Gas tax opponents say California is trying to undermine them

As reported by the Sacramento Bee:

Opponents of a gas tax increase passed this spring to pay for road repairs in California are on the verge of their first victory in a campaign to repeal the measure.

A Sacramento County Superior Court judge tentatively ruled this week that state Attorney General Xavier Becerra issued a misleading title and summary for an initiative to reverse the tax hike that Assemblyman Travis Allen is trying to qualify for the November 2018 ballot.

“The court agrees with Petitioner that the Attorney General’s title and summary is confusing, misleading, and likely to create prejudice against the proposed measure,” Judge Timothy M. Frawley wrote. “The problem with the Attorney General’s title and summary is that an ordinary, reasonable elector, who is otherwise unfamiliar with the initiative, would not be able to discern what the initiative would do.”

Allen, a Huntington Beach Republican, launched his repeal effort in May, a month after lawmakers approved Senate Bill 1. The $5.2 billion annual package, pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown and other Democratic leaders, raises the per-gallon tax on transportation fuels and creates a new vehicle registration fee to pay for road maintenance, public transit and other projects. …

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Travis Allen Wins Big in Preliminary Ruling in Gas Tax Repeal Lawsuit

Judge issues tentative ruling ordering Attorney General to not mislead voters and prepare a “true and impartial” title and summary for the Repeal of the Gas Tax ballot initiative

SACRAMENTO – Today, Assemblyman Travis Allen announced that the Sacramento Superior Court has issued a preliminary ruling granting his request that Attorney General Becerra rewrite his misleading title and summary for the Repeal the Gas Tax Initiative.

“This preliminary ruling is a major victory for Californians,” said Assemblyman Travis Allen. “This brings us one step closer to repealing Jerry Brown’s hugely unpopular gas tax. I look forward to the final ruling on Friday, and ensuring that the Repeal the Gas Tax Initiative receives the straightforward ballot title and summary that it deserves.”

Highlights from the preliminary ruling:

“The court agrees with Petitioner that the Attorney General’s title and summary is confusing, misleading, and likely to create prejudice against the proposed measure.”

“The problem with the Attorney General’s title and summary is that an ordinary, reasonable elector, who is otherwise unfamiliar with the initiative, would not be able to discern what the initiative would do.”

“What the initiative would do is to repeal taxes and fees (legislation) expected to raise new revenues. But an ordinary voter reading the Attorney General’s title is highly unlikely to understand this. Rather, the ordinary voter would assume that the sole purpose of the measure is to eliminate (reduce) transportation funding. The title appears to be written to focus attention on the elimination of funding and avoid mentioning ‘taxes’ and ‘fees.’ This is misleading and is likely to create prejudice against the measure.”

“Petitioner’s [Travis Allen’s] proposal shows it is not difficult to write a summary of the initiative in clear and understandable language. And this does call into question why the Attorney General used the confusing language that he did.”

“To avoid misleading the voters and creating prejudice against the measure, the Attorney General must prepare a ‘true and impartial statement’ that reasonably informs voters of the character and real purpose of the proposed initiative in clear and understandable language. The existing circulating title and summary fails this test.”

Second Initiative Launched to Repeal Gas Tax

gas prices 2Anger over the increase in gas taxes has launched a second initiative to repeal the tax passed in April. Sources close to the drafting of this new measure say it will be well funded. Such a measure could have political implications beyond undoing the tax — one situation now and one if it makes the ballot.

Polls show strong opposition to the gas tax increase. A gas tax repeal measure could rally Republican voters to go to the polls during the 2018 General Election, especially if no Republican makes the runoff for either of the state’s high-profile offices, governor and United States senator.

The timing of the filing of this initiative is also interesting. News of the pushback against a previous tax increase comes at a time when legislators weigh another tax increase vote on Senate Bill 2, a document tax to pay for housing. A reminder that taxes are on the voters’ minds might play into the final legislative votes on SB2.

The new tax repeal effort is a short constitutional amendment that states that all gas taxes approved after January 1, 2017 must be approved by the electorate. While the taxes approved under SB1 take effect in November they would cease to be collected if the new initiative passes in 2018.

An earlier initiative filed by Assembly member Travis Allen is also designed to repeal the gas tax. That measure is awaiting a hearing in court over the wording of the title and summary written by Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

Update: The SB2 tax plan passed the Assembly with no votes to spare

This article was originally published by Fox and Hounds Daily

Assemblyman Travis Allen Wants Your Vote for California Governor

On the KTLA 5 News, Huntington Beach Assemblyman Travis Allen (R) lays out his campaign platform for California governor, including drought response and a plan to repeal Gov. Brown’s gas tax.

