Because fundamental changes in attitudes and behaviors are critical, the group is urging researchers and scholars to come together with community and religious leaders to create a culture of climate action to take concrete steps toward solving our shared climate crisis.
The 2006 standards helped to create a sharp drop in the number of air conditioning shipments. The agency anticipated a slight drop of 130,000 shipments. Instead, shipments declined by more than 1.55 million, according to agency and industry estimates. Thus, the energy required for residential cooling use likely didn’t decline as expected between 2007 and 2010; it increased.
“California’s ratio of debt service to General Fund revenues was 6.84 percent in 2014-15. . . The STO estimates this ratio will be 6.79 percent in 2015-16.”
“In 2012, nearly 1 million California households faced “energy poverty”—defined as energy expenditures exceeding 10 percent of household income. In certain California counties, the rate of energy poverty was as high as 15 percent of all households.”
“Following a 3.0% increase in 2014, nonfarm jobs are expected to grow by 2.9% in 2015, and then slow slightly to 2.4% in 2016. The unemployment rate stood at 6.3% in July and is expected to decline to 5.8% in 2016. With further improvements anticipated for the labor market, personal income and total taxable sales should increase by 4.9% and 4.5% respectively this year, with similar or better gains in 2016.”
Next 10’s new report analyzes electricity productivity – how much GDP manufacturers produce for every dollar spent on electricity – and finds that California generates $59 in GDP for every dollar spent on electricity, compared to $38 for the rest of the nation, leading every other state except Connecticut.
Interaction between SB 32 and CEQA would likely, at a minimum, result in the immediate imposition of a Zero Net Energy (ZNE) standard on new construction in California. The initial effect would be a sharp reduction in new construction activity, which would persist until developers and contractors acquired a sufficient level of expertise and capacity to satisfy the stringent new ZNE requirements. Such a slowdown would have ripple effects throughout the entire economy, potentially reducing gross state product by $18 billion, and employment by 285,000 jobs.
The report notes that the state’s renewable-energy mandates and carbon cap-and-trade program have forced electricity prices to rise, as they have implemented a “regressive energy tax, imposing proportionally higher costs in certain counties, such as California’s inland and Central Valley regions, where summer electricity consumption is highest but household incomes are lowest.”
In this report, the Institute for Applied Economics of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC) conducts a regional dependency study of the refinery industry, evaluating the ripple effect of a potential reduction of supply of refined petroleum products and byproducts in California.
The extent of income inequality in any region such as the Bay Area is a result of local, state and national policies, and is exacerbated by economic factors such as technological progress and globalization. And, while local policies alone are largely inadequate to address the issue of extreme inequality, there are a variety of options that can ameliorate the effects. This report includes data on Bay Area income inequality, comparisons to the state and nation, a discussion of the root causes of inequality, and a set of local policy options.
Policymakers often consider temporarily redistributing income from rich to poor households to stimulate the economy. This is based in part on the idea that poor households spend a larger share of their income than rich ones do. However, ample evidence suggests that the difference in spending between these groups is significantly smaller than commonly assumed. A second assumption is that redistribution through policy is more efficient than through capital markets. Whether this is true is important to consider when proposing this type of stimulus policy.
In this report, we present a number of suggestions for practical reform to patent policy consistent with the original public meaning of the Patent Clause, which will foster more innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth.
To bring the pavement condition and essential components such as storm drains, gutters, sidewalks and curbs of local streets and roads to a level of Best Management Practices (BMP), there needs to be an additional investment of $8.22 billion dollars annually over the next ten years.
In this report, the Volcker Alliance examines in detail the budgeting practices of California, New Jersey and Virginia, assessing the effectiveness of each state’s practices. The report highlights the need for effective and transparent budgeting practices by “shining a spotlight on opaque and confusing practices and by identifying more appropriate approaches” when creating state budgets and fiscal policy.
Some local ordinances in particular include an exemption for employers that enter into a collective bargaining agreement with a union. This “escape clause” is often designed to encourage unionization by making a labor union the potential “low-cost” alternative to new wage mandates, and it raises serious questions about whom these minimum wage laws are actually intended to benefit.