Web Version [link removed] | Update Preferences [link removed] Business Climate and Job Creation U.S. Economy Added 225,000 Jobs In January

U.S. hiring strengthened in January as more Americans hopped into the labor market, helping juice up the economy at the start of the year.

Employers added 225,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate ticked up to 3.6% from 3.5% in December, an increase that reflected more Americans looking for work, the Labor Department said Friday.

Wages climbed 3.1% from a year earlier, a touch higher than December’s year-over-year rise of 3%.

“The labor market and the consumer are the strength of the economy and they’re in good shape,” said Eric Winograd, senior economist at AllianceBernstein.

Read More [[link removed]] Bill To Boost Unions Advances In U.S. House

The Democratic-led House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation aimed at strengthening organized labor when U.S. union membership has fallen to record lows.

The election-year bill, opposed by businesses, has little chance in the Republican-controlled Senate, but it could play into 2020 election politics as both parties seek to appeal to workers.

Unions traditionally provide financial and boots-on-the-ground support to Democratic candidates, but the alliance has become strained. President Trump in 2016 won 39% of union votes, the most for any Republican candidate since President Reagan, according to a Cooperative Congressional Election Study.

Read More [[link removed]] The Great Affordability Crisis Breaking America

In the 2010s, the national unemployment rate dropped from a high of 9.9 percent to its current rate of just 3.5 percent. The economy expanded each and every year. Wages picked up for high-income workers as soon as the Great Recession ended, and picked up for lower-income workers in the second half of the decade. Americans’ confidence in the economy hit its highest point since 2000, right before the dot-com bubble burst. The headline economic numbers looked good, if not great.

But beyond the headline economic numbers, a multifarious and strangely invisible economic crisis metastasized: Let’s call it the Great Affordability Crisis. This crisis involved not just what families earned but the other half of the ledger, too—how they spent their earnings. In one of the best decades the American economy has ever recorded, families were bled dry by landlords, hospital administrators, university bursars, and child-care centers. For millions, a roaring economy felt precarious or downright terrible.

Read More [[link removed]] Rent Control Proposition Officially Makes The 2020 November Ballot

Earlier this week Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced that the “Rental Affordability Act” ballot initiative received enough verified signatures to make the November ballot. Almost 1 million signatures had been gathered last year, nearly 400,000 more than the necessary 623,212 needed.

Under the new proposition, cities can place rent control on homes and in buildings at least 15 years old. Landlords would also be capped at rent increases for vacated apartments at 5% a year for the first three years before rent control comes into effect. Landlords who own two or fewer homes would be exempt from the proposed rent control law.

Supporters of the new “Rental Affordability Act” proposition, led by Los Angeles based AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein, have backed the measure in response to the housing crisis, higher rents, a rising homeless population, and the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which makes it difficult for local governments to put rent control measures in place in buildings made after 1995.

Read More [[link removed]] UCLA Economists Forecast Strong Commercial Real Estate Market For California

lthough the economy is predicted to slow in 2020, developers’ views on most California commercial real estate are optimistic, and they reflect an eagerness to get in on the ground floor of the next commercial real estate expansionary cycle, according to a UCLA economic forecast released Wednesday.

The Allen Matkins/UCLA Anderson Forecast‘s winter 2020 Commercial Real Estate Survey projects a three-year-ahead outlook for California’s commercial real estate industry and forecasts potential opportunities and challenges impacting the office, multi-family, retail, and industrial sectors.

Overall, survey panelists for each market, with the exception of retail, predict that 2022 will be as good or better than 2019, according to a statement accompanying the survey. Panelists are optimistic about industrial and multi-family projects, while office markets are neutral, and retail space sentiment remains generally pessimistic.

Read More [[link removed]] 'California For All' vs. Daunting Reality

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s website is topped by his official slogan, “California for All.”

“The California Dream — the idea that every person can achieve a better life, regardless of where they start out — is central to who we are as Californians,” it declares. “Even in a time of economic growth and record employment, too many Californians are experiencing the squeeze of stagnant wages and the rising price of building-block necessities such as housing, health care, education, and child care. We can and must reanimate the California Dream, building a California for All.”

