Counting back, it’s believed that a complete transportation bill would have to be introduced no later than Friday to be legally considered in a lame-duck session – and perhaps by Wednesday, since legislative offices are supposed to be closed on Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving.
CalPERS is preparing more pension rate hikes, and they could cost government agencies billions of dollars.
California’s gubernatorial transitions have included a less-than-stellar tradition in recent decades – outgoing governors leaving budget deficits to successors. . . So Brown’s fix is temporary, rather than permanent. And with so many variables, the next governor could easily be back in the soup.
The union has denounced the administration’s proposed wage increase of 12 percent over four years as inadequate because it fails to address what it contends are gender pay inequities in the state workforce. It also objects to the administration’s proposal that employees pay more for their health benefits.
It’s trying to persuade Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration to give its members a larger raise than its initial offer of 12 percent over four years.
California exports sagged in September, deflating momentum and optimism prompted by a strong rally in Golden State shipments abroad in August.
“That fact illustrates another unknown. Even if California can approach the new 2030 goal, no one knows whether the state’s economy can absorb its costs without suffering. . . the anti-carbon program really didn’t get cranked up until a few years ago, so its economic effects, positive or negative, are not yet known. The impacts of the 2030 reduction goal are a complete mystery. Reports by emission reduction advocates have claimed big increases in jobs and other economic activity from shifting to a low-carbon economy, but they have, in the main, been merely shifts rather than expansions, and some job claims are entirely bogus.”
California’s path-breaking bid to end workplace pay disparities faces one of its widest gender wage gaps among the state’s own employees.
In a ruling that has ramifications for land-use and water policy across the United States and California, a federal appeals court ruled Monday that scientists can draw on long-range climate projections to determine whether a species should be listed as threatened.
The union is trying to get a bigger raise than the 2.96 percent pay hike Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration is offering. Brown’s proposal would raise SEIU salaries by 12 percent over four years, but also require its members to begin paying a contribution toward their retiree health care costs.
Verizon said the workers – approximately 700 in customer service and 300 in telesales – will be offered the opportunity to relocate to other customer service call and telesales centers outside of California.
The temporary hike did not cause a noticeable outward flow, despite some anecdotal accounts. But Jerry Nickelsburg, who studies California’s economy for UCLA’s Anderson Forecast, suggests in a new report that making the nation’s highest marginal income tax rates at least semi-permanent could trigger flight.
Gov. Jerry Brown proposed steps similar to those contained in the White House toolkit – fast-tracking for certain kinds of housing to fill the most critical needs. But his “by right” plan went nowhere in the Legislature because environmental groups, labor unions and local governments joined forces to kill it.
“A November ballot measure, Proposition 55, would extend that dangerous dependency on the rich for another 12 years, and its strong lead in the polls is a testament to the cynical validity of Brown’s observation about voters’ willingness to approve taxes that they won’t be paying themselves. However, some go even further, seeking taxes on those who have absolutely no power to protest, even at the polls.”
Altogether, the raises are expected to cost about $99.4 million a year, according to the state Finance Department.