Web Version [link removed] | Update Preferences [link removed] CBRT in the News California Business Roundtable Supports Governor Newsom's Move To Fully Reopen The Economy

Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, issued the following statement today in response to the announcement by Governor Gavin Newsom that there will be a full reopening of the economy on June 15, 2021 should vaccine and COVID case-rate trends continue:

“For more than a year, the California business community has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to create a safe and healthy space for employees and customers while enduring reductions in customers and sales and, in many cases, unpredictable closures and re-openings. Today’s announcement by Governor Newsom is a welcome step forward and provides certainty to businesses to rehire employees. The business community will continue to aggressively work to stop the spread and encourage vaccinations, which are necessary steps to reopen the economy and protect our communities.

“However, as we have said all along, the economy cannot reopen without schools fully and safely reopening as well, otherwise working parents, especially working mothers, will be left behind. The schools must be a full partner in creating an equitable recovery and reopening, allowing all working families the opportunity to get back to work.”

Read More [[link removed]] California Aims To 'Fully Reopen" Economy By June 15

California will fully reopen its economy June 15 as long as Covid-19 vaccinations remain widely available and hospitalization continues to be stable, the governor and public health officials said Tuesday.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said that with 20 million doses administered and a total of 30 million expected by the end of the month, it's time to start planning for a post-pandemic normal. Roughly 18.5 percent of Californians are partially vaccinated and 23.3 percent are fully vaccinated, as of Tuesday.

"With the expectation of an abundance of doses coming in from the federal government through the end of this month and into May, we can confidently say by June 15 that we can start to open up as business as usual — subject to ongoing mask-wearing and ongoing vigilance," Newsom said Tuesday during a press conference in San Francisco.

Business and industry representatives cheered Tuesday's announcement, which will allow restaurants, bars and gyms to open at full capacity after more than a year of restrictions.

"Today’s announcement by Governor Newsom is a welcome step forward and provides certainty to businesses to rehire employees," Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, said in a statement. "The business community will continue to aggressively work to stop the spread and encourage vaccinations, which are necessary steps to reopen the economy and protect our communities."

Read More [[link removed]] Carrots, Sticks And Jabs: What Will California Do To Win Over Vaccine Skeptics?

As of Thursday, all Californians 50 and older are now eligible to get their coveted COVID vaccine — including one politically imperiled 53-year-old governor.

Gov. Gavin Newsom celebrated this latest benchmark by getting a well-publicized jab himself, thus marking the beginning of the end of what has been a particularly thorny political challenge for the administration: How to make sure the millions of Californians eager to get a vaccine are able to get one.

Now it’s on to the next challenge: How to vaccinate the millions of Californians who aren’t quite so eager.

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California businesses are “all looking at how they can reopen safely, protect their employees and their customers,” said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, a coalition of large businesses. But at the moment, he said, there’s no coordinated “discussion about it being mandatory or a requirement.”

Read More [[link removed]] Newsom's Vow To Reopen California Is A High-Stakes Political Gamble

Gov. Gavin Newsom is running two races this spring: The first is to clobber the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 60,000 Californians and devastated businesses and schools with unprecedented restrictions. The second is to keep his job, which could be threatened by a recall election later this year.

The two paths intersected today as Newsom announced plans to fully reopen California businesses on June 15 — if hospitalization rates remain low and the state has enough vaccines to inoculate all Californians who want a shot.

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Even with the low rates of infection, California lags the rest of the nation in the portion of kids who attend school in-person. And while many schools in the state have begun to reopen this spring, they’re generally on hybrid schedules that only allow kids on campus for a few hours a week — making it difficult for many parents to work.

“The economy cannot reopen without schools fully and safely reopening as well, otherwise working parents, especially working mothers, will be left behind,” said a statement from Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, which represents the state’s largest companies.

“The schools must be a full partner in creating an equitable recovery and reopening, allowing all working families the opportunity to get back to work.”

Read More [[link removed]] California To Lift Most COVID Restrictions; Economy To Reopen June 15

California will retire its color-coded pandemic blueprint on June 15 and allow almost all sectors of the economy to reopen at or near full capacity, assuming the state continues to meet aggressive vaccination goals and hospitalizations for COVID-19 remain low.

