Web Version [link removed] | Update Preferences [link removed] CBRT in the News To Balance California’s Budget, State Will Stick It To Its Most Vulnerable Citizens

The aged, blind and disabled always get the shaft whenever a governor pulls out his cutting knife.

So it was no surprise last week when 1.2 million Californians who are aged, blind or disabled and living on the edge — clinging to government benefits for subsistence — got whacked again, this time by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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The governor proposed some narrow tax boosts. They’re expected to net $4.4 billion for the fiscal year starting July 1. One would be a vaping tax on e-cigarettes. Two others would mainly tap businesses — suspending “net operating loss” and “incentive tax credit” loopholes.

“We can work with that,” says Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, referring to the loop hole closings. “It has happened in previous budgets.”

Read More [[link removed]] Prop 13 Ballot Initiative Looks To Be A Fierce Fight

When voters mark their ballots in the November election, one of the measures before them looks to become a fierce fight.

The California Schools and Local Communities Funding Act of 2018, also known as Schools & Communities First, is a California ballot measure that seeks to change some provisions of Proposition 13, the famous Howard Jarvis 1978 property tax limitations initiative.

The initiative would raise an estimated $12 billion for schools and local governments by amending the tax rates for commercial and industrial properties.

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Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, plans to fight the bill as co-chair of Californians to Save Prop 13 and Stop Higher Property Taxes.

“California currently has a more than $17 billion budget reserve. State and local governments are taking in record revenue. And yet somehow both the state and local governments are facing significant deficits in the near future,” he said.

“Hardworking Californians have seen their tax burden increase, including from the state’s gas tax increase last year. In the past eight years, local governments have enacted more than 800 general and special taxes.”

Read More [[link removed]] The Grand Inquisitor’s Story Comes To California’s Job Devastation

A number of issues arising during the pandemic—issues of faith, certainty, freedom— lead us back to The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel published in 1880. It is not too grandiose to say that at a time when we are told to accept indefinite lockdowns and be satisfied with our Stimulus checks and Unemployment checks, we are challenged by the novel’s story of the Grand Inquisitor. Neither is it too grandiose to suggest that events of the past month here in California bring into the present, the Inquisitor’s challenges on work and the state.

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The call for jobs rather than benefits extends well beyond the protesters. The state’s Building and Construction trade unions and other major unions are pushing for greater reopening, as are the California Business Roundtable, statewide small business groups, and local elected officials outside of the major cities.

Read More [[link removed]] Business Climate and Job Creation California Unemployment Rate Now Worse Than Great Recession, As 2.3 Million Lose Their Jobs

The coronavirus pandemic drove California’s unemployment rate to 15.5 percent last month, eclipsing the worst of the Great Recession as businesses across the state were ordered to close to stem the spread of COVID-19.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday that 2,344,700 Californians lost their jobs during a furious and historic scramble to comply with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stay-at-home order. The unemployment rated jumped by 10.2 percentage points.

It marked one of the largest one-month economic bloodbaths since the Great Depression, when unemployment soared to an estimated 25 percent. Unemployment during the last recession peaked at 12.3 percent in 2010.

Read More [[link removed]?] Fed Chair Warns This Is A ‘Downturn Without Modern Precedent’

Jerome H. Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, and other top central bank officials warned on Thursday that the United States was experiencing an exceptional shock in the coronavirus pandemic, and that it was wildly unclear when and how low unemployment and widespread prosperity would return.

The United States economy is in a “downturn without modern precedent,” Mr. Powell said.

“In the best of times, predicting the path of the economy with any certainty is difficult,” he added. “We are now experiencing a whole new level of uncertainty, as questions only the virus can answer complicate the outlook.”

Read More [[link removed]] The Economic Toll Of COVID-19 On Small Business

Fifty-six percent of California small businesses experienced “large negative” effects from the pandemic, according to a recent Census survey—a survey that includes businesses with up to 500 employees. Sectors hit hardest by initial job loss face the most severe setbacks. As small businesses weather closures brought on by COVID-19, policy efforts to support them will be important for the state’s economic recovery.

Ninety-five percent of businesses are very small businesses with less than 50 employees, and these businesses employ one-third of California’s workers. Unemployed Californians will need workplaces to return to after the state recovers—small and very small businesses are a common place for workers to land.

Read More [[link removed]] Gov. Gavin Newsom Eases Reopening Requirements For California Counties

California is relaxing its criteria for counties that want to reopen their economies faster than the state during the coronavirus pandemic, after local leaders complained that the original requirements were too difficult to meet.

If infection rates and hospitalizations of coronavirus patients continue to hold steady, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday, then hairstyling appointments, religious services and even professional sports may also be able to resume in the next few weeks.

