Cali No Longer Fund or Compel Gov Trips to Anti-LGBT States

[Greed and Death]

If California wants to fuck with other states fine.

we'll just take their buisness.

in Texas.

California's economy is growing faster than Texas'. I doubt you're getting their business.

In the short term yes.

I believe 2015 California has a small advantage over Texas of 3.8% to 4.1% as the oil sector collapsed.
http://247wallst.com/special-report/201 ... omies-2/3/

But looking at previous years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U ... rowth_rate

2013 Texas has 3.7% Growth in GSP Cali only has 2.0%.
2010 to 2013 Texas is 4.5% Growth and California is 1.8%.

California growing .3% faster after years of growing 1.5%~ slower is pretty underwhelming.

[Sack Jackpot Winners]

I may have missed this, but does that mean state employees have to pay their own way for business trips to said states?

I'm pretty sure my illustrious state is violating its own principles if so.

[Arumdaum]

Honestly I think American conservatives were more excited then Californian liberals

We'll see who's "excited" when the Army of the Golden Bear marches east on a war of conquest.

im ok with this

californians have already colonized much of their surroundings

[Wallenburg]

We'll see who's "excited" when the Army of the Golden Bear marches east on a war of conquest.

im ok with this

californians have already colonized much of their surroundings

Where have Californians colonized?

[Cannot think of a name]

I may have missed this, but does that mean state employees have to pay their own way for business trips to said states?

I'm pretty sure my illustrious state is violating its own principles if so.

They can't be compelled to go, but they can't stop you if you want to.

[Community Values]

im ok with this

californians have already colonized much of their surroundings

Where have Californians colonized?

The entire state?

[Scandinavian Nations]

This kind of thing is not new. States all over the map did their own resistance to Obama's presidency in various ways. Most notably whether or not they participated in parts of the ACA, sued the Executive Branch, etc.

I actually think it's a good thing. States should be more independent, not less. Now, I'm not saying they should just quit the union for 4 years while it's under a hostile government - but pretty much anything short of that line is only a good thing. The smaller the government, the closer it is to its people, and state governments do tend to be smaller.

[Ifreann]

Unity at all costs? I mean, if we're going for unity we have to forgo our unity with our LGBT population which is not entirely welcome in these states.

California has 38 million people. I'd be shocked if the LGBT population is even a fraction of that.

Seems like a small cost.

The only way that the LGBT population of California could possibly not be a fraction of the total population of California is either if there are literally zero LGBT people, or if everyone in California is LGBT.

Which are you saying is the case?

[Shofercia]

Didn't want to use the word 'ban', but no doubt at least a few might react as if it's a ban anyway. Honestly, this thread should come with Instructions.

Since the election of Donald Trump California has been on a bit of a defiant streak. There is of course the narrative that we're the only reason Clinton one the popular vote, so it's kind a mutual feeling. Governor Brown has already said that it will launch it's own fucking satellite (goofing at his Governor Moonbeam nickname for wanting a state satellite in the 70s) to study climate change if Trump won't do it. San Francisco pinned a strongly worded letter (with all the power a strongly worded letter has...) in defiance of Trump.

But now some rubber hits the road. Or will no longer be funded by California or compelled by California to hit the road in states that have passed anti-LGBT laws. This is actually old newsbut has been ramped up. (that article, from the slightly conservative Sacramento Bee, focuses largely the effect it has on intercollegate sports).

Which, really, are the most effected. Because the most travel to NC is from the Franchise Tax Board and the Board of Equalization.

Away from college sports, the most frequent travelers from California government to North Carolina are representatives from the Board of Equalization and the Franchise Tax Board. Those agencies regularly do business in Charlotte, a major financial center that’s also home to Bank of America’s headquarters. The Franchise Tax Board plans to travel there at least 50 times in 2017.

This kind of thing is not new. States all over the map did their own resistance to Obama's presidency in various ways. Most notably whether or not they participated in parts of the ACA, sued the Executive Branch, etc. This kind of thing is not unheard of. In fact some of these anti-LGBT laws are passed in defiance of the outgoing administration.