In polling, most Californians endorse that noble vision, but the reality is daunting. Last week, Newsom referred to California as “the richest and poorest state,” and the gap is widening.

Read More [[link removed]] San Diego's Economic Future Looks Good, Except For Housing, Say Experts

The economic future of San Diego County looks bright with little chance of recession, but housing issues could slow growth, panelists said Wednesday at an economic forum at the University of San Diego.

Keynote speaker Chris Thornberg of Beacon Economics stressed to a crowd of more than 300 at the annual San Diego County Economic Roundtable that fundamentals of the economy were so strong that fears of a recession didn’t make sense. Also, he urged people to get it out of their heads that a big slowdown was part of an inevitable business cycle.

However, the economist stressed that San Diego County was not keeping up with housing demand and it could have the effect of shrinking the workforce — and workers are something that the region desperately needs. He cited recent data that showed San Diego County adding 34,800 jobs in 2020, but fewer than 9,000 housing units.

Read More [[link removed]] What Happens If California Takes Over PG&E?

Calling the bankruptcy of California’s largest investor-owned utility a “godsend,” Gov. Gavin Newsom has threatened a public takeover of Pacific Gas & Electric unless it can transform into a provider of affordable, reliable, clean and — above all — safe energy. That means no more ferocious wildfires sparked by PG&E equipment. That means no more fire-season blackouts that drag on for days or weeks, disrupting the state’s $3 trillion economy.

It has been a little over a year since PG&E sought Chapter 11 protection, fearful that it might be locked out of the capital market by mounting wildfire liability and a fire-prone, climate-driven future. Reorganization was intended to give the company breathing room, keep utility workers employed — and keep Northern California’s lights on.

PG&E hasn’t been without lifelines. Last year, the state created a fund to help utilities deal with the rising risk of wildfires. If PG&E emerges from bankruptcy by June 30, it can qualify for that assistance — something it desperately needs to get out of a hole created by nearly $25 billion in settlements with wildfire victims and insurers. One by one, as the current reorganization has proceeded, those victims, insurers and bondholders have signed on to PG&E’s plan, in order to be repaid.

Read More [[link removed]] AB 5 Author Lorena Gonzalez May Relax Rules For Freelance Writers, Photographers

The chief architect of California’s sweeping new employment classification law said Thursday her office will push to amend it to roll back restrictions on freelance journalists and photographers.

Some freelance journalists said the new law, AB 5, severely restricted their ability to work. The law, which took effect Jan. 1, aims to rein in companies’ use of independent contractors to ensure more workers receive employment protections such as health insurance and paid sick days.

The law’s author, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, wrote in a series of tweets that she will introduce legislation to tweak and clarify the law and ease its implementation. Changes include removing the 35-article-per-year limit on freelance submissions before a journalist must be classified as a part- or full-time employee and clarifying that photographers and videographers can sell their work through platforms such as Getty and Shutterstock without being classified as employees.

Read More [[link removed]] Uber Urges California Court To End Law That Gives Gig Workers Benefits

Uber Technologies Inc. wants to smother what the company calls California’s “Frankenstein” gig-worker protection law before state officials turn it loose.

Uber and Postmates Inc. are scheduled Friday to ask a federal judge in Los Angeles to block enforcement of the landmark law, Assembly Bill 5, that would convert gig-economy workers from independent contractors to employees with benefits. Uber says reclassifying workers that way would add 20% to 40% in labor costs for on-demand companies by making them restructure their business models.

California argues A.B. 5 will repair the erosion of the middle class and income inequality that gig companies have contributed to through the exploitation of workers. Uber calls it an “irrational Frankenstein-like statute,” stitched together to unfairly target gig companies while exempting favored industries.

Read More [[link removed]] Business Tax Will Harm Palo Alto

The Bay Area has an affordability crisis, with Palo Alto businesses closing their doors or relocating to more affordable markets, as seen in daily news stories and empty storefronts. Yet, the cost of doing business in Palo Alto could get more expensive, since the City Council has been exploring options to place a business tax measure on the November 2020 ballot.

