Web Version [link removed] | Update Preferences [link removed] CBRT in the News Prop. 13 Overhaul Gets Friendly Summary From California Attorney General

A new effort to revise California’s landmark Proposition 13 would boost taxes on large corporations and businesses, but opponents are complaining that’s almost an afterthought in the state attorney general’s new title and summary of the proposed initiative.

The official statement, which was released Thursday by Democratic Attorney General Xavier Becerra, will headline the petitions expected to hit the streets Monday. Backers of a plan to split the tax rolls, changing Prop. 13 for commercial property while leaving it intact for homeowners, need to collect almost 1 million signatures to qualify it for the November 2020 election.

“We’re truly disappointed in the attorney general,” said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, which opposes the initiative. “It’s a written title and summary that gives an advantage to the employee and educational unions” supporting the changes.

Read More [[link removed]] California Priorities Summit Discussion In Sacramento To Take On State's Key Issues

The Sacramento Bee will host its second annual California Priorities Summit, where several California policy experts will lead discussions on some of the state’s most glaring issues.

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“The goal is to move the conversation from page and screen to real world, face-to-face conversations,” said Dan Schnur, director of the California Influencers Series. “This gives Bee readers and the broader community a chance not just to read about it, but hear it firsthand in person.”

The first panel will be focused on housing and will feature panelists such as Assemblyman Richard Bloom, D-Los Angeles, Rob Lapsley of the California Business Roundtable and Carolyn Coleman, executive director of the League of California Cities.

Read More [[link removed]] Petitions For A Property Tax Change Coming To A Grocery Store Near You. Here's What To Know

Signature gatherers are coming to a grocery store near you armed with petitions to put an initiative on the 2020 ballot that would change property tax law in California.

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Opponents characterize the measure as an attack on Proposition 13 of 1978, which created California’s current property tax rules to keep property taxes low for both businesses and residents. The proposed initiative would only change parts of Proposition 13 applying to businesses, not residential property, but opponents are highlighting the law’s residential property tax protections.

California Business Roundtable President Rob Lapsley says his group is funding a multi-million dollar effort to convince Californians to defend Proposition 13. Many of the group’s talking points and materials focus on residential property tax rates. They’re building an email list of Californians who say they support the current law, Lapsley said.

That effort isn’t currently registered to campaign against the split roll proposal, but if the measure makes it to the ballot, Lapsley said they’ll train their sights on defeating it. The Business Roundtable is also a major donor to the official campaign against the measure.

Read More [[link removed]] Wildfire Claims Shape New Insurance Law + 'Split-Roll' Rally + Cal Channel Lives On

A coalition of activists supporting the ballot initiative that would put a crack in California’s 40-year-old cap on property tax increases are planning to rally and hold a press conference this morning on the North Steps of the Capitol at 10:30 a.m.

The group, which includes more than 100 seniors who are joining faith and labor advocates, are backing the so-called “split-roll” initiative. The proposal, dubbed the Schools and Communities First Act, would change Proposition 13 by allowing more frequent reassessments of commercial and business property. Backers of the initiative estimate it will generate “at least” $11 billion a year, to be funneled toward schools and local services.

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“This is the clearest evidence yet that those behind the split-roll measure aren’t concerned with what’s best for Californians,” said Rob Lapsley and Allan Zaremberg with the Californians to Stop Higher Property Taxes. “They’re focused on raising taxes at any cost, even through a terribly flawed measure.”

Read More [[link removed]] POLITICO Playbook: October 24, 2019

AND SO IT BEGINS: That big statewide signature drive aimed at overturning Prop. 13 — expected to be the most high profile and expensive item on the 2020 ballot — officially kicks off Sunday in Los Angeles. That’s when 800 educators are expected to join Schools and Communities First, and labor leaders including CTA president (and kindergarten teacher) E. Toby Boyd, National Education Association president Lily Eskelsen García, and SEIU California President Bob Schoonover to push for the measure.

The Schools and Communities First initiative aims to “close commercial property tax loopholes benefiting a fraction of corporations and wealthy investors,” and to raise $12 billion annually to fund schools and local communities. Organizers will need 1.6 million signatures to get it on the 2020 ballot and the powerhouse CTA has committed to gathering 150,000 signatures. The event starting 11:30 a.m. at the Westin Bonaventure is what backers say will be “the first of many” starting this month to reach those goals.

... BUT THERE’S THIS: The California Business Roundtable and the California Taxpayers Association are among the groups that have launched “Protect Prop. 13” counter efforts. Stay tuned.

