Posts Tagged: 39

Unlicensed auto dismantlers are hiding in plain sight

Automobiles in a wrecking yard awaiting dismantling. (Photo: 1Roman Makedonsky, via Shutterrstock)

by Sean Bothwell and Gary Umphenour posted 01.29.2020

OPINION: Imagine a business that is unregulated and not held accountable for the improper handling of hazardous materials and fluids that make their way into our drinking water and the waterways that support our wildlife. Then consider that these cash-only businesses fail to provide their employees with a safe working environment or fair wages, accept stolen goods and do not pay taxes.

CA120: Conspiracy, numbers in the Lopez-Bocanegra battle

Patty Lopez and Raul Bocanegra (Illustration by Tim Foster/Capitol Weekly)

by PAUL MITCHELL posted 02.22.2016

If someone comes to you and says, “I won my election because I was the first name on the ballot,” you should immediately check for the tinfoil hat — and then show them the door. The notion that a democratic election for something as important as a legislative or congressional seat, or even a city council, can be decided by the order on a ballot is the domain of wild conspiracy theorists. Until it actually happens.

For a while, at least, it appeared that state government was pitching a perfect game.

Proposition 39, a ballot initiative to change corporate state income tax policy by closing a $1 billion loophole approved years before during the Schwarzenegger administration, won 61 percent of the vote, despite the dim odds confronting any measure that

Gov. Brown said his plan to take $500 million from California’s cap-and-trade auction funds — money that was intended to directly further efforts to fight greenhouse gas emissions — is a “reasonable accommodation” aided in part by voters’ approval last year of a measure to raise corporate taxes.

“We had Proposition 39 funding for

By Elinor Benami, Jeff Deason and Julia Zuckerman

California policymakers are currently considering how to allocate Proposition 39 funds — an estimated $2.75 billion over five years. Proposition 39, as passed by voters in November, requires that half of the first five years of revenue generated from closing a business tax loophole goes toward

Gov. Jerry Brown wants to give California’s 1,032 school districts more than $2.6 billion over the next five years to help them lower their energy bills.

Districts say they don’t know where to apply, what they can spend the money on or how much of an overall need exists but they’ll gratefully accept the

Saying California’s chronic multi-billion dollar shortfalls are over for at least the next five years, Gov. Jerry Brown presented a $139 billion budget Thursday that increases spending for public schools by nearly $3 billion and for higher education by $600 million.

“California came through probably 15 years of great fiscal difficulties. Some of it

Months before California voters approved new taxes in the Nov. 6 election, accounting practices in the state budget were changed – changes that ultimately could make it much harder to define just how much money the state has taken in or is likely to get.

The changes were approved by the Legislature and governor