The move, announced by Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, signals a dramatic shift in the state’s restrictive pandemic response, as California anticipates wide swaths of the population to be fully vaccinated by summer.

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Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, said stability is key to recovery for many businesses, especially after more than a year of surge-driven shutdowns and uncertainty over when restrictions would be lifted — or new ones put in place.

“For more than a year, the California business community has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to create a safe and healthy space for employees and customers while enduring reductions in customers and sales and, in many cases, unpredictable closures and re-openings,” Lapsley said in a statement. “Today’s announcement by Gov. Newsom is a welcome step forward and provides certainty to businesses to rehire employees.”

Read More [[link removed]] Is California Driving Business Away?

Is California killing the golden goose with taxes and regulations that drive businesses and their jobs to more hospitable states?

That question has been debated for years without a definitive answer, flaring up whenever there’s a high-profile move out of the state.

With the recent relocation of several well-known firms to Texas, along with one famous billionaire, Tesla’s Elon Musk, the question once again reverberates in political circles.

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Last week, the Center for Jobs and the Economy, an arm of the California Business Roundtable, offered new grist for the debate by launching “CaliFormers,” a running list of companies that have relocated from California or expanded operations elsewhere.

“California policies have created the highest in the nation cost-of-living and strictest in the nation regulatory costs which have caused jobs in key sectors such as manufacturing to start-up, scale or relocate in other lower-cost states, sometimes just across the border from California,” the CaliFormers announcement declared.

Read More [[link removed]] California Business Pushes Back On Stimulus Ban Of State Tax Cuts

A California business lobbying group says the prohibition of state tax cuts in the federal stimulus bill has stalled tax credits, fee waivers and other critical economic stimulus and anti-poverty programs.

The California Business Roundtable, an umbrella organization for the state's business groups, has written to the U.S. Treasury Department asking for clarity on language contained in the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill signed by President Biden two weeks ago.

The prohibition on tax cuts was intended to prevent states from using federal stimulus dollars to subsidize state-level cuts.

“While we understand the intent of the language, it is overly broad and has left states, policymakers and the business community with more questions than answers,” Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, said in a statement.

Read More [[link removed]] Business Climate and Job Creation Where Can You Find A New Job? Try These U.S. Cities

Salt Lake City has top-notch ski resorts, challenging bike trails and breathtaking views of the Wasatch Mountains. It also is home to the hottest job market in the U.S.

As the pandemic raged through the U.S. in 2020, no metropolitan area in the country expanded the size of its labor force more on a percentage basis than Utah’s capital. It also had the lowest average unemployment rate and the highest share of people working or looking for jobs. These signs of strength helped it rank first among 53 large metro areas in an annual examination of U.S. labor markets conducted by The Wall Street Journal, after ranking No. 4 in 2019.

Other cities that emerged as beacons to job seekers and businesses during the pandemic were, like Salt Lake City, located far from the coasts. Hubs in the Southwest and Midwest such as Austin, Denver, Indianapolis and Kansas City minimized employment losses, kept unemployment relatively low and retained and attracted workers in a year when the U.S. lost more than 9 million jobs.

Read More [[link removed]] Biden Budget Outline Seeks More Money For Education, Health

President Biden is seeking more federal funding for education, healthcare, research and renewable energy next year in a $1.52 trillion spending plan reflecting his vision of an expansive federal government that tackles issues ranging from climate change to racial inequality.

The preliminary plan released Friday by the White House would raise discretionary spending by 8.4%, or $118 billion, from the $1.4 trillion authorized last year, excluding emergency measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. Discretionary spending is the part of the budget that Congress shapes through the appropriations process.

Nondefense spending would rise 16% next fiscal year to $769.4 billion. Spending on defense would increase 1.7% to $753 billion—much less than Republicans are likely to support but more than called for by progressives, who pushed for cuts during the Trump administration.

Read More [[link removed]] Biden Urges Broad View Of Infrastructure In Pushing $2.3 Trillion Package

President Biden sought to build public support for an expansive view of what it means to bolster U.S. infrastructure, dismissing Republican arguments that his roughly $2.3 trillion plan devotes too little to projects like roads and bridges.