I have to admit that my 'safety blanket' after the election was that I lived in California and that we would continue to do our (sometimes awkward or ineffective) best to protect the vulnerable populations that might be effected by a Trump presidency.

Even the collegiate thing will be more of a show than an actual effect, ultimately. I don't imagine that people afraid they'll pee near a transgender person is going to go, "Well, I mean, I'm afraid of what a transgendered person might do in a bathroom...but goddammit, the UCLA Bruins won't come here? Well, I'll just have to swallow my fears..."

Which is not to say it's pointless...I do believe a gesture, sort of an inverse 'watch whose money you pick up.' We can't always change behavior that we dislike, but that doesn't mean we have to participate in it.

Here is a brief on the bill from the LA Times.

Naturally, The Advocate has covered (I'll be honest, I haven't read all my sources yet).

And of course the bill itself.

This is the next four years. Of course state based resistance didn't end the Obama presidency or limit him to a second term. It sheltered people or denied people (depending on your point of view) from some things that Obama had done.

These things used to be implicit but here is the overt 'thing you're supposed to discus'...the value of this kind of defiance? I mean, I don't think even the people who authored this bill really think it's going to end anti-LGBT legislation, but add itself to the official voices saying, "Not normal, not okay", but does that have value for you?

Or practice your one liners about California. There's no stopping that. I mean, it won't be a meaningful contribution or particularly original, but...you do you...

I have no issue with the defiance, as long as Sacramento stops being the Sac and spending money on the equivalent of hookers and blow. If you want to fund Planned Parenthood - take the money from Jerry Brown's idiotic train program, which has been the biggest, single, money wasting Californian Program with the exception of the Health Industry. Speaking of the Health Industry - you know how California can get even more money? Start researching our own drug replacements for things like Epi Pen, and make those cheaper. It'll help our voters and our economy, and will be the biggest fuck you to scum like Martin Shkreli. Also, want to shoot a satellite into space to study climate change? Get Silicon Valley to pony the funds for it.

Obviously it's a good thing that California isn't compelling trips to anti-LGBT states, which begs the question: "wait, we were doing that before?" I guess that's partly why we have so many jokes about the Sac. The one issue I have is with intercollegiate sports. Students don't necessarily think of LGBT when applying, so it seems like you're punishing the students over what their government did. Could be an issue that causes the Democrats to lose votes. Not sure why students have to be brought into that mess.

[IceBuddha]

Launching a satellite wouldn't be so hard. There are private launch service providers (for example, SpaceX) who operate out of Vandenberg. CA would just need to design/build the satellite and pay all of the launch fees.

The only snag would be if POTUS directed USAF to bar use of Vandenberg by the CA state gov. Considering how much of a belligerent asshole he can he, I wouldn't be surprised if he did this.

[Jamzmania]

Launching a satellite wouldn't be so hard. There are private launch service providers (for example, SpaceX) who operate out of Vandenberg. CA would just need to design/build the satellite and pay all of the launch fees.

The only snag would be if POTUS directed USAF to bar use of Vandenberg by the CA state gov. Considering how much of a belligerent asshole he can he, I wouldn't be surprised if he did this.

I'm sure this will fit into California's massive debt.

[UCE Watchdog of the Puppets]

Launching a satellite wouldn't be so hard. There are private launch service providers (for example, SpaceX) who operate out of Vandenberg. CA would just need to design/build the satellite and pay all of the launch fees.

The only snag would be if POTUS directed USAF to bar use of Vandenberg by the CA state gov. Considering how much of a belligerent asshole he can he, I wouldn't be surprised if he did this.

I'm sure this will fit into California's massive debt.

Of course it does. Just like all those tax credits will fit into the massive federal debt.

[IceBuddha]

Launching a satellite wouldn't be so hard. There are private launch service providers (for example, SpaceX) who operate out of Vandenberg. CA would just need to design/build the satellite and pay all of the launch fees.

The only snag would be if POTUS directed USAF to bar use of Vandenberg by the CA state gov. Considering how much of a belligerent asshole he can he, I wouldn't be surprised if he did this.

I'm sure this will fit into California's massive debt.

California's absolute public debt is large mostly because California is large.

