session working on very important legislation; spaying and neutering of animals and smog checking motorcycles were two subjects that were brought to my attention. Where was their staff? These brave emissaries (staff) of the public wishes for their Assemblymen and Senators, they were hiding in the Capitol, but all peering out the windows and ready to hide under their desks at the appropriate time. What an opportunity missed for them to explain their view to a group of concerned citizens who were participating in the government forum in the only way guaranteed by the Constitution. The excuse I’m sure was that the crowd would have become unruly. I assure you that had Eric Hogue introduced any one of these less-than-brave legislators with the statement to the demonstrators to be respectful and listen that would have been the case. But to the contrary, the courageous men and women of our government, instead of being part of the solution, chose to remain the problem. They still don’t get it.

Finally, I said previously that there was only one person who refused me an interview and ran away (he didn’t run, but he walked really fast). This person was the brave leader of the California Republican Party, Mr. Ron Nehring. I introduced myself to him as being from a conservative public access television show, which should have been a clue that I was a friendly, and asked for a couple of minutes for an interview. Mind you, when I saw him he was casually standing on the steps of the Capitol, apparently just watching the show. He became, upon my question, very nervous and said he had business elsewhere and would return shortly. Then he scurried off to the north, never to return. He may still be scurrying for all I know. What I do know about Ron Nehring is that he has been invited as a speaker on numerous occasions to Republican events here in Nevada County and has never once accepted. Further, I know of several attempts to contact him for information regarding substantive issues that were never responded to. This guy is the head of the CRP, he can really scurry, he is part of the problem and he still doesn’t get it. Let’s all of us keep the momentum going until they all get it. God bless America.

I.O.U.’s?

Wow, here we are in February of 2009 and our legislators are sniveling about the budget and a $45 billion deficit. They can’t pay their bills, they say. They may have to issue I.O.U’s for tax returns this year. Don’t you think it is time we told them, in unequivocal terms, that they should live within their budget and control their spending?

If you hired a tradesman and paid him top dollar and he produced an inferior product, would you keep him or fire him? The Department of Education does just that and they continue to ask for more money. For your information, the Department of Education last year received about 50% of the entire State budget, $64 Billion dollars and produced a student who qualifies for the bottom rungs of the ladder. And, if that’s not enough, they get an equal amount from the Feds, plus monies from local bonds, state bonds, and don’t forget the lottery. Altogether, they get about a $150 billion each year, which is three times what California is left with to run the entire state! Still, with all this money, they ask for bonds to repair roofs and fix schools. Where does the money go? Maybe there is some waste here that we could cut.

Then we could go to the medical costs of illegals in this state, which is well over $12 Billion. What about the uninsured motorist costs of our illegal population? Jail incarceration and trial costs born by the state. How much do these add up to?

Let’s turn our attention to our legislators and their perks, gas cards, travel expenses, money for extra lodging if they travel far. I have no difficulty with the per diem payment for a legislator who travels far, but there are those who live right around the capital who take the money under the reasoning that they have to stay late on occasion and return early. How many of you taxpayers who live in outlying areas and work in Sacramento have ever worked overtime and still had to return for work the following morning? Did you get an additional check for a room for the night? I’ll bet not. Maybe it is time that our “leaders” show some leadership instead of just feeding at the trough and complaining. There are a few who do, but not many.

Finally, to the I.O.U.’s. What would you do if you went to the store and purchased an item for $14.75 and gave the clerk a $20 dollar bill to which the clerk handed you an I.O.U. for $5.25 explaining that the store was out of money and did not know when it could pay the I. O.U. This is exactly what the State of California is doing to us when and if they issue I.O.U.s. They have had the use of our money all year, collected interest on it and used it. Not necessarily as we would want. Will they pay interest on our change when they finally pay it? No. If you are late with your taxes, do you pay interest? You bet, at about 1% per month.

Let’s inform our state legislators that if they issue promises to pay, we expect interest in the same amount they charge. They are sent to Sacramento by us, to represent us and do the state’s work. That means, get the budget done on time, spend our money wisely and live within the budget they created. They are to help the state turn a profit and that means get out of the way of business growth. Businesses are leaving the state in record numbers and revenues are going down. All because of unnecessary over regulation by our liberal controlled state government. Talk about change, we really need it here.

