Kevin's Corner
By Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries
Do No More Harm!
The President of the California Chamber of Commerce recently
appealed to the California State Legislature to "…do
no more harm to this economy." Many of you know that next
year will be my last year in the State Assembly. I knew when
I was first elected in 2006 that the California Legislature
was a tough partisan environment to work in. I understood it
and accepted the challenge to do my part to make the 66th Assembly
District and California a better place to live, work, raise
a family and retire. Remember when people would pack up their
families and trek across the country just to live and work in
the Golden State? We were the place to be.
What happened? Why are businesses and jobs still leaving our
state? Why are families packing up and leaving? Why is our unemployment
rate one of the highest in the nation?
It's really simple: Elections have consequences!
Now I know that some of you are rolling your eyes saying here
comes the partisan rhetoric. Before you start throwing stones—go
back and look at my previous writings. I make it a point to
avoid the partisan name calling and finger pointing. Most of
my friends and neighborhoods are fed up with the finger pointing—they
just want something done to fix our state.
So having said that—brace yourself for my ground-shaking
partisan opinion. First—Republicans are really good at
strongly advocating on behalf private sector job creation so
that you can afford a roof over your head, put food on the table
and have a shot at becoming a successful business owner. Second—Democrats
are really good at strongly advocating on behalf of providing
important services to the poor so that they don't live in disgusting
third world conditions with no access to medical care or other
vital services. Now at this point you're probably raising the
issues of education, unions, environment, regulations, immigration,
taxes, etc, etc. All of which are important but for the purposes
of this little column let me make one observation…
You CANNOT afford or continue to afford to provide any viable
level of public safety, social, or education services to anyone
(including the poor) if your elected leaders are adopting policies
that are chasing taxpaying businesses and workers OUT of our
state! Again, elections have consequences.
We have to be a state that is willing to balance the needs
(not wants) of everyone and still compete on a national and
international scale. We want to be a "green" state,
but green companies are finding that they have to locate and
manufacture their products in other states (or countries) because
of California's maze of regulations, permit delays and fees.
We all want our children to have a first class education so
that they can be successful—yet today when they graduate
they will have little to no job opportunities.
In my humble opinion—it doesn't matter what your race,
sex, age, ethnic or marital status is or is not—NONE of
us are well served when our government bureaucracy and its regulations
are so onerous that the opportunity to obtain a job, open a
small business or just keep a roof over your head is becoming
further and further out of reach because our elected leaders
and bureaucrats just don't get it.
In the final three weeks of session, there are a host of bills
hostile to job creation that are still alive and still threatening
to pass. Meanwhile, nearly all the bills that could have helped
create more jobs are already dead. Stay tuned and watch what
happens (most of it will be broadcast live on www.Calchannel.com),
and see where your elected leaders' priorities lie.
Respectfully,
Kevin Jeffries