At its meeting on Jan. 27, the City Council directed city staff to develop a detailed tax proposal based on an employee headcount approach, which in essence will be a tax on jobs in Palo Alto. This tax structure would affect all businesses but would disproportionately impact smaller businesses that only operate in Palo Alto. By taxing businesses based on their Palo Alto headcount, larger companies may choose not to hire locally in Palo Alto. Small and medium sized businesses would have an extra financial burden.

Our local businesses will inevitably add this additional tax cost to their prices, so ultimately Palo Alto residents will be adversely affected, too. Small businesses that cannot pass along additional costs might have to close their businesses entirely. And a business tax would impose a costly compliance burden on Palo Alto businesses and significant administrative costs on the city.

Read More [[link removed]] Energy and Climate Change California's Multibillion-Dollar Problem: The Toxic Legacy Of Old Oil Wells

Across much of California, fossil fuel companies are leaving thousands of oil and gas wells unplugged and idle, potentially threatening the health of people living nearby and handing taxpayers a multibillion-dollar bill for the environmental cleanup.

From Kern County to Los Angeles, companies haven’t set aside anywhere near enough money to ensure these drilling sites are cleaned up and made safe for future generations, according to a months-long data analysis and investigation by the Los Angeles Times and the Center for Public Integrity.

Of particular concern are about 35,000 wells sitting idle, with production suspended, half of them for more than a decade. Though California recently toughened its regulations to ensure more cleanup funds are available, those measures don’t go far enough, according to a recent state report and the Times/Public Integrity analysis. California’s oil industry is in decline, which increases the chances that companies will go out of business. That, in turn, could leave the state with the costs for cleaning up their drilling sites, which if left unremediated can contaminate water supplies and waft fumes into people’s homes.

Read More [[link removed]] 'Avoid Being Kodak': Sempra CEO On The Future Of Natural Gas, LNG And How It Fits In California

Sempra CEO Jeff Martin sees a big future for natural gas globally, even if its consumption in California trends lower in the coming years.

The volume of natural gas will decline in California as the state moves toward a goal of deriving 100 percent of its electricity from carbon-free sources within the next 25 years, Martin said in a recent interview with the Union-Tribune. That will occur at the same time the fuel increases its share of the power mix in developing economies such as India and China.

The dichotomy isn’t lost on Martin.

“If you want to avoid being Kodak,” Martin said, referring to the photography giant that became obsolete at stunning speed after the development of high-quality cameras inside smartphones, “it’s your job as a leadership team to keep redefining the relevancy and the resiliency of your business model. We’re here to serve the state of California. So the more we align ourselves with good and sound energy policy, I feel quite good about our future.”

Read More [[link removed]] Why Some Cities Are Targeting Gas Stoves To Fight Climate Change

Ever since the Green New Deal became a key talking point and policy goal of progressive politicians last year, there’s been a renewed push to make American homes and buildings better for the environment. For a growing number of municipalities and local leaders, part of the answer lies in shifting homes toward relying solely on electricity, instead of gas, for cooking, heating, and running appliances.

The current movement for U.S. municipalities to eliminate natural gas from homes first gained momentum in California. In 2018, the state’s then-governor, Jerry Brown, signed a pair of laws that funded research into reducing building emissions and developing clean heating technology.

Read More [[link removed]] Climate Change Fears Put US Gas Utilities On Defensive

US natural gas utilities are rallying against an emergent threat to their historically stable business as communities worried about climate change block new pipelines and gas connections for homes.

As the cleanest-burning fossil fuel, natural gas reduced total US energy-related carbon emissions as it displaced coal at power stations. The majority of household heating, hot water and cooking is now fuelled by gas, while it is also the most-used input for US electricity generation, aided by cheap supplies from shale drilling.

However, this has led annual emissions from gas to increase by nearly 500m tonnes in the past 10 years, including a 4 per cent rise in 2019, the Energy Information Administration estimates.

