Dan Walters at the Sacramento Bee alerts us to California’s new rank in business friendliness:

California has dropped from 34th to 40th place in Forbes magazine’s annual rankings of states’ business climates – just in time to help Republican legislators make their pitch for adopting business-friendly policies as part of any deal on the overdue state budget.

Here is the Forbes article, and here is the full rankings chart. It’s particularly interesting to note that California ranked dead last in the business cost category but ranked 12th in economic climate. Perhaps there is so much inherent opportunity in California that it continues to thrive despite the legislature’s attempts to stop it.