Check out this link on Stanford University’s Study on Assembly Budgets: http://www.cacs.org/transparency.php?transparency_id=7. You can view my office budgets along with all of my colleagues.
Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R – Palm Desert, has received endorsements from the Riverside Sheriffs Association and the Riverside Police Officers Association.
“I am very honored to have received the support of both the Riverside Sheriffs Association and the Riverside Police Officers Association. These outstanding associations represent the brave men and women that keep our communities safe, and they recognize that I share their commitment to public safety.”
The Riverside Police Officers Association supports Brian Nestande because “he supports the death penalty, is against the legalization of marijuana, has worked to stop prisoner release initiatives, and wants to work toward reforming California’s welfare system.” The RPOA further maintains that “Nestande has some great ideas to maintain our taxes at a fair level and keep tax-generating, employment-providing businesses here in California.”
Assemblyman Nestande proudly serves the communities of Canyon Lake, Indian Wells, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Riverside, Temecula, Perris, Wildomar, Winchester, Menifee, Hemet, Anza, Aguanga, Idyllwild, Bermuda Dunes, Mountain Center, and Woodcrest.
Assemblyman Nestande Receives “A” Rating and Endorsement from Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R – Palm Desert, earned an “A” rating from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association due to his strong voting record opposing tax increases.
“I am very honored to have received an “A” rating from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. For decades, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has fought to protect hard-working taxpayers from excessive taxation and government waste. As we attempt to balance our budget and pull our economy out of the recession, I believe it is more important than ever to fight for fiscal responsibility and vote against paralyzing tax increases.”
Assemblyman Nestande’s commitment to restoring accountability and protecting taxpayers also earned him the official endorsement of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. “I am pleased to have received their endorsement and I will continue to advocate on behalf of hard-working taxpayers in my district and throughout California,” said Nestande.
Assemblyman Nestande proudly serves the communities of Canyon Lake, Indian Wells, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Riverside, Temecula, Perris, Wildomar, Winchester, Menifee, Hemet, Anza, Aguanga, Idyllwild, Bermuda Dunes, Mountain Center, and Woodcrest.
SACRAMENTO – Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, announced today that he scored a perfect 100 percent on the California Taxpayers’ Association (Cal-Tax) legislative voting record, showing strong support for the taxpayers of this state.
“We thank Assemblyman Nestande for consistently voting to protect the interests of California’s taxpayers during this year’s legislative session,” said Teresa Casazza, president of Cal-Tax. “This is the commitment we must demand from our elected officials if we are to create jobs and get unemployed Californians back to work.”
The Cal-Tax Voting Record, available online at www.caltax.org, is compiled annually to provide Californians with a valuable tool to determine how state legislators acted on major tax and fiscal legislation, and to hold elected officials accountable for anti-taxpayer votes.
“I am honored to receive a perfect rating from the California Taxpayers’ Association,” said Nestande. “California families are struggling just to pay the bills in the current down economy and I will continue to fight against additional tax burdens that will impact family budgets.”
The California Taxpayers’ Association is a non-partisan organization established in 1926 to fight for taxpayers’ rights, to guard against unnecessary taxation and to promote government efficiency.
Assemblyman Nestande proudly serves the communities of Canyon Lake, Indian Wells, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Riverside, Temecula, Perris, Wildomar, Winchester, Menifee, Hemet, Anza, Aguanga, Idyllwild, Bermuda Dunes, Mountain Center and Woodcrest.
Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R – Palm Desert, has received endorsements from both the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) and the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce Political Action Committee.
“I am very honored to have received the endorsement of the NFIB and Riverside Chamber of Commerce. Both of these organizations are leading advocates for small businesses in our state and community, and that is why I am particularly grateful to receive their support.
These endorsements reinforce my determination to fight for small businesses and policies focused on job creation. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy; therefore we need to facilitate a business environment in which they can innovate and prosper. Economic growth is the key to getting California back on track.”
Assemblyman Nestande proudly serves the communities of Canyon Lake, Indian Wells, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Riverside, Temecula, Perris, Wildomar, Winchester, Menifee, Hemet, Anza, Aguanga, Idyllwild, Bermuda Dunes, Mountain Center, and Woodcrest.
Compromise Reduces Spending, Promotes Jobs, Achieves Pension Reform
SACRAMENTO – Assemblyman Brian Nestande, R-Palm Desert, today supported a bipartisan budget that tackles California’s $19.1 billion deficit without raising taxes, while including hard-fought budget and pension reforms championed by Republicans for years.
“Republicans fought successfully to ensure that the budget compromise closed the state’s deficit without tax increases,” said Nestande. “It rejected Democrat plans to impose a $8.7 billion income tax increase, the tripling of the car tax and a new oil severance tax that would have raised gas prices. Higher taxes would have killed jobs and devastated the state’s already fragile economy.”
The budget compromise:
- Maintains education funding at last year’s level
- Rejects the early release of prisoners
- Includes much-needed pension reform to bring public pensions more in line with the real world
- Reduces spending in fast-growing health and welfare programs
- Protects job creation incentives to encourage private sector companies to invest in California
- Allocates $10 million to the University of California, Riverside for the construction of the UCR Medical School
“The budget and pension reforms are positive first steps towards helping California live within its means,” said Nestande. “The compromise includes a spending limit based on a 20-year revenue trend and a 10% rainy day fund. Equally important, the compromise would change the retirement formulas and benefit calculations for new state employees, and increase retirement contributions for current employees. These reforms will save billions in taxpayer dollars over the long-term.”
Assemblyman Nestande proudly serves the communities of Canyon Lake, Indian Wells, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Riverside, Temecula, Perris, Wildomar, Winchester, Menifee, Hemet, Anza, Aguanga, Idyllwild, Bermuda Dunes, Mountain Center and Woodcrest.
