Web Version [link removed] | Update Preferences [link removed] CBRT in the News Prop. 13 Reform Measure Pushed Aside — Backers Seek New Tax Plan For Businesses

A 2020 ballot initiative that would dramatically change Proposition 13, California’s landmark property tax-cutting measure, is being pushed aside by its backers in favor of a revised plan they believe will have a better chance of passing.

Like the measure that backers hope to replace, the new initiative would split the property tax roll, keeping the Prop. 13 tax limits for residential, small business and agricultural property, but eliminating those limits for most high-dollar commercial and industrial buildings and land.

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The move means that supporters of the split-roll plan are committed to running an expensive effort to qualify a new initiative, even though the measure it would replace has already qualified for the November 2020 ballot.

That’s not a sign of confidence, said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable and co-chair of Californians to Stop Higher Property Taxes, which opposes changing the rules for commercial property taxation.

Read More [[link removed]] New Split Roll Initiative, Same Old Problems

Supporters of the split roll ballot initiative already qualified for the 2020 ballot to tax commercial property on a different basis than residential property made “adjustments” to the measure’s language. They claim they are strengthening the measure to help it pass. What they are doing is recognizing flaws in the initial version and not changing the thrust of a measure designed to raise taxes, consumer costs and undercut Proposition 13.

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Of the new measure, Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable and co-chair of Californians to Stop Higher Property Taxes said, “This is just another, equally flawed measure aimed at dismantling Proposition 13.” Lapsley added, “Proponents should at least withdraw their existing measure, which they now acknowledge is fatally flawed. However, there are no tweaks or amendments that can be made to this split roll measure that will prevent it from being a major, multi-billion-dollar tax on all Californians in the form of higher prices on everything we buy – from groceries and gasoline to diapers and day care.”

Read More [[link removed]] Proposition 13 Battle Gets New Momentum For November 2020 Ballot

The effort to overhaul Prop. 13, known as the “split roll” because it splits the taxation rules for residential properties from other properties, is yearned for by schools, local governments and labor unions. And it’s dreaded by business groups.

Rob Lapsley with the California Business Roundtable argues the initiative’s backers are acknowledging with this second proposal — which Law says would replace a measure that’s already qualified for the 2020 ballot — proves the earlier one was “fatally flawed.”

“Ultimately, the voters are crystal clear: No matter what initiative version [split roll backers] file, that they don’t want to see Proposition 13 changed in any way,” Lapsley said. “So that’s what they’re up against, and I don’t believe they can come up with a version that’s gonna convince the voters, and we’re gonna make sure of it from the business community that they can’t.”

Read More [[link removed]] California Is Headed Toward A Titanic Battle Over Raising Property Taxes

Joel Fox, who cut his political teeth as a tax-cutting apprentice to Howard Jarvis, the iconic champion of Proposition 13, said big business has always been an easy target for those who have blamed the law for a variety of California’s problems …

In a statement on Tuesday, California Business Roundtable President Rob Lapsley called the 2020 ballot measure “a major, multibillion-dollar tax on all Californians in the form of higher prices on everything we buy — from groceries and gasoline to diapers and day care.” He and other business leaders promised an “aggressive” campaign to kill it …

Fox, who said Proposition 13 supporters believe that the ballot measure won’t stop at loosening commercial property tax rules, predicted the business community will spend whatever it takes to defend the system as it has existed for 40 years.

Read More [[link removed]] Business Climate and Job Creation Presidential Candidates Weigh In On California Fight Over “Gig” Workers

What was once an obscure, weedsy legal battle over labor classification in California is now well on its way to becoming a capital-I Issue on the presidential campaign trail.

his morning, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote an op-ed in the Sacramento Bee supporting a California bill that would make it harder for companies to classify workers as “independent contractors.” In the process, she not only waded into what has largely been a California-specific debate, but provided yet another way to distinguish herself from the many other Democrats in what remains a very crowded field hoping to unseat President Donald Trump.

“All Democrats need to stand up and say, without hedging, that we support AB 5 and back full employee status for gig workers,” she said.

Warren’s very public declaration comes a few months after Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders penned a similar op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle, in which he called for national legislation to “bar these employers (like Lyft and Uber) from continuing to misclassify their employees.”

Read More [[link removed]] Consumers Supporting US Economy Amid Manufacturing Slump

American consumers appear to be carrying the US economy in their shopping carts as manufacturing slumps amid President Donald Trump's trade conflict with China, and financial signals warn of a possible recession.

"The economy is phenomenal," Trump said Thursday. "We had a couple of bad days but we are going to have some very good days because we had to take on China."

But despite his cheerleading, a raft of new US data reports showed a mixed picture on the economy, leading Wall Street to post a modest recovery from its worst day of the year.

