Web Version [link removed] | Update Preferences [link removed] CBRT in the News CFBF Opposes Split-Roll Measure On Property Taxes

Warning of higher taxes on barns, dairies, wineries, processing plants, vineyards and orchards, the California Farm Bureau Federation has voted to oppose a state ballot initiative on property taxes that appears headed for the November ballot.

Known as Initiative 19-0008, the measure would establish a split-roll property tax that would reassess commercial and industrial property, including agricultural facilities. Backers are collecting signatures to qualify the initiative, and expect to submit enough signatures before the April 14 deadline.

"It's unusual for Farm Bureau to oppose a measure at this early stage, but our board of directors is very concerned about the impact this initiative would have on rural California," CFBF President Jamie Johansson said.

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"Whether on a tree or vine, at a dairy or at a processing facility, every fresh fruit, vegetable and gallon of milk we buy at the grocery store will cost more under this property tax initiative," said California Business Roundtable President Rob Lapsley, a co-chair of the coalition.

Read More [[link removed]] Prop. 13 Is Back On The Ballot: Here's What You Need To Know

The California primary ballot contains a school measure that asks voters to borrow billions of dollars to support public schools.

Prop. 13? Are we voting on that again?

Yes and no.

This measure is not the original Prop. 13 -- the one that Howard Jarvis championed back in 1978 to limit property tax increases. This is a new Prop. 13.

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The California Business Roundtable is one of many groups supporting the measure.

“We, from a business community standpoint, consider Proposition 13 to be just absolutely, critically important to the future of education,” said Robert Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable.

The Business Roundtable is joined by the California Teachers Association and many other groups in supporting the new Prop. 13.

Read More [[link removed]] California Cumulative PEV Sales At 13.4% Of 2030 Goal; True ZEVs at 7.6%

As part of California’s AB 32 climate change program, Executive Order B-48-18 administratively created a goal of 5 million zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) on California roads by 2030. This action expands on the prior Executive Order B-16-2012, which set a goal of 1.5 million by 2025.

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Additionally, FCEVs (fuel cell electric vehicles) also would count towards the ZEV total, but CNCDA (California New Car Dealer Association) data show total market share for these vehicles to date at around 0.1%.

Using this more flexible interpretation that includes both true ZEVs and combustion PHEVs, total PEV sales since 2009 account for 13.4% of the 2030 goal, notes a new report from the California Center for Jobs & the Economy. True ZEV sales, however, account for only 7.6%.

Read More [[link removed]] Business Climate and Job Creation Stocks Fall Sharply, Dow Faces Biggest Weekly Losses Since 2008

Stock markets around the world extended a punishing selloff Friday, dragged toward their worst week since the financial crisis by mounting investor unease about the economic fallout from the coronavirus epidemic.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 1000 points before paring declines and was recently down about 500 points, or about 1.9%. The S&P 500 fell 1.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lost about 0.8% in a volatile session.

Losses have been broad, with all 11 of the S&P 500’s sectors falling into negative territory for the year this week. As investors ditched stocks, they flocked to traditionally safer assets like government bonds, pushing the yield on the 10-year Treasury note to a new record lows.

Read More [[link removed]] U.S. Incomes, Spending Rose In January Ahead Of Coronavirus

Household income rose solidly in January and consumer spending edged higher, while inflation remained in check, signs of stability for the U.S. economy at the start of the year.

Personal-consumption expenditures, or household spending, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in January from December, the Commerce Department said Friday. Personal income advanced 0.6% last month, the largest gain in 11 months. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected a 0.2% increase in spending and a 0.4% gain in personal income.

Friday’s data reflects income, spending and prices measured in January, before heightened concerns about the coronavirus caused U.S. officials to issue warnings.

Read More [[link removed]] U.S. Business Investment Rose Ahead Of Coronavirus

A key measure of U.S. business investment rose in January, a sign businesses were more willing to spend in early 2020, despite coronavirus risks that erupted late that month.

New orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft—or what are called core capital goods orders, a closely watched proxy for business investment—increased 1.1% in January from the previous month, the Commerce Department said Thursday.

