Only 32 percent of California households could afford to purchase the $496,620 median-priced Golden State home in the first quarter of 2017, according to a report issued Monday by the Los Angeles-based California Association of Realtors.
California Gov. Jerry Brown released a revised, $180 billion budget proposal Thursday that closely mirrors his January plan, maintaining a cautious approach amid uncertainty about the direction of the economy and possible federal actions that could hurt the state’s bottom line.
Advocates for expanded child care and kindergarten and other services were buoyed when Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor opined that Brown’s overall revenue estimates through the 2017-18 fiscal year were “probably too low.”
While “cap and trade” – the issuance and trading of greenhouse gas emission allowances – is a relatively small part of the state’s strenuous efforts to combat climate change, it has been the most contentious. It indirectly affects consumers by raising prices and is designed to raise billions of dollars that Capitol politicians can spend without directly taxing their constituents.
It was a long-standing pattern. For 45 years starting in 1960, around 40 to 50 percent of African Americans in Sacramento County owned their homes, census figures show. By the turn of the century, the black homeownership rate in Sacramento County was higher than the statewide average and higher than other California urban centers such as Los Angeles and San Diego.
What’s the upshot for consumers and the economy? Gasoline prices, already among the highest in the nation, would increase as much as 24 cents a gallon in the short run to reflect higher carbon-emission costs. Lawmakers proposed issuing “climate dividend” checks to Californians to offset the higher cost of carbon. The financial impact of an all-renewable electricity grid is uncertain.
California gives corporations billions of dollars in special tax breaks each year on the assumption that they will generate more job-creating investment.
However, state officials only occasionally check on whether these loopholes actually do what they are supposed to do, or just fatten corporate treasuries. In fact, a new nationwide study of how states manage their “incentives” says that California’s oversight is one of the weakest.
California’s unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent in March.
The state Employment Development Department said Friday the rate was down from 5 percent in February and 5.6 percent in March 2016.
The department says the state’s employers added 19,300 nonfarm payroll jobs last month.
Economic conditions might be another factor. Even though the recovery has been stronger in California than in the rest of the country, Borenstein said business activities – and the resulting carbon emissions – are lower than regulators assumed when they started pulling together regulations a decade ago.
Broome chastised the state for not doing enough to keep jobs in California and said the economic council was committed to a “new beginning to make jobs a priority.” He said the state “lacks compassion” when it comes to widespread job losses. Council officials cited Texas, Arizona, Minnesota, Washington and Alabama as having more sophisticated statewide economic development programs.
A Pennsylvania call center operator plans to lay off 135 nonunion workers at its office in North Highlands. In mid-2012, ACT announced the opening of the North Highlands calls center, with an initial 500 employees and announced expectations of filling as many as 2,000 jobs.
Rancho Cordova’s role as a hub of the aerospace industry will soon end. Aerojet Rocketdyne Inc. Monday said it will eliminate 1,100 of its 1,400 local jobs over the next two and a half years, and will shut down manufacturing operations. Aerojet Rocketdyne said plans to consolidate its California-based Sacramento and Vernon operations and Gainesville, Va., sites while centralizing and expanding its existing presence in Huntsville, Ala. with a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.
The pension fund for California teachers is about $97 billion short of the assets it would need to pay all of the benefits it owes to its members today, according to a new valuation from the California State Teachers’ Retirement System. . . The $202 billion fund has about 63.7 percent of the assets it needs to pay the benefits it owes. That reflects a 4.8 percent decrease in CalSTRS’ funded ratio from its most recent assessment.
California’s unemployment rate fell to 5 percent in February as the state’s employers added 22,900 nonfarm payroll jobs. The state Employment Development Department said Friday that last month’s rate was a drop from a revised 5.2 percent in January.
California State University’s governing board has approved a tuition increase that will raise the cost of an education by $270 a year at its 23 campuses.