Posts Tagged: unprecedented

The real story behind SB 350

Farm workers tending the fields in the Salinas Valley. (Photo: Rightdx, Shutterstock)

by Sylvester Aguilar posted 01.14.2016

OPINION: A recent opinion column in Capitol Weekly (Jan. 7, “Moderate Democrats: the slaves of Big Oil?”) was not the real story of last year’s SB 350, an effort to reduce petroleum-based transportation fuels in California by 50 percent. Ironically, the real story of SB 350 is the first line of the author’s eighth paragraph: “The story of inequality in our state is not just one of economics…”

San Bernardino eyes cuts of police retirees’ pensions

San Bernardino police officers, members of the SWAT team. (Photo: Juno Kughler Carlson, omnitrans.org) omnitrans.org

by ED MENDEL posted 12.29.2015

San Bernardino’s plan to exit bankruptcy, possibly next year, cuts the pensions of 23 retired police officers who receive an unusual supplement to their regular CalPERS pension. The supplement boosts pensions to the same amount now common among police and firefighters, a standard set by the Highway Patrol in a CalPERS-sponsored bill, SB 400 in 1999.

Deal struck over Coastal Commission vacancy

The coast at La Jolla. Photo: Dancestrokes)

by JOHN HOWARD posted 09.18.2014

Under an unusual agreement reached between Senate leaders and a number of environmental groups just before the end of the legislative session, the period of time to consider the submitted list of candidates has been extended indefinitely. Such an extension is extremely rare, if not unprecedented.

PG&E hit with $1.4 billion penalty

A devastated zone in San Bruno following the 2010 gas pipeline explosion. (Photo: Brocken Inaglory)

by JOHN HOWARD posted 09.02.2014

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. should pay an unprecedented $1.4 billion in fines and penalties stemming from the 2010 gas pipeline blast in San Bruno that killed eight people and destroyed three dozen homes, state regulators ruled. Penalties against PG&E stemming from the explosion now exceed $2 billion – the $1.4 billion announced Tuesday and $635 million from an earlier decision involving aging pipelines.

Bankrupt San Bernardino announced an agreement with CalPERS last week to pay off an unprecedented pension debt owed for skipping payments to the pension fund for a year — $13.5 million, plus several million more in penalties and interest. Details of the agreement reached in closed mediation were not released. But the city said in a court filing the CalPERS agreement “will help form the basis” for a debt-cutting plan needed to exit bankruptcy.

Chief justice to Brown: Courts need money

by SAMANTHA GALLEGOS posted 01.15.2014

State Supreme Court Tani Cantil-Sakauye says Gov. Brown’s draft budget doesn’t provide sufficient funding for California’s sprawling court system, which has been battered by years of cuts and complaints about its spending. The chief justice on Tuesday unveiled a proposed three-year plan to fund the courts. (Above: State Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye. (Photo: Samantha Gallegos/Capitol Weekly)

An effort to beef up campaign disclosure rules prompted by the dramatic, multimillion-dollar infusion of stealth cash into the November 2012 elections could be on the governor’s desk by the end of the month – in time for this year’s races.

The next eight months are going to be very interesting: Will the canoe still float?