Posts From Wayne Lusvardi
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New tax would hit services
Tax reform is in the air. One proposal is by state Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, also a former speaker of the Assembly. Senate Bill 8, the Upward Mobility Act, would raise $10 billion in sales and use taxes
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Why green power won’t replace nukes
Last year Southern California Edison mothballed its 2.3 gigawatt San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. As CalWatchdog.com reported at the time, the actual reason probably was mechanical defects caused from retrofitting the plant to ramp up and down rapidly to
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Bay Delta Plan could wipe out farmland values
Along with the rains finally drenching California in recent days have come clouds over Gov. Jerry Brown’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan. Published on the website of state Treasurer Bill Lockyer, a new report by the California Debt Advisory Commission
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Democrats push back against new GOP water bill
In California, not all rainwater is equal. “Two different water years may have identical precipitation and runoff amounts, yet result in significantly different export amounts,” Eric Alvarez told CalWatchdog.com; he’s the Public Information Officer for the Delta Stewardship Council,
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Oil taxes fuel state budget
The group Californians Against Fracking seeks to eliminate oil and gas drilling by hydraulic fracturing methods, called “fracking,” statewide in California. A post-election article by David Atkins in the Washington Monthly, and cross-posted on the CAF website, lamented the defeat of Measure P
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CA housing policies clash in Encinitas
How much can state and federal law dictate local housing policy? That confrontation has turned over headlines in Encinitas, where residents are debating which policy should be adopted by them at the ballot box in 2016. According to KPBS, “Under California law,
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Hoover Dam low water to double water costs to SoCal
California is facing yet another drought-caused water and energy shortage from an unexpected source. Hoover Dam’s hydroelectric power may have to be curtailed if the water level drops below 1,000 feet, an elevation it last reached in May 1936, when
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Federal drought bill dead in water until 2015
Better and wetter luck next year, California. On Thursday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., put the kibosh on passing a federal water bill dealing with California’s drought during the lame-duck session. She wrote in a statement: “Over the past several
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CA budget worse despite $2 billion new revenue
California’s budget picture is sort of like that old Sandy Dennis high-school movie, “Up the Down Staircase.” Going up: Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor just reported tax receipts jumped $2 billion over projections in the fiscal 2014-15 budget the Legislature passed, and Gov.
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CA green energy market snags on price glitch
Call it a green-energy glitch. Central planning of California’s green-energy market has run into a price glitch with the launching of its Energy Imbalance Market, which was meant to balance solar power and natural gas power at dusk each day. California’s
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