Global financial markets remain concerned about slowing European and Chinese economies, which caused a closely watched recession signal to flash red, sending stocks worldwide down two percent or more on Wednesday.

Read More [[link removed]] Trade Jitters Dent Consumer Sentiment

U.S. household sentiment dropped to a seven-month low in August, as consumers took fright from the implications of trade uncertainties and the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cut.

The University of Michigan said Friday its preliminary index of consumer sentiment for August was 92.1, down from July’s reading of 98.4.

That fell short of economists’ expectations for an initial reading of 97.0 in August, and marked the lowest reading since January.

“It seems as though volatility in the equity market is influencing consumer moods, as the sharp drop in January followed the swoon in stock prices in December, and equity volatility seems to have had an effect again,” Daiwa Capital Markets’ economist Michael Moran said in a note to clients.

The Michigan survey found that the Federal Reserve’s recent rate cut and the prospect of higher prices due to trade tariffs on Chinese imports spooked U.S. consumers in early August.

Read More [[link removed]] Industrial Sector Struggled In July

U.S. industrial output fell in July, as the manufacturing sector continued to struggle with trade-related headwinds.

Industrial production, a measure of factory, mining and utility output, declined a seasonally adjusted 0.2% in July from the prior month, the Federal Reserve said Thursday.

That fell short of economists’ expectations for a slight increase. June industrial production was revised to an increase of 0.2% from an earlier flat reading.

“Manufacturing is bearing the brunt of uncertainty around trade policy,” said Stephen Stanley, chief economist Amherst Pierpont Securities.

Manufacturing output, the biggest component of industrial production, fell 0.4% in July from a month earlier. That helped tug down broader output across factories, mines and utilities last month.

Read More [[link removed]] Is Big Soda Winning The Soft Drink Wars?

When the mayor of Philadelphia unveiled his battle plan against sugary sodas, it looked like he was riding a national wave. The year was 2016, and one city after another was trying to fight obesity by nudging their citizens away from cheap, high-calorie drinks. In a speech to the City Council unveiling his first budget, Mayor Jim Kenney declared his plan to pay for a host of city initiatives with a new tax on every ounce of soda.

“This was a fight we thought was worth having,” said James Engler, Kenney’s chief of staff.

For a decade, concern had been rising in the public health world that soda’s superfluous calories were fueling an epidemic of obesity and diabetes, and supporters in Philadelphia and elsewhere embraced local taxes as a win-win—a way to encourage healthier choices while also generating some new money to help communities with high obesity rates. In California, Berkeley had passed a soda tax in 2014. Oakland, Boulder and Chicago would soon take up their own laws.

Read More [[link removed]] California’s Largest Recycling Center Business, RePlanet, Shuts Down

California’s largest operator of recycling redemption centers has shut down and laid off 750 employees.

The Mercury News reported Monday that the company, Ontario-based RePlanet, has closed all 284 of its centers.

RePlanet President David Lawrence said the company stopped operating because of increased business costs and falling prices of recycled aluminum and PET plastic.

The move comes three years after RePlanet closed 191 of its recycling centers and laid off almost 300 employees.

This leaves fewer options for people to redeem their recyclables, which is especially concerning for those who live in poverty or experience homelessness and rely on recycling for income.

Read More [[link removed]] U.S. Housing Starts Fell 4.0% in July

Home building in the U.S. fell for a third straight month, showing that rising labor and material costs continue to dent the pace of home construction.

Housing starts, a measure of new-home construction, fell 4% in July from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.191 million, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Residential building permits, which can signal how much construction is in the pipeline, rose 8.4% from June to an annual pace of 1.336 million.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a 1.0% drop in housing starts and a 4.1% increase for permits last month.

Housing-starts data are volatile from month to month and can be subject to large revisions. July’s 4% decline for starts came with a margin of error of 8.0 percentage points.

Read More [[link removed]] Hidden In Plain Sight: California Illegal Pot Market Booming

California’s struggling legal cannabis industry is expected to grow this year to $3.1 billion, but it remains outmatched by a thriving illegal market ripe with bargains, a report concluded Thursday.

Consumers are spending roughly $3 in the state’s underground pot economy for every $1 in the legal one, said the report from industry advisers Arcview Market Research and BDS Analytics .

California kicked off broad legal sales in 2018. But hefty tax rates and illicit sales have been blamed for slower than expected activity in the new licensed market.

The report projected sales in California — the world’s largest legal pot market — would grow 23 percent this year.

Companies that survived a rough 2018 “are battle hardened and kicked off a merger and acquisition flurry in the first half of 2019 that will allow them to leverage their positions in California to compete across the country,” Troy Dayton, CEO of the Arcview Group, said in a statement.

