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One of the Florida governor’s main goals is to boost shipping volumes to Florida’s ports. He seized on a labor dispute this year that congested ports along the West Coast.

Better get used to straw-like lawns and dirty cars. Decades of neglecting California’s water infrastructure finally parched the state. On Wednesday, Gov. Jerry Brown ordered urban water usage cut by 25 percent.

It also framed another issue: When do licensing agencies cross the line that separates ensuring professional competency from protecting the regulated profession’s monopoly?

Experts say employee skills, coupled with a vast amount of private equity, great weather, a range of attractions, and its geographic connection to investment from the rest of the Pacific Rim and Asia, continue to keep California’s economy strong.

Texas continues to dominate major metropolitan area growth. Among the 53 major metropolitan areas (with more than 1 million population), Texas cities occupied three of five top positions in population growth, and four of the top 10 (Figure 1).

The bank reported that 67 percent of Fresno County business owners who participated in its annual Small Business Economic Survey are planning to relocate outside of California.

Chevron has announced it will move 100 jobs from its San Ramon corporate headquarters to Houston this year. . . Last year, Chevron announced it was transferring 400 jobs from San Ramon to Houston.

Gov. Jerry Brown pleads with companies to stay in California, and scolds those that are leaving. He, too, recognizes the storm clouds over his state’s business climate. “We’ve got a few problems,” he conceded to an interviewer not long ago. “We have lots of little burdens and regulations and taxes.” But neither he nor the state legislature have plans to do anything about it. Until they do, only the brave, if not foolish, set up a business in California.

The space tourism company founded by British billionaire Richard Branson said it was opening a facility next to the Long Beach Airport that would eventually employ 100 engineers and other employees.

Farmer Bros. said it expects its relocation plan to result in annualized savings of $12 million to $15 million, beginning in the latter half of fiscal 2016.

In 2014, the average software engineer at a Series B funded company made $142,000, up from $130,000 in 2013. Series C funded companies paid programmers $137,000 salaries on average, up from $128,000 the previous year.

Meanwhile, frustrated exporters and importers will find other routes. In a recent survey by the Journal of Commerce, 60% of shippers said they had begun redirecting cargoes away from America’s West Coast ports. Once that business leaves, it may never return. Western ports have already lost market share to the East Coast since 2002, when failed labour talks led to an 11-day lockout and a total shutdown.

Also, as announced last week, it has moved its headquarters from the Cahuenga Pass to Austin, Texas. The Digital Turbine subsidiary already had offices in Austin.

So when we were able to zero in on four issues that frustrate a broad spectrum of businesses, we decided to dub them The Four Horsemen.

The move — which means another loss of a publicly held company for the capital region — was effective Wednesday. But it is not a surprise.