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The Public Policy
When Gold Turns to Dross
California’s nanny state is even destroying the babysitter industry.
California is still a land of political surprises—outlandish, foolish, and mischievous ones. Consider the latest:
The state legislature is about to pass a bill (AB 889) requiring that adult babysitters (age 18 and up) be paid the minimum wage, overtime pay and worker’s compensation insurance. In addition, they must have a break every two hours, plus a meal break. This means parents will have to hire two babysitters at the same time, one on duty, the other to take over during the breaks. It’s the Nanny State run wild, for the sitters would have to keep time sheets and the parents who engage them would have to issue paychecks, keep payroll records, and pay an employer’s share of payroll taxes. Outraged parents in the state have dubbed it “The Babysitter Bill.”
Governor Jerry Brown announced recently that before any new state regulation can go into effect it must be analyzed for its potential impact on the state’s economy in order to make sure it is justified. Guess who does the analyzing? The regulators who promulgated it.
In the mischievous category is an idea being considered by the Democrats’ large majorities in the legislature. It would move all initiatives (of which California usually has several in every election) to November. This would not be done out of some philosophical constitutional concern, but rather to help defeat a pending initiative that would bar unions from collecting political funds through members’ payroll deductions. The Dems think that if the initiative gathers enough signatures this fall it could appear on next June’s ballot when there will be less interest in the uncontested Democratic presidential primary than in the hotly contested Republican one. Moving it to November would mean a bigger Democratic voter turnout—or so they think. In order to do this, however, they cannot single out one particular initiative to move, but must make it a permanent blanket change.
When liberals rail about CEO compensation they mean, of course, corporate ones. They never bother to include very highly paid public employees. At the end of June the state’s Controller’s Office issued a report on the 10 highest-paid non-academic state employees. Nine of them work outside the General Fund, hence do not show up as part of the state’s costs. Among them is one Alan Trounson, president of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, a stem-cell research agency. His annualized pay is $490,008. It comes from bond funds. And who pays to retire the bonds and pay the interest on them? The taxpayers.
Next is Thomas Rowe, president and CEO of the State Compensation Insurance Fund whose annualized salary is $450,000, which comes from special fund revenues (mostly paid by companies that must carry compensation insurance). Also in the top 10 are five employees of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CALPERS) and one from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CALSTRS). Last but not least is Roelof van Ark, executive director of the High-Speed Rail Authority, whose annualized salary is $375,000. He is in charge of the infamous rail line from Nowhere to Nowhere.
Less a surprise, but a source of anguish just the same, is the latest unemployment report. California’s rate has nudged up to 12 percent, nearly three points above the national rate. Aggravating the situation is the fact that California’s vaunted agricultural output has been cut by 200,000 acres thanks the efforts of ultra-environmentalists to get a judge to cut water going to Central Valley farms based on their allegation that a small fish, the Delta Smelt, was being sucked into the canal system’s filters. Unemployment in the Central Valley is now running 30 to 40 percent.
Who says gold can’t tarnish?
About the Author
Peter Hannaford was closely associated for a number of years with the late President Reagan, beginning in the California Governor’s office. His latest book is Presidential Retreats.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (40) | Leave a comment
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Darin| 9.8.11 @ 6:44AM
Next up. Having babysitters to unionize under the SEIU. Then protesting parents who use non-union babysitters. Then beating up the same parents and kidnapping their children (to protect them from the evils of non-union babysitters).
Maddox| 9.8.11 @ 7:32AM
Then, government run babysitting centers for the poor which will be mandated to insure you are properly training your child.
jothepro| 9.8.11 @ 6:55AM
Marxism lives in California.
cowgirl| 9.8.11 @ 10:12AM
I am a native SF Bay Arean California. It is not Marxism. It is a mental illness. Michael Savage, the extremely conservative radio talk show host who broadcasts from SF, wrote a very good book on the problem called Liberalism is a Mental Illness. He explains liberalism, especially that what is practiced in California, in detail. We just can't blame Karl Marx for this anymore - The man had crazy ideas mainly because he did not work for a living (he lived off his best friend Kark Engels' rich capitalist parents), but I just can't believe he was as mentally ill as the liberals in California are these days.
Mike D.| 9.8.11 @ 2:14PM
I may suggest "Californiaism" be added to the list of mental disorders by the center for Disease Control. Quarentine may be one answer(forcing those to live in what they created and voted for) in keeping the disease in check.
Chef Schnauzer| 9.8.11 @ 7:20AM
The political class is delusional and they are causing a series of state-destruct actions. I am stunned that the media, political parties and others either encourage or turn a blind eye. There is personal and public cost to everything. Who can blame those who have prepared for the worst and are casting off.
Pecos Pete| 9.8.11 @ 7:23AM
California ... A good place for King O to reign as the next governor. Jerry Brown and his merry band are doing exactly what King O would do to the rest of the USA.