Read More [[link removed]] Business Climate and Job Creation Business Activity Slows Around The World

Business activity continued to slow around the world headed into the fall, with the U.S. showing signs of tepid growth, an indication that a wave of interest-rate cuts by leading central banks over recent months has yet to turn sluggish economies around.

U.S. orders for long-lasting goods fell in September and a measure seen as a proxy for business investment also decreased, the U.S. Commerce Department said Thursday, providing fresh evidence that global trade worries are hampering business activity.

The decline in durable goods orders was due in part to a sizable drop in orders for transportation equipment, reflecting the strike at General Motors and the continued grounding of Boeing’s 737 MAX airplane.

A private survey of business activity separately indicated a slight uptick in U.S. business activity in October, up from earlier lows, though data firm IHS Markit said the overall outlook remained subdued, as new work at the businesses surveyed fell to the lowest pace since October 2009.

Read More [[link removed]] One Step Closer To What No One Wants: Dueling Tax Plans In November 2020

The California School Boards Association and its partners last week took the next step toward putting a $15 billion tax initiative for K-12 schools and community colleges on the ballot, setting up the possibility that two competing tax measures will go before voters in November 2020.

Neither measure’s backers favor that prospect, but neither side is showing any sign of backing down. Both sides see next year’s presidential election, with a large turnout expected in a Democratic state, as an opportunity for higher taxes. The behind-the-scenes maneuvering over the next several months, with what some hope will be mediation by Gov. Gavin Newsom, will determine what will go before voters.

The school boards association, together with the Association of California School Administrators and the Community College League of California, filed papers last week with the California Attorney General for its initiative and expects to begin gathering signatures in a few weeks. Called Full and Fair Funding, the initiative would increase taxes on individuals and corporations earning more than $1 million. It would produce enough money for K-12 and community colleges to raise California’s per-student funding to the national average, according to the sponsors. Its calculations are based on a state ranking system that incorporates California’s high living costs.

Read More [[link removed]] PG&E Shares Tumble As Wildfire Complicates Bankruptcy Case

PG&E Corp. stock and bond prices tumbled on Friday, as Wall Street wagered that the damage from the Kincade Wildfire will likely complicate the utility firm’s attempts to emerge from bankruptcy.

PG&E shares dropped 24%, tumbling $1.70 to $5.50 each in early New York Stock Exchange trading, after the Kincade fire spread through Sonoma County in northern California. The company’s $3 billion bond due 2034 fell about 3.5% to 106.63 cents on the dollar and was the third most actively traded bond Friday with $130 million changing hands, according to data from MarketAxess.

The action reflects expectations that the firm may face some liability for starting the blaze, traders said—an outcome that would likely reduce any potential recoveries by investors in PG&E’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding.

Officials haven’t determined the cause of the blaze, but PG&E filed a public report Thursday stating it became aware of a broken wire on one of its transmission lines in the area seven minutes before the fire began.

Read More [[link removed]] California Blackouts Force Businesses To Tally Their Losses

The last time PG&E Corp. shut off electricity in the Sierra Nevada foothills city of Placerville, Calif., Pop Art Custom Framing Gallery lost about $8,000 in four days, according to Daniel Anderson, who owns the store with his wife.

Now, the power is off again, part of a second wave of intentional blackouts PG&E imposed this week so that forecast high winds won’t knock down one of its lines and spark a wildfire. Pop Art faces even more losses that Mr. Anderson said his family can’t afford.

“It’s not just the business you are losing, it’s the business you lose from someone who would bring in a friend,” Mr. Anderson said after his store became one of the 179,000 customers cut off by PG&E on Wednesday.

California residents have been adjusting to a new status quo in which they regularly cope with the loss of power or a life-threatening disaster.

Read More [[link removed]] As California Economy Booms, Cities Struggle With Pensions

While California’s economy is booming, a new analysis shows pension obligations continue to weigh on the state’s cities as nearly three quarters of them don’t have enough money to pay the future health benefits for retired workers.

State Auditor Elaine Howle ranked the financial condition of 471 California cities on Thursday, with Compton topping the list for local governments labeled “fiscally challenged.” More than half of the cities were listed as moderate to high risk for financial problems.

The cities’ struggles contrast with California’s overall economy, now in its 115th month of growth, breaking a record set in the 1960s. Unemployment is at historic lows and the state has so much tax revenue that the Legislature approved a budget earlier this year with a $21.5 billion surplus.

Read More [[link removed]] Is Your City Ready For California's Next Recession?

California might be enjoying a historic economic expansion, but pockets of the state could be devastated in the next recession and at least 18 cities are even now at high risk of fiscal distress, according to a first-in-the-nation dashboard released Thursday by State Auditor Elaine Howle.