Newsom said his administration estimated that all but five of California’s 58 counties would qualify for a variance from the statewide stay-at-home order through the new rules, though not all may choose to seek one. Newsom did not specify which five counties fell short, but he mentioned outbreaks at Tulare County nursing homes and a meatpacking plant in Kings County, as well as the overall increase in cases in Los Angeles County, as points of concern.

Read More [[link removed]] Rural California Is Reopening Despite Little Coronavirus Testing. Is It Too Soon?

Bolstered by new coronavirus testing sites recently opened by the state, 23 rural California counties this week began to shake off some of their social restrictions and resume a semblance of pre-pandemic life. More are expected to follow.

But testing in many of those places has been slim, both due to a lack of access and demand, leaving questions about how much the coronavirus is circulating in communities.

Read More [[link removed]] U.S. Expected To Revise Small-Business Aid Program

Lawmakers and government officials are preparing to make significant changes to the Paycheck Protection Program, amid cooling demand for government-backed loans and criticism from business owners who say they can’t tap the funds.

The changes are likely to include giving businesses more flexibility to spend the money, according to lawmakers and others following the deliberations. Under the original terms, 75% of the funds were required to be spent on employee salaries for the loans to be forgiven.

The government also is expected to extend the time to spend the loan money beyond the two months it originally set. Both changes follow complaints from restaurants, hair salons and others who say they can’t hire back staff while they are closed during the coronavirus pandemic and need more money to cover their overhead costs.

Read More [[link removed]] These Debt Instruments Could Spark Another Financial Crisis

In the midst of a global pandemic, emergency rooms across the U.S. have fallen strangely quiet as patients with other illnesses have stayed away for fear of contracting COVID-19. As a result, one of the surprising corporate casualties of the coronavirus crisis could be some of the companies that provide staff for hospitals.

Envision, one of the largest medical staffing companies, completed a restructuring of its roughly $7 billion of debt this month as it moved to stave off bankruptcy. This comes less than 18 months after KKR — one of the oldest and largest U.S. private equity firms with more than $200 billion of assets — bought the Nashville-based company for nearly $10 billion.

The Envision deal highlights one of the stress points in a financial system that is creaking under the pressure of the coronavirus-induced recession. To fund around two-thirds of the acquisition, KKR loaded the company’s balance sheet with junk-rated loans and bonds — a familiar private equity tactic. Those securities provided fuel for one of Wall Street’s least known but most important debt machines: collateralized loan obligations.

Read More [[link removed]] The Pandemic Downturn Might Yield A New Startup Wave

The American economy is in a dark period right now, but some in Silicon Valley are optimistic it could spawn a generation of startups whose founders are finally getting the nudge they needed to make the leap.

It may sound counterintuitive to launch new businesses in the middle of an economic crash, but it's worked during past downturns, and Silicon Valley's founders and investors remain willing, so far, to keep rolling the dice.

Y Combinator, the famed startup accelerator program, is seeing 15-20% more applicants for its summer program, admissions chief Dalton Caldwell tells Axios — a sign that some entrepreneurs want to forge ahead both with new ideas and with companies they’ve already been working on.

Read More [[link removed]] Mass Merchandise Consumer Behavior Changes

With the pandemic leaving a massive impact on the retail sector, much of the discussion has rightfully centered around the huge impact on sales and performance. Yet, coronavirus has affected the way consumers shop as well, and this could potentially last far longer.

Looking at shopping patterns for Walmart and Target during March and April 2020 and comparing it to behavior from the same months in 2019 shows some very interesting changes. In 2019, 40.7% of customers who visited a Walmart nationwide came immediately from home. Unsurprisingly, this number shot up by 16.2% to 56.9% for March and April 2020 as a result of stay-at-home measures.

And, the impact here has been felt most heavily by other retailers. There was a 4.3% decline in those visiting a restaurant before a Walmart visit and a near 1.0% decline after. And a 3.2% decline in shopping at other locations prior to a Walmart visit. Although we continued to shop for essentials, the shopping trips themselves were cut much shorter, thus having a wider impact.

Read More [[link removed]] California Legislature Seriously Considers Allowing Commercial Tenants Not To Pay Rent

Introduced by State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Lena Gonzalez (D-Los Angeles), Senate Bill 939 proposes to give commercial tenants the right not to pay rent without fear of eviction for a full year after the current COVID-19 emergency ends. If it passes, SB 939 will also eliminate late fees and make any “endeavor to evict a tenant of commercial real property” an unfair business practice, and make “harassment or mistreatment of or retaliation against” a tenant refusing to pay rent “punishable by a fine of not more than two thousand dollars ($2,000) for each violation.” SB 939 would do so by adding a new “Section 1951.9” to California’s Civil Code.