The rise came during a month when the U.S. and China signed an initial trade deal, marking a truce in a protracted trade spat between the two countries. The coronavirus outbreak also emerged that month in China and has spread to other parts of the world, and could pose a risk for the U.S. economy.

Read More [[link removed]] Latino Small Business Owners Are The Fastest-Growing Group Of Entrepreneurs In The U.S.

On the weekends, Salinas food truck owner Orlando Osornio, 30, and his wife, Denise, sell mile-high tortas, filled with California fusion-inspired ingredients: hot Cheetos, bacon, mango-habañero sauce, or pineapple. Some come for the birria torta or the chicken-bacon-alfredo torta.

A line of customers winds its way around the side of his tent as meat sizzles on the grills. On the other side of the mesh, Osornio and his crew pack and stack toasted buns as fast as they can.

Two years ago, when Osornio, who is Mexican-American, was contemplating launching Tortas al 100, he knew one thing: He didn’t want to apply for a loan. Osornio had racked up “about $30,000” in credit-card debt as a teenager and when life smacked him in the face in his early 20s, he got serious about paying it down and fixing his credit score.

Read More [[link removed]] Austin, Nashville Rank At Top Of Hottest U.S. Job Markets

The two hottest U.S. job markets in 2019 were growing Southern state capitals with vibrant music scenes and an influx of technology jobs.

Austin, Texas, topped the list for the second consecutive year, according to a Wall Street Journal ranking of new data collected by Moody’s Analytics. Nashville, Tenn., jumped to the No. 2 spot from seventh. Both cities anchor metropolitan areas of around two million people.

The Journal worked with Moody’s Analytics to assess the labor market in 381 metro areas. Each region was ranked on five metrics: the unemployment rate, labor-force participation rate, job growth, labor-force growth and wage growth. (See how your metro area stacks up.)

An average of those rankings was used to determine the hottest labor market in the U.S. for metro areas with more than one million people, and separately for less populous regions.

Read More [[link removed]] The Days Of Fast Growth Are Ending For L.A. And California, Report Says

It wasn’t so long ago that economic growth in California and Los Angeles far surpassed that of the nation.

Those days are coming to an end, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit group that works with local businesses.

In 2018, while the U.S. economy expanded by 2.9%, California’s grew by 4.3% and Los Angeles County’s by 3.7%. In 2019, economic growth slowed to 2.3% in the U.S., 2.6% in California and 1.6% in L.A. County.

This year, California’s growth will slow to 2%, and L.A. County’s economy will expand by just 1.8% — close to the nation’s 1.9%, the LAEDC predicted Wednesday in its annual forecast, presented to business executives and government officials at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

Read More [[link removed]] Universal Income Program In California Proposed In New Bill

A bill that would give $1,000 a month to every California resident over the age of 18 was introduced into the Assembly and is currently awaiting Committee assignment.

Assembly Bill 2712, authored by Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell), would have the tentatively named California Universal Basic Income Program (CalUBI) be funded by a 10% value-added tax (VAT) on goods and services that are not medical or education based. Residents over the age of 18 would not be able to collect a ‘basic income’ if they are currently on Medi-Cal, a County Medical Services Program, CalFresh, CalWORKs, or Unemployment Insurance. It is currently not known what the residency requirements would be.

Assemblyman Low modeled the program based on former Democratic presidential nominee Andrew Yang’s ‘Freedom Dividend’ universal income plans.

Read More [[link removed]] Nonprofit Theater The Latest Independent Industry To Oppose California's New Independent Contractor Law

Add another industry to the list of those who see real problems with a new California law requiring employers to classify contractors as employees: the operators of theater groups and other entertainment venues.

Sixty-five representatives from Sonoma County theater groups came to Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa earlier this month to hear from a panel of labor law experts, California Arts Advocates and industry professionals discuss the new law (Assembly Bill 5) and get answers to their questions about the possibility of having to reclassify current independent contractors as employees. The forum was sponsored by the center and Creative Sonoma, a division of the Economic Development Board of Sonoma County that provides programs and services supporting the creative community.

