Infrastructure

Fact-checking drought-water pricing

This is Part 2 of a series. Part 1 was on how drought-water pricing violates Proposition 218’s ban on tax increases without a vote of the people. What is good water pricing during a drought? Let’s look at some

Does drought pricing violate state law?

Wayne Lusvardi September 20, 2014

This is Part 1 of a series. Calls now are going out to raise water prices even higher to spur conservation. Instead of fining people for watering their lawns, numerous economists are recommending just tacking a punitive surcharge onto water rates until use

New appeal seeks to halt bullet train

James Poulos September 18, 2014

A new legal move has ratcheted up the legal battle around California’s $68 billion high-speed rail project. In a controversial decision late this July, the California Court of Appeal for the Third District brushed aside claims that ballot wording and voters’ intent carried legal weight that legislators’

Wall Street Journal too nervous about bullet-train ruling

Chris Reed September 15, 2014

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page continued its excellent coverage of California issues with an editorial (behind pay wall) about the July 31st appellate court ruling that overturned a trial court ruling essentially blocking concrete steps toward

Sacramento hits the gas on driving taxes

James Poulos September 12, 2014

Within a few years, California may choose to tax drivers by the mile. Taking up a controversial idea floated by the federal government and embraced by Oregon, Sacramento legislators recently passed a bill that could lead to a new “road usage

Sacramento unplugs Brown battery plan

Wayne Lusvardi September 9, 2014

At its Sept. 4 meeting, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District deferred deploying batteries along its electric grid in compliance with Assembly Bill 2514 of 2010. The reason: energy storage was not economically feasible. (See p. 93 and p. 143 of the Board

Water deal turnoff helped parch L.A.

Wayne Lusvardi September 9, 2014

Los Angeles sure could use extra water right now. But in 2002 the water-locked city forfeited a Golden State opportunity to buy drought-relief water from the Cadiz Inc. water company, mainly due to political pressure from environmental organizations. Other more nimble public water agencies and

In fighting drought, San Antonio leaves L.A. in the dust

Wayne Lusvardi September 5, 2014

Could cities such as drought-vulnerable Los Angeles come to regret that a “privatization” provision in the old $11.1 billion state water bond was removed? Back in 2009, there was an outcry against language in the original version of a

CA high court asked to review bullet-train ruling

Kathy Hamilton September 4, 2014

Arguing that an appellate court ruling endangers the public’s faith in future bond initiatives, the attorneys for the Tos/Fukuda/Kings County group challenging the state’s bullet-train plans on Tuesday asked the California Supreme Court to review the recent decision reversing trial-court

How accurate are high-speed rail jobs reports?

Kathy Hamilton September 4, 2014

How many jobs is the California high-speed rail project creating? As California’s unemployment rate remains above the national number, it’s a crucial question. The California High-Speed Rail Authority has numbers of jobs created as of April. As reported by