“Section 2” of the new law would also permit commercial tenants to serve notices demanding their landlords renegotiate their leases “in good faith.” If negotiations fail, tenants could then terminate their remaining lease terms, and any associated “third-party guarantees,” with no liability for the payment of future rent.

Read More [[link removed]] Courts Nationwide Awash In Lawsuits Over COVID Restrictions On Business, Religion

A Rio Linda gym owner filed a suit Monday over California’s stay-at-home order, saying it is unconstitutional and has cost him $100,000 since the coronavirus pandemic began.

A student at the Sacramento-based for-profit Carrington College filed a suit last week, saying the school’s move to online teaching because of COVID-19 has deprived him of the in-person instruction he expected for his $4,000 spring tuition payment.

An Orange County woman sued Gov. Gavin Newsom on May 8, saying his stay-at-home order “ruined her idyllic wedding plans to get married” last month in Dana Point.

Across the nation, coronavirus has spawned more than 1,000 cases by inmates seeking early release, business owners challenging stay-at-home orders and religious institutions arguing their constitutional rights are being abridged and incorrectly labeled as “non-essential.”

Read More [[link removed]?] Powell, Mnuchin Outline Contrasting Perils Facing Economy

The nation’s top two economic policy leaders offered contrasting visions about the economic outlook, with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin favoring a wait-and-see approach to more federal aid and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell suggesting more would be needed.

Their positions expressed Tuesday reflected differing views on the prospects for a swift economic rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.

Mr. Mnuchin, appearing alongside Mr. Powell at an online congressional hearing, reflected the Trump administration’s belief that the biggest danger to the economy is waiting too long to restart activity after two months in which millions of Americans have sheltered in their homes to slow the spread of infections.

Read More [[link removed]] Retailers Phase Out Coronavirus Hazard Pay For Essential Workers

Some of the biggest U.S. retailers are ending the extra pay they gave to front-line workers as coronavirus-related costs pile up and the ranks of jobless Americans surge, tipping the labor market in employers’ favor.

Amazon.com Inc., Kroger Co. and Rite Aid Corp. are among the major companies that have ended or plan to stop paying higher wages for tens of thousands of workers in stores and warehouses and on the road.

Workers and unions are pushing back, saying they still face extra risk at work.

Read More [[link removed]] Musicians, Freelancers And Coaches Could Soon Be Free Of California’s Landmark Labor Law

A proposal to adjust a landmark California labor law passed its first legislative hurdle Wednesday, heartening freelance journalists, musicians and other independent contractors who say they’ve been burdened by a restrictive employment status.

The bill would give new exemptions to a law, Assembly Bill 5, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in September that limits how businesses can use independent contractors and requires companies to give employment benefits to more workers.

The “clean-up” legislation, Assembly Bill 1850, would allow some workers, like youth sports coaches and real estate appraisers, to maintain independent status, while keeping other low-income employees under the umbrella of AB 5.

Read More [[link removed]?] Will Laid-Off California Workers Get Their Old Jobs Back? Most Think They Will

Seven out of 10 people making new jobless claims in late April and early May expect to be recalled by their employer, a new study released Thursday found, and while they’re out of work, the government’s unusually big unemployment payments are “a life preserver for lower income workers.”

California, like the rest of the country, is seeing unprecedented numbers of claims since the coronavirus outbreak sent the economy cratering in mid-March. The Employment Development Department has paid 4.7 million claims as of last week.

Read More [[link removed]?] Hollywood Gobsmacked By California Governor’s Plan To Potentially Reopen Production Soon

California Gov. Gavin Newsom sees the state as mere days away from new guidelines to further open up from the coronavirus pandemic, but entertainment industry insiders are feeling broadsided by today’s announcement.

“WTF?” said one top cable executive to Newsom today announcning he would reveal plans on May 25 that could spur shuttered film and TV production back to work sooner rather than later. “Have they talked to the unions, because I don’t think that’s going to jive with them,” the exec added.

“We’ll look at the guidelines when they come out on Monday,” a spokesperson for the WGA West told Deadline of the upcoming Memorial Day plan from the governor to enter the latest phase of reopening the Golden State’s battered economy.

Read More [[link removed]] California Is Reopening, But Anxious Customers Are Slow To Come Back

From restaurants to shopping malls, the California economy is grinding back to life after months of coronavirus closures.

But one question looms over the reopening cheers: Do consumers feel safe enough to come back? California should know the answer soon enough.