It makes more sense to compare debt as a portion of GDP. According to this site, California's state and local debt stands about about 17.18% of state GDP, which is elevated but not insanely so.

Anyway, my main point is that it wouldn't be so difficult or costly to launch a satellite. It's not like they are trying to set up an independent space program or something.

SpaceX was recently awarded a NASA contract for an earth science satellite (the Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite). The total cost of the mission to NASA is going to be ~$122 million, about half of that cost is for the rocket (Falcon 9 launch service costs something like $61 million). California authorized $170 billion dollars of spending for the 2016-17 budget. It is well within their fiscal capability to fund a mission like that.

[Sack Jackpot Winners]

Launching a satellite wouldn't be so hard. There are private launch service providers (for example, SpaceX) who operate out of Vandenberg. CA would just need to design/build the satellite and pay all of the launch fees.

The only snag would be if POTUS directed USAF to bar use of Vandenberg by the CA state gov. Considering how much of a belligerent asshole he can he, I wouldn't be surprised if he did this.

No. The state is poor enough already and makes social mobility either stagnant or not worth it to pay for things.

[Shofercia]

Launching a satellite wouldn't be so hard. There are private launch service providers (for example, SpaceX) who operate out of Vandenberg. CA would just need to design/build the satellite and pay all of the launch fees.

The only snag would be if POTUS directed USAF to bar use of Vandenberg by the CA state gov. Considering how much of a belligerent asshole he can he, I wouldn't be surprised if he did this.

I'm sure this will fit into California's massive debt.

California's debt according to a website panicking about it: California’s actual “Wall of Debt” is an estimated $443 billion, much larger than the $26.2 billion frequently cited by officials and the media.

http://uscommonsense.org/research/unsus ... l-of-debt/

California's GDP: 2.448 trillion USD

We're ok with the debt. What we're not ok with is completely irresponsible spending by Sacramento #nomoretaxhikes

[IceBuddha]

Launching a satellite wouldn't be so hard. There are private launch service providers (for example, SpaceX) who operate out of Vandenberg. CA would just need to design/build the satellite and pay all of the launch fees.

The only snag would be if POTUS directed USAF to bar use of Vandenberg by the CA state gov. Considering how much of a belligerent asshole he can he, I wouldn't be surprised if he did this.

No. The state is poor enough already and makes social mobility either stagnant or not worth it to pay for things.

IMO, all publicly-funded U.S. science missions in space should happen under the aegis of NASA. It doesn't really make sense to decentralize it.

I'm just saying that California could afford to launch their own mission if President Trump/Congress start making politically-motivated slashes to earth science spending at NASA (since this spending supposedly serves no purpose, according to some anti-science Republicans). One earth science mission is not that expensive in the grand scheme of things.

[Luminumbra]

Pretty low bar. Education here sucks, job opportunities are laughable, unless you're military, business environment is hilarious because of the right to work bullshit, and Texas can't even build a damn highway right. Real estate is iffy, owning a house here can range from $250,000+ and rent in just the projects can be $800-1,500. Taxes? Pfft. I pay taxes for water coming in and out of my place. Accounting city ordinances, I can't build anything without a permit, my grass can't be over 3 inches -- even on the spot in the back yard of the alley which is technically the city's land, not mine because it's where the utility lines are. I have to do the same for the land in the front which up to 10 feet from the road is technically not my land but the city under public accommodation. (Which is funny because if I want a sidewalk there, I have to pay for it) As a result, the streets here are a patchwork of sidewalks-no sidewalks. If I don't keep those areas mowed down, it's a hefty fine. You can't park vehicles on the grass, you can't park them out front, they must be in a driveway or parking space.

Road-wise. They've been working on I-35 since the 70s. Non-stop. They're newest expansion, they enacted eminent domain and shutdown all of the business running alongside the highway in-town. This was a problem for several people, including some family friends, who didn't have the money to reopen a new one. State was just -- oh well. They then go through and waste a bunch of money on these coloured tiles, and lay them alongside the highway in a cute pattern (Because I'm totally going to look at this while driving at 75), and then waste more money laying down grass and trees. OOPS. They didn't wait for the utilities company to move their damn lines. So now they had to go back in and tear it all up, let the utilities company pull this lines and move them, then redo it all. The grass has since died because everything in this godforsaken state likes being dead and yellow, and the resulting dirt has covered much of the tiles. They then turn around and are asking the state for more money.