Compton, Atwater, Blythe, Lindsay and Calexico were the top 5 cities called out by the state’s fiscal watchdog based on their cash flow, debt burden and pension liabilities in a new online display for the High Risk Local Government Audit Program.

Others include Oakland, Richmond and El Cerrito in the San Francisco Bay Area and San Gabriel, Monrovia, West Covina, Vernon and Maywood in Los Angeles County. The Central Valley towns of Lindsay and Ione also signaled possible distress.

“Right now, we’re in strong economic times but everyone is expecting that recession to hit,” Howle said. “So hopefully this information will trigger discussions and decision-making that better prepares cities to be able to respond without cutting services.”

Read More [[link removed]] Two Women Joined GM More Than A Decade Ago. Their Futures Couldn’t Be More Different

Amanda Kalhous and Rebecca Keetch joined General Motors Canada within a year of each other. Over the past 15 years, they’ve survived layoffs, a government bailout, and the company’s bankruptcy. Today, they’re living through something more fundamental: the biggest shift the auto industry has seen since the invention of the assembly line.

This time, only one of them has a future in it.

In any other generation, the thousands of employees being laid off by GM in Oshawa, Ontario, could easily be retrained for work elsewhere in the sector. But hard work and a solid education are no longer enough to hold onto a job in an industry that technology is upending.

GM knows what it needs to secure its future, and it’s not Rebecca, a production operator at the Oshawa factory with a community college diploma, plus 18 months of university, who places two belts on an engine every 108 seconds. It’s Amanda, an electrical engineer with two university degrees and 24 patents to her name who oversees a team that designs software for the next generation of vehicles.

Read More [[link removed]] Energy and Climate Change Rising California Gasoline Prices Highlight Growing Divide In U.S.

The price at the pump was more than $4 a gallon in Vista, Calif., when Scott Hissem recently embarked on a trip to Texas to celebrate his 40th birthday. When the delivery associate for Amazon.com Inc. arrived in the Lone Star state, he got an unexpected present: Gasoline cost just $2 and change.

The gap has Mr. Hissem considering a move to escape California’s high cost of living.

“It makes life hard,” Mr. Hissem said of California, which is the most populous U.S. state and the one with the highest gasoline prices. “You can’t go out and do the things you want to do.”

Mr. Hissem’s journey highlights an unpleasant truth for many Americans, even at a time of abundant global oil supplies: Regional differences in taxes, environmental rules and access to energy infrastructure can translate into large seasonal swings in gasoline prices.

Read More [[link removed]] Critics Analyze EPA Fuel Standards As California Continues Political Battle With Trump Over Regulations

The Trump Administration announced in September their decision to withdraw California’s waiver from the 2013 Clean Air Act.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao stated that the EPA is finalizing the “One National Program Rule” regarding fuel standards.

A press release by the EPA stated that the policy will “enable the federal government to provide nationwide uniform fuel economy and greenhouse gas emission standards for automobiles and light duty trucks.”

The decision will remove California’s authority to set its own fuel emission standards which are currently higher than national standard.

Read More [[link removed]] Will Fed's Lawsuit Targeting California's Key Climate Change Policy Cost Polluters And Taxpayers?

The federal government’s latest assault on California’s climate policies could make it more expensive for greenhouse gas polluters like oil refineries and heavy industry to cut their emissions.

That’s the warning from a carbon-trading advocacy group called the International Emissions Trading Association, or IETA, which counts major oil companies and manufacturers among its members.

In a statement issued Thursday in response to questions from CalMatters, the group condemned the U.S. Department of Justice’s new lawsuit that takes aim at California’s signature program tackling climate change: cap and trade.

The Justice Department’s complaint, filed Wednesday, contends that California strayed into the federal realm of foreign policy when it linked its cap-and-trade program with Québec’s.

Read More [[link removed]] Trump's Justice Department Targets California's Cap-And-Trade Program

he Trump administration is opening a new front in its battle over climate change policy with California, charging in a federal lawsuit that the state exceeded its constitutional authority by joining with a Canadian province in a program to cut climate-damaging fossil fuel emissions.

Constitutional experts say the new lawsuit raises constitutional questions about whether President Donald Trump’s inaction on climate change amounts to an international and domestic policy that states must follow.

Wednesday's lawsuit serves as “Exhibit A in the challenges that states face in addressing climate change on their own,” when “this administration doesn't want to do anything” on the problem, said Cary Coglianese, professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

The complaint, filed in California federal court, names Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and others. It alleges California usurped federal power to conduct foreign policy and make international accords when it signed an ongoing agreement with Quebec to limit emissions through a so-called cap-and-trade program.