After Gov. Gavin Newsom eased the criteria for reopening retail businesses and restaurants, many smaller counties are already turning on the “open” signs while larger counties like Orange and San Diego hope to join them in the coming days. So far, most of California’s 58 counties have applied to move further into the second phase of Newsom’s reopening plan, which allows retail shopping and restaurants to serve in-person patrons.

Yet the experiences of counties that reopened in recent weeks has been sobering. Even as customers are returning, business are hindered by the constraints of operating at reduced capacity to meet social distancing requirements and question whether that model of fewer customers can be sustainable in the long term.

Read More [[link removed]] Landlords Fume As Starbucks, Other Chains Seek Extended Rent Cuts

National restaurant chains and other stable businesses are prodding their landlords for rent relief as the economic picture sours, setting the stage for court battles and protracted clashes between big tenants and property owners.

A number of blue-chip companies that made rent payments the past two months have indicated they reached their limit with June. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. and Shake Shack Inc. said they are lobbying property owners to renegotiate the leases or offer deferred rent payments. Starbucks Corp. sent a letter to landlords asking for a range of concessions, including changes to lease terms and base rent for at least 12 months, starting next month.

Restaurant and cafe operators are starting to reopen outlets again as more states like Florida, Texas and South Carolina begin to relax lockdown orders. But many of these companies say that social-distancing guidelines restrict them to only about a quarter to half of their normal capacity, forcing them to modify operations and cut expenses to stay in business.

Read More [[link removed]] Energy and Climate Change Trump’s Energy Chief: Banks Are 'Redlining' Oil And Gas Investments

Bank restrictions on the financing of oil and gas drilling in the Arctic are akin to past practices —known as redlining — of not loaning to communities of color, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette told Axios in an exclusive interview.

A decades-long battle over Arctic drilling is suddenly escalating even as the world grapples with a pandemic. Five of America’s six biggest banks have recently announced they won’t finance oil and gas development in the Arctic, prompting conservative and industry backlash.

Read More [[link removed]] Traffic Is Way Down Because Of Lockdown, But Air Pollution? Not So Much

With traffic dramatically down in recent months, the United States is in the middle of an accidental experiment showing what happens to air pollution when millions of people stop driving.

The air is clearer. But the pollution declines aren't nearly as large as early indications suggested, according to an NPR analysis of six years of Environmental Protection Agency data.

In some cities, the amount of one pollutant, ozone, has barely decreased compared with levels over the past five years, despite traffic reductions of more than 40%.

Read More [[link removed]] UC Becomes Nation’s Largest University To Divest Fully From Fossil Fuels

The University of California announced Tuesday that it has fully divested from all fossil fuels, the nation’s largest educational institution to do so as campaigns to fight climate change through investment strategies proliferate at campuses across the country.

The UC milestone capped a five-year effort to move the public research university system’s $126-billion portfolio into more environmentally sustainable investments, such as wind and solar energy. UC officials say their strategy is grounded in concerns about the planet’s future and in what makes financial sense.

Read More [[link removed]] New State Park? Climate Catalyst Fund? On Hold In Newsom’s Coronavirus-Afflicted Budget

Wide-ranging environmental programs announced with much fanfare in January have disappeared from California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s newest budget proposal, casualties of the global economic collapse during the pandemic.

Gone are ambitious initiatives to create a $1 billion climate catalyst fund to provide low-interest loans for private and public environmental projects, three-quarters of funding for the first new state park in more than a decade and a $4.75 billion ballot initiative to pay for local projects to adapt to climate change.

Even as he outlined deep and painful cuts across all state agencies, Newsom promised to maintain programs that keep Californians safe and healthy. The governor said his proposed budget kept in place policies that reflect the state’s “core values.”

Read More [[link removed]] Prince Charles Leads Global Meeting On Climate Change And Economy

Dozens of the world’s leaders in business, finance and politics are planning to convene June 3 to discuss how the global economy can be “reset”— with climate change a defining theme — as nations recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The online event will be hosted by His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales, and Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum.

“The meeting will see various guests from the public and private sector make contributions on how we can achieve a ‘Great Reset’ of our global economic system in the post-COVID era,” a forum spokesman told Axios.

Read More [[link removed]] Education and Workforce Development California Schools Fear Disaster In Gavin Newsom’s Coronavirus Budget

California’s coronavirus budget woes are going to hit education hard. In a revised state budget plan that Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled Thursday, guaranteed funding for public schools and community colleges dropped by $19 billion, or nearly a quarter, compared to January projections.

Newsom proposed using federal stimulus money, redirecting pension payments and temporarily raising corporate taxes to minimize the losses. But California is still facing a nearly $7 billion shortage next year for school funding, the single biggest item in the state budget, as the coronavirus pandemic ravages the economy.

