This week, a bill came before the State Assembly that would “ban” debit card fees. It never ceases to amaze me how people seem to think that if the government steps in and bans something, it will go away entirely.

The reality is that banks charge retailers a transaction fee for using debt cards and credit cards. Retailers can choose to charge their customers this fee up front, or they can simply pay the fee and (presumably) build it in to the cost of their goods and services. Either way, the fee has to be paid and the current system that allows retailers to charge the fee on top of the transaction is transparent. Consumers can choose to either pay the fee, pay with cash, or take their business elsewhere.

By “banning” the fee to consumers, we don’t get rid of it. It still has to be paid and banks can still charge for it as there is a cost to them to provide the service. What SB 933 ends up doing is eliminating transparency for the consumer and completely shifting the cost of the fee to the small business retailer. The consumer no longer gets a choice, the small business gets stuck paying the transaction fees and in the end, consumers all end up paying more for their goods and services in order to subsidize those who use debit cards. It’s just generally a bad idea. Here is the recorded vote on the bill and below is a video of my arguments on the floor of the Assembly.

There will be a public memorial for State Senator Dave Cox on August 5th at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Downtown Sacramento located at 1017 11th Street. The ceremony begins promptly at 10:00am.

In lieu of flowers, the Cox family asks that donations be made to the Dave and Maggie Cox Scholarship Fund with the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, 740 University Ave., Suite 110, Sacramento, CA 95825.

I was recently a guest of radio talk show host Eric Hogue, where we shared some memories of my good friend Dave. Here’s a link to the story and the actual audio of my chat with Eric.

There’s been a lot of talk this week about removing the $11 billion water bond from the November 2010 ballot and putting it on the 2012 ballot. Many think it won’t pass if it’s on this year’s ballot. I say, get rid of it all together. California can’t afford it and for the Sacramento region and the North State, it’s a bad deal that won’t provide the additional water storage that we need. Here are my comments on the bond at a press conference held earlier this year.

Below are my recommendations for the June 8th Primary Election

Governor: Meg Whitman

Secretary of State: Damon Dunn

Controller: Tony Strickland

Treasurer: Mimi Walters

Attorney General: Tom Harmon

Ins. Commissioner: Mike Villines

U.S. Senator: Chuck Devore

State Senate District 4: Doug LaMalfa

Assembly District 5: Andy Pugno

County Bd of Ed Dist. 3: Matt Hedges

County BOS, District 2: Jimmy Yee

District Attorney: Jan Scully

Sac County Sheriff: Scott Jones

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Proposition 13:  Limits on Property Tax Assessment.  Seismic Retrofitting of Existing Buildings.
Recommendation:  Yes

Proposition 14:   Elections:  Increases Right to Participate in Primary Elections
Recommendation:  Yes

Proposition 15:  California Fair Elections Act
Recommendation:  No

Proposition 16:  Imposes New Two-Thirds Voter Approval Requirement for Local Public Electricity Providers.
Recommendation:  No

Proposition 17:  Allows Auto Insurance Companies to Base their Prices in Part on a Driver’s History if Insurance Coverage.  Recommendation:  Yes

Please join me and Senator George Runner at our second Foster Care and Adoption Day event on May 15. This time, we will be at Arcade Church in Sacramento. If you are considering adoption or becoming a foster parent, please come out to this workshop to find out what you need to know. Specific information on the event is here

Join Senator Runner and Assemblyman Niello for a Sacramento Foster Care event 5.1.2010 from CA Senate Republican Caucus on Vimeo.

The Governor signed SB 401 yesterday afternoon, just three days before the April 15 Tax filing deadline.  This is good news and will save many displaced homeowners a lot of anxiety and grief about their potential tax bills from forgiven mortgage debt on negotiated short sales in 2009.  The Franchise Tax Board posted this information on their website regarding the new conformity.   If you think you may have forgiven debt that is now not subject to California State income tax, I urge you to visit this site.