As he approaches his hundredth day in office later this month, the Democratic president sought in a speech Wednesday to define his latest push in Congress as a way to drive an economy re-emerging from the coronavirus pandemic. He has called for the package to fund projects over eight years, offset with 15 years’ worth of corporate tax increases.

Mr. Biden has included in his definition of infrastructure spending proposals to build recharging stations for electric vehicles, expand care for the elderly and close gaps in the nation’s broadband network, which he says are necessary to support the American workforce and compete with other countries. Congressional Republicans say the package is a “Trojan horse” for Democratic priorities and that a true infrastructure proposal should focus more narrowly on things like building roads, bridges and airports.

Read More [[link removed]] What’s In Biden’s $2 Trillion Corporate Tax Plan

President Biden is calling for $2 trillion in corporate tax increases over 15 years to pay for his infrastructure plan. Here are the basics of the revenue-raising side of the plan, which reverses many of the changes from the 2017 tax law written and passed by Republicans.

The proposals released at the end of March hew closely to Mr. Biden’s campaign tax plan. But they don’t include his proposals affecting taxes on high-income individuals’ income, capital gains, estates and noncorporate businesses. Those are expected in a future segment of the president’s agenda.

How big is the tax increase?

Not counting the Biden plan, corporate taxes are projected to be 1.3% of gross domestic product over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This plan would add 0.5 percentage points of GDP, according to the administration.

Read More [[link removed]] Risky Borrowers Are Falling Behind On Car Payments

A greater share of people with low credit scores has been falling behind on their car payments in recent months, a sign of stress among consumers whose finances have been hit hard by the pandemic.

Some 10.9% of subprime borrowers with outstanding auto loans or leases were more than 60 days past due in February, up from 10.7% in January and 8.7% a year prior, according to credit-reporting firm TransUnion. It marked the sixth consecutive month-over-month increase and the highest level in monthly data going back to January 2019.

More than 9% of subprime auto borrowers were more than 60 days past due in the fourth quarter, the highest quarterly figure in data going back to 2005.

The missed payments are increasing in what has otherwise been a period of relatively low consumer delinquencies, with stimulus payments, unemployment benefits and other measures keeping many borrowers afloat. The rising subprime delinquencies point to an uneven economic recovery and a deep divergence between those who can navigate the coronavirus downturn and those who can’t.

Read More [[link removed]] California's Dizzying Road To Reopening

With concerns of the coronavirus escalating in March 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom did something unprecedented: he shut down most of the state’s economy.

Tens of thousands of businesses were ordered to close immediately, and most Californians were asked to stay at home. The impact was sudden and dramatic. Though the reasoning behind the decision was clear, less certain was how and when the state would reopen.

As the months went by, the state attempted to reopen in fits and starts as the governor and local officials grappled with how to revive a collapsed economy despite the virus’ persistent spread.

The result was a complex set of guidelines that frequently changed, varied from county to county and created a whipsaw effect where businesses were open one week and sometimes closed within days.

Read More [[link removed]] California Jobless Claims Surge 36.6%, Undercutting Hopes For Recovery

New unemployment claims in California rose sharply last week, an indication that the state’s hoped-for economic recovery could still be undercut as employers slash payrolls and even close permanently.

A total of 145,367 newly laid-off state residents filed for benefits for the week that ended April 3, almost 40,000 more than the prior week, or a 36.6% surge.

California accounted for almost one fifth of the nation’s 744,000 new claims, far more than the state’s 11.8% share of the labor force. Nationwide, claims rose by 16,000 or just 2.1%.

More than three-quarters of the applications were “additional claims,” said Michael Bernick, a former head of the state’s Employment Development Dept. and now an attorney at Duane Morris in San Francisco. That means they were people who were previously unemployed, then rehired and now became unemployed again, all within the past 12 months.

Read More [[link removed]] The California Texodus

A wave of corporate departures raises concerns for Silicon Valley’s future.