Read More [[link removed]] California Education Chief Says Schools Can’t Open Without Masks

California has a major goal to meet before schools can reopen: acquiring masks for teachers and more than 6 million students.

Local school districts will decide when they will welcome students back to physical classrooms and the state is not mandating a common opening date, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said Wednesday. But he made one thing clear: Personal protective equipment is a must.

Read More [[link removed]] How Feasible Are School Reopening Plans For Fall?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released much-anticipated guidance Friday to help school leaders nationwide as they weigh options to reopen schools in the fall —​ or even as early as the summer in some places.

When compared to frameworks and recovery plans released by other organizations and states, the decision tree is relatively general and leaves much in the hands of state and local leaders.

Read More [[link removed]] Most California School Districts Plan To Open In The Fall. Here’s How It Would Work

Most public school districts in California are planning to reopen campuses on their regular start dates in late August and September — but the new normal amid the coronavirus outbreak will likely include masks, daily school sanitation and smaller class sizes to maintain six feet of distance, state Supt. of Instruction Tony Thurmond said Wednesday.

Also, some school districts will likely offer a combination of in-person and distance learning, something parents have asked for, Thurmond said.

But the new safety accommodations will require more funding, Thurmond said during a news conference Wednesday, almost a week after the governor’s May budget revise slashed about $19 billion from schools over the next two years.

Read More [[link removed]] Big Cuts Could Hit Little Californians: $1 Billion In Preschool And Child Care Dollars At Risk

Even the littlest Californians have not been spared in the governor’s big proposal to cut a budget decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious plans to expand free preschool for low-income children and increase state support for child care now are on the chopping block. He also has proposed cuts to existing, early childhood funding that advocates worry could force child care providers to reduce the number of kids they serve, or even close their businesses.

The child-friendly budget Newsom announced in January was amended last week, revealing cuts and takeaways totaling more than $1 billion for early childhood programs. The revisions, if passed, would sink plans to create 20,000 new preschool slots and offer more child care subsidies to low-income working families.

Read More [[link removed]] Is It Safe For Day Care Centers To Be Open Right Now?

Children under 5 are not known for respecting personal space or keeping germs to themselves — even in the best of circumstances. And when you get lots of these little drooling, hugging, shouting humans together in one space, such as day care, illnesses tend to spread rapidly, bouncing among children, their families, and back again.

While some child care centers around the country have remained open in the Covid-19 pandemic, many US states and localities have required them to close or limit services to health care worker parents only. According to an April poll, about half of child care centers across the country were entirely closed, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Read More [[link removed]] Wash Hands 100 Times A Day: Bay Area Child Care Providers Face Severe Problems As They Reopen Amid COVID-19 Crisis

Jessica Darabi-Everett usually has 100 children enrolled at her Love & Care Learning Center in Walnut Creek. Now there are just 10 children in her care. Gone is the 2 to 3 year wait list as some parents report they've lost their job and others are just reluctant to return.

"It's hard to say if we can except new children because the restrictions the state gave us don't allow us to operate at our full capacity," she said.

They are also running low on hard to find PPE. It's a situation facing many child care facilities and family homes across the state of California.

Read More [[link removed]] California Community College Chancellor Endorses Going Online-Only This Fall

California’s 115 community colleges will likely remain an online system of higher education in the fall, its chancellor Eloy Ortiz Oakley said today.

“As we transition to the fall, many of our colleges have already announced that they’re going fully online in the fall,” Oakley said. “I encourage them to continue to do so. I fully believe that that will be the most relevant way for us to continue to reach our students and to do it in a way that commits to maintaining equity for our students.”

The remarks further highlight the massive change confronting California’s public higher-education students due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also underscores how higher education’s emergency measures to address the health risk are becoming longer-term solutions to ensure public safety.

Read More [[link removed]] UC Campuses Will Open In The Fall, Napolitano Says

University of California president Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that “every campus will be open and offering instruction” this fall despite the coronavirus outbreak that has shuttered most campus activity across the state.

“The question will be how much of that instruction is in-person versus how much is done remotely,” Napolitano added during remarks to the UC Board of Regents.

The pandemic caused a $1.2 billion loss system-wide from the time the campuses shut down in the middle of March through the end of April.

Whereas the California State University announced last week that it’s preparing for online-only instruction for the fall, the UC is planning for in-person classes.

Read More [[link removed]] UC Makes Landmark Decision To Drop ACT And SAT Requirement For Admission

In a decision that could reshape the nation’s college admissions process, University of California regents voted Thursday to suspend SAT and ACT testing requirements through 2024 and eliminate them for California students by 2025.

The action by the nation’s premier public university system could mark a turning point in the long-running national debate over whether the standardized tests unfairly discriminate against disadvantaged students or provide a useful tool to evaluate college applicants.