Holding Feet to the Fire

Disappointment sometimes comes in large doses, as was the case for me June 13, 2008. An article in the local paper about the supervisors approving user fee increases to several County Departments caught my eye. Those departments included Building, Environmental Health and Planning. These increases are significantly large and inappropriate at this time. My disappointment stems from the fact that I worked to elect each one of these supervisors. Most everyone, rightly or wrongly, believes the county is in an economic slow down. Construction is way down. The contractors I talk with are scratching their heads. One I spoke with over coffee asked if I had ever seen it like this. And it is not just construction, with gasoline at $4.69/gallon and rising, most other businesses are slumping.
If my memory serves me, during the last presidential election cycle, when there was a small but significant downturn here locally, the Board of Sups gave themselves a significant raise. Then several months ago they unwisely spent our money to rent a very expensive building to house the District Attorney. This was followed by a hefty wage increase for all the County Department heads and the County CEO. And now they top it off by significantly increasing the cost of county services. Here is what it’ll cost you to use county government after August 4th: Building Department--$125.78/hr, Environmental Health--$143.22/hr, Planning--$119.62/hr, Agriculture--$86.44/hr and County Surveyor fees will be $128.00/hr. Bear in mind that you actually pay twice each time you use a service from the county. The first time you pay is through your taxes. Taxes support the county budget and within that budget every department is funded to perform its function. A department budget includes wages for all in that dept. and office equipment and supplies. If a department’s services are not needed, operation continues at a slower pace and at the end of the year, that Dept may have a surplus. The second time you pay is when you actually use a service and those costs just went up. I’ve been told that user fees are an attempt by the county to recoup the money used by each department for the expense of running that department. Does that sound like double talk to you? Does that sound like a Board of Supervisors’ who cares about you as a constituent?
What this appears to be is a board that is trying to keep the county coffers full in a time of supposed economic tribulation. Construction is down and as a result so is user fees. Bureaucratic logic dictates that in order to maintain their departments financial status quo fees must be raised. Hence, the less you use county departments the more it costs you when you do. I remember in the 1970’s when we had a drought in the southern part of the state and water rationing was common. Homeowners were asked to reduce their usage by 10 –15%. Since we all knew that the drought was in fact real, we complied. As a result, Department of Water and Power revenues went down with the reduction of personal water use. Guess what? The DWP increased their rates to compensate for the loss of revenue.
This is exactly what this Board of Supervisors is doing right now. I strongly urge every member of this organization to send an email to their supervisor and demand that they rescind this fee increase until the economy justifies it. Remind them that they are all elected by the people of this county, that they work for us and that they can be recalled by us. If there is not enough money coming in to completely fund each department, then three choices exist; reduce unnecessary spending elsewhere, reduce the size and function of that Department, or ask for a tax increase from the people and justify the request. The BOS and the government bureaucracy is side stepping asking for a tax increase that they know they would not get because it requires a 2/3 majority vote of the people. Raising user fees only requires a majority of their vote. It is time to rein in this board. Let them know we are not happy and that their political future hangs in the balance.

Nevada County Fire Plan

Is the Fire Plan about our safety, control of property rights or grant money? There is plenty of evidence to support your choice. The current draft is a 118-page document covering all of the above. Most of us here are aware of the fire danger we face each year. We live out in the “Wildland-Urban Interface” (woods) because we want to. Generally, we do the necessary maintenance to keep our property fire safe. We understand the fuel ladder concept and the term defensible space. All of us should do our best to keep our weeds down, our trees trimmed up, remove dangerous brush and interrupt the fuel ladder. Further, we need planned escape routes, acceptable shelters and numerous, available water sources. If the Fire Plan dealt with these issues alone, there would be far less concern on the part of the citizens and the Plan would not be 118 pages of bureaucratic shell games.