Republicans Will Sue Attorney General over ‘Misleading’ Gas Tax Repeal Language

Gas-Pump-blue-generic+flippedRepublican advocates of a California ballot initiative to repeal the state’s new gas tax will sue Attorney General Xavier Becerra over language he issued describing the measure, which they say is “misleading” to voters.

The language, reported by the Los Angeles Times, says the referendum “eliminates recently enacted road repair and transportation funding by repealing revenues dedicated for those purposes.” Proponents of the repeal say that there is no way to be certain that the gas tax and new vehicle registration fees will be used to fix the state’s roads.

In addition, the Times notes, Becerra’s description says the referendum “Eliminates Independent Office of Audits and Investigations.” Advocates of the repeal note that the office, provided for in the gas tax law, does not yet exist.

The language in Becerra’s description must be provided by those gathering signatures for the referendum, and backers are concerned that the language of the description could dissuade some people from supporting the effort.

Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach), who is leading the repeal effort and is running for governor in 2018, told the Times that “almost everything” in Becerra’s description of the referendum was misleading.

The battle over language is only the latest controversy in the fight over the gas tax. Democrats are trying to change the rules for recall elections to protect State Senator Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), who voted for the gas tax. (The Wall Street Journal accused them of “rigging the recall rules” to move the election from this fall to next June, when Democratic turnout is expected to be higher.) Democrats are also trying to remove campaign finance restrictions on legislators so that they can donate unlimited amounts of money to Newman’s effort to defend his seat in the recall. And Democrats are suing members of the California College Republicans who gathered signatures for the recall, alleging that the students misled voters by telling them that recalling Newman would mean repealing the gas tax.

This article was originally published by Breitbart.com/California

California Republicans sweat Trump effect

Travis-Allen-Associated-PressSAN FRANCISCO — Republicans running for governor in the Democratic stronghold of California face a myriad of challenges. One of the them is how to handle the issue of Donald Trump.

Travis Allen, an assemblyman who announced his bid last week to succeed Jerry Brown as the state’s next governor, argues that he’s already a standout — of the three leading Republicans in the race, he alone proudly admits voting for the president.

“There were 4.4 million Republicans in California who voted for Trump, and they are looking for real leadership in California,” Allen told POLITICO last week as he tooled around the state’s highways on a campaign trip.

He said the reluctance of the leading GOP challengers — millionaire businessman John Cox and former Assemblyman David Hadley — to embrace Trump and his positions “may not sit very well with Republicans who are voting come June 2018.”

Yet at the same time, the deep animus toward Trump in California makes embracing him a difficult proposition for any candidate who hopes to win a general election. Together, it’s presenting a thorny situation for GOP candidates as the state’s marquee 2018 race ramps up.

In an overwhelmingly blue state — where Democrats hold a 19-point voter registration edge over Republicans — leading Democratic contenders like Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Treasurer John Chiang and former state Superintendent of Schools Delaine Eastin are busy collecting donors’ checks and are widely covered by major media outlets.

By contrast, the GOP candidates in California are relative unknowns who, on top of a party registration gap, face the hurdles of the state’s “top two” primary system — which calls for the top two vote-getters of either party to advance to the general election. In a crowded gubernatorial field, that drastically decreases their chances of making it to the general election.

And this year, the Republican candidates have the added “Trump factor” to contend with.

Thanks to Trump — whose approval rating in California is just 27 percent and who lost the popular vote by 4 million votes here — getting to the governorship is “almost an insurmountable mountain for Republicans to climb,’’ said USC political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe.

The delicate formula for victory involves backing Trump enough to please the party’s base — volunteers and donors who are critical to success — while not alienating the independents, 1 in 4 state voters who could make the winning difference in the general election.

Jim Lacy, a Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention and author of “Taxifornia: Liberals’ Laboratory to Bankrupt California,” frankly acknowledges that “if a Republican candidate went out and fully embraced Trump, and shouted through the state that they’re Trump’s candidate for governor,” it would almost certainly end their chances to make it to the state’s general election.

But he says there’s a way to thread the needle — though to have any chance of victory, a California Republican must have the backing of the loyal GOP grass-roots activists and donors who can make or break a campaign here.

“Even though many of them didn’t like Trump, they voted for him because they are tried-and-true Republicans,’’ Lacy said. Allen alone “can very proudly say he voted for the GOP candidate — and that these other folks who say they are Republican haven’t done so.”

Hadley — a moderate who has in the past won the backing of millionaire donor Charles Munger Jr. — told the Los Angeles Times recently that he didn’t vote for Trump in the 2016 election. The former assemblyman said he hopes to appeal to voters who may be willing to cross party lines and that he will soon announce endorsements from more than 20 GOP members of the legislature.