Some hailed the vote as a bold and visionary move to expand access and equity. But others expressed concern that dumping the tests would lead to grade inflation, admission of less-prepared students and backlash over different entry standards for different classes.

Read More [[link removed]] Public Higher Education In California Faces A Fiscal Crisis

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt California’s economy, the Newsom administration is projecting a $54 billion decline in state revenues for the 2021 fiscal year and revising the budget accordingly. California’s public universities—which do not have dedicated funding streams or constitutional protections—face disproportionately large funding cuts. So far, the federal government has provided some emergency relief to mitigate the pandemic’s unprecedented impact on higher education. Without additional support, however, the state’s public colleges might have to reduce student access and services.

During the Great Recession, a drop in state revenues of $40 billion in 2009 led to cuts equaling roughly one-third of state funding for the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU) systems (on a per student basis). Consequently, tuition doubled at UC and CSU, faculty and staff were laid off or furloughed, and critical capital improvements and maintenance were deferred.

Read More [[link removed]] Infrastructure and Housing Will California Guarantee Housing As A Right? Here's How The Pandemic Is Shaping The Debate

California’s housing crisis is driving state lawmakers to think big. One question they’re considering: How can the Golden State guarantee housing as a right? This week, state legislators looked at two different approaches that tackle the legal right to housing and how the coronavirus pandemic is shaping the debate.

A California bill to create a “right to housing” mandate for families and children easily passed out of the Housing and Community Development committee on Wednesday.

Assembly Bill 2405, introduced by Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, D-Inglewood, would declare a right to housing and force state agencies to house children and families at risk of falling into homelessness. The state would need to provide rental assistance, eviction defense or emergency shelter.

Read More [[link removed]] California Democrats Have New Plan To Battle Housing Crisis — By Encouraging Duplexes

Amid a coronavirus pandemic that’s shuttered the economy, California Senate Democrats announced on Wednesday a plan they said would recommit the state to solving another crisis: housing production.

The plan unveiled with support from Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, aims to boost housing supply and reduce red tape on development.

It includes bills that would encourage construction of duplexes, offer building incentives and allow housing units in under-used office parks, among other proposals.

Read More [[link removed]?] Senate Leaders Detail Housing Production Legislation Intended To Increase Supply, Aid California’s Economic Recovery

In an effort to spur affordable housing production and aid California’s economic recovery due to the COVID-19 crisis, Senate Democrats unveiled a package of legislation today intended to bolster production of new housing and remove existing barriers by further streamlining the development process.

The package of bills will lead to more construction jobs and apprenticeships opportunities that will strengthen the economic viability of working families and the state.

This package of bills builds on a foundation of work by the Senate Housing Committee Chair, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who set the stage with his passionate approach to housing policy and focus on spurring production.

Read More [[link removed]] Housing Advocates Breathe Sigh Of Relief After California’s Coronavirus Budget Cuts

After Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled out his new coronavirus-decimated budget proposal this week, some affordable housing advocates expressed relief the damage wasn’t worse.

Staring down a $54 billion budget shortfall, Newsom on Thursday rolled back several ambitious plans he’d laid out just four months before to tackle the state’s homelessness and affordable housing crisis. But he didn’t gut everything — and what he did cut, he attempted to fill in using federal money.

Read More [[link removed]] One-Fifth Of Americans Fear They Can’t Pay June Rent Or Mortgage

More than half of California households have seen a loss of income due to the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau said Wednesday, based on a newly launched weekly survey.

Since March 13, 54.5% of California adults surveyed said they or another adult in their home had lost income, and an additional 40.8% expected their households to earn less from work over the next four weeks.

Nationally, more than a fifth of adults surveyed reported they had slight or no confidence in their ability to pay their rent or mortgage in June.

Read More [[link removed]] Renters Battle For More Protections Against Eviction

Last week members of the Los Angeles Tenants Union gathered outside City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell’s Echo Park office to demand more protections for struggling renters. Due to social distancing guidelines, some demonstrators stood apart from each other on the sidewalk, while others participated in their vehicles, honking and holding signs as they caravanned down Sunset Boulevard.

As COVID-19 continues to bring unemployment and economic hardship, state, county and city governments have implemented measures to stave off eviction. However, renter activists are pushing lawmakers for stronger action to protect tenants in California’s already crunched housing market. “Unless our elected officials forgive or cancel the rents in the long term, and cancel the debts from the rents that haven’t been paid, we’re just deferring the crisis,” said Maria Zamudio of the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco.