In December 2020, as the curtain drew closed on an extraordinary year in Silicon Valley history, the region suffered a final shock when Oracle Corporation and HP Inc. both announced the relocation of their headquarters to Austin, Texas, in quick succession. When legendary investor Peter Thiel and entrepreneur Elon Musk also disclosed that they had decamped to Texas, some political and economic observers reacted with profound concern, seeing a “red tsunami” rolling toward the Lone Star State.

Others dismissed the moves as unimportant ripples in California’s vast ocean of economic activity. Could such significant corporate flight out of the Bay Area be explained by the boisterous election cycle, in which the sharp divide in economic and policy models of Texas and California came into sharp focus? Why did California state leaders fail to foresee these exits and take steps to prevent them? Does Silicon Valley face the start of a long-term exodus and decline? How should individual cities respond?

Read More [[link removed]] Health Officials Warn To "Keep Guard Up" As California Moves Closer To Fully Reopening

With Governor Gavin Newsom's announcement that California's economy could fully reopen by mid-June, businesses in downtown San Jose have a lot to look forward to.

"We're going to stand together and we're going to do something fantastic and great here," said Rodney Baca, who together with his wife Madeline, opened The Shop by Chef Baca on Fountain Alley two weeks ago.

California's reopening is contingent on sufficient vaccine supply and if hospitalizations are stable and low. But with the two-month warning, businesses can better anticipate their needs for future staffing.

"It's so much more helpful to know that there's kind of a goal post that hopefully won't move this time and we can now put a plan in place," said Randy Musterer, owner of Sushi Confidential near San Pedro Square.

Read More [[link removed]] Vaccine Passports In California? Answers To Your Questions

Now that more than 7.5 million Californians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the Newsom administration has set a goal of reopening the state’s economy by June 15. So what does the state plan to do when it comes to proving that people are vaccinated?

State health officials said Tuesday that verification of immunization or testing may be required before some large events are allowed. But so far, they haven’t issued any guidelines or advice for businesses on how to do that.

A theater, for example, could create a section of vaccinated people who may sit shoulder to shoulder for a performance, while requiring unvaccinated people to socially distance in a separate section.

A convention center could hold a conference for more than 5,000 people — but only if it establishes that everyone has been vaccinated or tested, according to a state order.

How will those venues verify who’s vaccinated and who isn’t? And what about travel? Public health experts, regulators and businesses are wrestling — in a highly politicized environment — with logistical, ethical and legal questions about how and whether to verify COVID immunization status.

Read More [[link removed]] Amid California's Unemployment Crisis, A Tech Gold Rush

Stacy Lira was nearly a year into her unofficial job as an unemployment detective when things went from bad to worse.

The 46-year-old mother of three, who lost her job managing an Inland Empire convenience store last spring, was rushed to the hospital in mid-February. She was struggling to breathe after testing positive for COVID-19. But Lira was adamant that she couldn’t leave home without one thing: She needed her carefully filed unemployment records so she could keep calling from the hospital about the nearly $20,000 she says the state owes her family.

“If you miss one day,” Lira explained, “that could have been the day that it all worked out.”

As the ranks of desperate California workers like Lira swell, the state’s Employment Development Department insists that it’s getting things under control. It has help from an ever-expanding roster of private contractors that are staffing up call centers, modernizing tech systems and rooting out fraud, officials stress on social media and at political hearings in Sacramento — an effort that, all told, has so far cost the state at least $236 million during the pandemic, the agency told CalMatters.

Read More [[link removed]] California OKs More Than Half A Billion Dollars To Help Reduce Wildfire Risk

California will authorize $536 million toward forest management projects and efforts to reduce wildfires before the worst of the fire season strikes later this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders said Thursday.

That more than doubles $200 million in recent annual spending, advocates said, and wildfire preparedness grants were dropped entirely last year when the state prematurely anticipated a pandemic-driven budget shortfall.

Armed now with an unexpected multi-billion-dollar surplus, lawmakers plan to add the money to this fiscal year’s budget before considering even more in the new spending plan that takes effect July 1.

Newsom said lawmakers “wanted to move forward more aggressively” to immediately allocate more than half the $1 billion that he had sought to spend starting in the second half of the year. That will “get these projects moving … so we’re prepared for this upcoming wildfire season.”