“Our primary concern is how and when this legislation will apply, when will the state start enforcing its provisions and how arts organizations plan to cope with an uncertain future,” said Kristen Madsen, director of Creative Sonoma. “There are upwards of 200 nonprofit arts organizations in Sonoma County and a majority have small operating budgets.”

Read More [[link removed]] Gig Economy Law Author Proposes Legislation Easing Impact On Freelancers

California Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez is responding to freelance journalists' repeated criticisms of her gig economy law with new legislation.

The author of AB 5, legislation that aims to crack down on companies that misclassify part-time workers as independent contractors, revealed on Thursday that she is working to nix the prior law's 35-"submission" cap for freelance writers, editors and photographers in a bill working its way through the California legislature this year, AB 1850. Her latest amendments to AB 1850 make clear that a contractor does not and cannot replace an employee role.

The new amendment to AB 1850 also requires that a freelancer's contract states rate of pay, the time by which the contractor will receive payment and what kind of intellectual property rights the contractor has to the work. Freelance writers have often complained that publications pay them for their work late; typically, a freelance writer does not have rights to their stories published at a major outlet.

Read More [[link removed]] Judge Blocks Instacart From Misclassifying Its California Workers

A county judge in San Diego has granted a preliminary injunction finding that Instacart has probably misclassified the overwhelming majority of its California workforce.

While it will not have any immediate effect, the injunction represents a critical first step in enforcing the new state law known as “AB5.”

The statute, which took effect earlier this year, attempts to ensure that so-called “gig economy” and other workers are considered employees, rather than unilaterally being declared independent contractors. Under state law, employees are eligible for consideration benefits, including workers’ compensation, unemployment, unionization rights and more. Companies save millions annually by avoiding such financial costs.

Read More [[link removed]] Lawsuit In California Targets Plastics Pollution From Coca-Cola, Pepsi And Other Companies

Escalating a campaign to make corporations responsible for the waste they produce, an environmental group filed suit Wednesday against some of the world's biggest food, beverage and consumer goods companies in a California court, arguing they should be held responsible for plastic packaging that is fouling the state's oceans, rivers and streams.

The Earth Island Institute asked for unspecified damages and an order for Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Nestle U.S., Procter & Gamble and six other companies to clean up plastic waste that the group says has created a global pollution crisis.

The suit, filed in San Mateo County Superior Court, is believed to be the first of its kind. It follows a rising public outcry about plastics pollution—particularly in the world's oceans—and initiatives by state and federal lawmakers to force companies to take ownership of the material they use to package their products.

Read More [[link removed]] The Future Of California's Super Commuters

Driving from the valley to the Bay Area for work isn't a new concept. For many who can't afford to live where they work, a one-and-a-half to three-hour commute has become the norm.

But is the commute really worth it?

As more opportunities become available in the Bay Area for work, the more homes are in demand. The problem is, the supply does not meet the demand.

According to the Legislative Analyst's Office, home prices in San Francisco and San Jose areas are averaging about $850-$950 thousand dollars, while the average California home runs $437,000.

And the situation is only expected to get worse, transportation researcher Giovanni Circella told ABC10.

Read More [[link removed]] Energy and Climate Change California Prepares To Shift Away From Natural Gas, While Keeping Power Reliable And Affordable

California’s energy system is undergoing a period of profound change.

Our state has committed to the goals of 100% clean electricity, a doubling of energy efficiency, widespread transportation electrification, and a carbon-neutral economy by 2045.

Our electricity system has rapidly exceeded the renewable goals, and we are looking at an energy mix that is, at certain times of some days, well over 60% carbon-free.

But in the meantime, we need to achieve significant reductions in the use of fossil fuels in transportation and other sectors.

While you are contemplating making your next car purchase an electric vehicle and replacing your old gas water heater with an efficient heat pump water heater, state policy makers are considering how to manage the long-term transition away from fossil fuels.