Read More [[link removed]] Landlords Can’t Evict Their Tenants, So They're Shutting Off Utilities And Threatening Them Instead

Larry Adekeye and his wife, Cassandra, were nearly four weeks behind on rent when their landlord showed up to their home earlier this month, allegedly brandishing a knife and a two-by-four, screaming at them to leave.

“It was just to get me out, to throw all my stuff on the front lawn and get his room,” said Adekeye, who’s lived in Warwick, Rhode Island, with several roommates since November.

The 31-year-old and his wife had both lost their jobs at a floral distributor due to the coronavirus pandemic, and they couldn’t afford the $210-a-week rent for their room in the home. Adekeye said he received a notice to vacate the property, but he knew he couldn’t be taken to court for missed payments until at least June 1, thanks to an emergency judicial order blocking evictions in his state.

Read More [[link removed]] Virus Kills Landlords

Being a landlord of a rent stabilized (RSO) property these days is more challenging than ever. Like tenants unable to pay rent, these landlords are having a hard time. Even in the best of times, RSO landlords are capped at collecting an annual rent increase, currently at 4%. The pandemic is a black swan for many investors, and that would include those that have stakes in rent stabilized property.

RSO landlords are not allowed to raise rents at all from now until one year after the pandemic is over. No definition of “over '' has been given by the politicos on the LA City Council who unanimously passed the rent freeze which was then signed by the Mayor.

Read More [[link removed]] Homelessness Could Spike 20% In California As Jobless Struggle During Pandemic

A sobering analysis from a Columbia University economist is projecting a 20% rise in homelessness in California this year, and a potential 40% to 45% increase nationwide, as the coronavirus continues its economic shock.

Economics Professor Brendan O’Flaherty’s projection comes as national unemployment rose to 14.7% in April and as Gov. Gavin Newsom predicted this week that California unemployment could climb to 25% while tax revenues drop by the same number.

O’Flaherty said the U.S. is in uncharted territory, and the figures he calculated didn’t stray from his expectations.

Read More [[link removed]] November Ballot Measure Would Limit Property Taxes For Some Older Homebuyers

Two years after an unsuccessful state ballot measure on property taxes for older homeowners who sell a home and buy another one, state real estate agents have sponsored a similar measure with some changes.

The new measure, verified by its number of signatures last month, would expand what's called property tax portability for homeowners 55 years or older who choose to sell.

Under the measure, those homeowners could keep their current property tax rate if they bought a new home, regardless of difference in value of the homes. Current state law restricts that portability to only certain counties and only allows a seller to do it once, while the November measure would allow it statewide and up to three times.

Read More [[link removed]] From Goody-Two-Shoes To Pariah: How Coronavirus Is Changing Public Transportation

Cities that have spent years trying to lure people out of their cars and convincing them to ride buses and trains are now begging them to do the opposite.

Transit agencies are watching their revenues shrivel while trying to redesign their systems for the remaining few still riding them. For now, being starved of their ridership is a mercy: There’s no way they can handle pre-pandemic levels of use while keeping people at least six feet apart.

Once the goody-two-shoes of transportation, with merit badges for reducing traffic congestion and carbon emissions — not to mention and improving roadway safety and public health — transit is now practically a pariah, shunned by all but those who have no other option. Anyone else taking up space on a train or bus is just a potential disease vector putting essential workers at risk.

Read More [[link removed]] Editorial and Opinion Time To Cut Off Gov. Newsom’s Blank Check

In mid-March, the California Legislature took the extraordinary step of going into recess at a key point in the session and heading home indefinitely to stop the spread of the coronavirus among lawmakers and staff. Before they left the Capitol, however, legislators agreed to give Gov. Gavin Newsom unrestricted access to $1.1 billion from the state’s budget to use as he saw fit to respond to the crisis that was just beginning to unfold.

This act of faith was the right decision for the moment. Legislators might have been stuck at home, but the governor spent his days in the state’s emergency operations center, in the middle of a fast-moving disaster. He needed the ability to move quickly to ensure that hospitals, first responders and public health departments had the resources necessary to meet the anticipated surge of COVID-19 cases.

Read More [[link removed]] States Were Prudent; Here’s Why They Need A Bailout Anyway

The debate over the next federal stimulus package is taking on the trappings of a morality play, pitting Democrats who want $1 trillion in aid for cash-strapped states against Republicans, including President Trump, who say that’s a bailout for fiscal mismanagement.

This is not a good time to mix macroeconomic policy and moralizing. For one thing, the federal government is hardly one to preach fiscal rectitude to states, who have done a better job of managing their debts. For another, without federal help, prudent and profligate states alike will have to tighten their belts, deepening the recession and slowing the recovery, which is not in the federal government’s interest.

Read More [[link removed]] State Has A Budget Problem — But How Big?

