A coalition of health groups including the California Medical Assn. has collected more than enough signatures to qualify an initiative for the Nov. 8 ballot that would raise the tobacco tax in California by $2 a pack, the group said Friday.
The developments that do get built take years to get through the red tape. In the meantime, more people need homes. The population of Los Angeles topped 4 million for the first time last year. Historically-low interest rates are motivating more people to buy. But inventory is low, as baby boomers stay in their homes longer.
California drivers still pay more for gasoline than motorists in virtually every other state, but there are signs their pain at the pump won’t be quite as bad in the coming months. . . The ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance went back into full operation Tuesday, a little more than a year after an explosion at the plant injured two people and prompted state regulators to fine the company more than a half-million dollars for safety violations. . . The Torrance plant generates 10 percent of the state’s refined gasoline capacity and 20 percent of the capacity in Southern California.
While speculation is mounting that they’re overheating, the tech boom is still creating jobs at a rapid pace in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley, placing them atop our annual assessment of The Best Cities For Jobs for the third year in a row. A number of secondary tech centers are posting strong growth as well on the back of the boom, as well as spillover from Northern California as high prices push expanding companies and startups to locate elsewhere.
Impact fees are just one of the ways that local government regulations have artificially raised the cost of housing in recent years. Such restrictions have benefitted the wealthy—suppressing new construction enhances the property value of people who already own real estate—while making it harder for young people and working families to start building home equity. They have also probably dulled the (sluggish) economic recovery by swallowing up a big chunk of wage growth that has taken place since the Great Recession.
The February 2015 explosion that shuttered the ExxonMobil plant in Torrance was the costliest disruption at a California refinery in the past 16 years, with motorists paying at least $2.4 billion in higher pump prices in the following six months, according to a recent RAND study.
In constant 2015 dollars, average annual household energy expenditures peaked at about $5,300 in 2008. Between 2008 and 2014, average annual household energy expenditures declined by 14.1%. During this period, household expenditures decreased by 17.7% for gasoline, 25.1% for natural gas, and 28.3% for fuel oil. Electricity expenditures declined by a more modest 0.7%
California politicians talk about the housing crisis constantly. But while offering a few token inducements for new construction, they’re unwilling to address the macro issue. . . Not surprisingly, liberal legislators from those cities are unwilling to make the atmospheric changes, such as overhauling the California Environmental Quality Act, we need to encourage more housing and close the widening gap between demand and supply that keeps costs so high.
Preliminary numbers show California’s personal income tax collections were about $1 billion short of Gov. Jerry Brown’s projections during the pivotal month of April.
The San Francisco Bay Area Renters’ Federation — which goes by the name SFBarf — is suing the city of Lafayette, demanding that it resurrect a scrapped plan to build high-density housing on a 22-acre knoll of Deer Hill Road, just north of Highway 24. It’s the first legal challenge in what SFBarf has promised will be a “Sue the Suburbs” campaign to push places like Lafayette to help the Bay Area build its way out of the shortage of housing.
“What should be alarming to leaders is that our housing is not keeping up with the growth,” Ikhrata said. “We have one of the worst housing affordability rates in the country.”
Exactly how the state’s ambitious goal will be achieved is unclear, and agreement on the price tag is elusive. What is certain is that making homes and other buildings use energy more efficiently will cost money up front, in a state that has some of the country’s most expensive real estate and is struggling to create more affordable housing.
“Consumer spending rose just 0.1% in March, down from an upwardly revised 0.2% increase the previous month, the Commerce Department said Friday. The latest figure was below economists’ forecasts. But personal income increased more than expected. Incomes rose 0.4% last month, up from a downwardly revised 0.1% gain in February. Consumers opted to save more of their higher income instead of spend it amid concerns about the U.S. economy.”
The slow price gains were accompanied by rising incomes and a savings rate that matched the highest level since 2012, suggesting caution on the part of consumers despite a robust labor market.
The U.S. economy stumbled out of the gate in 2016 as consumers and businesses showed renewed signs of caution, underscoring the uneven growth that has been a hallmark of the nearly seven-year expansion.