The cutbacks were necessary even though Gov. Jerry Brown’s recently signed a budget expanded state education spending by $3.9 billion or just over 5 percent, according to reports. It’s the seventh year in a row that Brown has expanded school funding; however, students and teachers aren’t feeling the difference, according to Alex Barrios, chief communications […]
How much does it take to make it into the 100 top-earning CalPERS or CalSTRS retirees? A pension of more than $219,000. CalPERS is the retirement system for most state employees. CalSTRS is the retirement system for most certificated school district employees. Both systems have faced scrutiny for years due to large unfunded liabilities — […]
Officially, SCERS aims for retirees to receive their first monthly check 45 days after paperwork is submitted. But metrics released at a recent board meeting show that the average wait time in 2017 was 80 days. To be clear, Stern said, once people are in the system, they don’t experience delays getting money. It’s that […]
In Steinberg’s mind, a one cent sales tax would be “a true game changer in Sacramento,” as he said in a speech earlier this month. But does City Hall need the tax just to remain solvent? As the costs of pensions and employee salaries increase, the city of Sacramento is forecasting budget deficits beginning next […]
A proposed tax on California’s drinking water, designed to clean up contaminated water for thousands of Californians, was abandoned by Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders Friday as part of the compromise on the state budget. Lawmakers and Brown’s office scrapped the “Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Act,” which would have taxed residents 95 cents […]
As California leaders prepare this week to change the way the state funds its community colleges, a revolt is growing among professors who say it’s too much too soon for a system already undergoing rapid transformations to improve dismal student outcomes. Over the past two months, the academic senates from at least half a dozen […]
California state government has so much money this year that it’s opening two new savings accounts so it can keep socking away even more cash for the rainy day that Gov. Jerry Brown says is just over the horizon. That tactic — setting a course to pile up $16 billion in savings over the next […]
The only large-scale car manufacturer in California argues that doing business in the state is hard enough without a fast-developing labor regulation backed by organizations that want to unionize its Fremont plant. Elon Musk’s Tesla is fighting a rule under development by two state agencies that would require it to be certified as a “fair […]
“California’s public employee unions are backing a pack of bills that might help them hold on to members if the Supreme Court this summer issues a ruling that’s expected to deliver a serious blow to the finances for labor organizations. Two of the bills lay out standard guidelines governing how public agencies collect dues from […]
Seeking to address the economic and social disparity facing many neighborhoods in his city – inequities he said were highlighted by the fatal police shooting of Stephon Clark in March – Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg announced Thursday he will ask voters to raise the city’s sales tax to 1 percentage point through a November ballot […]
“A poll released Sunday by a local advocacy group showed that 46 percent of Bay Area residents surveyed said they want to move out of the area within the next few years. That number is up from 34 percent in 2016 and 40 percent last year in the same poll. The survey was a joint […]
California’s ban on state-funded travel grew to include a ninth state on Friday with Attorney General Xavier Becerra announcing new restrictions on public employees attending work-related events in Oklahoma. Since 2017, California has forbidden state employees from traveling to states with laws that California leaders perceive to be discriminatory against gay and transgender people. Becerra […]
One of California’s leading taxpayer advocacy groups filed a lawsuit on Thursday to prevent the state from opening a government-run financial savings program that is intended to help lower-income workers prepare for retirement. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association contends the so-called CalSavers plan violates a federal consumer protection law that sets standards for retirement plans […]
Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration has a “weak justification” for the short and sweet tentative contract offer it struck with the state’s union for correctional officers, a new report from the Legislative Analyst’s Office says. Brown is offering a 5 percent raise to the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, which would be the best wage increase […]
The laws set an initial limit for indoor water use of 55 gallons per-person per-day in 2022, which gradually drops to 50 gallons per person by 2030. Just how consumers will be required to meet the goals remains unknown. The Department of Water Resources and State Water Resources Control Board will conduct studies and recommend […]