Cox, in a past interview with POLITICO, declined to say for whom he cast his vote, though he said last week that he is glad Hillary Clinton didn’t win, because she “would have been a disaster.”

But Cox, who ran for both U.S. Senate and president in Illinois before he moved to California — and has never been elected to office — has wholly embraced the Trumpian notion that an outsider can offer fresh solutions and break up the stale government insiders’ hold on Sacramento. “I’m a businessman, not a politician,’’ he said, a line that comes directly from Trump’s playbook. “I’m running to clean out the barn.”

Yet he’s also carefully attempted to distance himself from some of the president’s more controversial moves — his tweets, for example. “Take a look at my Twitter feed,’’ he said, when asked about Trump’s critiques of the media, TV personalities and the intelligence community. “My tweets are positive … that’s the tenor of what you’ll see coming out of me. … I’m not going to comment on the president.”

All three GOP candidates accuse Democrats — who hold supermajorities in both houses of the California legislature — of overreaching, and Brown of failing to keep them in check. Despite the open hostility of many California political leaders to Trump, Allen argues Democrats and independents are not all in lockstep with the “State of Resistance” agenda on issues like sanctuary cities.

“A friendly relationship with the White House could only benefit California’’ in areas like infrastructure, jobs and federal funding, Allen said.

“It’s up to the government in California to take care of our state first and foremost,’’ he said. “And this is what has been completely lacking with the Democrat leadership in Sacramento — from Jerry Brown to [Senate President] Kevin de Leon to [Attorney General] Xavier Becerra. They have taken an antagonistic stance, regardless of the detrimental effect to the state, and it’s gotta change.”

Allen cites Brown’s recent support for an increase in the state gas tax, which he argues is unpopular and won’t solve the state’s traffic gridlock problems. He also points to sanctuary cities — a concept that polls show is not nearly as popular as Democrats suggest, he argues.

“There is a widely held misconception that the Democrats are invincible in California,’’ he said “But there is a silent supermajority that has been marginalized and forgotten by Jerry Brown and the ruling Democrats. These are the people who are screaming at their TVs every night and can’t understand why their politicians aren’t listening to them.’’

Allen said he’s already lined up party-slate mailers that will reach 14 million of those voters by the fall — an advantage he argues will give him a major advantage over his fellow Republicans in a state with eight major media markets where TV spots are among the most expensive in the country.

But even that may not be enough. On the fundraising front, Democrats have raised more than $20 million to date — and front-runner Newsom alone has banked more than $10 million. By contrast, GOP front-runner Cox, who says he’s putting $3 million of his own money in the race, last week announced he has raised $202,000 — the most to date in the Republican field.

Hoover Institution fellow Bill Whalen, who was an adviser to former GOP Gov. Pete Wilson, says popular San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer dashed the Republican Party’s hopes recently by insisting again that he won’t enter the race, so “there is not an alpha in the field.” As a result, Republican candidates will get even less attention.

Which means “until any of these candidates show serious money or the ability to raise their name recognition, let’s forget about Donald Trump,” Whalen said. “He’s the least of their problems.”

This article was originally published by Politico.com

Republican joins 2018 race for California governor

As reported by the Fresno Bee:

Assemblyman Travis Allen is the sixth candidate — and second Republican — to jump into California’s 2018 gubernatorial contest.

The candidates hoping to replace Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown are:

—Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat. Newsom announced his bid to succeed Brown early, in 2015. He was elected lieutenant governor in 2010 after serving as San Francisco’s mayor.

—Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat. Villaraigosa is a former mayor of Los Angeles, the first Latino to hold the post in more than a century.

—State Treasurer John Chiang, a Democrat. Chiang serves as the state treasurer and would be California’s first Asian-American governor.

—Delaine Eastin, a Democrat. Eastin is the former state superintendent of public instruction, leading California’s public school system from 1995 to 2003.

—John Cox, a Republican. Cox is a San Diego-based businessman with experience in real estate management and investment firms. He’s already dumped $3 million of his own money into the race. He previously made an unsuccessful run for Congress in Illinois.

—Travis Allen, a Republican. Allen is a three-term assemblyman from Huntington Beach. He’s heading a ballot initiative to repeal a gas tax increase passed by mostly Democratic lawmakers earlier this year.

Excessive State Budget Pushed Forward by Dems

BudgetThursday, Sacramento Democrats all voted in support of a budget that has an unknown cost, but is estimated to easily exceed the governor’s record-level budget spending that he proposed just two weeks ago. The Assembly’s current budget proposal is essentially a blank check committed to using record levels of taxes collected for a laundry list of bloated bureaucracies and wasteful projects.