Read More [[link removed]] Closure Of Recycling Centers Hurts Homeless Community

Starr Thornton was tired from the heat. She felt sticky with summer sweat. She apologized for the needs she wished she didn’t have. She had tried to collect more bottles to return, but her body hurt.

On Sunday, the 39-year-old woman was resting on a dusty blanket next to a bus stop in Indio, the same place she sleeps each night. It’s within walking distance of the U Save Market and the Venture Recycling Group, both around the corner from Calhoun Street and Highway 111.

She pointed to a black trash bag hanging off her grocery cart. It was about a third full of returnable bottles — sleeping near a recycling center had its perks.

When she’s working to collect recyclables absentmindedly thrown into trash bins and dumpsters, she can earn up to $250 a month.

But the summer sun slows her hustle.

Read More [[link removed]] Energy and Climate Change Can California Put Cars In The Rear-View Mirror?

The story goes that Californians love their cars. But much of the time that relationship is dysfunctional, launching drivers into the teeth of traffic jams, fouling the air and spewing gases that undermine state policies to combat climate change. Most personal cars sit quietly at the curb or in a garage for 95% of the day, so why even have one?

With transportation — mostly passenger vehicles — responsible for about 40% of the state’s greenhouse-gas emissions, policymakers are ramping up efforts to uncouple Californians from their cars. As they nudge people into ride-sharing, public transit and housing built to enable both, officials are playing a long game. And they’re navigating a political and social minefield dotted with oil interests and drivers loath to give up cars without easy and affordable alternatives

There’s also our clichéd romance with the automobile, long abetted by the state’s film, television and music industries with such tropes as the Beach Boys’ surfboard-toting station wagon and TV commercials showing drivers gliding up Pacific Coast Highway, convertible top down, gleaming hair whipping in the breeze, not another soul in sight.

Read More [[link removed]] Solar Case: US Appeals Against WTO Panel's Ruling In Favour Of India

A ruling given by the WTO's dispute settlement panel on renewable energy or the solar sector in favour of India has been challenged by the US in the upper body of the World Trade Organization.

In June, a WTO dispute resolution panel ruled in favour of India in a case against the US saying that America's domestic content requirements and subsidies provided by eight of its states in the renewable energy or the solar sector are violative of global trade norms.

The US has challenged this ruling in the WTO's Appellate Body, which is above the dispute settlement panel.

"The US hereby notifies its decision to appeal to the appellate body certain issues of law covered in the report of the panel in US – Certain Measures Relating to the Renewable Energy Sector and certain legal interpretations developed by the panel," a WTO communication has said.

Read More [[link removed]] California Is Gaining Allies In Its Emissions Standards War With Trump

More and more states and automakers are uniting behind California in a nationwide debate over vehicle emissions standards, as tensions between the Golden State and President Donald Trump’s administration come to a head.

A growing coalition of states is supporting California’s efforts to demand cleaner and more efficient vehicles, at a time when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are seeking to halt standards despite objections from health and climate experts. Those states are now being joined by several major automakers, with others facing pressure from lawmakers.

Three weeks ago, California inked a deal with four major automakers, committing them to increasing both gas mileage and greenhouse gas emissions standards in exceedance of the Trump administration’s proposal. Now, others are under pressure to do the same.

Read More [[link removed]] California, Other States Sue Trump Administration Over Replacement Of Obama's Clean Power Plan

A coalition of 22 statesincluding California and New York, six cities and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington this week in an attempt to block repeal and replace of the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era policy that set emission-reduction targets, required states to restrict their use of coal-burning power plants and mandated a switch to renewable energy.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Gov. Gavin Newsom, and California Air Resources Board Chair Mary Nichols announced the move Tuesday, marking the state's latest battle in court over climate change.

In June, the Trump administration finalized its Affordable Clean Energy Rule, which replaces the Clean Power Plan with one thatweakens the emissions targets and protects the coal industry. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler said at the time that the administration’s new plan was constructed to protect low- and middle-income Americans from rising energy costs.

Read More [[link removed]] Infrastructure and Housing Governor Newsom Wants Local Solutions To California's 'Housing Crisis'

We've been focused on housing as part of our efforts to build a better Bay Area. A new report by real estate researchers says you now need to make $343,000 a year to afford a median-priced home in San Francisco. That'll cost you nearly $8,600 a month. Governor Newsom says help needs to come from all over to get people into homes.

Read More [[link removed]] U.S. Housing Starts Fell 4.0% in July

Home building in the U.S. fell for a third straight month, showing that rising labor and material costs continue to dent the pace of home construction.

Housing starts, a measure of new-home construction, fell 4% in July from the prior month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.191 million, the Commerce Department said Friday.