The first step to effectively deal with any problem is defining it accurately — and the recession-battered state budget is a case in point.

There’s no doubt that the pandemic-induced recession is one of the worst in California history and that its negative fiscal effects — both increased spending and reduced revenues — are many billions of dollars.

There is, however, much uncertainty about the dimensions of the budget crisis, and therefore what might be required to “meet the moment,” to use one of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s favorite phrases.

Read More [[link removed]] Creating An Investment Strategy For Economic Recovery

The May budget revision unveiled by Governor Newsom last week was prudent and showed the flexibility in the state’s budgeting process to quickly adapt to changing conditions. What remains largely missing from the fiscal agenda, though, is urgent stimulus to the California economy that invigorates job creation while rectifying the significant racial and geographic inequities that existed before the crisis.

Why during the longest recovery period in American history did so many fare so poorly?

Read More [[link removed]] Time To Stop The Mandates, Give Business Time To Recover

Proponents of a newly-proposed privacy initiative, the so-called California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), claim to have enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot. The actual number of qualifying signatures may be close, based on my experience with previous initiatives.

But as someone who has signed a few ballot initiative arguments, I question whether this initiative should move forward at all. In the face of an unprecedented health and economic crisis, should the sponsors pull back their proposal?

Read More [[link removed]] Unleash Private Enterprise To Jumpstart California’s Economy With These Four Moves

Two months into California’s economic lockdown, it’s time to start working on creating a V-shaped economic recovery.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has shown strong leadership during the past couple months in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Now he needs to unleash the power of private enterprise to protect our livelihoods.

He made the right decision in moving the state into a shelter-in-place strategy at a time when many people were still not convinced COVID-19 was that serious a threat. As a result, the virus has not had the same impact here as it has in many other large states.

It is also important that we continue to take prudent precautions to prevent a spike in cases or a later second wave of illnesses.

Read More [[link removed]] Economic Recovery Is An Opportunity For The Climate

The world is changing around us. While the current COVID-19 crisis can easily stoke fear and anxiety, it also offers a window into what we can accomplish when we work together.

We have come together to move mountains to mitigate this pandemic like never before. While we are not out of the woods yet, the unity and commitment to addressing COVID-19 displayed by Californians will be essential in tackling a separate crisis that has been unfolding for decades – climate change.

Read More [[link removed]] With Recycling On Pause, It’s A Good Time To Update California’s Bottle Bill

The coronavirus has changed how we live in ways that go far beyond what we associate with public health, such as returning bottles and cans for redemption. All states, including California, are struggling to adjust to the new recycling reality.

Gov. Newsom recently issued an executive order allowing grocery stores to stop accepting bottles and cans from customers for 60 days, while allowing recycling centers to close temporarily. The order responds to concerns about the virus spreading between essential industry workers and customers when giving refunds for returned beverage containers.

California should use this pause to upgrade the redemption process – as part of the coronavirus legislative response and budget negotiations – and improve this important and popular collection system.

Read More [[link removed]] Here’s How To Build A Caring Economy For Post-Pandemic California

Faced with rebuilding California’s economy – one founded upon caring and fairness – let’s ignore Wall Street and ivory tower economists. More can be learned from selfless frontline workers, like Danielle Mahabir.

Donning sterile gloves and gown, nurse Mahabir, 34, elbows open the door into her intensive-care unit in San Jose. Hot-running ventilators sustain over a hundred patients inside, recovering from strokes, brain injuries or COVID-19 – an eerie climate inside, like an “arid forest waving in the summer breeze,” Mahabir said.

But Mahabir had to pause the job she loves with the pandemic raging six weeks ago, shuttering her 3-year-old’s preschool. Then, Gov. Gavin Newsom lent a hand, incentivizing child care to reopen, granting hazard pay for teachers opting to aid other essential workers, “lifting a tremendous weight off my shoulders,” Mahabir said.

Read More [[link removed]] We Can Do Better, California

Some of you may be old enough to remember when schools and libraries were taken for granted, when there was adequate funding for local governments and school districts, when teachers didn’t have to dip into their own pockets to purchase school supplies and potholes got filled without any fuss.

If you didn’t grow up during that time, you might find it hard to believe that this state once had the ambition and political will to create one of the greatest public university systems in the country, to provide students with a quality education that didn’t require them to rack up a lifetime of debt.

What happened to bring us to this era of diminished public investment, of underfunded schools, library closures, crippling student loan debt? It’s a decades-long retreat that goes back to an initiative passed by California voters in 1978. Proposition 13 helped homeowners cope with soaring property taxes. But it also has two provisions that have had lasting, and debilitating, impacts on our schools, libraries and local government.

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