Read More [[link removed]] Building Electrification Cuts Emissions As Cities Ditch Coal, Gas

Across the United States, the impending climate catastrophe has pushed a broad coalition of communities to draft sustainability plans for a cleaner future. One of the common strategies these plans share is a major push for the electrification of buildings—when new and old buildings are outfitted or retrofitted with electric heating units and appliances instead of being powered by fossil fuels such as “natural” (fracked and conventional) gas.

Seattle has just enacted a ban on fossil fuels including fracked and conventional gas for new city-owned buildings and is committed to creating a plan by 2021 to retrofit city-owned buildings with electricity. New York City is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent of 2005 levels by the year 2050 under its 80 x 50 plan (electrification of buildings is a major part of the plan). Nearly 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the city are attributable to powering, heating, and cooling buildings, primarily due to gas and oil usage.

Chicago is now the largest city to commit to transitioning to 100 percent clean, renewable electricity, with an additional commitment to electrifying all buildings by 2035.

Read More [[link removed]] Los Angeles City-Owned Buildings To Go 100% Carbon Free

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti committed all new or substantially rehabilitated buildings owned by the city of Los Angeles to be 100 percent carbon free — and to use less carbon-intensive building materials in the process. His executive directive not only has Los Angeles leading by example on ways to reduce building emissions, it also breaks new ground.

The announcement follows a growing trend of leading cities, such as Seattle, San Francisco and Pittsburgh, in committing new government building stock to be all-electric or become 100 percent emissions free.

Los Angeles also will become the first local government to adopt the state’s Buy Clean California Act, requiring carbon emissions reductions from construction materials, including steel, flat glass and insulation beginning in 2021 for buildings such as fire stations, civic centers and libraries.

Read More [[link removed]] Can You Really Negate Your Carbon Emissions? Carbon Offsets, Explained.

This odd mélange of companies, celebrities, cities, countries, and organizations have all made commitments to curb their contributions to climate change, if not eliminate them entirely. And they have one tactic in common: buying carbon offsets.

For companies like Amazon and Delta aiming to be carbon-neutral, offsets help provide the “net” in their “net-zero emissions” goals. And together, these buyers are fueling a multibillion-dollar market for one of the more popular, and more controversial, tactics to limit greenhouse gases.

Following a wave of global youth climate strikes, an alarming United Nations report showing that the best-case scenario for climate change is slipping out of reach, and a wave of devastating climate-linked disasters from Brazil to Australia, there’s been a spike in interest in carbon offsets. In particular, a growing number of people, fueled by peer pressure and shame, are reckoning with their emissions from air travel.

Read More [[link removed]] Electric Vehicles Are Very Good For Business, And The Economy

Not everyone is enamored with electric vehicles (EVs). They are currently more expensive than internal combustion engines (ICEs), people are worried about limited range and there aren’t enough charging stations when and where you need them. And it can take a long time to recharge an EV battery.

Why bother, especially when we already have such an extensive network of petrol stations the world over, people say. The energy density of a gallon or liter of gasoline is hard to beat, and – let’s face it – it is not expensive, even if polluting. So why bother with EVs?

Good question. The most compelling reason is that ICEs – and the transport sector that depends on them – are among the biggest sources of carbon emissions in many economies, especially those who have already invested heavily to clean up their electricity generation mix away from fossil fuels.

Read More [[link removed]] Electric Vehicle Sales Slip In California

California’s market share of alternative fuel vehicles remains strong, but in-state sales fell last year.

More than 156,000 electric, plug-in hybrid and fuel cell cars were sold in California last year. That’s down from 178,000 the year before.

The numbers were compiled by Veloz, a collection of transportation-linked industries that tallied the numbers.

Even though sales numbers are down slightly, California’s share of the electric vehicle market remained strong, according to Veloz Executive Director Josh Boone.

The decline happened as California rolled back how much state money was available to encourage residents to buy electric cars.

“There is a strong desire to see that the upfront cost incentives are there for consumers as we try to bridge the gap between where we are today on costs and where we anticipate being in just a few short years,” Boone said.

