Posts Tagged: funds

Schools to lawmakers: Repeal the reserve cap

Blocks and crayons in a California classroom.(Photo illustration: Blade Tucker

by Jesús Holguín posted 03.26.2015

OPINION: Late last year, the Legislature passed a fiscally irresponsible law that prevents local school districts from maintaining prudent budget reserves necessary to prepare for future economic downturns, to invest in classroom improvements, and to protect our students. As ridiculous as that sounds, unfortunately that’s the reality. That’s why thousands of educators, including school board members, school district officials, community members, parents and others are calling for the Legislature to repeal the local school district reserve cap.

Water and eminent domain: a volatile mix

A town hall meeting in Claremont that focused on water issues. (Photo: City of Claremont.)

by JOHN HOWARD posted 03.02.2015

A Southern California city has launched eminent domain proceedings to take over the private water agency that has served the community for more than 80 years – an unusual move, even in California, where fights over water are common.

Bullet train path looking smoother

In an artist's rendering, California's proposed bullet train zips along the Central Valley. (Illustration: High Speed Rail Authority)

by DOROTHY MILLS-GREGG posted 10.24.2014

California’s $67.5 billion bullet train has been described as “off-track” so long that some thought it was permanently derailed. In fact, the outlook has brightened: A series of court decisions, a move by Gov. Brown to pump money into the effort and an awakening interest from high-dollar investors has given the huge project new momentum.

CalPERS’ investment earnings climbing steadily

CalPERS headquarters, Sacramento. (Photo: Wikipedia)

by ED MENDEL posted 09.22.2014

Calpensions: Three years ago CalPERS investment earnings hit bottom in a Wilshire consultants report that ranks the performance of big pension funds — dead last among its peers over the previous five years. Last week a new Wilshire report showed CalPERS investment earnings steadily climbing up the ranks, finishing in the top quarter of big pension funds during the last three years.

Drought busting: conservation, recycling, new projects

San Gabriel River, following the rains.

by STEVE FLEISCHLI posted 03.05.2014

OPINION: Even though California received heavy rains in the past week, officials say will still are experiencing an historic drought. We are not out of the woods. Far from it. According to the California Department of Water Resources, 10 communities have less than 60 days of water, ranchers and farmers across hundreds of thousands of acres are scrambling to find water, and dozens of municipalities have ordered homeowners to reduce their water use by 20 percent or more. (Photo: San Gabriel River, following recent rains. Getty Images/David McNew)

An $8 million pension bond was approved last week by voters in Piedmont, a small well-to-do city completely surrounded by deep-in-debt Oakland, originator of the pension bond that has figured in the Stockton, San Bernardino and Detroit bankruptcies. (Photo: City of Fremont

In the months since the FBI raided the offices of Senator Ron Calderon, the most interesting thing that’s happened in the State Capitol is what hasn’t happened in the State Capitol. Unlike broader efforts for political reform that accompanied previous corruption scandals, there has been barely a peep from California politicians of either party about the need to clean up a system that has become consumed by non-stop fundraising.

As it turns out, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), known popularly as “Obamacare,” could be a boon to the California budget. Given how the ACA is structured, the state could end up spending less on an unlikely source – prison inmates. The ACA is designed to expand healthcare coverage to low-income

Gov. Brown’s rewritten budget borrows $500 million from California’s cap-and-trade auctions and diverts the money for use in other state programs – a move that drew immediate fire from clean-air advocates.

The administration said the $500 million represents a one-time loan and will be paid back, with interest. Tapping the money was proper, the

For some, “realignment” is a four-letter word.

When the strapped state in 2011 approved shifting programs — incarcerating some prison inmates, for example — to the counties as part of a budget-balancing act, the idea was to give the locals enough money to handle the new responsibilities.

But it didn’t quite work out