Education, education, education. Texas is all about testing. You study most of your time for the TAKS tests, taking practise tests and hoping to go you pass these because if you fail the TAKS, you're likely to flunk. The elementary school down the road from us runs a cellphone jammer that, at times, disrupts our cellphones in the houses around it. I'm still waiting for the FCC to strangle them. The schools got an $8 million dollar grant to renovate said elementary school as well. All they did was knock out the first wall, redo it, paint it, expand a tad on the front entrance and that was that. $8 million dollars? Where in the hell did the rest of it go? Now let us ignore the fact that, on top of the American pledge, we must do the Texas pledge. (Wat.) Yes, Texas is such a snowflake it has its own pledge. Then you've got the consistent religious bullshit with churches showing up to pass out bibles, and holding prayer at the start of the day, and at school events. The city has one highschool. They refuse to build a new one because of costs, so the school is overcrowded with over 3,000 students. My classrooms were anywhere from 30-50 kids. Its become such a problem that teachers quit en masse this past year because the pay was too awful, and they were getting no support from the superintendent. No, what, you may ask, could they do to further waste money? We're going to buy every student a touchscreen laptop. Yes. A touschscreen laptop. A touchscreen laptop that I ever used but twice my entire time in school.

Now let us talk about jobs and healthcare. Texas is a Right to Work state. Given, I'm not a massive fan of unions, but with Texas, is a means to fuck you. A lot of places will merely terminate you for simply discussing, or talking about a union. That's it. Have a nice day! It's not uncommon, especially in the factory environment, to see businesses hire illegals. But Texas is a Republican state, everyone doesn't like illegals. Every factory I've worked at here has had a room, or a few rooms, full of illegal workers who were doing simple tasks. They never ate lunch with us, they never talked much to us (to me, in my case, because I speak Spanish), and they used an entirely different door from the rest of the plant. Given, I don't mind illegals so long as they're willing to work and pay taxes, but I do find the hypocrisy palpable.

Seeking employment, well, that's a funny thing. Most of the people working at McDonalds here are older people in their 40s. This has created a problem because those getting out of highschool (like myself) couldn't find the jobs that were meant to have to get ourselves started. 9 times out of 10. If you're sitting in an interview, and there's a soldier -- they'll take the soldier over you. It's happened time and time again, because they're given upmost priority here. Now, because of Texas' lovely mentality, businesses here lack oversight to the point that every job I've taken has done something that really teeters the line of being just outright illegal. I've seen factories fire people for injuries, and outright threaten people with their jobs, I've seen restaurants where there were roaches running around, or they'd drop raw chicken on the floor and simply cook it anyway.

I've seen, especially in factories, where employee safety was given not even two shits about. It rained one day. The roof has holes apparently, so it flooded much of the factory floor I was in. Why's this a problem? Well, the voltage boxes for the lights and machines were surrounded by pools of water. We were told to work anyway. We had constant fires thanks to the welders and they never threw the firealarm, even though, during one fire, three booths caught fire. They didn't make people wear paint masks in the paint room, which apparently had awful ventilation -- my friend there got so lightheaded he started throwing up.

And, they never had us wear protective sleeves if you were doing things with freshly hot welds -- this is where I got injured. So the frames we were welding had to be moved and measured, then balanced. There was no doing this slow because we had a quota we had to meet everyday. I had always been real careful about handling these because, well, it's a hot friggin weld. One day it slipped, the weld hit my arm and I got instant 2.d and 3rd degree burns to the point my skin was hanging off my arm. It's really kind of funny with businesses, they don't start caring until someone gets hurt. Naturally, I go to the ER. They treat it, unfortunately I have permanent nerve damage in part of my arm where the burn was, and so begins the fun. OSHA, for whatever reason, shows up. Now, you want to talk about a company busting ass.

