State Assemblyman Dan Logue Proposes Part-Time Legislature for California

California Assemblyman, Dan Logue introduced a breakthrough idea: a part time state legislature for California. A Republican, Logue announced his intention to introduce the idea in an essay carried by Channel 12 TV. Why breakthrough? Less government in any way, shape, or form is a new concept for California.

Logue's model is Texas, where the state legislature meets 140 days every other year and legislators receive a $7,200 salary. Compare this to California's full time Assembly, where legislators earn more than $95,000 per year with leaders earning more than $109,000 cranking out a plethora of rules, regulations, restrictions, and laws.

And earn they do, receiving their high-paying salaries to create regulations where none are needed. What results from legislators wanting to fill their days with productive work are the laws that prohibit businesses from operating effectively. The net effect is to make business difficult to conduct in California. When they have had enough, jobs and business migrate from the state.

In his essay of intent, Logue went on to compare California with Texas. In the period from 2008 to 2010, Texas created 165,000 jobs while California lost 1.2 million. While Golden State legislators are doing their jobs, business men and women are losing theirs. Such a state legislature is in the business of killing business for others, under the guise of protecting the people. From what? From gainful employment.

With its track record of excessive legislation that is unfriendly to business, California Assembly's approval ratings are among the lowest of all the states. If their job is to kill business, they doing a good job. With Texas as an economically viable state to copy, Logue looks for California's legislature to look like that of Texas. Less time to make laws makes for less restriction on business, thus addressing a growing problem at the cause.

Logue's approach appears to be one that is workable. If you can't create jobs in the private sector, make cuts in the government sectors responsible for jobs migration out of state. Furthermore, if state legislators are not fully employed in the Assembly, they just might seek employment in the business world. Such employment might produce a perspective that is absent now. Legislators have no concept of the consequences created by excessive regulation.

California has had models of success put up before it before. Most meet with resistance from an entitled population used to having government take care of them. But more and more, government is taking from them. Nevertheless, such a population continues to elect representatives quite unlike Logue, making Dan Logue and his ideas look like departures from the usual.

For California, Dan Logue's idea is indeed breakthrough.