Posts Tagged: fund

Opinion

Microbusinesses play increasingly crucial role in California

An owner of a small business is ready for customers. (Photo: SaiArLawKa2, via Shutterstock)

OPINION:  As the fifth largest economy in the world, California is home to heavyweight economic industries: Silicon Valley, the entertainment industry, agriculture, tourism, and more. But anyone who lives here knows that there’s also a boom in the number of people who are starting their own microbusinesses.

Opinion

Prison-inmate fraud is last straw for beleaguered EDD

An Employment Development Department office in Sacramento. (Photo: Screen capture, ABC7 News)

‌As residents of one of the highest taxed states in the nation, Californians‌ have a right to expect the government they pay handsomely to provide the basic services their taxes fund. For‌ ‌instance,  ‌we‌ ‌expect‌ ‌that‌ ‌when‌ ‌we‌ ‌have‌ ‌an‌ ‌emergency‌ ‌and‌ ‌we‌ ‌dial‌  ‌9-1-1,‌ ‌help‌ ‌will‌ ‌arrive‌ ‌in‌ ‌a‌ ‌burst‌ ‌of‌ ‌flashing‌ ‌lights,‌ ‌sirens,‌ ‌and‌ ‌hurried‌ ‌professionals.‌

News

Newsom recall unlikely — but simmering

Gov. Newsom at a 2019 briefing in Sacramento. (Photo: Associated Press)

A perfect storm of events is giving Gov. Gavin Newsom political headaches, and he is yet again the subject of a recall movement that claims to have already collected more than 800,000 signatures. It marks the sixth attempt by various Republicans to oust Newsom – the other five fizzled. Few veteran political observers give this one any chance of success, either, although California politics is full of surprises.

Opinion

Newsom’s budget: What’s in it for climate equity?

Palm trees with the smoggy L.A. skyline in the background. (Photo: J Dennis, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Californians know that climate change is here, climate change is real, and climate change is the biggest threat to our planet’s future. Less known but recently more proven is that racist and discriminatory policies of the past, like redlining, have locked in pollution exposure among low-income communities of color and dramatically increased their climate-related risks.

News

The $21 billion plan to cover wildfire damages

The hulks of destroyed automobiles burned in the 2018 Thomas Fire in Ventura County. ((Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)

On the final day of the legislative session, Gov. Newsom signed a complex, $21 billion bill that will dramatically change how California pays for future wildfire damages, with the customers and shareholders of California’s largest utilities covering the tab. The unprecedented measure seeks to stabilize the utility market and limit rate hikes, while establishing a blanket of financial security and compensation to victims of the devastating 2017-2018 fires.

News

CalSTRS’ finances reflect debt — and surplus

The photo gallery in the main entrance of CalSTRS' West Sacramento headquarters. (Photo: CalSTRS)

The main California State Teachers’ Retirement System pension fund is seriously underfunded, and school district pension costs are more than doubling, biting deep into classroom budgets. But the agency, called CalSTRS for short, has an inflation-protection fund with a growing $9.8 billion surplus and an eye-popping positive cash flow.

Opinion

Cutting ‘fatal flaw’ helps budget

Gov. Jerry Brown at a Capitol briefing last year on his revised state budget. Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP

OPINION: Californians can breathe a sigh of relief. When proponents of a 2016 ballot proposal to extend Proposition 30’s tax rates on wealthy Californians amended their measure this week, they did something that was both politically smart and fiscally sound: They eliminated a provision the governor a few days ago called the measure’s “fatal flaw”, that would have exempted this proposed new revenue from the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

News

Term limits for CalPERS board leaders?

The CalPERS' governing board during a meeting several years ago at the pension fund's headquarters. (Photo: CalPERS board)

A tentative CalPERS proposal would limit the board president and committee chairs to four consecutive one-year terms, a policy that could end the long-running presidency of Rob Feckner in 2017. He has presided over times good and bad at the nation’s largest state public pension system.

Opinion

California’s clean energy is no accident

An electrical engineer at a solar power plant in California. (Photo: BikerideLondon, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: When it comes to climate change, France leads by example. It is the least carbon-intensive major economy in the world. No developed nation emits less carbon per dollar of goods and services produced. But what might surprise many, around the world and here at home, is that the world’s second-least-carbon-intensive economy is here in the United States. Worldwide, when it comes to carbon intensity—to producing more while polluting less—California is second only to France.

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