12/23/2024

News

Bill Lets Employees Place Liens for Unpaid Wages

Workers can recover unpaid wages by placing liens on property owned by their employers, including businesses and homes where they performed work, under a bill that passed the Assembly on Wednesday.

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Bill to Penalize High Chief Executive Pay Falls Short in Calif. Senate

The California Senate on Wednesday could not muster the votes to pass a measure that would have penalized high chief executive salaries with higher corporate taxes.

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Calif. Senate Vote Falls Short for Moratorium on Oil Fracking

The state Senate on Wednesday failed to muster the votes needed to set a moratorium on the oil drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, until a study determines that it does not pose a health risk for the public.

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State a Step Closer to Minimum Wage Hike, Paid Sick Leave

Legislators moved Thursday to further hike the state’s minimum wage and to guarantee workers three paid sick days a year, despite opposition from the California Chamber of Commerce, which labeled both proposals “job killers.”

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A Pushback on Green Power

The Ohio bill freezes mandates that require utilities to gradually phase in the purchase of 25 percent of their power from alternative sources, including wind, solar and emerging technologies like clean coal production, by 2025. While the freeze is in effect for two years, a commission would study the issue.

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California Fracking Moratorium Bill Could Add to Sting of Critical Report

Lawmakers in the state Senate will decide this week on a law that would halt fracking in California until state government officials deem it safe – a move that could prevent the creation of some 195,000 jobs, according to figures provided by the oil industry.

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Minnesota “Unsession” Dumps 1,175 Obsolete, Silly Laws

In addition to getting rid of outdated laws, the project made taxes simpler, cut bureaucratic red tape, speeded up business permits and required state agencies to communicate in plain language.

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California’s Workers Compensation Benefits Among the Lowest

California workers who suffer permanent, job-related injuries and illnesses are entitled to workers compensation payments that are among the lowest in the nation, an exhaustive state-by-state comparison reveals.

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US Electricity Prices May Be Going Up for Good

One recent study predicts the cost of electricity in California alone could jump 47% over the next 16 years, in part because of the state’s shift toward more expensive renewable energy.

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Bill Proposes Higher Taxes on CEOs with High Wage Disparity

California Democrats proposed a bill Thursday that would raise state taxes on publicly traded companies that pay their top-earning employee 100 times as much or more as the company’s average worker.

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Bill Would Allow Employees to Record Liens on Employer’s Property

Lawmakers advanced legislation Wednesday that would allow employees that are denied wages to record a lien on an employer’s property and the property where the employee worked.

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Alternative Workweek Bill Dies

A bill that would allow nonexempt employees to negotiate an alternative work schedule of up to 10-hours a week without overtime died Wednesday in an Assembly labor committee.

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Dan Walters: SpaceX Tax Break Reveals Lack of Consistency

A fairly constant refrain among California’s Democratic politicians and their liberal allies is that corporations should be paying more in taxes to support public services. . . There is, however, no consistency. The same folks who demand higher business taxes as a matter of supposed principle are often willing, even eager, to give certain industries and even certain corporations big tax breaks.

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Hollywood Begs for a Tax Break in Some States, Including California

Mr. Bocanegra is leading an aggressive push, along with entertainment companies and Hollywood unions, to hand out as much as $2 billion in new tax breaks to increase movie and television production in California, which has lost business to states like New York with far more generous subsidies. Last year, for the first time, more studio movies were filmed in Louisiana than in California, according to the nonprofit FilmL.A.

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Sriracha Considers Moving Factory Amid Smell Complaints

After a months-long battle with the city of Irwindale over complaints about a spicy odor, Sriracha sauce creator David Tran said Wednesday he is now seriously considering moving his factory to another location.

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