Read More [[link removed]] Workforce Development Rep. Ro Khanna Wants To Create A National Apprenticeship Program

Danielle Polk used to work up to 13 hours per day, seven days a week, as a bank teller and a McDonald’s floor supervisor. She dreamed of finishing college, but thought she couldn’t afford to step away from the workforce to do it. “I was worried about the cost,” Polk, who’s now 22, recalls. “I was also worried about not having the time to actually attend.”

Then she found out about Harper College. At the community college in Palatine, Illinois, students like Polk can split their time between traditional classroom learning and on-the-job training at companies in nine fields, ranging from cybersecurity to supply chain management to graphic design. The employers who partner with the school pay apprentices for their work, and also pick up 100% of their apprentices’ tuition, fees and books.

When Polk graduates in August 2021, she will not only have no student loans, but will also be poised to have a healthy savings account and a guaranteed job at Zurich Insurance, the company that is sponsoring her apprenticeship and education. “I’m not sure how you find a place who is willing to pay you full-time and then pay for your education on top of that,” says Polk. “It definitely seems too good to be true.”

Read More [[link removed]] California's Online Community College To Face State Audit

State lawmakers voted unanimously Wednesday to audit Calbright College, California’s online-only community college, just five months into its existence.

The 14-0 vote by the Joint Committee on Legislative Audit signals that critics from the college’s faculty union have succeeded in raising doubts among lawmakers about whether the state needs a separate, online-only community college. The committee has the authority to approve state audits.

The audit will get underway after July 1 and could take about seven months to complete. Lawmakers want the audit to examine whether Calbright is serving the students it was created for, whether the college’s classes too closely resemble courses offered at other community colleges and whether it has complied with state law. It also will look into the college’s finances, salaries and expenses to see if it has appropriately used state money.

Read More [[link removed]] West Contra Costa Unified School Board Votes To Lay Off Up To 300 Workers In June

Facing a deficit of $47.8 million over the next two years, the West Contra Costa Unified school board on Wednesday voted 4-1 to eliminate 300 positions next year to save $22 million. But it hopes to rescind many of the layoffs in May if it is able to reach an agreement with unions for alternative cost-saving measures.

These positions include about 230 teachers, who are expected to receive layoff notices next week. The district — which includes Richmond and surrounding communities — is negotiating with unions to come up with other ways to reduce expenditures, such as increasing class sizes for one year and eliminating some teacher stipends for extra work or special qualifications.

All five board members expressed sorrow about the layoffs and board member Mister Phillips voted against them because he had too many unanswered questions about how the district would continue to operate with staff cuts that include the elimination of the chief academic officer and director of charter school oversight positions. Other board members told Superintendent Matthew Duffy and Tony Wold, the associate superintendent for business services, that they wanted to see a new organizational chart explaining who would take on critical responsibilities in the district in light of the planned cuts.

Read More [[link removed]] Charter School Politics Still Play In LA Unified School Board Elections

The majority of Los Angeles Unified school board seats are up for grabs next week, a pivotal election that will shape how the state’s largest school district approaches several key challenges.

The next school board will have to grapple with budget deficits, enrollment declines and achievement gaps for black, Latino, low-income and other underserved students. However, the biggest issue framing the March 3 primary, with four of seven board seats on the ballot, remains charter schools and how to handle efforts to expand school choice. A new state law giving districts a bigger say on whether or not to approve new charter schools takes effect in July.

Candidates must earn more than 50 percent of the vote in the March 3 primary election to win a seat outright. If no candidate secures a majority of votes in any given race, that would trigger a runoff election in November featuring the top two vote-getters in that race. The next school board will be seated in December.

Read More [[link removed]] Infrastructure and Housing Water Is Life. It's Also A Battle. So What Does The Future Hold For California?

Water plays a lead role in the state’s political theater, with Democrats and Republicans polarized, farmers often fighting environmentalists and cities pitted against rural communities. Rivers are overallocated through sloppy water accounting. Groundwater has dwindled as farmers overdraw aquifers. Many communities lack safe drinking water. Native Americans want almost-extinct salmon runs revived. There is talk, too, of new water projects, including a massive new tunnel costing billions of dollars.