Read More [[link removed]] Energy and Climate Change The Next Aliso Canyon Could Happen On L.A.'s Westside

The sludgy geyser of gas, water and mud startled residents of Marina del Rey.

The hissing plume reached 100 feet into the air, the product of a hotel developer’s failed attempt to re-plug a long-abandoned well from the Playa del Rey oil field. Video of the gusher showed a worker hurrying to lower himself to safety via escape rope.

The 2019 blowout was stemmed after 10 minutes but not before an estimated 100,000 cubic feet of powerful planet-warming natural gas escaped into the atmosphere, about what an average U.S. household would use in two years.

The geyser most likely spewed from a naturally occurring underground gas pocket, state officials concluded. But for Angelenos, it was a dramatic reminder of the legacy of fossil fuel extraction on the city’s Westside — a legacy felt to this day.

Read More [[link removed]] The Wage Gap That Threatens Biden's Climate Plan

President Joe Biden's efforts to sell the country's workers on his climate agenda will face a major hurdle, data obtained by POLITICO show — a big wage gap between the new green energy jobs and the old fossil fuel ones.

Energy industry workers employed by solar and wind power companies earn significantly less than those who mine coal or drill for natural gas, according to data compiled by former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz's clean energy think tank. For example, the median wage for solar workers is $24.48 an hour compared with $30.33 for those employed by the natural gas sector, which amounts to a roughly $12,000 annual wage gap.

These wage disparities threaten to undermine Biden's promise that the nation can launch a multitrillion-dollar assault on climate change while growing its economy and transitioning workers to well-paying jobs.

Biden himself gets that, said Jason Walsh, executive director of the BlueGreen Alliance, an organization of labor unions and environmental groups jointly working on environmental issues. He said Biden understands the value of the labor movement within the transition to a clean energy economy, and highlighted proposals in Biden's infrastructure plan unveiled last week to beef up clean energy job quality.

Read More [[link removed]] Climate Proposal Coming before Sempra Energy Shareholders Next Month

Two groups holding a small percentage of Sempra Energy stock have called for the San Diego-based Fortune 500 company to issue a report detailing how Sempra’s assets and lobbying activities align with the international Paris treaty regarding climate change.

Sempra shareholders will vote on the proposal, put forth by Calvert Research and Management and the Putney School Inc. Endowment, when the company holds its annual shareholders meeting on May 14.

Sempra’s board of directors has recommended a “no” vote, saying the company already provides sufficient information about sustainability and defended the natural gas holdings of its subsidiaries.

Based in Washington D.C., Calvert Research and Management is a financial firm that specializes in Environmental, Social and Governanceinvestments. The Putney School, a boarding school in Vermont, promotes “progressive education for a sustainable future.”

Read More [[link removed]] Chevron Shareholders To Vote On Climate Change Proposals - Filing

Chevron shareholders will vote on proposals aiming to require the second-largest US oil producer to reduce the environmental impact of its products and report on climate business risks.

The San Ramon, California-based supermajor has pledged to limit the pace of growth of its carbon emissions that contribute to climate change, but has not set longer-term targets to achieve net zero as many European oil companies have done.

Shareholder proposals include reducing so-called Scope 3 emissions that come from the use of its fuels and a request that the company report the impact of net zero 2050 scenarios on its finances and business assumptions, according to the company's proxy filing on Thursday.

Chevron has set emissions targets for this decade and laid out plans to keep project spending low but increase oil and gas output.

The company is recommending that its stock holders vote against the shareholder proposals, including one for an independent board chair after the next chief executive transition.

Read More [[link removed]] Within Biden's Infrastructure Plan Lies An Agenda To Address Climate Change

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

It's going to be green, and it's going to be big. That's how Democrats have said they want to spend trillions on the nation's infrastructure.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: It's not a plan that tinkers around the edges. It's a once-in-a-generation investment in America.