Chuck| 9.8.11 @ 7:33AM
Jerry Brown is finishing off what he began in 1975, the destruction of the Golden State. It's inevitable diversity will intervene in the choice of the "two babysitters". One a person "of color" and the other a person who practices "an alternative lifestyle". Book it it's in the bag.
Mike D.| 9.8.11 @ 7:57AM
A state run by an idiot, voted in by an idiots, and piling on more idiotic social engineering stupidity in a state that pioneered social engineering idiocy.
That is one hopeless lost cause west of Nevada. And the poisin that is California has seeped into the Federal government with the likes of Pelosi, Waxman, Boxer, Waters bringing it in doses. The entire state is sinking like the titanic and we have the socialists fighting over who gets to open more seascocks. The age of lunacy.
Dan Hirsch| 9.8.11 @ 10:51AM
Think how their self esteem will be crushed when they find out that the gold at Sutter's mill played out 160 years ago!!!
HeeHaw!
DTOM
Occam's Tool| 9.8.11 @ 5:30PM
You forgot Mike: "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Mike D.| 9.8.11 @ 6:19PM
One thing I did like about the movie 2012, seeing that whole phony screwed up outfit slide into the sea.
Petronius| 9.8.11 @ 9:31AM
What's really at the back of this is the desire of state authorities to hamstring every last teenager from earning one red cent off the books. They don't want anybody making any money that they don't know about. And don't ever get caught paying some kid in jr. high out of your pocket to cut your lawn. You can get locked up for it. And look out for the flip side. Last winter a friend in the burbs hired somebody to shovel snow and he fell on some black ice. The guy wanted to sue him. Luckily bruised butts don't garner any sympathy here.
Stammon| 9.8.11 @ 10:07AM
All this does is bar anyone over 18 from earning pocket money by babysitting. Yes there will be a few who employ older folks like au pairs and professional nannys, but for most of us it means the nice girl down the street can't earn pocket money for college.
Another victory for good intentions and bad results Liberals.
Occam's Tool| 9.8.11 @ 5:31PM
Unless she sleeps with us. Then it's an escort service, which is not covered, as they are independent contractors.
Redstateboy| 9.8.11 @ 10:22AM
"California's rate has nudged up to 12 percent, nearly three points above the national rate. Aggravating the situation is the fact that California's vaunted agricultural output has been cut by 200,000 acres thanks the efforts of ultra-environmentalists to get a judge to cut water going to Central Valley farms based on their allegation that a small fish, the Delta Smelt, was being sucked into the canal system's filters. Unemployment in the Central Valley is now running 30 to 40 percent. "
and Liber-ulism is Not a Mental Disorder?!?!??
Mike D.| 9.8.11 @ 10:59AM
One look at that wide-eyed golfball necklace wearing lunatic Pelosi would confirm that lefitsm/liberalism are true mental conditions. That chick is a bonified screwball.
The Clintidote| 9.8.11 @ 1:21PM
She's NOT a "chick". She's a cow. A dumb, botoxed cow.
Mike D.| 9.8.11 @ 2:16PM
My bad, how about she's a b!tch. A dumb botoxed b!tch!
Patrick| 9.8.11 @ 2:36PM
Ahem, the proper term is "gorgon", though "battle-ax" is also considered acceptable.
Patrick| 9.8.11 @ 3:17PM
Also, "bitch" generally refers to Bawny Fwank.
John II| 9.8.11 @ 3:25PM
Or, for those with a more literary bent, "harridan," or "termagant," or "vixen," or "shrew." Your choice.
And now back to "All About Eve" (1950), in which a scheming Anne Baxter uses an out-of-character Bette Davis as a mere rung on the ladder to the top.
Patrick| 9.9.11 @ 6:59AM
"harridan" and "termagant" are both wonderful terms, however I find them to express a touch more intelligence and subtlety than well, Pelosi could ever evoke. Now Shirley Abrahamson (chief justice of WI Supreme Court) would be far more fitting for these.
"vixen" is right out.
"shrew"? Mmmm...well, you have the hysterical rampaging going on, but it tends to conveya sense of irony, noting Shakespeare.
Mike D.| 9.8.11 @ 4:06PM
Pelosi a Gorgon or Medusa? Yeah, she definitely turns a part of me to stone with that maniacal look!
Mike Hawk| 9.8.11 @ 8:04PM
Some of us just call her "Stretch" due to all that plastic surgery making her skin so tight her eyes bug out.
Chalkdust| 9.8.11 @ 10:28AM
I view California as an controlled experiment, just so long as the contagion doesn't escape their borders and the residents of other states aren't compelled to pay for the craziness.
