News

Electricity consumption per capita in California stopped increasing in the 1970s, around the same time policymakers had also enacted stricter energy-efficiency policies, such as mandates on buildings and appliances. As electricity consumption continued to rise in other states, regulation advocates hailed California as a role model for the rest of the nation. But according to an economist at Georgetown University, California’s savings are largely due to other long-run trends.

SACRAMENTO – As California’s economy continues to rebound from the recession, the California Employment Development Department (EDD) is warning long-term unemployed individuals that they may no longer be eligible for the last tier in federal unemployment extension benefits. That’s because California’s unemployment rate is on track to dip below a three-month average of 9% – the minimum level required by federal guidelines in order to provide the final ten weeks of additional benefits associated with a Tier 4 federal extension.

California approached midyear 2013 with moderating employment gains and a steadily falling unemployment rate. Real estate markets were also improving and home building improved fitfully. Preliminary estimates show that personal income dropped 1.8 percent in the first quarter of 2013 from the fourth quarter of 2012, reflecting in part the expiration of the payroll tax holiday and the acceleration of income from 2013 into 2012.

Company: Bank of AmericaCA Net Job Gain/Loss: -543Reason: LayoffCity/Region Losing Jobs: Fresno, CA

California is reconsidering landmark consumer protections and energy conservation measures that were written into residential utility bills during the state’s 2000-2001 energy crisis.

A project that would have included a solar power station and a million-square-foot solar panel factory a few miles from the California state line won’t be built, its backers announced last month. The $5 billion, Chinese-backed ENN Mojave Energy project at the southernmost corner of Nevada couldn’t find utilities that wanted to buy its power, either in Nevada or across the line in California.

It’s been a rough week for California in the media. Analysts have been more critical lately of Gov. Jerry Brown’s record on the state’s roughly $213 billion public pension debt and his continued pursuit of costly infrastructure projects such as high-speed rail and a massive water delivery system for the Central Valley.

California political leaders, starting with Gov. Jerry Brown, should be popping the champagne corks: the state has rebounded enough to surpass Italy and Russia and reclaim its title as the world’s eight’s largest economy in 2013, according to a new study by the Center for the Continuing Study of the California Economy.

The move to find a permanent home for the Silicon Valley branch of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been put on indefinite hold.

Reform of the state of California’s landmark and controversial environmental law, CEQA, is starting to get more complicated.

A new report that compares state finances finds California’s budget revenues are soaring higher than all but one other state in the nation. Its economy is growing at an above-average pace as well.

An effort is under way in the Capitol to require local governments to perform comprehensive economic impact studies of so-called “superstores” before approving the projects.

At least one business group is happy with Gov. Jerry Brown’s new economic plan. California’s manufacturers are delighted with the governor’s new reforms, especially the new statewide sales tax waiver for buying new industrial equipment.

It wasn’t even close. Bechtel Corp. claimed the top spot on the San Francisco Business Times’ annual ranking of the largest private companies in the Bay Area. With $37.9 billion in 2012 revenue, the San Francisco engineering and construction firm raked in five times more money than the No. 2 company on the list, Delta Dental of California.

After previously proposing widespread and hefty tuition increases for graduate and professional degree programs, UC’s top administrators have retreated and will seek fee hikes affecting only a small group of graduate students, mainly in nursing, and at much reduced levels.