San Francisco would restrict future office development if the city fails to meet its affordable housing goals under a proposed ballot measure. The measure would reduce the amount of office space allowed by a percentage equal to the city’s shortfall in approving affordable housing, based on state-mandated goals. The advocacy arm of South of Market […]
Who can afford to live in California? A newly released Quinnipiac University poll found that just slightly more than half, or 53 percent, of Californians believe they can afford to live in the Golden State. Surveyors spoke to 1,125 California voters between July 10-15, with a margin of error of 3.9 percentage points. Pollsters found […]
When they presented the California Association of Realtors 2019 Mid-Year Market Forecast this month, C.A.R. senior vice president and chief economist Leslie Appleton-Young and deputy chief economist Jordan Levine announced as of July, the U.S. was officially 10 years into its economic recovery period. The country has experienced the longest period of economic expansion on […]
It’s on: California business leaders Monday are kicking off a statewide effort to defend the landmark 1978 property tax measure Prop. 13 from an already-qualified 2020 “split roll” ballot measure that aims to revise it. The California Business Roundtable has launched FightforProp13.org, a campaign that executive director Rob Lapsley tells POLITICO will begin this week […]
A majority of the members of the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday saw the justification offered by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census for exactly what it was: a lie, though the court was more delicate in its terminology. Ross has said repeatedly that government needs to ask […]
Most of us learned the dangers of making political predictions about 31 months ago. But it’s still pretty hard to resist. So with the prospect of a major battle over Proposition 13 looming on next year’s general election ballot, the likely combatants on both sides of the split roll fight are sifting through the results […]
Saying that a major development project places Auburn’s historic DeWitt Theater in danger of demolition, a citizens group has sued Placer County – a move that jeopardizes a plan for badly needed affordable housing, county officials say. The lawsuit, filed May 22 by Concerned Citizens for Community and Public Lands, challenges the Placer County Government […]
If California is serious about fixing its housing challenges, it should wean its cities off the sales tax gravy train. Until local municipalities are properly motivated to build, not much will change. And the only persuasion that makes cities jump is cash. Currently, cities are addicted to boosting sales tax collection because it’s about the […]
School is out for summer. But in Tracy, Calif., teachers have been hard at work. Inside the staff development training room at the Tracy Unified School District, a group of about 25 teachers and curriculum specialists gathered this summer to overhaul the district’s approach to teaching science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM. The plan […]
With $10 million in funding, an ambitious timeline and a champion in Gov. Gavin Newsom behind it, the Legislature this week passed legislation for a statewide education data system that will follow children from infancy through the workplace. The marching order for what Newsom is calling a Cradle to Career Data System is included in […]
We’ve all seen it, the smoker who takes one last drag and flicks the cigarette butt onto the ground. It’s instant litter that California Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson wants to prevent by banning the filters in most cigarettes. The Democrat from Santa Barbara’s bill, SB 424, would ban filtered cigarettes, disposable plastic holders and mouthpieces, and […]
Though no legislation has been passed yet, California officials have made it clear they want to outlaw automobiles powered by internal-combustion engines. But it’s a near certainty they won’t be able to secure an all-electric fleet within their timetable no matter how much they want it to happen. Democratic state Assemblyman Phil Ting of San […]
Three California Assembly members have introduced legislative language that would put Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to address the wildfire crisis enveloping the state’s electric utilities into action. The proposal includes a special fund to rein in the massive wildfire liabilities that electricity providers are exposed to — a worsening problem that already drove Pacific Gas […]
U.S. inflation continued to recover in May from a sharp slowdown earlier this year, a trend that could ease the Federal Reserve’s worries about weak price pressures while potentially tempering investors’ hopes for an interest-rate cut next month. The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the price index for personal-consumption expenditures, rose a seasonally adjusted 0.16% in […]
Apple Inc. is manufacturing its new Mac Pro computer in China, according to people familiar with its plans, shifting abroad production of what had been its only major device assembled in the U.S. as trade tensions escalate between the Trump administration and Beijing. The tech giant has tapped contractor Quanta Computer Inc. to manufacture the […]