We are protected by 9 different Fire Districts, two City Fire Departments, Cal-Fire, United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (Sec.1-3 Fire Plan). In addition, we have a County Fire Marshal who has specific duties that include: enforce, inspect and review projects based on fire safety codes and regulations under county jurisdiction, ultimately reporting to the Board of Supervisors. Five other local fire districts also assume Fire Marshal duties and responsibilities based on their jurisdiction. Finally, the County Fire Chiefs association also reviews local, county and state Fire Safety Codes. To sum up, we have in place (LRA’s) Local Responsibility Areas, (SRA’s) State Responsibility Areas, and (FRA’s) Federal Responsibility Areas. All of these organizations have their own jurisdictions and many overlap, particularly in the areas of the Fire Marshal, Planning and Building Standards (Sec. 1-1).

The Fire Plan places responsibility for fuels issues with private property owners in the unincorporated area of the county. “All private and public land owners need to accept stewardship responsibilities, whether by regulatory process or not, to fully address the complex wildfire problem” (Summary-2). “Citizens are responsible for ensuring their family, personal needs and domestic animals are adequately prepared to evacuate or shelter safely and efficiently during an emergency” (Sec 1-9). “ The County of Nevada is not required by State or Federal regulations to provide fire protection services for the public and assumes no authority for providing this service” (Sec.1-3). All of this would appear to indicate that, should a fire start on your property and the county or local government blame it on you, they will. And yet the County bureaucracy wants to maintain control by asserting, “local and county governments assume responsibility to protect and assure safe development of private property in wildland areas”(Sec. 1-10), “local government has the responsibility and authority to ensure public safety and to provide the ordinances and policies to meet this requirement”(Sec.2-1). There is a management adage that says, “You cannot give someone the responsibility without the commensurate authority”. But the Fire Plan does just that. Appendix A of the plan defines the four vegetative type zones that we live in. Further, it gives us instructions of what to do in each type to make it fire safe. Appendices B and C require that none of this can be done with mechanical equipment and must be done by hand within 100 feet of a water course or riparian area. By hand currently means weed eaters, chainsaws and lawn mowers. It is clear that the terms mechanical equipment and by hand need to be more defined. There are also prohibitions based on soils, endangered species, archeology, nesting birds and aesthetics, etc. The problem is that, you, who are responsible for the steward ship of your land, can only do it in a manner that is almost impossible and always under the watchful eye of county government. So, is it for our safety? Partially yes, but mostly no. It is about the preservation of special interest areas at the expense of all else.

Is the Fire Plan about money? Definitely yes. Section 1-10, and 1-11 speak to Public Resources code 4290 that establishes minimum development standards in the unincorporated areas. PRC 4291 discusses defensible space. Section 4-1 directs our attention to the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, the Healthy Forest Restoration Act of 2003 and many other plans. The DMA “stipulates that local governments must develop plans to address disasters…. in order to maintain Federal grant eligibility”, “Local governments must have a mitigation plan as a condition of disaster assistance.”(Sec. 4-2). “The importance of developing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan is to identify potential projects to minimize a potential wildfire disaster and show that communities are identifying federal hazardous areas in order to receive federal funding for these projects.” (Sec. 4-3).

It is clear to anyone who reads the current draft of the Fire Plan that County bureaucracy is directing its focus on establishing environmental controls on property owners of a type that were defeated several years ago. Secondly it is clear that this Plan’s main purpose is to establish the necessary credentials to secure the County’s place at the government feeding trough. Finally, the Fire Marshal’s office is building a fiefdom never intended, with control over building, development, house structure, planning, grading, landscaping and property stewardship. It concerns this writer that the County boldly states that it is not responsible for your fire protection and that you most definitely are. Yet, it also proclaims that it is responsible for public safety and is using this premise to force an additional plan upon us solely for the purpose of establishing eligibility for grant money. I would prefer that the county get into the fire business with a County Fire Department whose sole responsibility would be to extinguish fires.

The written comment period on the Plan ends February 5th and the presentation with a public comment period is February 12th. I urge everyone to get a copy of this plan and read it thoroughly so as to understand its positives and negatives. Furthermore, put Feb.12th on your calendar and plan to speak on the plan at the BOS meeting. You have 3 minutes. This Plan affects us all and needs our closest attention.