Scientists say climate change will bring more unpredictable weather, warmer winters and less snowpack in the mountains. These challenges and some ideas for remedies are outlined in a new plan, called the California Water Resilience Portfolio, released by Gov. Gavin Newsom in January to a mix of praise and disappointment.

Below, an explanation of the state’s water development — as well as the challenges, today and tomorrow, of providing water for California’s people, places and things.

Read More [[link removed]] Climate Change And California's Water Supply

California, as everyone knows, receives virtually all of its precipitation during a few fall and winter months and in 2019, some early rain and snow storms promised a bountiful water year.

This year, Mother Nature kept that promise in Southern California, where precipitation is running at or above the normal, but Northern California — far more important from a water supply standpoint — has been a different story.

The north has seen almost no precipitation since Christmas, the all-important Sierra snowpack is less than half of its average depth, and the region’s balmy, springlike weather shows no signs of ending.

A stubborn high-pressure area off the coast has been blocking Arctic Ocean storms from dipping into California, leaving water managers hoping for a “March miracle” like the one that rescued the state from an even worse winter dry spell in 1991.

Read More [[link removed]] 'Without Water We Can't Grow Anything': Can Small Farms Survive California's Landmark Water Law?

Nikiko Masumoto began her farming career in the summer of 2011, just as California was entering its worst drought in recorded history.

Masumoto is the fourth generation of her family to farm this land in Del Rey: 80 organic acres of stone fruit in eastern Fresno county in California’s fertile Central Valley, its most perfect peaches bound for the epicurean Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley.

For four years in a row, the farm survived only on the water it could draw from underground. And as the drought persisted, the perfect peaches grew less perfect – smaller, malnourished. The farm lowered its wells and pumped more so Masumoto could keep the trees alive.

The farm made it through by way of grit and preparation. But even with plenty of both, said Masumoto, “surviving is a real question.”

Read More [[link removed]] Vacancies In This California Government Department Are Slowing Newsom's Housing Agenda

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious plans to build houses and reduce homelessness in California depend on a state department that is understaffed, lacking permanent leaders and struggling to adjust to change, according to documents and interviews.

The Department of Housing and Community Development, which administers most of the state money for housing, has one of the highest vacancy rates among large state departments, with about 21 percent of its positions unfilled, according to figures provided by the department and the State Controller’s Office.

Voters in the last two years have approved at least $6 billion in new money for affordable housing in the state. That money, plus more in federal grants and additional state funding, has to pass through the funnel of the housing department, which had 170 vacancies and 672 employees this month, according to Deputy Director of Administration Russell Fong.

Read More [[link removed]] Eight Bills Introduced To Assembly That Go After Housing Development Fees

Assembly members Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), David Chiu (D-San Francisco), Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino), Todd Gloria (D-San Diego), and Tim Grayson (D-Concord) jointly authored and announced the bills, which are designed to combat the housing crisis in California. According to a press release from the office of Assemblyman Grayson, the following bills were introduced:

AB 1484: Provides a comprehensive reform of the nexus standards that cities and counties use to determine their fees.

AB 1924: Requires jurisdictions to assess fees on a per-square-foot basis, giving developers the option to build smaller, more affordable units without being penalized with multiple fees.

AB 3144: Provides state funding to reimburse local governments who waive impact fees on affordable projects.

Read More [[link removed]] California's Fees On New Development Are 3 Times the National Average. New State Legislation Would Cap Them.

A lot of public policies in California make housing more expensive and more difficult to build. That includes the impact fees that cities and counties impose on new developments to pay for infrastructure, schools, and other services.

According to a 2015 survey, the national average impact fee was $5,484 for a two-bedroom apartment and $8,298 for a single-family home (not including utility hook-up fees). In California, the average fees were $15,555 for a two-bed apartment, and $23,455 for a single-family home.

A 2018 study from the University of Berkeley's Terner Center found that some cities were charging impact fees in excess of $150,000 for single-family homes, and that these fees could be as much as 18 percent of an area's median home price.

