Posts Tagged: taxpayer

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

Forest health includes fighting fire with fire

The Lime Complex fire in Northern California's Trinity Mountains. (Photo: Paul Higley)

Analysis: California forests are threatened by a maelstrom of environmental drivers of change, which have intensified across four years of drought. Horrific recent events should inspire reform of not only wildfire management, but also of our overall forest-health stewardship and governance. We need a new vision for managing our wildlands with policies based on science and acting in the interest of the greatest public good.

Opinion

Attempts to change Proposition 13 are misguided

Multiple bills have taken aim at Prop. 13, but the most popular among these bills pushes the so-called “split roll” property tax, which would eliminate Prop. 13 protections for job creators but leave them in place for homeowners. But a Pepperdine University study shows that the split roll could trigger the loss of nearly 400,000 jobs and cost California’s economy a total of $71.8 billion in output within the first five years.

News

CalPERS eyes long-term rate hike

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

CalPERS is considering small increases in employer and employee rates over decades to reduce the risk of big investment losses, a policy that also would lower an earnings forecast critics say is too optimistic. The proposal is a response to the “maturing” of a CalPERS system that soon will have more retirees than active workers. From two active workers for each retiree in 2002, the ratio fell to 1.45 to one by 2012 and is expected to be 0.8 to 0.6 to one in the next decades.

News

No way in: Millions of people excluded from ACA

Photo of Dominga Sarabia by Lily Dayton, design by Cathy Krizik (HealthyCal.org)

California Health Report: An estimated 
2.6 million undocumented California residents are explicitly barred by law from the benefits of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The legislation has been a huge boon for many Californians: More than 3 million previously uninsured Californians gained health insurance since the start of the ACA’s first enrollment period. Almost 30 percent of the remaining uninsured, however, are undocumented immigrants who are ineligible for both Medi-Cal and assistance through Covered California.

News

States eye CalPERS pension model

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

Calpensions: A California plan to give private-sector workers a state-run retirement savings plan is nearing $1 million in contributions, the goal set to pay for a market analysis to help design the program. Although the California plan is still in the formative stage, last week the Illinois legislature approved a plan based on the California model, even using the same name, “Secure Choice.”

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