The sophisticated organizations in many cases use high-tech tactics, hacking into trucking companies to steal their identity. Armed with false shipping papers, they pose as legitimate truckers, driving off with loads of nuts such as almonds, walnuts or pistachios valued at $150,000, and some worth $500,000 each.
California finishes last in a new review of how states report spending on contracts and other items, with the report’s authors blaming “bureaucratic fragmentation” for the lack of a one-stop web site that would make it easier for average California residents to examine the payments.
CalPERS actuaries recommend that the annual state payment for state worker pensions increase $602 million in the new fiscal year to $5.35 billion, nearly doubling the $2.7 billion paid a decade ago before the recession and a huge investment loss.
State governments spend hundreds of billions of dollars each year through contracts for goods and services, subsidies to encourage economic development, and other expenditures. Public accountability helps ensure that state funds are spent as wisely as possible.
By law, the state Controller’s office is supposed to audit Proposition 30’s Education Protection fund, which doles out the funds according to a strict formula. Although the law gave no time requirement, the audit has not yet happened and isn’t projected to be complete until around a month before the November election, which one critic says shows a lack of transparency.
The Port of Los Angeles paid a Chinese government-owned shipping company $5 million in 2005 to equip cargo vessels to plug into electric shore power while at dock to keep their massive diesel engines from polluting neighborhoods near the harbor.
In California’s 68 largest cities, violent crime jumped 11 percent in the first six months of 2015 compared to the same period in 2014. Among major U.S. cities, three California cities saw the largest increase in property crime in the country.
In a decision that could have a sweeping impact across California, a new state appeals court ruling may ease approval of local tax increases if they are placed on the ballot by citizen’s initiative instead of by a government agency.
We are fortunate that so much of this year’s precipitation fell in the form of snow, because the snowpack is, in effect, a natural reservoir that releases water slowly. But if global warming is as real as Gov. Jerry Brown and others contend it is, future precipitation from an El Niño would be more likely rain, rather than snow, and we could see both severe flooding and severe water shortages if we are not prepared to capture it as it falls.
Although its 2014-15 budget was balanced, California’s state government ended the fiscal year $175.1 billion in the red, thanks largely to state retirement obligations that had to be included in its balance sheet for the first time. . . debts for “postemployment benefits” will jump again in the report for the 2017-18 fiscal year, when state retiree health care must be included under GASB’s rules.
California State Controller Betty T. Yee today issued the state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2015, showing that a resurgent economy led to a $29.6 billion increase in revenues in the 2014-15 fiscal year. While spending and transfers also went up, the increases were not enough to offset the additional revenue, resulting in a $13.1 billion improvement in governmental activities’ net position. . . This CAFR incorporates major changes to reflect the state’s net pension liability. Based on guidance from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), the new figure more accurately reflects a government’s unfunded pension obligation, helping policymakers decide on future funding strategies. Using these standards, the CAFR reports a net pension liability of $63.7 billion as of June 30, 2015.
The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIFER) estimated that California’s pension and retiree health care unfunded liabilities exceeded $1.2 trillion in 2013–significantly higher than all previous reports, according to preliminary figures obtained from SIFEF by Insolvent Film.
A controversial program to give local refineries and major manufacturers more flexibility in reducing air pollution has been ruled illegal by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, officials disclosed late Wednesday. The federal agency said the program fails to meet national clean air standards.
Thanks to new accounting standards, California’s state and local governments are being forced to acknowledge tens of billions of dollars in previously obscure debt for unfunded pension liabilities.
The proposed California Business Incentives Gateway site would allow employers to submit company details as filtering criteria to receive a list of applicable incentives.