CESC| 9.8.11 @ 11:34AM
It is too late. They moved here to Las Vegas in the 90s and turned our once free and independent western spirit into a copy of Cal. by forcing thru laws that shut down local bar and grills and other businesses and hamstring businesses to this day. They have made it clear they are going after our remaining lifeblood - the casinos - next. All by the do-gooders from Cal. who have overwhelmed this city in population (100,000 people in 1970 and 2 million now. Most of them Californians). I am trying to get out after 40 years of living here, there are no jobs and housing has completely collapsed. Californians are dangerous and should be divorced from the rest of this republic. Keep them away from the rest of us. They are the lunatics in charge of the asylum.
Mike D.| 9.8.11 @ 1:59PM
Thats a legit problem, you have the leftist losers who screwed up the state in the first place now looking for greener pastures to escape the disaster they voted in and contributed to moving to other states and wreaking the same havoc on them.
Die Fledermaus| 9.8.11 @ 5:56PM
That's why we here in the south have lots and lots and lots of guns.
Martin Owens| 9.8.11 @ 11:49AM
Soon we in California will enjoy the curious brand of freedom practiced in Russia and the former Soviet Union.
Everything, absolutely everything, will be against the law or so hogtied with regulation that it makes no difference. And the citizen will say " all right, everything IS illegal. Now let's see you CATCH me."
Of course public services and infrastructure will be at the level they were when the Conquistadores came, but we're already halfway used to that...
PattyMor| 9.8.11 @ 12:32PM
Richard David Hanson wrote a curious article about the dichotomies in California. He said that there are the over regulated and taxed communities. Then there are the lawless illegal immigrants ignoring zoning, taxes and trash. Its quite a contrast. In order to keep these two separate images in you head, you must be mentally ill.
PolishKnight| 9.8.11 @ 2:40PM
PattyMor, you've hit it right on the head. In addition, nobody has remarked that it's obvious that the most hired adult nannies and "babysitters" in California tend to be illegals.
Howz this for a dichotomy? The average liberal is terrified of non-organic foods going into their precious children (when they have them) and can overprotect them yet... they routinely hire people with no papers whatsoever who could easily disappear with their children if they wanted to.
How they're supposed to pay their underpaid nanny from now on will be quite interesting especially consider the blanket policy on amnesty they've had. Is this law going to generate thousands of cases of identity theft?
Occam's Tool| 9.8.11 @ 5:32PM
Dear Patty:
Forgive me. It is Victor Davis Hanson. "Mexifornia," I believe, and articles since.
JFGalt| 9.8.11 @ 12:56PM
While people always worry about states wanting to seceed maybe we should consider expelling aome of them.
Mike D.| 9.8.11 @ 1:55PM
I'll tell you what, other more functional and financially prudent states are NOT going to prop up that banana republic on the left coast with their funds. When the Feds HAVE to bail out the Californias, certain states are not going to stand for it. Thats when things are going to happen.
Pat| 9.8.11 @ 3:35PM
Finally, a Californian writes about California and gets it right. Read the article, notice the outrageous salaries paid these quasi-public servants? See, it’s not a mental disease, it’s not about aging Hippies or Moonbeams, it’s not attributable to those low wattage beach bum types. It’s all about the money, only about the money, it’s greed, pure and simple – us Californians have always known that.
This “surf’s up, dude” personna is pure window dressing to disguise the “Show me the money” motivation. The Colombian drug cartel, the mafia and then there’s California’s politically connected – same criminal mindset, same lust for personal wealth at the expense of everyone else.
Texans will sometimes play the hayseed, the unsophisticated country hick who somehow manages to best the city slicker from New York. In California, they play the surfer dude, the insouciant innocent who secures a $400,000 a year job through political connections but pretends it really isn’t all about the money. An effective camouflage to dupe the average taxpayer, but government supported larceny on a grand scale accompanied by an insincere smile and a “Have a nice day, buddy”.
Osamas Pajamas| 9.8.11 @ 4:33PM
I don't always think about sex. Sometimes I think about overthrowing the government.
Osamas Pajamas| 9.8.11 @ 4:36PM
My wife's ill and unemployed but I'm still working and my two teenaged daughters make some money on the side by by babysitting, here in California. Now my kids will have to be illegals in order to continue babysitting thanks to these asshole Democrats who rule us by armed force and by fraud. I advocate their violent overthrow, forthwith.
David Minnich| 9.8.11 @ 10:45PM
I am hoping the comparatively unpleasant weather of the East Coast keeps the Californicators out of my home state of Pennsylvania. We are on the verge of going red, should voter ID be put in place (thus ending the swing votes of dup/dead/illegals in Philadelphia). However, we have enough of a challenge with NJ-NY locust liberals coming into the state.
Buck Ofama| 9.11.11 @ 3:56PM
How in fvck are these gubmint c0cksuckers going to enforce this bullshit law about babysitters? What illegal alien babysitter is going to call the cops?