Suddenly, they're all so surprised why none of us were wearing sleeves. Despite the fact the plant managers walked by us everyday up til this point. (Keep in mind, despite my injury and because I needed the money so badly, I went back to work the next day -- thank you painkillers) From there, I got pulled into meetings between OSHA and the plant supervisors for weeks on end. Everyweek, they made me write, and rewrite what happened. They were looking for one tiny, itsy detail they could use to say they weren't at fault. I wasn't even aware there were thermal sleeves, so it's not like I could've known any better, I was 18. Needless to say, OSHA apparently jumped down their throats and suddenly there were presentations about safety, bla bla bla. Once OSHA was gone? Pfffft, everything went back to normal. We then had a guy rivet his hand a month later. When I did security, I guarded a chemical plant. A plant that had a lovely chemical spill just months before (all of which you could still see because it had solidified in the parking lot as this rock hard orange substance). A plant with some really nasty chemicals.

Just a month before I got posted there, they also had a fire. After that, security was posted to watch the room where said fire had happened to ensure it didn't do it again. What I always found so funny on our Emergency plan was that, if something happened, we were suppose to call the plant managers before the emergency services. Not evacuate the plant or anything, call them first. If there was a spill or a fire, we were told to go find it. Keep in mind, we're dealing with some chemicals that, if it got into the air, it'd kill you outright. Thankfully, nothing happened while I was there.

Now, what about healthcare? Well, Texas decided to say fuck you to Obamacare, which rather sucked because I would have qualified. My income is just high enough, and just low enough that I couldn't get covered for any other plan. In fact, because of income, I didn't have health insurance since I was 15. I hadn't been to a dentist, eye-doctor, nada. There was no way I could afford it, and it was so bloody expensive, even before Obamacare was a thing that I'd sooner wait and see if why I was sick was something that was going to kill me.

So, I thought, if Texas did the medicaid expansion, looking it over, I would've finally had health insurance. I couldn't do insurance through my work because that was a $5,000 deductible. I don't even go to the doctors that bloody much. However, Texas didn't do it. When my bipolar got so bad, and I got suicidal for the fourth time, there was little choice. I needed to do something because I had been unmedicated for faaaaar too long. So, the only insurance plan I could qualify for was Indigent, which meant I had to make under $700/month. So I quit my job. Now, if you know anything about me, you're well aware how my treatment with these people who are the state has gone. It's funny really. Medicaid, I could've gotten good care, and the state would've covered it. Instead, the state's covering my healthcare here anyway, but it's shit care and I must see their doctors. It was soon after that I found out I had skin cancer, and thankfully got it checked out, but given another 6 months, I probably wouldn't have been here. Let us also ignore Baylor Scott and White whose monopolised the centre of the state like the cancer they are. So yes, Texas is a hellhole.

My Lady thank you for putting all of my collective frustrations with my shitty home state into one elegant post.

This reminds me of how airlines refuse to order Boeing 787s if they're built in the south Carolina plant simply because there are no unions keeping the standards high. They say specifically to have all their 787s come from the Washington plant.

Real sorry you had to go through that. Here in California, you usually don't have to worry about that kind of stuff happening here. Our worries usually come down to only one or two cocncerns--housing prices, and water sources (which we're already beginning to find solutions to btw.) There are problems with our large prison population, but in terms of the rate of incarceration, we're one of the states with a lower rate if I remember correctly. We also have a nice fat multi-billion dollar surplus here in Cali. If we actually took steps to reduce income inequality, the cost of living and create a state-funded single payer health system, and re-invest in our infrastructure--regardless of whether or not the rest of the country decides to sit on its ass on that front--we could have roughly the same super high quality of living as a place like Norway. There's money here. And, despite not living in an affluent area, the wealth stares you straight in the face. California needs to re-invest in its rural areas, while building affordable housing in the cities. And I mean good affordable housing, not something that gets neglected and infested by roaches (I heard in Texas, they have flying roaches, yikes!).

All in all, I think Texans need to swallow their pride, and look deep into their beliefs. I'm going to be honest. The principles that state runs on straight up suck. Despite California's problems, at least its virtues are consistent, and I can expect some normalcy here.

[Ransium]

Please don’t gravedig.