Residential building permits, which can signal how much construction is in the pipeline, rose 8.4% from June to an annual pace of 1.336 million.

Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected a 1.0% drop in housing starts and a 4.1% increase for permits last month.

Housing-starts data are volatile from month to month and can be subject to large revisions. July’s 4% decline for starts came with a margin of error of 8.0 percentage points.

Read More [[link removed]] As New Home Construction Sputters, Gavin Newsom Calls For Rent Caps And Less Red Tape

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday called for California lawmakers to send him bills to limit rent spikes and cut building regulations before their 2019 legislative session ends next month.

He said capping rent increases is a “top priority” for him over the next month. He made the remarks during a Thursday discussion on housing affordability in San Francisco, where housing prices are famously high, but said he could have had the same discussion anywhere in the state.

“The California dream is in real peril if we don’t address the housing crisis,” he said. “We need to see more permitting, we need to see more housing being constructed.”

He acknowledged there’s a patchwork of regulations on rent control and tenant protections throughout the state, and said there needs to be more statewide regulation protecting Californians from rent spikes.

Read More [[link removed]] Homeowners Are Increasingly Relying On Last-Resort Fire Insurance Plan

Nearly 5,000 San Diego homeowners have turned to the state’s fire insurance provider of last resort, the California FAIR Plan Association.

State lawmakers created the FAIR Plan in 1968 to help provide fire insurance where other insurance companies were not. At first, that meant inner cities facing redlining and turmoil, like the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles.

Most of the homes the FAIR Plan insures are still in urban areas in and around L.A., according to 2017 data from the association’s most recent rate filing.

But rural and suburban homeowners are increasingly coming to rely on the FAIR Plan because of growing wildfire risk. Other insurance companies are dumping customers in fire-prone areas or dramatically increasing prices.

Read More [[link removed]] Editorial and Opinion No Matter How They Write It, Split Roll Is A Public Sector Union Money Grab

Proponents of a split-roll property tax system announced Tuesday they were pulling their original proposal and will file a new, revised version for the November 2020 ballot. Regardless of how they dress up their proposal, it’s ultimately an unnecessary tax hike.

The so-called Schools and Communities First campaign, backed by public sector unions and even some local governments, seeks to raise nearly $10 billion a year from commercial properties with higher property taxes.

But they’ve decided to rewrite their plan to boost its chances of success. According to Politico, the organizers will now have to collect nearly 1 million signatures to get the revised version on the ballot.

Proponents, of course, can be expected to continue peddling the false narrative that the greatest problem facing California is that California’s nation-leading taxation isn’t enough.

Read More [[link removed]] Two Billionaires Explain Why They Shouldn't Pay More Taxes, Unlike You Poor Saps

Statements by billionaires explaining why they already pay plenty in taxes and shouldn’t have to pay any more have become so much a part of the political landscape that they deserve a “Jeopardy!” category all to themselves.

A new op-ed on this theme, penned for the Tuesday Wall Street Journal by Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus and New York supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis, sets a standard for the genre that other tycoons will shoot for in vain. Let’s take a look.

In their very first sentence, the authors declare, “The two of us are quite rich” -- thereby instantly establishing their piece as the Platonic ideal of Wall Street Journal op-eds.

Read More [[link removed]] California Fostered America’s Tech Industry. It Is Becoming a Great Adversary.

California, the birthplace of the American tech industry, is emerging as a great foe.

On Monday, the state legislature resumes and will consider a bill that, if passed, could classify drivers for ride-hailing companies like Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. as employees, entitled to better wages and benefits.

The bill, along with state laws pending or passed on issues ranging from privacy to net neutrality, could substantially reshape companies across the technology sector, many of which are based in the Silicon Valley area where local ordinances targeting tech are also taking hold. The push by policy makers against local companies is an unusual turn that is setting a precedent for greater tech governance throughout the country.

Read More [[link removed]] One Simple Way to Alleviate Poverty: Give People Money

There is a feel-good aspect to the story of Michael Tubbs, the 29-year old mayor of Stockton, California. A native of the city, he grew up in poverty and is a product of its public schools. He ran for city council his senior year at Stanford and won at the age of 22. According to the city’s website, Tubbs is “the youngest mayor in the history of the nation” to represent a town with a population of more than 100,000 residents. (Stockton’s population is over 310,000 people.)

One of Tubb’s priorities is confronting the structures that he believes create poverty. It’s a steep challenge with high stakes, given Stockton’s 23 percent poverty rate. One radical way his administration is attempting to change the status quo is through a basic income pilot program. I spoke to him about how the pilot is faring since its launch six months ago, his take on the structural drivers of poverty, and how growing up in poverty informs his work as an elected official. The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

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]