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Our policymakers and voters need to heed the Governor’s advice, nonpartisan state numbers, and data that’s trickling in from other cities that are now grappling with grim reality of these hikes before moving forward in any way. Let’s allow the ink to dry, dust to settle and current minimum wage policy – notably our statewide increase – to first play out so we can see what the impacts truly are. Otherwise, instead of branding it a “fair wage” we’ll all see it for what it truly is: a “fare wage”, with every one of us taxpayers – seniors, schools, disabled and many others – paying down an outrageous bill and debt for generations to come.

The state has a good cap and trade system, Robert Stavins said, but some of its other environmental policies are weakening it. He pointed to a rule known as the low carbon fuel standard, which is supposed to increase production of clean fuels. Environmental advocates consider it a complement to the cap and trade program that makes industry pay for emitting carbon; Stavins had other words.

A new generation of innovators is pioneering the future of nuclear energy in partnership with ourNational Labs. Citizens and policymakers leading the global transition to a low-carbon economy are focusing efforts on developing — and building — advanced nuclear reactors. To support these efforts, the Department of Energy is working to forge key partnerships and support a culture of nuclear innovation driven by this new generation of scientists, university researchers, entrepreneurs and investors.

A new rule designed to promote urban development and curb both car usage and greenhouse gas emissions may end up making cities less affordable and more congested, critics say.

The EU is set to emit 2bn tonnes more CO2 than it promised at the Paris climate talks, threatening an agreement to cap global warming at 2C, a note from the European commission has revealed.

. . . San Francisco has passed more laws than any other major city to improve the lives of low-wage workers such as dishwashers, bussers, line cooks and waiters; Berkeley, Oakland and other Bay Area cities are not far behind. . . How much more expensive is dining out becoming? To get a sense, The Chronicle examined 20 years’ worth of menus from restaurants that hold steady spots on the annual Michael Bauer’s Top 100 Restaurants list.` After tracking 22 signature dishes or prix-fixe menus from 14 restaurants, we found that prices have risen, on average, 26 percent since 2010 and 52 percent since 2005 — up 7.5 percent in the last year alone.

The fact is that diverting containers from the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach would add immeasurably to the CO2emissions from steamships carrying imported goods for American consumers and industry.

Last year, 6 million tonnes of “wood pellets” harvested from forests in Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Virginia were shipped across the Atlantic, to be burnt in renewable “biomass” power plants. This was almost double the 2013 figure—the US “wood pellet” industry is booming.

Consider Tesla Motors, which arguably wouldn’t exist but for environmental regulations. It also benefits from government subsidies of its “green” technology and tax credits for its customers – and loses money anyway. As if the need for such “incentives” weren’t proof enough that no real demand for electric cars exists, the company has been lobbying for tougher Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) standards even as traditional automakers seek relief from the onerous 54.5 mpg 2025 target. Setting aside Tesla’s blatant rent-seeking — a problem in itself — one can only imagine what their engineers might have achieved had the government not crafted a regulatory sandbox to confine their efforts.

The problem is that the 800+ chemicals listed in Proposition 65 are not devised to protect consumers, but rather serve as a cash cow for private trial lawyers to sue small business and reap the hefty settlement payout. Since 1986, nearly 20,000 lawsuits have been filed, adding up to over half a billion dollars in settlement payments by business owners.

But as the ranks of those workers swell, generating billions of dollars in revenue for their parent companies, legal and political disputes about the nature of gig work have proliferated. Lawsuits have challenged the notion that gig workers aren’t entitled to wage guarantees or benefits. A new California bill allowing gig workers to organize mirrors a national debate about whether and how to allow workers to pursue the types of employment benefits attached to traditional jobs.

While the economic effects of minimum wage laws are very complex and a subject of scrutiny within the economics community, there are much better ways to deal with systematic challenges in the labor market. Getting more people to work, reducing the barriers for businesses to hire and encouraging the accumulation of new skills are all strategies for promoting sustainable long-term growth in wages.

Wherever cities implemented big minimum-wage hikes to $10 an hour or more last year, the latest data through December show that job creation downshifted to the slowest pace in at least five years.

According to Adibi, worker training, education and opportunity for advancement is the “fundamental issue,” so that the minimum wage is more “transitory.” . . . “The public policy should address the core policy here rather than put a band-aid on by increasing the minimum wage,” Adibi said.

Occupational licensing has grown not because consumers demanded it, but because lobbyists recognized a business opportunity where they could use government power to get rich at the public’s expense. . . Consumers end up paying $200 billion in higher costs annually, prospective professionals lose an estimated three million jobs, and millions more Americans find it harder to live where they want due to licensing requirements that vary by state.