California State Assembly . Photo by Capitol Weekly. In this week’s Capitol Briefs we look at a handful of bills lawmakers have under consideration as we head toward the April 24th deadline for policy committees to hear and report to fiscal committees fiscal bills introduced in their chamber.
Image by ismagilov. Faced with growing concerns that California’s higher education system is outdated and unresponsive to the needs of an increasingly diverse student population, lawmakers are considering more structural changes to the state Master Plan’s vision of university and college education.
Image by Arseniy45. OPINION – California’s gas prices have risen by over a dollar since the start of Trump’s war in Iran, with one-fifth of the world’s oil supply blocked at the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the oil industry has called for the state to substantially weaken and possibly delay climate regulations, notably the state’s backbone climate policy, cap-and-invest.
Big City Mayors coalition. Photo by Robin Swanson. Next week is Spring Break so this week was busier than usual. Here is our Capitol Briefs roundup of a few of the things we found notable around the Capitol.
American Endurance, Jones Act tanker. Photo by Philly Shipyard.OPINION – Under the Jones Act, cargo moving between U.S. ports must be carried on American-built, American-flagged, and American-crewed vessels, including crude oil and refined petroleum products. The Trump administration has moved to wave the Jones Act, but California’s regulations, taxes, and other unique factors make any minor savings from this waiver a drop in the bucket.
Image by LuisM.OPINION – Over just the past six years, California’s state budget has ballooned from roughly $200 billion to almost $350 billion. That’s a 75% increase. Does anything in California feel 75% better to you?
Image by it:Arseniy45. As the California Governor’s race enters the last several months, those millions of dollars that have been raised by candidates are starting to get spent. A new website collects digital ads, broadcast television and radio ad buys: on the digital side, you can watch the ads, see how much was spent to promote them, what geography was served and what age/gender groups were targeted. In the Broadcast TV and Radio sections you don’t see the ads themselves, but you can see all the complete buys, including what stations, dates, amounts spent, and even what TV programs were bought.
Image by Kirk Fisher.OPINION – California policymakers are obsessed with boosting “affordable housing,” which makes sense when housing in the state is out of reach to a large portion of its residents. They’re trying to solve the problem from the wrong end, though. The supply of affordable housing is best expanded not by focusing on building homes with artificially cheap price tags but by increasing the construction pace of all homes.
Image by tumsasedgars. Just what is the “standardized regulatory impact analysis,” or SRIA. In this week’s Micheli Files intrepid lobbyist and law professor Chris Micheli explains all for you.
Lala Vargas. Image by Vargas for Commissioner website. In our ongoing Q&A series with California Insurance Commissioner candidates, this week we bring you answers provided to us by teacher Lalo Vargas.