Young people at a meeting with a psychotherapist. (Photo: Photographee.eu, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Recent reports found that youth detention facilities are failing to adjust spending rates even after facility populations have drastically dropped. California youth are not committing violent crimes at the rate that was once predicted, leaving many detention hall beds empty.
A high-rise construction site in San Jose. (Photo: PBK-PG, via Shutterstock)OPINION: It is sadly ironic that portions of the construction industry have been fighting for years to reduce wages on these important but dangerous jobs are now claiming they face a skilled labor shortage. Just last year, California’s housing industry spent millions of dollars lobbying against minimum labor standards in any part of the residential construction sector.
Workers on a large construction project in Laguna Niguel. (Photo: Steve Bruckmann)OPINION: Associated Builders and Contractors Northern California President Michele Daugherty’s misleading Jan. 3 op-ed article in the Capitol Weekly is drastically in need of an insertion of some true facts. Daugherty bitterly complained about a bill that expanded a successful, state-approved pre-apprenticeship program. She also stated in the article that she has “many reasons to be proud” of her organization’s 1,200 members, a number that gives her a market share of only 0.425 percent of the 282,063 licensed contractors in the state of California.
Workers at a large construction site in San Jose. (Photo: pbk-pg, via Shutterstock)OPINION: It’s taken an army of firefighters to battle California’s historic infernos. It will take an even larger army to rebuild the Golden State from the devastation. Even with all of the current skilled construction workers, California will need to train more to achieve our goals of getting families back in their homes and communities.
A condominium complex being undermined by rising ocean levels at a Monterey beach. (Photo: Steve Smith)As officials in Washington try to repair the nation’s flood insurance program, scientists in California are grappling with a looming threat that will complicate flooding hazards in the state: sea-level rise. Creeping ocean waters are already flooding coastal areas more frequently and eroding sea cliffs more rapidly. They’re also worsening damage from extreme weather events like high tides and torrential rains.
The state Capitol in Sacramento, viewed from 10th Street toward the West Steps.(Photo: Timothy Boomer)On deadline, lawmakers are poised to act on the most extensive state building construction projects in Sacramento in decades. The $1.3 billion plan, about $200 million less than proposed earlier by Gov. Brown as part of his 2016-17 budget, was placed in legislation Monday before the Senate budget committee, where it awaits action.
The state Capitol in Sacramento, viewed from 10th Street toward the West Steps.(Photo: Timothy Boomer)Build it and they will come. A surge in state government office construction looms for downtown Sacramento, including the replacement or renovation of the Capitol’s 64-year-old annex.
A traffic jam in downtown Los Angeles. (Photo: Prayitno, Wikimedia)Weeks after returning from the Paris summit on climate change where he was hailed as a leader in the movement to limit greenhouse gases, Gov. Jerry Brown has proposed a new transportation budget that celebrates the car. In 2016-17, Brown wants to spend $16 billion on transportation, and most of that would go toward making it easier for people to drive. The Democratic governor wants to build new roads and highways and repave old ones, and use more technology to speed traffic.
An apprentice engineer uses a milling machine at a training facility. (Photo: Monkey Business Images, via Shutterstock)As the uneven economy recovery continues in California, there is one area where jobs remain available: technical workers. Workers with vocational training are currently in demand. The hardest segment of the workforce to replace has been the skilled trades, due to a shortage caused by the exodus of highly-skilled baby boomers that are entering retirement.
Downtown Los Angeles, as traffic zips along. (Photo: Sean Pavone)Gov. Brown’s call for a special legislative session to fix California’s crumbling roads, highways and bridges comes as music to the ears of those who build big projects. For months, groups representing labor, contractors, local governments, transportation interests and others worked on legislation to revamp the state’s roads and ease the movement of freight at the state’s ports. That legislation may serve as the centerpiece of the special session.