Read More [[link removed]] California Pulls No Punches In Pursuit Of Climate Change

Gavin Newsom demonstrates a lot of nerve, poking his finger in the eye of President Donald Trump on Tuesday at GreenBiz Group's VERGE 19 Conference, citing "his posture, his denialism, his ignorance, his stupidity, his arrogance."

The California governor was talking in part about the White House's ongoing battle to deny California the right to set its own tailpipe emissions rules. The state scored a win this summer when BMW, Ford, Honda and Volkswagen agreed to lower emissions on new vehicles according to the state's standards rather than the lower ones the current federal administration wants.

"That has put Trump in this unbelievably powerless position to be frustrated to no end," Newsom said on stage, with the moxie only someone perceiving to have the upper hand might risk. "Only California can do that. This state punches above its weight. It's not a small, isolated state. There's no navel-gazing. We move markets and the private sector gets it."

Read More [[link removed]] Workforce Development California Rural Schools Struggling To Hire Teachers Could Get Help From $9.4 Million In Grants

Two federal grants totaling over $9.4 million will help California recruit teachers and mental health professionals to rural schools.

The U.S. Department of Education awarded the five-year grants to the California Center on Teaching Careers, an organization started in 2016 to help solve the persistent teacher shortage. The center is run by the Tulare County Office of Education, in partnership with California State University Bakersfield.

The Teacher Quality Partnership Grant for nearly $7 million will fund a teacher residency program in Visalia. That 18-month program, the Teacher Residency for Rural Education, will allow prospective teachers to earn a credential and a master’s degree in education from CSU Bakersfield.

The program is designed to bring teachers to rural communities, which often lack teacher preparation programs. The teacher shortage affects 82 percent of rural communities, according to a 2016 report from the Learning Policy Institute.

Read More [[link removed]] California State University Chancellor To Retire, Touts Graduation Gains

California State University Chancellor Timothy P. White announced Tuesday that he will retire next year following a tenure marked by his efforts to dramatically improve the 23-campus system’s graduation rates and controversial actions to end to non-credit remedial education.

White’s departure means both of California’s four-year public university systems will soon be searching for a new leader. University of California President Janet Napolitano announced last month that she is stepping down at the end of the academic year. White, who became CSU chancellor in 2012, said he wants to leave by June but will stay as late as December 2020 if that helps in the search for a successor to lead what is the largest four-year public university in the nation.

During White’s tenure, the 480,000-student system launched Graduation Initiative 2025, a campaign to significantly increase graduation rates by 2025. As part of that effort, CSU eliminated non-credit remedial courses in English and math across its 23 campuses and is facing much opposition to its proposal to require a fourth year of high school math or related subject as a freshman admissions requirement to help students become better prepared for college work.

Read More [[link removed]] Infrastructure and Housing SoCal's New Housing Plan Is Going To Make Traffic And Air Pollution Worse For Everyone

In August, Gov. Gavin Newsom directed the Southern California Assn. of Governments to develop a plan to build more than 1.3 million new units of housing. It’s no secret that Southern California is suffering from soaring housing costs, homelessness, traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions caused by a historic failure to plan for housing. NIMBY stonewalling has prevented serious action on any of these fronts.

Newsom’s mandate was intended to force Southern California’s hand to take meaningful action to confront its various crises.

SCAG recently published this plan. The results were disappointing, to say the least.

Instead of making the radical changes Newsom was looking for to fight the housing crisis, SCAG’s approach is more of the same: It leaves wealthy, exclusionary cities with massive jobs pools alone in lieu of disproportionately dumping housing into the sprawling exurbs.

According to SCAG, Beverly Hills, which has nearly twice as many jobs (57,000) as people (34,400), needs only 1,373 new units of housing. Meanwhile, the desert city of Coachella, with a population of 42,400 and 8,500 jobs, will be expected to build a whopping 15,154 units.

Read More [[link removed]] Newsom Claims Success In First Year Addressing California's Housing Crisis

Nearly one in five Californians live in poverty — the highest rate in the nation — when factoring in the cost of housing. Gov. Gavin Newsom has made addressing the state’s housing affordability crisis central to his platform as governor. Interviewed for a story on his promises and accomplishments on housing after the state Legislature adjourned for the year, this is what he told The Times.

The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Liam Dillon for The Times: How would you assess your year in housing?

Newsom: I think it was focused. It was intentional. It’s a stubborn issue. You can’t snap your fingers and build hundreds of thousands, millions of housing units overnight. I think we set the table on a lot of critical issues, like tax credits, revolving loan funds, enhanced infrastructure financing.