While it was good to finally get this exemption approved and signed into law, it is unfortunate that this issue had to become the political football that it did.  While I have had legislation to fix this one federal tax conformity issue for over a year, ultimately, this provision was tossed into legislation at the 11th hour, SB 401, that while eliminating a tax burden for thousands, will raise taxes on others.  Because of this, I, and many of my colleagues who believed that the tax exemption was the right thing to do, was forced to vote against SB 401.

Take a look at this video of Joseph Vranich, a “business relocation coach” that helps businesses relocate from California to other states. He runs down the top ten list of why businesses are calling the moving companies and leaving California.

After viewing this, it is any wonder why California’s unemployment rate is still so high. California is no longer competitive with the rest of the country.

chamber of commerce speaker 2.24.10 from CA Assembly GOP on Vimeo.

Below you’ll find the video highlights, or maybe we ought to call them lowlights, of our Roseville Business regulatory hearings held in January. Unfortunately, everywhere we go, we continue to find stories of businesses who are prevented from growing and hiring new employees or are being forced to look elsewhere to grow.

Senator Cox and I are committed to continue to hear from these businesses, however, and we have scheduled another hearing for February 23, in Rancho Cordova. Please join us if you have a story to tell about your business being impacted by the regulatory climate of California. Details are here on my website.

Business Regulation Hearing from CA Assembly GOP on Vimeo.

You know you’re having an impact when the opposition squeals. And, sometimes the more shrill the squeal the more successful you can feel. Such is the case for Senator Dave Cox’s and my hearings on business regulations.

A liberal blogger, Adam Eran, has taken the bait. See his piece here. Aside from his clumsy attempt at misdirection, he opens his rant with an inaccuracy that betrays his knee-jerk close-mindedness.

We must be doing something right!

The whole of Mr. Eran’s blog post is just the tired regurgitation of the left’s vilification of the Bush years and past Republican dominance at the national level. Even they must be growing weary. It is a tediously familiar recant of the allegedly lax regulatory enforcement of the Bush administration that was the supposed sole cause of the economic mess we’re in, and the stale accusation of wanting to starve government that goes back to the myths stoked in bringing down Newt Gingrich.

The former ignores the policies of Democrats that encouraged loans to those simply with a pulse and facilitated by the shaky Freddy and Fanny propped up by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. The latter is the perpetuation of a fiction born out of a total perversion of an out-of-context quote by the former Speaker.

But, more importantly, it is all an irrelevant misdirection. Our hearings have nothing to do with national policy. And the business people who have testified are not concerned with partisan politics. They are battling for their economic lives, threatened by a tanked economy. All they see is the hand of their state government, through rules restricting their legitimate operating flexibility and personified by the California Air Resources Board zealously regulating away their livelihood and that of their employees, pushing their heads back under the rising tide of economic woe.

A helping hand for our job producers would seem wise, but Mr. Eran just wants to re-live his distaste of George Bush and Newt Gingrich. Get over it!

His lack of any grasp of the fundamental issue, though, was exposed at the outset. He attacks my mention of the “partisan” report by Sacramento State Dean Sanjay Varshney exposing the costs of regulating greenhouse gases. Other than the fact that he perverts that particular report, he actually had the wrong one. I actually cited a Varshney study that was commissioned as a result of legislation approved in the Democratic Majority State Legislature, and authored by a Democrat. The study was an analysis of the impact of all regulations on small business.

Simply put, Mr. Eran used the occasion of our hearings to simply “hear himself speak.” His simplistic frustrations of his liberal outlook don’t allow him to see the compelling points of our effort. We are simply interested in discussing what California can do to enable our economic recovery. Mr. Eran wants to wax partisanship.

As I said, we must be doing something right!

Senator Dave Cox and I held hearings earlier this week at the State Capitol and in Citrus Heights to hear from area-employers who are frustrated by the myriad of state and local regulations. As you can see from the attached video clip of the State Capitol hearing, we heard from several local business owners and representatives who are fearful of what these regulations will do to their businesses and the employees that they hire.

Asm. Niello Business/Jobs Hearing from CA Assembly GOP on Vimeo.