This new budget proposal hides unilateral government plans to increase fees on every car owner and taxes on every cellphone user in California. Wasteful projects like the high speed rail are rewarded with $145 million of additional largesse. Furthermore, mismanaged bureaucracies such as Caltrans receive increased funding with zero oversight while California drivers experience worst in the nation traffic conditions.

On top of the $10 yearly vehicle registration fee hike and nearly 400 percent cellphone tax increase, some of the other highlights from the Democrats’ “Blank Check” Budget include a $145.2 million appropriation for high-speed rail, $2.1 billion for an “optional” Obamacare expansion, and an additional $3.2 billion for the recently raised minimum wage.
Undoubtedly, the constant flow of high profile businesses leaving California will only accelerate with the Legislative Democrat’s budget proposals. Costly new mandates like the $15/hr minimum wage and highest in the nation taxes have prompted CEO magazine to once again name California as the worst state in which to do business, a distinction it has held every year the survey has been conducted.

Simply put, California voters need to clearly understand that the Democrat agenda of higher taxes, unending regulations, and “blank check” government spending has led California off the cliff and resulted in massive debt, job scarcity, and the nation’s highest poverty rate. June and November elections are coming, and it’s time for Californians to stand up and just say no to Democrats and their free spending ways.

This piece was originally published by the Flash Report

Tax Day hits Californians harder than most

April 15 is forever recognized by everyone as the day of the year that you settle up your “debt” with the government, if you have one. Some people have no tax liability because only 60 percent of people actually pay taxes in California. These individuals should be recognized on this day each year as the ones who are working hard for the greater societal good and the American Dream.

Yet our government would rather look at Tax Day as Christmas and California taxpayers as individual Santa Clauses with never-ending gift bags of funds for the state. California’s personal income tax system consists of 10 brackets and a top rate of 13.3 percent. That rate ranks California as the highest in the nation among states levying an individual income tax. In 2011, our average total tax burden of 11.4 percent ranked fourth highest out of 50 states, and was well above the national average of 9.8 percent. California currently ranks 48th in the Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index when comparing the states in five areas of taxation that impact business: corporate taxes, individual income taxes, sales taxes, unemployment insurance taxes and taxes on property. California took the most taxpayer money in the country in 2013 with $108.22 billion in tax revenues, 111.4 percent higher than the similarly populated state of Texas.

One would think that our state must be the “gold standard” in services due to the high amount of taxes flowing into Sacramento. The reality is we are ranked 46th in the nation for our education system. California drivers continue to pay the highest gas taxes in the nation, and due to Assembly Bill 32, a new fee is being added to those taxes. Further, California is ranked 47th in unemployment, a failure to every resident of our state. Given such high unemployment numbers, it is not a surprise that California has the highest rate of poverty in the nation, too.

As an investment advisor, it is my job to assist my clients in making decisions that ensure their money is working for them. Isn’t it about time that we empower Californians to insist that their tax dollars do the same? When did we settle for such mediocrity? I came to Sacramento to fight for more cost-effective policies and accountability when it comes to the spending of taxpayer money. As a representative of our taxpayers, their money needs to be invested wisely. Taxpayer dollars must be thoughtfully used to invest in our children’s education, deliver an educated future workforce and to support essential services such as public safety and our judicial system. Further, these investments should be supported by policies that incentivize business creation, job growth and economic recovery.

This legislative session, I’ve authored two common-sense bills that will ensure our taxpayer dollars are working for us and our communities. One of my bills, AB799, would create a more competitive investment climate and bring more resources to California in support of our local startup companies. Given that California’s tax structure is far less competitive than other states, investors are flocking elsewhere and taking countless jobs and capital investment with them. AB799 will move California toward becoming the best state within which to launch a startup company.

I’ve also introduced AB89, which will help local schools provide better resources and materials for our students inside the classroom by allowing schools to retain all of their funds without being forced to pay sales tax back to the state. Currently, our public schools, funded by our tax dollars, are subject to the state’s 7.5 percent sales tax which has created a “double tax” situation on our taxpayer dollars. By taxing public schools, the state is actually taking money out of our local classrooms. AB89 will fix this issue and ensure that more of our tax dollars make it into our classrooms.

President Ronald Reagan famously said “Status quo, you know, is Latin for ‘the mess we’re in.’” While we’re taking out our checkbooks this April 15, I think we should all take a cold, hard look at what we are paying into. Ultimately, it will take a more balanced representation of Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature to truly address our broken system. Until then, we can at least insist that our hard-earned money is being well invested while we continue to work toward returning fiscal responsibility to Sacramento.

Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach, represents the 72nd Assembly District in the California Legislature.

Originally published online by the Orange County Register