CORNISH: On Wednesday afternoon, President Biden spoke about what his version of this might look like - talking up the idea of job creation and running defense against critics who say it's a Democratic wish list of environmental policy, not infrastructure. To that, Biden says, just look at those impacted by floods, fires and hurricanes.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BIDEN: Ask all those farmers and small business owners and homeowners whether investing in clean energy to fight the effects of climate change is part of infrastructure.

Read More [[link removed]] In The West, Sings In The Snow Warn That A 20-Year Drought Will Persist And Intensify

Lack of monsoon rainfall last summer and spotty snowfall this winter combined to worsen the Western drought dramatically in the past year, and spring snowmelt won’t bring much relief. Critical April 1 measurements of snow accumulations from mountain ranges across the region show that most streams and rivers will once again flow well below average levels this year, stressing ecosystems and farms and depleting key reservoirs that are already at dangerously low levels.

As the climate warms, it’s likely that drought conditions will worsen and persist across much of the West. Dry spells between downpours and blizzards are getting longer, and snowpack in the mountains is starting to melt during winter, new research shows. The warming atmosphere may also be suppressing critical summer rains from the western monsoon.

A year ago, when California and Colorado experienced their worst fire seasons on record, drought conditions spanned about half the West, and no areas experienced “extreme” or “exceptional” conditions. But going into this year’s dry season, about 90 percent of the region is now in drought, with 40 percent in those two most severe categories.

Read More [[link removed]] Workforce Development Parents Group Sues Los Angeles Unified Asking For Full Reopening Of Schools

A Los Angeles parent group filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Los Angeles Unified School District and district Superintendent Austin Beutner, calling for a return to full-time, in-person instruction to the extent possible.

The group, California Students United, wants the school district to eliminate requirements that students stay 6 feet apart and that they be tested for Covid-19.

Currently, a district agreement calls for testing of all students and staff seven days prior to schools reopening and every two weeks while Los Angeles County is in the red tier of the state’s color-coded Covid-19 tracking system. The red tier indicates there is substantial spread of Covid-19 in the community.

Eliminating the 6-foot requirement would allow Los Angeles Unified to fully reopen classrooms, according to the lawsuit. Los Angeles Unified is among the California school districts that have opted to keep the 6-foot social distancing requirement despite a recent recommendation by the Centers for Disease Control and California Department of Public Health to reduce that distance to 3 feet.

Read More [[link removed]] Gov. Newsom Expects Full In-Person Fall Return To School After State Scraps Color-Coded Tiers

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state health officials said Tuesday they expect all schools and higher education institutions to open for full-time in-person instruction in the fall, following the announcement that California intends to retire its “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” color-coded tier system on June 15.

Some believe the announcement will set the tone for debate with the Legislature during the annual “May Revision” of the state budget about whether schools will be mandated to offer in-person instruction in the fall. Derick Lennox, director of Governmental Relations and Legal Affairs for the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, also predicts a debate over whether districts will be allowed or required to offer distance learning as an exception to full in-person instruction for those families that request.

Since August 2020, the tier system has guided when schools can or can’t reopen for in-person instruction, requiring them to be out of the most restrictive “purple” tier for at least two weeks in order to bring students back into the classroom.

Read More [[link removed]] Infrastructure and Housing The Permanent Housing Crisis

One problem with government emergency actions is that the political class never wants them to end. Witness the Biden Administration’s extension of the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums, which by now are creating more trouble than they’re worth.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau this week proposed a rule that would effectively prohibit foreclosures through December. It has also threatened to penalize mortgage servicers and landlords who don’t take action to prevent a surge in “avoidable foreclosures” and evictions when government forbearance programs end.

In short, the government is bludgeoning private businesses to fix a problem it created. Suspension of rent and mortgage payments was justifiable last spring when states locked down and some 22 million workers lost jobs. But the jobless rate has dropped to 6% from 14.8%, and employers are desperate to hire.

The Cares Act from last March let borrowers with federally backed mortgages pause payments for 360 days. The law also imposed a 120-day moratorium on evictions in housing developments supported with federal funds. After the Cares Act eviction moratorium ended, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September extended it through December and expanded it to all rental housing. Households making up to $198,000 qualify as long as they say they lost income due to the pandemic.