Read More [[link removed]] $44 Million Zero-Emissions Freight Project Launched By California Air Resources Board

The California Air Resources Board recently launched a $44 million voucher project at the Port of San Diego to help support the purchasing of zero-emissions off-road freight equipment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The equipment is for use at rail freight yards, distribution centers, ports, and airports. Electric vehicles used for personal transportation like the Teslas, Chevy Bolts, and the Ford Mach Es get a lot of press, but sustainable transportation goes far beyond personal vehicles. Commercial and industrial vehicles produce greenhouse gas emissions as well, so that problem needs to be addressed. CALSTART, a national non-profit accelerating the transition to clean transportation, answered some questions about the Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Project (CORE) for CleanTechnica.

For terminal tractors, railcar movers, and transport refrigeration units running on diesel at goods-movement hubs, like ports, airports distribution centers, and rail freight yards, are most or all of these forms of transportation running currently on diesel? Are forklifts running on gas or diesel also candidates for replacement by all-electric versions?

Most freight handling equipment is either diesel or propane-fueled. Forklifts with a lifting capacity greater than 8,000 pounds are eligible for funding. Additionally, CORE does not require buyers to ‘replace’ or destroy their old equipment; instead they can add zero-emission equipment to their fleet as we begin to transition the entire industry.

Read More [[link removed]] Chevron To Evaluate CO2 Capture Technologies For California Facility

Chevron Technology Ventures (CTV) commissioned a pre-FEED study that will explore the potential for trialing carbon-capture technology in Chevron’s operations. The study will evaluate the feasibility and design of a 10,000 ton per year carbon capture unit from Svante Inc. in one of Chevron’s California facilities, and is expected to be complete in the first half of 2020.

“We are thrilled to be working alongside one of our earliest investors towards a solution that will contribute to a low carbon future,” said Claude Letourneau, president and CEO of Svante Inc. “We have a demonstration plant in Saskatchewan capturing 10,000 tons per year from an industrial natural gas steam boiler. This project will take the learnings from our demonstration plant to design and build an improved second-of-a-kind facility using our state-of-the-art proprietary nano-filter technology.’’

Chevron has been an active supporter in developing carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies. CTV first invested in Svante in 2014.

Read More [[link removed]] California Communities Sue Fossil Fuel Companies, Demanding State Court Hold Them Accountable for Climate Crisis

Eight local governments in California on Wednesday called on fossil fuel companies to take responsibility for polluting their communities and contributing to the climate crisis—and the effects the resulting extreme weather events, rising sea levels, and heatwaves have already had, following a key federal hearing regarding their lawsuits against the companies.

"It has been two years or more since our communities first filed these cases to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the climate change related damages they knowingly caused and the high costs our taxpayers are already incurring as a result," the governments said in a statement after their oral arguments were heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Pasadena, California. "It is time for the defendants to be held accountable for their decades-long campaign of public deception."

The appeals court heard cases brought by two coalitions of local governments, which want their cases heard by a state court, which they believe will be more favorable to them than a federal court.

Read More [[link removed]] Workforce Development Central Valley Schools Aim To Reduce Poverty Through Job Training

On a recent school day in Fresno, Fernando Valero repaired a 32,000-pound diesel truck with failed sensors. Then he crawled under another truck before lifting it with a floor jack. The morning school work left his hands black from grease.

And his day was just getting started.

After lunch, Valero left Duncan Polytechnical High School and headed to a job where he’s paid as a regular employee. Much like his classroom labor, he works with technicians fixing trucks for local customers.

There is a good chance the 17-year-old high school senior will keep his job after he graduates in June. School officials say that’s the goal.

Read More [[link removed]] Less Than A Third Of California Students Met Or Exceeded Standards On New Science Test

At a time when California is placing a greater emphasis on science education, most students did not score at a proficient level on the state’s new science test, with scores especially low among several student groups.

The results of the test were released this week. They represent the first scores on the California Science Test, a new test developed by the California Department of Education, to measure progress on the Next Generation Science Standards adopted by California in 2013.

Statewide, 32 percent of 5th-graders, 31 percent of 8th-graders and 28 percent of high school students met or exceeded standards on the California science test aligned to the new standards.

Read More [[link removed]] San Francisco Bay Area District Could Lay Off 250 Teachers

Laying off 250 teachers and increasing class sizes are among the potentially unavoidable budget-cutting options facing West Contra Costa Unified in the San Francisco Bay Area.

