Opinion
Proposed regulation would cripple franchise owners
OPINION: In the entrepreneurial world, California is a hub of innovation. The state is home to roughly four million small businesses which employ more than seven million workers.
OPINION: In the entrepreneurial world, California is a hub of innovation. The state is home to roughly four million small businesses which employ more than seven million workers.
California’s first-in-the-nation law banning the sale of new gas-powered mowers and blowers also targets a machine that has become increasingly popular with consumers in recent years — portable generators. As people face power blackouts — in areas where utilities have cut power to curb wildfire threats, for example — many have turned to generators as a backup energy source.
OPINION: This month is a pivotal moment in the fight against the climate crisis. On the table is the single largest government investment in U.S. history to support our transition to clean energy, improve our drinking water systems, mitigate the impacts of wildfire on our state, and much more.
OPINION: On June 3, the so-called “FAST Recovery Act” failed to secure enough votes to move forward in the California Legislature. Even though it was proposed by the chair of the Appropriations Committee and was a priority for labor interests, lawmakers recognized the damage that would have been caused by this bill.
An under-the-radar tussle is shaping up in California over how beer is being brought to drinkers across the state. The emerging beer battle pits small craft brewers against big distributors. On one side are the small brewers, who charge that the big distributors don’t want to bother with the relatively small volumes of craft brewers.
OPINION: We are in an extraordinary time — one that has exposed significant structural inequities throughout society. But times of crisis provide opportunities for reimagining “norms” and initiating large-scale change. As many as 7.5 million small businesses are in danger of closing during the next five months as a result of the pandemic according to a survey by Main Street America.
OPINION The federal government and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are taking steps to help small business in this time of dire danger, but ultimately it will be individual citizens as consumers who must save the national and state economy.
OPINION: With Gov. Brown’s attention on landmark legislation to fight climate change, to address financing of wildfire damage and to give legal teeth to the #MeToo movement, a new law governing HMO mergers was bound to get drowned out. But everyone who was party to the California patients’ rights rebellion of the 1990s knows the governor’s signature on the new law is a very big deal.
On Jan. 10, the governor presented his initial 2018‑19 budget plan to the Legislature. In this report, the Legislative Analyst provides a brief summary of the governor’s proposed budget. (In the coming weeks, the LAO will analyze the plan more thoroughly and release several additional budget analysis publications.)
New California rules aimed at curbing the surprising amount of pollution coming from leaf blowers, lawn mowers and other small gas-powered machines cleared a final hurdle Monday, and are set to take effect on Jan. 1. The requirements mark another step in the state’s long-running battle to reduce emissions from a category of small engines that have come to rival cars as a source of smog-forming pollution.