Read More [[link removed]] Judge Halts Tejon Ranch Development, Citing Wildfire Risk

A long-running plan to build a community of 19,000 homes on vast Tejon Ranch north of Los Angeles has been halted by a judge who cited high wildfire risk.

Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff on Tuesday rejected Los Angeles County’s approval of the developer’s environmental impact report, effectively blocking construction.

The judge cited aspects of the environmental review concerning fire danger and additional greenhouse gases generated by vehicles, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The ruling does not kill the project on the southern flanks of the Tehachapi Mountains near the Kern County border, the newspaper said, but it does threaten to delay it significantly.

The Center for Biological Diversity, one of the project's most vocal opponents, hailed the judge's decision.

Read More [[link removed]] Homeless Heckle Downtown Businesses, Owners Call For Action

Business owners in downtown Fresno say the homeless are causing problems for employees and customers.

Several owners said the homeless will demand free food or cause ruckus inside of businesses, break windows, or steal goods.

Almost every business on Fulton Street closes each day around 4:45 p.m. with owners locking up their gates and heading home, but restaurant Charapan stays open until 6 p.m. on weekdays and even later on weekends.

“It is a risk for us being open that late,” said Christopher Ventura whose family owns the restaurant.

Ventura said often homeless come inside and demand free food or even steal merchandise and take off.

Read More [[link removed]] Is President Biden On The Right Track With His Infrastructure Plan?

President Joe Biden unveiled a $2 trillion infrastructure plan recently that would aim to fix roads and bridges, update railways, invest in electric vehicles and set aside money for subsidized housing.

It will also do a lot more: Allocating money for home-based care, school construction and expanding high-speed broadband.

Some members of Congress have already criticized it for including too much that might not be considered part of infrastructure. But the president has framed the plan as a “once-in-a-generation investment.”

Read More [[link removed]] Biden Infrastructure Plan Would Hurt Economy In 3 Ways Over Long Run, Ivy League Analysis Finds

President Biden is pitching his $2.7 trillion+ “infrastructure” plan, chock full of items unrelated to traditional transportation infrastructure, as key to restoring the economy and putting Americans back to work. It’s right in the name: the “American Jobs Plan.”

“This is the moment to reimagine and rebuild a new economy,” Biden said in introducing his plan. “The American Jobs Plan is an investment in America that will create millions of good jobs, rebuild our country’s infrastructure, and position the United States to out-compete China.”

The president’s rhetoric is quite optimistic—but his plan’s long-term prospects are not. A new Ivy League analysis concludes that Biden’s plan would actually shrink the economy in the long run.

New Analysis Pours Cold Water on Biden Plan

Analysts at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania weighed the potential benefits the proposed spending would have against the costs incurred by higher government debt and higher business tax rates. They find that while sending piles of cash flying out the door might seem stimulative at first, the long-term effects would all be net negative.

Read More [[link removed]] Bezos Endorses Higher Corporate Tax For Infrastructure

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos endorsed President Joe Biden’s focus on building up the country’s infrastructure Tuesday and said the company even supports a corporate tax rate hike to help pay for it.

Bezos’ statement, posted on the company’s website, was notable because it came after Biden singled out the company for criticism about how much it pays in federal taxes when he recently unveiled his $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal.

Biden has proposed hiking the U.S. corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% to help pay for his plan, an idea that Republican leaders are panning as harmful to economic growth. Democrats will surely cite support from individual companies to undercut that argument.

“We recognize this investment will require concessions from all sides — both on the specifics of what’s included as well as how it gets paid for (we’re supportive of a rise in the corporate tax rate),” Bezos wrote. “We look forward to Congress and the Administration coming together to find the right, balanced solution that maintains or enhances U.S. competitiveness.”

Read More [[link removed]] Editorial and Opinion Shine Some Light In Black Box Of Algorithms Used By Government

You can’t see algorithms, but they can impact huge parts of your life, from seemingly minor things like what video YouTube will queue up next to life-and-death issues such as whether or not you can get a COVID-19 vaccination. It’s time we all had a better idea how algorithms impact us, particularly when the government is using them.