To come up with cuts totaling $32 million for 2020-21, “layoffs may be an unavoidable part of the solution,” said Superintendent Matthew Duffy in a recent budget update, adding that cuts to central office administrators “sadly will be severe.”

In a message to the community that includes Richmond and surrounding areas, Duffy wrote: “All of the reductions that will be made are painful and will in some way change the way this district provides services. As we tackle this problem and search for solutions, I want you to know that we are keenly aware of the potential impact these decisions will have on the programs and services the district provides to students and families.”

Read More [[link removed]] Oakland Unified Superintendent Recommends Laying Off More Than 68 Staffers To Close Budget Gap

Oakland Unified Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell proposes has proposed to lay off more than 68 staffers to come up with more than half of the $21.5 million that the district says it needs to cut from next year’s budget.

Johnson-Trammell said the layoffs could save up to $12.3 million in the district’s 2020-21 budget. The district would have to come up with $9.7 million in additional cuts to offset rising costs and to give raises to non-teaching staff unions with whom the district is currently negotiating new contracts. The figure also includes new spending for technology and creating a central kitchen.

The three members of the board’s Budget and Finance Committee, which heard the proposal for the first time Monday, raised concerns about across-the-board cuts to schools, with committee members saying they would prefer an “equity-based” formula for calculating cuts so that low-income schools would not suffer the brunt of the reductions. They also asked for a school-by-school analysis of how the cuts would impact each site by dollar amount, as well as by positions to be eliminated.

Read More [[link removed]] Infrastructure and Housing California Must Get Past Differences On Water. Voluntary Agreements Are The Path Forward

Water is the lifeblood of our state. It sustains communities, wildlife and our economy—all of which make California the envy of the world.

Reliably securing this vital and limited resource into the future remains a challenge, especially with a warming and changing climate.

For more than a year, my Administration has worked to find a comprehensive solution for the Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta—a path to immediately improve the health of these waterways, create certainty for the 35 million Californians who depend on these water sources, and maintain the economic vitality of the Central Valley.

Historically, disputes over water, or what some call “water wars,” have pitted stakeholders against one another: urban vs. rural; agriculture vs. conservation; North vs. South.

Read More [[link removed]] Generation Rent: Why San Francisco's Housing Is So Unaffordable

A miracle arrived in my inbox this week: an advert for a studio flat for rent in San Francisco that was light-filled, furnished and affordable. “TAKE IT” wrote the friend who forwarded the link. “But make sure you read the bit at the bottom first.”

The bit at the bottom turned out to be a caveat that the renter would have the space to themselves only “90 per cent of the time” because the owners wanted to use it for “communication classes”. I’ve lived in freewheeling San Francisco long enough to know where this was going. One graphic Google search result for the owner’s intimacy workshops later and I said goodbye to the studio.

In San Francisco it is always best to check. California’s wellness industry has managed to entwine capitalism and spirituality so successfully that you can pay for classes and therapies in alternative lifestyles you may not know existed. At one party, I was advised that the very best cure for hangovers was not water or an aspirin but cryotherapy, an infrared sauna and a lymphatic drainage massage — total cost $250. Down in Santa Monica, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop empire has produced a six-part documentary with Netflix that will show you just how seriously hallucinogens and energy healing are taken.

Read More [[link removed]] Burdensome Regulations Stymie Backyard Cottage Production, UC Berkeley Study Finds

Despite numerous California state legislative wins in support of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in the last three years, local regulations still limit their production, UC Berkeley researchers have found.

UC Berkeley’s Center for Community Innovation graded local ADU ordinances throughout the state on a scale of A-F on their friendliness to ADU construction. Researchers reviewed over 200 ordinances based on 16 equally weighted criteria assessing their consistency with state law and user-friendliness for homeowners. Cities received extra credit for relaxed parking requirements for ADUs and maximum size requirements for attached and detached ADUs.

“Making it easy to build ADUs is a critical piece of the comprehensive approach to housing needed to solve California’s affordability crisis,” said Karen Chapple, faculty director of the center and professor and chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning. “Delighted as we have been with California’s progress in ADU reform, we were dismayed to see that many cities are writing new ordinances that are still complex and burdensome for homeowners.”

