Forgive me for being blunt, but what a stupid comment.
We are both in agreement that California is a shitshow, but to call it irrelevant is absurd. California is a massive economy all on it's own, and it continues to grow. And I assure you that there are a lot of people moving to other places on the West Coast (like here in Oregon) who would have moved to California instead if they could afford it.
I'm so tired of this culture war making people desperate to shit all over California at any opportunity. It can be an absolute mess and be a place where a massive influx of innovators and disruptors setup shop; those things are not mutually exclusive.
By "irrelevant" I mean irrelevant for manufacturers or people who want to create a prosperous business.
The headwinds any business owner faces in moving there (can't really imagine that) are:
1. An income tax of up to 12.3% which is also applied to all capital gains (highest in the country)
2. Sales tax of 7.25% (also highest in the country)
3. Workers Comp rate of 1.67% (5th highest in country)
4. Income taxes on married couples with two incomes are boosted, so they pay more together than if they were single
5. Highest electricity, water and fuel costs in the country
7. Daily overtime rules that require time and a half pay for work over 8 hours in a day.
8. Local movable property taxes (yes, some cities in CA actually will inspect and put an annual tax on every piece of capital equipment in your shop)
9. Rules that let employees go on workmans comp even if they hurt themself by reckless actions or actions that violated company policies
10. Rules that prevent companies from questioning worker comp medical claims and allowing workers to go on workers comp for unverifiable reasons like a "back pain"
11. Rules that force employers to retain employees that are unable to work due to "injury", so an employee can have "back pain", go home, do nothing and get paid medical insurance at $15,000 per year for the rest of their life PLUS get workmans comp; if you try to fire or let go such an employee California has powerful laws that allow them to sue you and win.
12. Onerous "business licensing" rules that subject companies to elaborate inspections and questioning in order to operate. For example, to get permission to open a restaurant in California can take up to 2 years. Consequently, many people eat out of food trucks in California--which have their own licensing regime.
13. Large and aggressive state inspectors to enforce "wastewater pollution" rules, "air pollution" rules, protection of "endangered plants" rules, and workplace rules that involve constant inspections, information reporting and obstruct changes to company premises or creation of new sites.
14. Constant intrusive inspections, petty licensing and questioning of businesses to enforce "recycling" rules. For example, any company that uses or handles lubricants is required to get a "hazardous waste permit"
15. The California "Consumer Rights" and California Environmental Quality Act law that allows anyone, especially independent lawyers to sue companies for breaking state regulations. There are a class of lawyers in California that specialize in finding companies breaking any kind of state regulation (water, recycling, air pollution, killing endangered plants, etc) and then suing them in a "class action". Unions often file spurious CEQA lawsuits against companies to coerce them to unionize or submit to favorable union-related rules or accept higher wage agreements.
16. Extremely strict ADA laws that require luxurious handicapped ramps everywhere and other expensive facilities, and allow independent, private lawyers to sue companies for even minor infractions of ADA rules, like having too few "handicapped parking" spaces, for example.
17. "Workplace Environment" laws that allow private individuals to sue companies for having a "hostile work environment". So, if one of your employees bullies another employee, then a private lawyer who has no connection to either one of them can sue YOU, the business owner, because in California it's the business owner's responsibility to make sure employees are nice to each other and have pleasant, inoffensive personalities.
18. Defective infrastructure and lack of basic civic support. Because of the hostile environment in California basic civic infrastructure is often lacking. For example, garbage collection businesses are difficult to operate in California, so many places have no reliable garbage collection. Businesses that can afford it have to pay high rates to get it collected. In many places garbage just piles up in the streets until the town makes a large one-off payment to a remote company that comes in and sweeps the streets once or twice a year. Sewer overflows and backups are common.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By comparison, I moved to New Hampshire (from Taxachusetts) four years ago and I have literally NEVER seen an inspector ever. I fill out only one form per year: a US Federal Income Tax form. The only inspection of any kind I have to endure are once per year vehicle inspections of my various cars and trucks. There is no sales tax and no capital gains tax or any other kind of tax, except property taxes.
