News

Driving on deficient roads costs California motorists a total of $44 billion annually in the form of additional vehicle operating costs (VOC), congestion-related delays and traffic crashes.

Georgia’s success has come from dead reckoning in areas that are crucial to business locators. That includes the state’s welcoming and business-friendly government, to be sure. And employers are enthusiastic about one of the Georgia legislature’s most recent moves: passing significant workers’ compensation reform that cuts costs for business.

California drivers pay a staggering $44 billion a year in extra car costs because of traffic jams that seemingly grow worse by the day, spreading potholes and outdated roads and bridges, according to a national highway advocacy group.

Gov. Jerry Brown will soon sign California’s ban on single use plastic grocery bags.  Nothing better represents the de-industrialization of this state; the aversion of California’s elites to the manufacture of products they don’t like even if they are a convenience provided free to consumers. 

Citing Nevada’s ability to cut through red tape, the chief executive of Tesla Motors Inc. confirmed Thursday that his electric-car company has chosen a site near Reno for a 6,500-job battery factory.

Speaking with Gov. Brian Sandoval in front of hundreds of supporters on the steps of the Capitol, CEO Elon Musk said “time to execution” was the biggest reason he chose Nevada for the coveted factory. He said speed was more important than financial incentives, which state officials said would total between $675 million and $1.1 billion over 20 years.

NV Energy is now offering a pilot program that provides a discount on electric rates for new businesses that locate in the state of Nevada.  The program, created by legislation and approved by the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada, provides for a total of 50 MW of power to be allocated to new business statewide.

By some estimates, thousands of California construction workers are left to toil in the shadows, exploited by contractors who use an illegal scheme to save money and avoid paying employment taxes and workers compensation.

California, in particular Gov. Jerry Brown, had lobbied hard to persuade Musk to build his battery factory in the state, where Tesla has its headquarters and where it already builds its popular but expensive vehicles.

California is seen as fertile ground for a new labor movement. The state is home to the largest number of union members in the nation – some 2.4 million, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Union organizers have used the state to test new recruiting strategies; but success has been limited. . . Kent Wong, director of the UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education, says there are more organizing campaigns here than anywhere else in the country.

It’s not just pro-business Texas anymore, or Utah or Nevada or Arizona. Now even New York, a state sometimes ranked as a worse place to do business than even California, is going after Golden State businesses and jobs.

Part of the attraction is the substantial tax reforms that occurred over the last 15 years in Canada. First among these is the dramatic reduction in the corporate tax rate, from 43 percent in 2000 to 26 percent today. The U.S. currently has a corporate tax rate of 39 percent, but lawmakers are reluctant to do what Canada did, i.e. lower the tax rate, for fear of losing tax revenue.

The agreement increases the tax credit to $330 million a year for the next five years. It also replaces the current lottery system with a ranking based on how many new jobs a production creates. While the agreement falls short of the $400 million approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee two weeks ago, it more than triples the current tax credit of $100 million.

A coalition of nonprofits say states are in a race to the bottom in the competition to win a giant Tesla Motors battery factory. In California, lawmakers are set to consider a tax and regulatory incentive package for the company.

For more than a decade, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has touted the “deal-closing” Texas Enterprise Fund and other cash incentives as a “job-creation machine.” A fifth of the companies that Texas attracted during the last funding cycle, in 2011 and 2012, were based in California.

California’s per-job costs are higher than every other Western state, and most other large states. The high cost of creating additional jobs puts California at a substantial competitive disadvantage when attempting to retain or attract businesses that have a choice where to locate.