An algorithm is simply a set of rules and instructions used by a computer program to perform a task or solve a problem. While algorithms themselves are coldly mathematical, they are created by humans who, like all of us, can have blind spots, biases or preconceptions. And that can lead to algorithms that make bad decisions or even perpetuate racial and gender bias.

These algorithms feed into an artificial intelligence framework where machine learning makes decisions and predictions from data about people – decisions previously made by people. According to PwC research, artificial intelligence could contribute $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

Read More [[link removed]] Would Fed Change Make Higher State Taxes More Likely?

California has long held the dubious honor of having the nation’s highest income tax rates — 13.3% for those at the very top of the income ladder.

However, New York is coming closer to California. Its governor, Andrew Cuomo, and legislative leaders have agreed to boost state income tax rates to as high as 10.9%. For those in New York City, which has a top rate of 3.88%, the potential bite could be as much as 14.8%.

Some California legislators want to add another point or two to the state’s income tax rate, saying the money is needed to adequately finance schools and medical and social welfare programs. However, Gov. Gavin Newsom has threatened to veto any income tax or wealth tax increases that reach his desk.

Read More [[link removed]] Rural, Low-Income Californians Need Recycling Centers

The public health crisis from which we are finally emerging has resulted in the permanent closure of countless restaurants, bars and hair salons. We can add recycling centers to that list, which has made it nearly impossible for some Californians to get cash for recycling their bottles and cans when they need the money the most.

Admittedly, many issues plagued the recycling industry before the pandemic, including low prices and few buyers for certain types of recyclable materials. Nearly 1,000 California redemption centers have closed since 2015, leaving remote places like Humboldt County with no centers at all.

Unfortunately, the closure of these facilities has left many Californians with no reasonable way to claim the cash they are owed for returning their recyclable cans and bottles. Under California’s 30-year-old “bottle bill” recycling program, stores charge an extra 5 or 10 cents for most beverages in containers. Californians are promised their California Refund Value deposits back in cash when they return empty containers to recycling centers and some large grocery stores. But currently, some residents of rural or low-income areas can’t redeem CRV deposits unless they drive for hours or stand in long lines – an example of the promise broken.

Read More [[link removed]] About That Tax ‘Race to the Bottom’

Team Biden thinks it has found the winning formula to sell Americans on an unprecedented corporate-tax increase: Claim this is all about “ending the global race to the bottom.” They’re using this line everywhere, including on these pages by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday.

Alert readers won’t be surprised to discover this race is a figment of the progressive imagination. But it’s a deception that will have big policy consequences if Democrats rewrite U.S. and global tax rules.

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Governments around the world have certainly reduced their headline corporate-tax rates since the 1980s. The average statutory corporate tax rate among 177 countries has fallen to 26% in 2020 from 46.5% in 1980, according to the Tax Foundation. Some jurisdictions boast very low rates, such as Ireland’s 12.5% or Hong Kong’s 16.5%. But if this is a race to the bottom, most national capitals are conspicuously ambivalent about winning. Global corporate rates have never converged at the floor set by the biggest tax cutters.

Read More [[link removed]] The Biden Plan For Economic Sclerosis

President Biden has proposed a back-to-the-future tax plan. When President Trump took office, the U.S. had the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world and had experienced a decade of slow growth, low investment and stagnant employment and real wages. The Obama economy was especially toxic for low-earning and less-educated groups. The assault on business was so widespread that capital’s contribution to economic growth was lower during the Obama expansion than it had been during any other period of growth since World War II.

The academic literature on corporate taxation pointed to the problem. High corporate taxes, a regulatory assault and social programs that discourage work and advancement led many U.S. multinational companies to locate their activity and profits overseas. This reduced or eliminated their tax in the U.S. while also reducing their demand for American labor. Wages dropped and tax revenue dropped, a double hit.

The idea of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was to make America an attractive location for capital formation again, and to drive wages up by increasing productivity. Mr. Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers estimated that wages for a typical family would grow about $4,000 over the first three to five years. Though the Obama administration proposed a corporate tax cut in 2015 for the same reasons, opponents of the bill ridiculed the Trump team’s numbers.

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