“If you live here and think California’s public record laws — the public records act, the rules of court, the legislative records act — aren’t twisted knots that let bureaucrats and elected officials keep whatever secrets they want, then you’re not paying attention. “
It turns out the land’s new owner wasn’t a public agency or a solar developer. It was the Cox family, one of the most prominent in Imperial County. And they got a killer deal on it. The solar company that once eyed the property – known as the Mayflower plot – paid the irrigation district $2.24 million for the land and then handed it over to the family nine days later. . . All of this was facilitated by the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, the state’s premier environmental law.
“Under the draft, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation would be relieved of its obligation to provide drainage to several hundred thousands of acres of Westlands cropland. The district would permanently retire 100,000 acres of ill-drained fields and agree to a cap on water deliveries that amounts to 75% of its current contract amount.
In return, the reclamation bureau would let Westlands off the hook for the roughly $350 million the irrigation district owes federal taxpayers for construction of a portion of Central Valley Project facilities. The government would also lift limits on the size of Westlands farms eligible for subsidized water deliveries and give the district an open-ended water contract that did not require periodic renewal.”
The bill, known as SB 588, was sponsored by state Senator Kevin de León of Los Angeles. It would allow California’s labor commissioner to place a lien on the property of an employer cited for wage theft.
But in this state we’ve got a widely abused law called the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. And labor is one of its biggest abusers, contributing to California’s reputation as a lousy place to invest and do business.
Gov. Jerry Brown approved legislation on Tuesday that expands the definition of “Made in U.S.A” to more closely resemble a federal standard for domestically-produced goods in 49 other states.
An Oakland lawyer who just won a $36 million settlement from Bank of America for failing to pay overtime to 365 employees said he expects to see an uptick in overtime-related lawsuits in the Bay Area — particularly for companies in the sharing economy, such as Uber or Lyft.
The “Coffee Break” ring, which allegedly took in $500,000 in fraudulent insurance claims, was broken up, officials said, when an alert California Highway Patrol investigator noticed that too many people in Santa Clara County were spilling too much coffee.
A group led by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance announced Thursday it has sued the State Water Resources Control Board, state Department of Water Resources and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, saying they’ve redirected water to human needs at the expense of Chinook salmon, Delta smelt and other endangered species.
The law also would prohibit any kind of discipline for employees — male or female — who discuss or ask about pay at work. And it would allow employees to challenge wages disparities with similar employees at different workplaces under the same employer.
Sparsely populated Glenn County’s court payroll this year averages about $120,000 per month, according to county documents. It employs just two judges. It can ill afford cutting an $800,000 check.
Since 2008, according to the Judicial Council of California, thousands of court staffers have lost jobs while 52 courthouses and more than 200 courtrooms have been shuttered. In some counties, residents must now make a long drive to a different city to simply pay a fine; in all, the council estimates that 2.1 million Californians have lost access to a courtroom in their community.
The California Chamber of Commerce and large coalition of small businesses, trade associations and local chambers are supporting a bill that promotes using a scientific exposure assessment when deciding whether to warn under Proposition 65.
Lately, we have seen good job growth numbers which has led to a reduction in the unemployment rate. At first glance, this is an encouraging sign for the economy. But when we have a closer look at data on business dynamics, it is clear that the overall economy has not come back to its full strength. Specifically, the economy is still not creating as many new firms as it did before the recession.
The other 49 states follow a more lenient federal law that permits some outsourcing as long as “virtually all” of the product is of U.S. origin, according to a Federal Trade Commission advisory.