To ease the burden of these fees, California lawmakers introduced a package of bills yesterday that will cap the fees cities can charge, change the way they are assessed, and give developers more tools to claw back unjustified fees they've been pinged with.

Read More [[link removed]] Editorial and Opinion California's Proposition 13 Could Spur Innovative Public Schools And Save Lives

A quiet revolution may stir California educators to build novel forms of schooling, from preschool centers to career academies, even to boost the quality of charter schools. Or taxpayers may end-up financing cookie-cutter campuses that fail to inspire kids and teachers.

Much depends on voter approval of Proposition 13 on the March 3 ballot, and its fresh priorities expressed by state leaders. The bond measure would raise $15 billion in bond revenues to renovate and expand public schools and colleges. Few question that our educational facilities, like a home in disrepair, are showing their age, forcing students to attend crumbling, unsafe, even sinking campuses.

Educators sent pupils home from over 2,200 schools last year after light fixtures fell from ceilings and the stench of sewage bubbled-up in bathrooms. Wide-eyed children watched a sinkhole open-up after a water main ruptured beneath one San Francisco middle school. Two-thirds of our schools were erected more than a quarter-century ago, with one in 10 nearly a century old.

Read More [[link removed]] California's A Climate Leader? These Six Proposals Show How Much More We Have To Do

In an op-ed last month, I explained why California’s market-based approach to climate change isn’t working. Since the 2013 onset of the cap-and-trade program, the centerpiece of the state’s policies, greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas sources have actually increased — by 3.5%, according to a ProPublica investigation.

And even an improved cap-and-trade program won’t by itself be sufficient to reach the state’s objectives, including its mandate to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030.

The most effective way to achieve that goal is to regulate specific polluters.

Not surprisingly, this is emphatically not what polluters want. To get the votes necessary to renew California’s cap-and-trade deal in 2017, climate-minded legislators made a trade to please the powerful oil lobby: They agreed to a moratorium on direct regulation of oil and gas emissions. Now a new law should end that moratorium. Lawmakers would have to overcome industry opposition all over again, but unlike the 2017 extension, which required a two-thirds vote of both houses, a bill lifting the moratorium would require only a simple majority to loosen oil’s stranglehold on climate change policy.

Read More [[link removed]] California Faces Massive Costs Related To Climate Change. Oil Industry Must Pay Its Fair Share

California is confronting massive challenges due to climate change. One of the most pressing questions is who will foot the bill for the huge investments we must make in climate resiliency infrastructure so that we can survive and thrive.

Cities and counties, including my own district in San Francisco and San Mateo County, are projecting billions in costs to fortify our seawalls and protect our homes, businesses, and infrastructure from floods, wildfires, and other climate-related disasters.

According to a study by the Center for Climate Integrity, our coastal communities will need to spend as much $22 billion on seawalls in the next 20 years.

As a state senator and former local elected official, I’m keenly aware that struggling municipal budgets cannot—and should not—take on such enormous costs alone.

Read More [[link removed]] Making Housing Affordable By Giving Cities Power To Seize It

Hold onto your wallet, barricade the doors, and pray for your kids. The California Legislature is in session.

The people who swore to uphold the constitution apparently confused the USSR with the USA.

How else do you explain the latest solution to “solve” the housing crisis that Sacramento creates by imposing draconian regulation upon regulation as well as empowering NIMBYism?

State Senator Nancy Skinner who happens to hail from Berkeley is pushing a law that would essentially empower local governments to use eminent domain to seize vacant housing. Once the government has seized the housing they can rent them or sell them to a nonprofit.

Being as reasonable as one can expect someone who utters the nine words Ronald Reagan said he feared the most — “I’m from the government and I’m here or help” — Skinner does add the proviso such housing has to be left unoccupied for 90 days before the folks from central planning, or is that city hall, seizes it.

Read More [[link removed]] California Business Roundtable 1301 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 916.553.4093 | [[link removed]] Web Version [link removed] | Update Preferences [link removed] | Unsubscribe [link removed]