Rand Paul announced his candidacy for President today and declared he wants to “take our country back from the special interests”.  While I suspect he will not be elected, I do support his opinion that professional lobbyists, advocates, associations, and basically hired guns control and dominate today’s political system – primarily the legislative branch.  If anyone doubts this, I encourage them to sit in on few hearings at the California State Capitol and witness the parade of special interest groups that appear daily and weekly to testify on bills that were either just out in print; just amended; will be amended in committee, or amended in the next committee.   I call them special interest groups because it is an industry that has been created in response to the complex and complicated legislative process in Sacramento and the players are very specialized and speak the arcane and scripted language that is required to participate effectively.

I wish Dr. Paul luck – he will need it.

Last night (Tuesday),  the Sacramento City Council passed an Urban Agriculture Ordinance and as a resident of Sacramento, I am amazed how complicated this issue is.  But I am sure the city staff understands it and if anyone has questions, I am sure reading the report linked below will answer those concerns:

http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=22&clip_id=3599&meta_id=433942

Oh, by the way.  This report is only 367 pages long and it was published late on Friday so I am confident all the folks at the meeting last night were fully informed.

The Assembly Public Safety Committee is holding a hearing this morning and pretending to actually debate the merits of AB 334 – legislation to address the “problem” of law enforcement profiling motorcycle riders.  The author – Ken Cooley – just uttered words that I heard hundreds of times when I worked at the Capitol and they reveal the lack of critical and strategic thinking that typifies so much of what goes on today in the California Legislature.

Despite the testimony of the opposition that this change in law could result in reducing the ability of law enforcement to deter or prevent criminal activity, Mr. Cooley said “it was not the intent of his bill”.

Great.  Then why not just make it intent legislation?

The issue is not the intent – it is the consequences.  Just look at Prop 47 for an example of the consequences on society from poorly worded changes to law.  And I am sure none of the proponents of Prop 47 intended for the recently discovered “loopholes”  in that initiative to create the problems for the counties that it has.

IRONY ALERT

The committee next heard a bill that the author contended was needed because there was too much confusion over an earlier change in law mandating certain training for peace officers when they interact with Indian tribes or work on tribal lands.   From the committee analysis:

AB 373 Assembly Bill – Bill Analysis

Training for public safety personnel has failed to keep pace with federal mandates,  
directly creating ineffective and/or misapplied law enforcement on tribal lands.

If anyone doubts the size, scale and scope of California State Government isn’t a drain on the economy, I think reading the background papers on the various Boards under the Department of Consumer Affairs that regulate small businesses and professions in this state will make you rethink your position.

Here is the link to that information and whether it is the education requirements for embalmers, the licensing and fee structure for cemetery owners, or the disciplinary processes used for security guards and nurses, I believe it is patently clear the legislature and executive branches have created a nightmare of administrative and legal requirements that confuse, perplex and destroy creative and entrepreneurial spirits.

http://sbp.senate.ca.gov/informationalhearings

And after reading these papers, I hope you will see the irony in the political criticism of DCA’s attempts to automate many of their regulatory functions (see previous post on BreEZe).

The legislature is holding an oversight hearing today on the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) and focusing in on their disastrous technology project called BreEZe.  I will start screaming if one more witness cites “lessons learned” or “best practices” as the solution to poor public sector management.

I was hired in 1982 by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to work on their automation project and the latest phase of that effort (IT Modernization Project) was cited in the latest State Auditor’s report as an example of the state’s failure to take timely and meaningful action to address problems (report can be found at http://www.auditor.ca.gov)

In 1996 I worked on the DMV’s Business Process Reengineering (BPR) effort and every vendor/consultant we worked with required activities identified under the title of Change Management.  The Director of DCA just admitted this morning they failed to incorporate change management into their project but they will going forward – if they continue.

So much for learning lessons!

The California Legislature is starting their annual theatrical production known as budget hearings and the usual suspects of advocates and organizations begging for larger pieces of the pie grow more numerous and younger every year.

The Legislative Analyst provides summaries of the budget and here is a link to their site:

http://www.lao.ca.gov/

As a former DMV employee, I am struck by their analysis which recommends withholding action on the request to spend about $4.6 million dollars to pay the initial costs to replace aging field offices (Delano built in 1954; Santa Maria built in 1969; and Inglewood built in 1972) since it would put “cost pressures” on the Motor Vehicle Account.  That account, funded by vehicle registration and driver license fees, is facing insolvency in 2017 – no doubt a result of the $140 million to implement AB 60 (licenses for undocumented immigrants) and $110 million for CHP officer raises.

A hearing was held yesterday on Adult Education and Career Technical Education and for anyone interested in the details, here is a link to the agenda: http://sbud.senate.ca.gov/sites/sbud.senate.ca.gov/files/FullC/2262015SBFRHearingAgenda.pdf

In a nutshell, the testimony was mind numbing and the witnesses all had a vested interest in more government spending and more programs.  Of course there needs to be better “alignment” and “coordination” and even -OMG – “accountability”.  But I have heard all those goals for decades.  What I took away from the hearing is because the K-12 public education system is such a monumental failure and does not prepare its graduates for employment, we now need to create a system of workforce education to provide the necessary knowledge and skills so residents can be contributing and productive members.

My criticism of this approach is that we are starting from the back end.  Why not fix the elementary and secondary schools so they do a better job preparing young adults?  Oh, and maybe the employers can provide some of the training.

And what really struck me – and this is in the agenda linked above – is the data that shows the California Community Colleges offer 8,000 career education certificate programs and 4500 associate degree programs.  However over 51% of the students enrolled at this level of higher education are concentrated in only 10 fields of study!!

But no one of course suggested we look at eliminating some of the redundant, duplicative and apparently useless choices of programs. That would require cutting and it is anathema in the Legislative.  Forget Small is Beautiful.  The siren song I only hear is how can we grow the programs and find more funding.

A recent poll indicated 42% of Californians approved of the job being done by their Legislature.  I am convinced if my fellow citizens knew more about what going on in the Capitol, the number would be much lower.

I am going to use this site to share information on the activities at the California Capitol.

Today is Friday, February 27th, and I am going to get started since I listened to many legislative hearings this week and what I saw and heard amazed me.  I realize it is early in the session but the waste of time and energy is incredible.  There has to be a better way to run this state!