Read More [[link removed]] Where California Heads Next On Affordable Housing Crisis

Efforts to address California’s affordable housing crisis may have hit reset with the demise of a disputed bill that would have scaled back local zoning laws to increase density.

There’s no doubt the approach embodied in Senate Bill 50, which failed for the third time last week, will be central to the discussions, but so will alternatives.

One affordable housing group that opposed the bill has developed a sweeping outline for legislation that focuses on assisting first-time homebuyers and renters while changing laws to discourage real estate speculation that some believe is part of the problem.

Better Way CA, based in Oakland, has proposals for middle- and low-income housing, homeless shelters and revolving funds to help homebuyers, renters and developers who build affordable housing.

Read More [[link removed]] Wanted: An 'All-Of-The-Above' Housing Strategy

There is general agreement that California remains in a housing affordability crisis that is hitting the state’s working families extremely hard, forcing long polluting commutes and causing spiraling rates of homelessness. But opinions differ markedly on the appropriate response to the increasingly dire situation.

The only proposal that was remotely scaled to the size of the challenge SB 50 (Wiener) suffered another legislative setback. Though objections to the bill were various, its opponents offered few alternatives that provided credible paths to producing the additional homes needed to provide relief to suffering Californians, reduce pollution, and bring our unhoused brothers and sisters back inside.

As we think about the next step in addressing California’s housing crisis, we need to recommit ourselves to the “All of the Above” strategy rather than fiddling with housing politics, while the money in Californians’ pockets burns. This would bring a range of strategies to bear — from redressing historically discriminatory downzoning to providing tools for localities to finance needed infrastructure to ensuring that we are using all appropriate land for development.

Read More [[link removed]] Editorial and Opinion For A Reliable Grid, California Must Capture And Store Wind And Solar Energy

In the October fires, millions of Californians have experienced the consequences of unprecedented power outages.

When winds whipped up to record speeds in areas with dry grass and unprotected power lines, utilities concluded the only answer power grid operators had was to shut off electricity to millions.

The rain is here now, but for the families and businesses affected by power shutoffs, the memory is vivid.

Unfortunately, when our electric grid was built decades ago, no one foresaw how climate change would increase fire danger to create the conditions for these large-scale shutoffs. Now, even people in urban areas risk losing power or risk losing their homes to extreme wildfires.

Read More [[link removed]] What Is California Doing To Fight Climate Change? Not Enough To Prevent Catastrophe

This is a year of great significance for California. It’s the start of a new decade and the landmark 2020 presidential election year.

We’re also less than 10 years out from a critical deadline. Scientists say we have until 2030 to stop the most catastrophic impacts of our climate crisis. That’s not much time, especially considering that families and small businesses across our state have suffered greatly from the devastating consequences of climate inaction, from wildfires to flooding.

With this in mind, we evaluated how California is doing in addressing climate change. Our state is thought of as a world leader in this fight. California’s 2006 historic law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was a watershed moment, but what have we done since then? Are we poised to tackle this decade with the kind of leadership that this crisis demands?

Read More [[link removed]] Stinking, Shrinking California vs. Fantastic, Flourishing Florida--A Tale Of Two States

Let's look at three recent newspaper headlines, all seemingly unrelated. But are they really? I think not.

Witness the tale of three recent stories:

FLORIDA PULLS IN BILLIONS AMID HIGH-TAX STATE EXODUS

“I think that California can serve as a great example … something the rest of the country looks up to.” -- Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg

“Today’s groundbreaking is just another indication that Florida remains the best state in the nation to start or grow a business.” Governor Ron DeSantis, hailing Spirit Airlines’ decision to locate a new headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, beating out Dallas, Texas.

“(Florida) greeted the largest number of U-Haul® moving trucks entering its borders versus exiting them, establishing a new No. 1 growth state for the first time in four years…." California ranked 49th. -- U-Haul annual growth survey.

Bloomberg's notion that the now-tarnished “Golden State” can be a model for anyone would be laughable if it weren’t for the tragedies driving out desperate citizens all over that state.

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