The State of California

California governor cuts Central Valley floodplain funds - CalMatters calmatters.org As floods endanger the San Joaquin Valley, Newsom cuts funding for floodplains Alastair Bland 22–28 minutes In summary The governor eliminated $40 million for restoring floodplains, halting projects that help protect vulnerable, disadvantaged communities like Stockton. San Joaquin Valley legislators are pushing back. Last fall, when the state Legislature authorized $40 million for floodplain restoration, Julie Rentner knew just what she would do with it. Her group, River Partners, would spend more than a quarter of the funds buying a 500-acre dairy farm abutting the San Joaquin River in Stanislaus County.  Then millions more would be spent on removing debris, sheds, manure heaps and levees. They would plant native vegetation, and eventually

California may scale down its new home loan program designed to assist first-time homebuyers | Jefferson Public Radio ijpr.org California may scale down its new home loan program designed to assist first-time homebuyers Alejandro Lazo/CalMatters 10–13 minutes In this economy, who has enough money for a down payment on a house? Despite a projected $25 billion budget deficit , the state of California does. At least for now. The California Housing Finance Agency is poised to launch a scaled-down version of its new shared equity home loan program on March 27. With the Dream for All program, the state plans to provide $300 million worth of down payments for an estimated 2,300 first-time homebuyers. The complicated program involves the state paying some or all of the upfront costs for buying a home — the down payment, for instance — in exchange for a sh

Facebook insists it benefits news industry economically as California lawmakers press it to pay publishers | Morningstar morningstar.com Facebook insists it benefits news industry economically as California lawmakers press it to pay publishers 2–3 minutes By Jon Swartz Report by Facebook-funded NERA Economic Consulting said news content from traditional publishers is of 'low value to Meta' and declining As California lawmakers press Facebook and Google to pay publishers for content, a new study from Facebook's parent company on Monday insists it is benefiting the news business. The California Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, introduced Monday by Democratic Assemblymember Buffy Wicks of Oakland, would force digital advertising giants such as Meta Platforms Inc. (META) and Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL)(GOOGL) Google to pay news outlets a "journalism

Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the U.S. last year | PBS NewsHour pbs.org Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the U.S. last year By — 5–6 minutes Science Mar 28, 2023 12:45 PM EDT Electricity generated from renewables surpassed coal in the United States for the first time in 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration announced Monday. Renewables also surpassed nuclear generation in 2022 after first doing so last year. WATCH: How an Alaska village’s switch to renewable energy helps local Native economies Growth in wind and solar significantly drove the increase in renewable energy and contributed 14 percent of th

Why are employers being forced to pay off California’s defaulted loans? – Daily Breeze dailybreeze.com Why are employers being forced to pay off California’s defaulted loans? Jay Obernolte 6–7 minutes California business owners received an unpleasant surprise in filing their taxes this year — the state of California has defaulted on its $18.5 billion federal unemployment insurance loans, and as a result, every employer in California is being forced to pay additional federal taxes to make up the difference until the loan is repaid in full. If you found this news baffling, you’re not alone. I did too. Federal unemployment insurance loans were essential to helping Californians weather the COVID-19 pandemic, and in fact, most states participated in the federal loan program. As the state mandated business closures for months on end, these payments helped Californians who were out of work t

Creaking California: Golden State's struggling power grid on brink of collapse, officials say washingtonexaminer.com Creaking California: Golden State's struggling power grid on brink of collapse, officials say Tori Richards 7–9 minutes Downtown skyline is seen behind high tension towers in Los Angeles, California on August 16, 2020. - California on August 14 ordered rolling power outages for the first time since 2001 as a statewide heat wave strained its electrical system. Pacific Gas & Electric, the states largest utility, tweeted that it would turn off power to about 200,000 to 250,000 customers in rotating outages for about an hour at a time. (Photo by Apu GOMES / AFP) (Photo by APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images

California Appeals Court Upholds Proposition 22, Allowing Independent Contractors to Continue Working | U.S. Chamber of Commerce uschamber.com A Win for Independent Workers: California Appeals Court Upholds Prop 22 Glenn Spencer 3–4 minutes Glenn Spencer Senior Vice President, Employment Policy Division, U.S. Chamber of Commerce On March 13, the First Appellate District for the California Court of Appeal upheld the legality of Proposition 22. The upshot is that independent contractors earning money from companies like Uber, Lyft, Instacart, DoorDash, and others can continue doing so as independent workers. This is good news for those workers, for consumers, and the businesses in the gig economy.  As background, in 2019, the California legislature passed a bill known as AB-5 . The law impos

California’s Role in Transforming the Western Power Grid | Union of Concerned Scientists ucsusa.org New Analysis Explores California’s Role in Transforming the Western Power Grid 2–3 minutes With calls growing for more coordination in energy planning across the West, the Union of Concerned Scientists today released an analysis of how a multi-state power grid could bolster reliability and streamline the clean electricity transition for tens of millions of people. The policy brief explores the implications of expanding California’s grid operator into one that manages the electricity grid throughout the West, creating a larger and more integrated regional energy market. “A western grid operator could improve access to renewable energy, bolster grid reli

In California’s Central Valley, the Plan to Build More Solar Faces a Familiar Constraint: The Need for More Power Lines - Inside Climate News insideclimatenews.org In California’s Central Valley, the Plan to Build More Solar Faces a Familiar Constraint: The Need for More Power Lines - Inside Climate News Vernon Loeb 10–12 minutes California’s San Joaquin Valley, a strip of land between the Diablo Range and the Sierra Nevada, accounts for a significant portion of the state’s crop production and agricultural revenues. But with the state facing uncertain and uneven water supply due to climate change, some local governments and clean energy advocates hope solar energy installations could provide economic reliability where agriculture falters due to possible water shortages. In the next two decades, the Valley could accommodate the majo