Despite a testy and drawn-out political battle, the new green mandates just approved by state lawmakers — higher efficiency standards for buildings, more reliance on renewable energy — signal good news for the state’s clean-energy industry.
An article in the upcoming issue of the Business Journal says that Californians have paid nearly $3 billion extra for gasoline since an explosion in February nearly shut down the Exxon Mobil refinery in Torrance, causing prices to jump at the pump. But the plant’s plan to reopen may finally be approved by regulators next week, the Los Angeles Times reports, which could help lower gas prices in a matter of weeks. Exxon Mobil has wanted to temporarily use old air-pollution control equipment so it can increase production but regulators have balked at that proposal for months. In the meantime, the additional cost of gas has taken an average of $75 from every man, woman and child in the state.
Current law entitles workers at companies with at least 50 employees to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a sick parent, child or spouse. Senate Bill 406, by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, would add siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, domestic partners and parents-in-law to the list of family members.
In votes whose broad margins belied the intense struggle that came before, lawmakers approved what remained of Senate Bill 350 after the bill was stripped of a proposal to require a 50 percent reduction in petroleum use in motor vehicles by 2030.
The environmental lobby has tried to turn climate change into a social justice issue even though its anticarbon policies disproportionately harm the poor. Honest Democrats are starting to admit this, as we saw in this week’s stunning revolt in the California legislature.
Mr. Flores notes that the Democrat-dominated legislature in Sacramento has made a point of spending big on schools with a high concentration of disadvantaged students, with little to show for it. “You could throw millions of dollars into these schools,” he says, “and if there is no accountability, you have the same situation.”
Anyone who rattled down highways replete with moon craters while traveling on Labor Day weekend knows: The government doesn’t excel at managing roads. A major improvement would be bulldozing a permitting process that delays new public-works projects for up to a decade, and a new report from the nonpartisan group Common Good offers a road map.
In return, the Fix Our Roads coalition wants California to change how it funds transportation, says Orange County Business Council CEO Lucy Dunn. For one, businesses want transportation taxes and fees to be strictly reserved for transportation projects, she says.
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.
No deal has been reached on a plan to find billions of dollars to pay for road repairs, raising the possibility that one of Gov. Jerry Brown’s priorities could languish until next year.
During the recession, the share of Americans with disabilities dropping out of the labor force increased. The same occurred with people younger than 65 who chose to retire. But the retiree figure returned to historical norms when the economy improved, while the figure for workers with disabilities continued to rise.
And the picture is even worse for L.A. Unified, the nation’s second-largest school system, than it is for the state. Across California, 44% of students achieved targets for their grade in English, while 34% did so in math. In L.A. Unified, the figures were 33% and 25%.
“We might get another bill next year, we might just keep doing it by regulation,” Brown said. “California is not going to miss a beat. Be very clear about that. We don’t have a declaration in statute, but we have absolutely the same authority. We’re going forward. The only thing different is my zeal has been intensified to a maximum degree.”
In its lawsuit, the advocacy group Fix the City said Mobility Plan 2035, which calls for the addition of hundreds of miles of new bus- and bike-only lanes, will lead to increased tailpipe emissions as drivers confront fewer car lanes and greater traffic congestion.
Nonfarm job openings rose by 430,000 to 5.75 million in July, the highest level since December 2000, when data collection first began, according to the Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, also known as Jolts. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected 5.29 million job openings.