Read More [[link removed]] Is Facebook's Billion-Dollar Housing Pledge Enough?

San Francisco has the highest salaries in the world, thanks to big tech companies like Salesforce, Facebook, and Google. But those outside the tech sector are struggling. Many people have been forced to move far outside of city limits, enduring one-way 90-minute commutes as a result.

In an effort to fix this problem, Facebook announced yesterday that it would give $1 billion to help build more affordable housing. The money, a mix of grants and loans, is earmarked specifically for teachers, nurses, and first responders. But with housing prices continuing to soar and multiple tech companies going public, $1 billion could end up being only a drop in the bucket.

“I applaud anything Facebook and Google do because it’s a huge problem, but with all due respect $1 billion won’t make a big difference,” says Wendell Cox, principal of the public policy firm Demographia. “People are moving way outside the city because they can’t afford to live in the Bay Area. Housing affordability is terrible and there’s no easy way out.”

Read More [[link removed]] Editorial and Opinion ‘Stakeholder’ Capitalism In Action

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is getting incinerated by California politicians for shutting off power to two million residents amid heavy, dry winds. The publicly traded San Francisco-based utility has been found responsible for two dozen or so wildfires since 2016, some caused by power lines sagging from steel towers more than a century old.

The purpose of the blackouts was to avoid more damage from an aging grid that has not been adequately maintained. In January PG&E filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy to restructure tens of billions of dollars in liabilities, including for wildfire. Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, are predictably lambasting the company for prioritizing profits over safety. San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo says he wants to turn it into a nonprofit.

Yet PG&E exemplifies the left’s “stakeholder” model, according to which businesses are accountable not only to their shareholders but also their workers, the environment and local communities and society at large. In practice, that means businesses exist to serve their political overlords.

Read More [[link removed]] California’s Tax-The-Rich Boomerang

Democrats in California have raised taxes on the rich again and again, and liberals claim it has no effect on taxpayer migration and does no harm to state tax revenue. A new study finds the opposite.

Stanford economists Joshua Rauh and Ryan Shyu analyzed how high earners responded to a 2012 referendum (Prop. 30) backed by Democrats that raised the top marginal rate on taxpayers with more than $1 million of income to 13.3% from 10.3%. The top rates on individuals earning more than $250,000 also rose between one and two percentage points.

First, the researchers examined whether higher taxes caused top earners to leave the state by measuring migration before and after Prop. 30 took effect. They noted a large uptick in the departure rate of taxpayers with more than $5 million in income following the tax hike—from 1.5% to 2.125%—and a commensurate outflow for taxpayers earning between $2 million and $5 million.

This essentially means that the likelihood of a wealthy resident moving out of California increased by about 40% after Prop. 30. Notably, the federal top marginal rate also rose in 2013, which the authors say softened the impact because the deductibility of state taxes also increased. After the GOP tax reform, state and local taxes are no longer fully deductible so the incentive to move is now greater.

Read More [[link removed]] California’s Gasoline Panic

Democrats in California have worked hard for years to inflate gasoline prices, but now they’re searching for a fall guy as voters gripe about how much they’re paying to fill up. Round up the usual fossil-fuel suspects!

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday ordered state Attorney General Xavier Becerra to investigate oil companies for allegedly overcharging consumers and price-fixing. Gas prices in California average $4.13 per gallon, about $1.50 more than the rest of the U.S. “The mystery surcharge adds up, especially for cost-conscious, working families,” the Governor declared.

You have to excuse his apparent shock. He may not have filled a tank in awhile, and gas prices in California spiked last month amid refinery problems. Few refiners outside of California produce its special clean-burning fuel, which adds about 10 cents a gallon. When a refinery in the state has an outage, gasoline must be imported by tanker at higher cost.

Read More [[link removed]] Trump’s Gift To California

Amid horrific wildfires and rolling blackouts, the Trump Administration this week brought welcome relief to the Golden State by allowing more water to be sent to farmers and folks in the south. Will California liberals accept the deregulatory gift?

Federal biological opinions designed to protect smelt and salmon have limited how much water can be exported from northern California through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Environmentalists say the delta pumps can suck in fish and indirectly limit their food supply, increase contaminants and boost predator species.

There’s little scientific evidence for any of this, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals deferred to federal regulators. More than 100 billion gallons of water each winter—enough to sustain millions of households—have since been flushed into San Francisco Bay. During the recent seven-year drought, folks in Southern California experienced water restrictions while farmers in the fertile Central Valley—where nearly all of the country’s pistachios, walnuts, garlic and plums are grown—resorted to pumping groundwater.

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]