Nestande earns a trip back to Sacramento
The Desert Sun Editorial Board • September 29, 2010
If all 120 California legislators thought like Brian Nestande, we would have had a budget in June and a course to right our sinking ship of a state.
Visiting The Desert Sun editorial board on Tuesday along with his Democratic rival in the Nov. 2 election for the 64th Assembly District, Jose Medina, the Palm Desert Republican recalled his first days in the Assembly.
“I think the second day after we were sworn in, I started in with a debate in the Assembly on our budget,” he recalled. Nearly two years later, the state still hasn’t made the tough decisions that need to be made.
“We had about $20 billion in cuts,” Nestande said. “Half of that, $10 billion, was backfilled by federal stimulus dollars. The other $10 billion in cuts were one-time cuts. So what does that mean? It means one year later that $20 billion in cuts is gone because the stimulus money is gone and those one-time cuts are gone.”
And here we are three months into a new fiscal year without a budget and we still have about $80 billion in revenue and $100 billion in spending — right back where he started.
Medina, a longtime teacher and a Riverside Community College District trustee, spoke passionately about protecting education and supported the Democratic proposal to lower sales taxes and raise income taxes. But he offered few suggestions on where he would cut the budget.
As expected for a freshman assemblyman from the minority party, Nestande had no major legislation enacted into law, but he did have a few bills signed:
Assembly Bill 2409 removes pools and spas from the “water feature” drought ordinances passed by the Department of Water Resources.
AB 2618 requires counties to notify property owners when a new deed is recorded on their property.
Assembly Concurrent Resolution 109 names part of Highway 74 in the Coachella Valley after the late Riverside County Supervisor Roy Wilson.
And a narrowed version of his bill to clear the way for professionals in math and science and related fields to become teachers without going through the full credential process was incorporated into Senate Bill SBX5, which was signed by the governor.
Nestande’s best idea is AB 1645, which would require the state to take into account its total liability when drafting a budget. Counting pensions, health benefits for state workers, unemployment insurance and bonds, those are estimated at more than $200 billion.
“Our refusal to recognize our liabilities has contributed to California having the worst credit rating in the nation,” he said.
The Assembly approved the measure but not the Senate. Nestande says he plans to make this the centerpiece of his legislative agenda next year. The voters should give him a chance to do so.
TEMECULA – Assemblyman Brian Nestande (R-Palm Desert) will host a neighborhood meeting at Sterling at Vintage Hills in Temecula, 41780 Butterfield Stage Road. Come share your thoughts on the economy, health care, education or any other issues that are important to you. This meeting is part of a series of neighborhood meetings throughout the 64th District.
“It is important for me to be accessible to my constituents and remain focused on the concerns of the people in my district” Nestande said. “These meetings are informal and open to all issues of importance to our community.”
To RSVP and for more information, please contact the Nestande for Assembly Campaign at (760) 776-6115
WHAT:
Assemblyman Nestande’s Neighborhood Meeting
WHEN:
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
5:00-6:30pm
WHERE:
Sterling at Vintage Hills
41780 Butterfield Stage Road
Temecula, CA 92592
Assemblyman Nestande proudly serves the communities of Canyon Lake, Indian Wells, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Palm Desert, Rancho Mirage, Riverside, Temecula, Perris, Wildomar, Winchester, Menifee, Hemet, Anza, Aguanga, Idyllwild, Bermuda Dunes, Mountain Center, and Woodcrest.
The delay over how to close California’s $19.1 billion budget deficit comes down to a simple question. Should taxpayers like you give Sacramento more money to fund big government or should Sacramento cut unaffordable spending?
At a time when 2.3 million Californians cannot find work, it makes no sense to raise taxes. Higher taxes take more money out of your pocket and make it harder to create jobs.
Yet Democrats seek higher taxes by playing word games. They recently proposed a budget that will raise taxes by billions of dollars, yet they call it reform by saying it will mean lower taxes for most families.
How is this possible? First, the Democrat plan raises income taxes by $8.7 billion on middle- and low-income Californians. The income tax increase in that plan would cost a family making $60,000 an additional $473 per year. Additionally, Democrats want to triple the car tax that would cost this same family an extra $118. That’s real money coming out of a family’s bank account.
Democrats claim that by reducing the sales tax, this will result in a net decrease in taxes for most families. But their plan assumes that Californians will continue to spend the same amount even though they will have less money to begin with. I don’t know about you, but when I have less money in my checkbook, I spend less to conserve cash.
The nonpartisan legislative analyst also found that every middle-class Californian making between $20,000 and $200,000 would be hit with a tax hike under their plan, putting serious doubts into the claims of Democrats.
Worse, if their plan became law, it would also make California more reliant on personal income taxes for revenue, a historically volatile source because it is dependent on the health of the economy. Because of the slumping economy, revenues from personal income taxes have dropped significantly, contributing to the current budget deficit.
We should consider tax reform to ensure more stable revenue in the long-term. Last year, a bipartisan tax reform commission that was appointed by the governor and legislative leaders proposed reducing the personal income tax and establishing a new service/consumption tax.
According to an overwhelming number of economists, overhauling our outdated tax system would stabilize California’s finances because it would make us less reliant on the personal income tax. It would prevent the boom-and-bust budget cycles where the Legislature spends away surpluses during good times and cuts programs deeply during bad times.
Strong budget reforms are needed and I am fighting hard to ensure that we have a budget that protects essential services for future years. With little public support for tax hikes, Democrats need to rethink their approach and work with Republicans to pass a reform-minded budget now.
