Posts Tagged: price

News

Drug industry clout, Medicare costs

Prescription drugs displayed across a counter top. (Photo: Motorolka, via Shutterstock)

FairWarning: When the Republican-controlled Congress approved a landmark program in 2003 to help seniors buy prescription drugs, it slapped on an unusual restriction: The federal government was barred from negotiating cheaper prices for those medicines. Instead, the job of holding down costs was outsourced to the insurance companies delivering the subsidized new coverage, known as Medicare Part D.

Opinion

Cap-and-trade: Fix needed now on regulation

A powerplant at sunset. (Photo: David Crockett)

Gov. Jerry Brown proposed in his recent state-of-the-state address that California should take steps to approve an aggressive new greenhouse gas reduction goal for 2030. This additional proposal would take California beyond the current 2020 goal set by Assembly Bill 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The AB 32 Implementation Group is concerned that creating a 2030 goal will shift attention away from current regulations that are intended to meet the greenhouse gas emissions goal California’s elected officials adopted in 2006 for 2020.

Opinion

Reform prison sentencing — and save money

OPINION: There is a growing consensus among Americans from all political persuasions and walks of life that we must replace ineffective, unfair and expensive incarceration practices with new, smarter approaches to keeping communities safe.

News

Comeback eyed for pieces of redevelopment

Two years after Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature dismantled California’s $5 billion-a-year redevelopment program, Brown wants to bring some elements back — but he’s offering less money, a different name and a change in local voters’ approval. The crux of Brown’s plan is to expand the reach of the rarely-used, little-known Infrastructure Finance Districts. The districts, or IFDs, have taxing authority and are created with voter approval. They function on property tax dollars and focus on highways, transit and sewer projects, libraries, parks and child care centers.

News

Do water woes help 2014 bond?

But even as the rain clouds appear sparse, there may be a silver lining for the backers of a major ballot measure: Experts say the grim outlook could spur voters to approve a multibillion-dollar bond facing voters in November 2014. It could bring to reality the need to borrow money and resolve some of the state’s water issues. (Photo: Lower American River, USFWS)

News

GOP on way to picking up 16th District Senate seat

Two special elections viewed as make-or-break contests for the Legislature’s Democratic supermajority had something in common Tuesday night – miserable turnout.

In the southern Central Valley, the high-stakes battle for the 16th Senate District pitted Kern County Supervisor Leticia Pérez, a Democrat, against Republican Andy Vidak, a Hanford cherry farmer.

With all the precincts at

News

Minimum wage boost on track – so far

California’s minimum-wage earners are one step closer to seeing their pay tied to the cost of living, a goal that advocates for low-income workers have sought for years.

 

Under a bill awaiting action in the Senate, the minimum wage, currently $8 per hour, would be raised by 25 cents per hour next year, then

News

Base price up for emission allowances

The Feb. 19 auction  of emission allowances, a key piece of California’s law to curb climate-changing greenhouse gases, will carry a slightly higher reserve price than last November’s cap-and-trade auction, the state’s top air-quality regulator told lawmakers on Monday.

 

Mary Nichols, the chair of the California Air Resources Board, said the per-allowance reserve, or

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