Infrastructure

CA’s road funding plans ‘stuck in traffic’

More than a month after Gov. Jerry Brown called for lawmakers to hold a “special session” on transportation funding, California still doesn’t have a plan for how to close its annual $5.7 billion shortfall for road, bridge and highway repairs.

Bill could make it easier to increase transportation taxes

Dave Roberts July 22, 2015

A bill that a taxpayer group is calling an attack on Proposition 13 and which the California Chamber of Commerce has dubbed a “job killer,” was approved by the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee last week. Assembly Constitutional Amendment 4

Electricity tier changes, rate hikes bring higher energy costs

Josephine Djuhana July 12, 2015

With a recently approved proposal to hike electricity rates throughout the state and a new proposal from a local board to increase water and power rates, Californians are about to see a spike in energy costs. CPUC changes tier system,

How will business lobby influence special session on transportation funds?

Joel Fox July 1, 2015

Governor Jerry Brown called special sessions to find permanent revenue sources to fund transportation infrastructure and Medi-Cal. The issue of keeping up with deteriorating roads has been a special concern to the business community and Brown is counting on business

PUC board dissident has dubious history with PG&E

Chris Reed July 1, 2015

A member of the California Public Utilities Commission board who has attempted to establish himself as a critic of the PUC status quo by criticizing the scandal-ridden agency’s push for a much flatter electricity-pricing tier system could have a tough

CA GOP flexes Sacramento muscle on road repairs

James Poulos July 1, 2015

In a move that handed Sacramento Republicans a sudden share of power, state legislators finally turned their attention to California’s deteriorating infrastructure. In recent years, California’s roadways have fallen into what analysts often agree is terrible shape. “Our streets and highways are in horrible

Legislation to prevent port shutdowns passes U.S. Senate committee

Josephine Djuhana June 26, 2015

Although the nine-month labor dispute affecting 29 West Coast ports has officially come to a close, multiple industries in the U.S. are still reeling from the effect of the slowdown. Port gridlock along the West Coast left many exporters, manufacturers

New reports show CA is sinking

Josephine Djuhana June 24, 2015

As use of California’s groundwater supply reaches an all-time high, the state’s drought-induced sinking has put California land at historic lows, with little to no government attention. Nathan Halverson, a reporter with Reveal News from the Center for Investigative Reporting,

Gov. Brown seeks ‘permanent’ funding for Medi-Cal, infrastructure

Joel Fox June 18, 2015

In announcing the budget deal with the Legislature, Governor Jerry Brown announced two special sessions to deal with transportation and Medi-Cal funding. Call them the “special tax sessions.” In the press release announcing the sessions, the governor stated that the sessions were to

Coalition backing CA bullet train is fraying

Chris Reed June 15, 2015

Both in California and Washington, D.C., backers of the state’s controversy-plagued $68 billion bullet-train project are coming off a rough week. As CalWatchdog reported, a Los Angeles public hearing on proposed routes for the project in the San Fernando Valley