Pointing to the state’s large pension liabilities, bond costs and other expenses, the governor, a Democrat, described the state’s surplus as “rather modest” in an opening letter addressed to the legislature, according to a copy of the budget posted on the Sacramento Bee’s website. He didn’t give the surplus total in the letter. The state Legislative Analyst’s Office in November predicted a roughly $4.7 billion surplus by June 30.
California reported the largest drop in new claims of 14,635. It attributed the change to fewer layoffs in the service industry.
A cost comparison of the staples of American diets shows that San Francisco prices are on par with those in Washington, D.C., a city with a more distant and tenuous connection to farmers.
The California Department of Water Resources is planning to draft an emergency drought declaration for Gov. Jerry Brown’s consideration as dry winter conditions continue.
Private-sector payrolls increased by 238,000 positions in December, according to the national employment report compiled by payroll processor Automatic Data Processing Inc. and forecasting firm Moody’s Analytics. The gain is the highest ADP estimate since November 2012.
The governor’s $155-billion blueprint would increase general-fund spending by more than 8%, to $106.8 billion. Brown also wants to repay $11 billion in debts incurred during years of state financial crisis, and he would stash $1.6 billion in a reserve fund as a buffer against future economic turmoil.
Adyen, a Dutch payments technology company, has moved its U.S. headquarters to San Francisco from Boston and appointed Netflix global payments veteran Kamran Zaki as president of its North American operations.
The move of legal and professional software development and research positions includes the division known as CounselLink, and will occur in phases through the year.
You might think that testing robotic aircraft for future civilian use would be a quintessential California enterprise. But not if you’re a U.S. senator from the state. The governor’s not exactly a cheerleader for the idea, either.
In their first legislative hearing for the year, the Assembly Committee on Labor and Employment struck down a bill that would have allowed employers to negotiate a weekly schedule with non-exempt employees to work 10 hours in a day for four days without overtime pay.
California’s two top legislative leaders — both Democrats — have their eyes on 2014 as California faces big challenges in continuing to improve the state’s still underperforming economy.
After four years of a fragile and uneven recovery, the U.S. job machine is likely to kick into high gear in 2014. Even recession-battered states such as Arizona and Florida are expected to generate jobs at a healthier clip.
Preliminary data from the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) indicate that December 2013 personal income tax (PIT) and corporation tax (CT) revenue collections were a combined $1.6 billion (20 percent) above monthly projections included in the state’s 2013-14 budget plan.
A planned expansion of the Panama Canal may be halted because of a dispute between the building consortium and canal authorities over $1.6 billion in extra costs.
For the month of November, the state’s merchandise export trade totaled $15.22 billion, a nominal 14.2% increase over the $13.33 billion in exports recorded in November 2012. By comparison, overall U.S. merchandise exports rose by 5.9% over the same period.