October 29, 2019

29Oct

POLICY & POLITICS

 

North SJ Valley:

 

California Democrat (Cong Harder) wants to make PG&E pay more taxes if it gives executive bonuses

Merced Sun-Star

A California congressman wants to hit PG&E with heavy financial penalties the next time it tries to give executive bonuses while subjecting Californians to blackouts. Rep. Josh Harder, D-Turlock, announced on Monday he’d submit a bill in response to the blackouts PG&E initiated across California as a precaution against wildfires.

See also:

 

Here’s how $500M new reservoir planned near Patterson would work

Modesto Bee

A proposed reservoir in Del Puerto Canyon, just west of Patterson, promises reliable water deliveries for farms in western Stanislaus County and nearby counties. It could serve to recharge groundwater for Patterson, a city of 23,750 residents, while other proposed benefits are water deliveries for wildlife refuges and flood control on occasions when storms threaten flash floods on Del Puerto Creek.

 

Central SJ Valley:

 

Regions Rise Together initiative: Valley economy will get a close look by Newsom at summit

Great Valley Wire

What might Gov. Gavin Newsom talk about when he speaks in Fresno next week? Newsom will deliver the keynote address Friday, Nov. 8, 10:30 a.m., at the California Economic Summit at the DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Fresno.

See also:

 

Federal investigation of fatal Fresno police shooting of teen needed, protesters say

Fresno Bee

Protesters gathered outside the Fresno’s Federal Courthouse on Monday to call for an investigation into the police department following the shooting death of 16-year-old Isiah Murrietta-Golding in 2017 and the release of a video of the incident earlier this month.

See also:

 

Warszewski:  Fresno was a dangerous place to breathe Sunday. Why weren’t we told with any urgency?

Fresno Bee

Fresno and parts of the central San Joaquin Valley experienced some of the worst air quality on record Sunday, when the simple act of breathing outdoors could’ve been hazardous to your health.

See also:

 

30 pedestrians died in Fresno last year. California sees even more carnage ahead

Fresno Bee

In 2018, 30 pedestrians died in traffic accidents in Fresno. It’s a number that’s part of a national trend. Across the country, the number of people who died while walking last year reached its highest level since 1990. Officials in state after state project the carnage to increase in 2019, in 2020, and beyond.

 

Fake site uses ‘Trump playbook’ to raise money for Jerry Dyer, political opponent says

Fresno Bee

Fresno mayoral candidate Andrew Janz wants the California Attorney General’s Office to investigate a bogus website he says is designed to trick would-be supporters into donating money to his opponent, former police Chief Jerry Dyer.

See also:

 

South SJ Valley:

 

Effort to name park after Sikh civil rights leader indefinitely tabled

Bakersfield Californian

The City Council had been on the verge of naming a planned park along Akers Road in South Bakersfield after Jaswant Singh Khalra, a Sikh banker in Punjab, India, who was killed by Indian police after launching investigations into thousands of disappearances carried out by the state in the late 1980s and early 90s.

 

Discovery of lithium at Boron mine raises eastern Kern's economic prospects

Bakersfield Californian

One of Eastern Kern County's leading industries has received a big boost with news the area's largest mining company has discovered lithium — an integral building block of electric cars — in the local waste piles it has generated over the past 90 years.

 

Assemblymember Salas and Corcoran PD Celebrate New Headquarters

Hanford Sentinel

On Saturday, Assemblymember Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield) joined officials for a historic ribbon cutting ceremony to unveil the new headquarters for the Corcoran Police Department.

 

State:

 

California has 400 more firefighters this year. Is that enough to battle its wildfires?

Sacramento Bee

California state firefighters in the last two years had to spend weeks at a time fighting the worst fires in the state’s history, often to the detriment of their family lives and mental health.

 

Opinion: When Will We Finally Take Title and Summary Away from Attorneys General?

Fox & Hounds

It’s become a dishonorable California tradition: state attorneys general draft titles and summaries for ballot initiatives that don’t pass the laugh test.

See also:

 

Jerry Brown to testify to Congress today, rebutting Trump’s criticism of California

Los Angeles Times

Former Gov. Jerry Brown will testify before Congress on Tuesday about the damage the Trump administration’s plans to roll back auto emission standards could do to California, setting up another confrontation between the state’s political leadership and the president.

 

A Snapshot of California’s Working Poor

Public Policy Institute of California

Employment does not eliminate poverty. Struggling workers in California can face many barriers to exiting poverty, including low wages, a high cost of living, and a changing job market.

 

Opinion: California vs. the Constitution

Wall Street Journal

Democrats in California believe they can impose their laws on the rest of the country, and they even think they can ignore the Constitution when it conflicts with their progressive policies. Credit to the Justice Department for attempting to make clear that California isn’t a separate nation under the law.

 

Federal:

 

GM Sides With Trump in Emissions Fight with California, Splitting the Industry

New York Times

Breaking with some of their biggest rivals, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Toyota said Monday they were intervening on the side of the Trump administration in an escalating battle with California over fuel economy standards for automobiles.

See also:

 

Budget deficit nears the $1 trillion mark

Roll Call

The fiscal 2019 deficit was up 26 percent over the 2018 level. Paul M. Krawzak unpacks what accounts for the rising red ink.

 

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced tax expenditures but by much less than the 1986 Tax Reform Act

AEI

For years, tax reformers have advocated reducing marginal tax rates, broadening the tax base, and eliminating provisions that provide special benefits to select forms of investment and consumption and select groups of taxpayers. They claimed this would promote fairness, simplicity, and efficiency.

 

Commentary: Nationalism: A Benefit for America? — with Rich Lowry and Colin Dueck

AEI

Nationalism has become a contentious topic in American politics, especially after the election of Donald Trump in 2016. But according to AEI’s Colin Dueck and Rich Lowry, editor of National Review, nationalism is the oldest tradition in American politics and offers tremendous benefits to the United States.

 

Elections 2020:

 

‘The West barely exists’: California primary falls flat

Politico

In their wake, the region’s marquee contests in Nevada and California — one small early state, and one massive, Super Tuesday primary — have emerged as wide-open races. And the promise of an early California primary tilting the balance of the Democratic primary westward has fallen short.

 

Kamala Harris’ Crusade Against ‘Revenge Porn’

Politico

As a prosecutor, she pioneered the fight against online sex harassment. Then she overreached. Is she a savior, or a threat to the First Amendment?

See also:

 

Warren’s Wealth Tax Isn’t The Slam Dunk Progressives Want It To Be

FiveThirtyEight

But while most Democratic candidates are united around the idea that the rich should be paying more in taxes, they’re not all convinced that a wealth tax is the best way to do it.

See also:

 

Is a Democratic wave building for 2020?

Roll Call

Like other handicappers, I have noted that there are few signs that the national political divide, so apparent over the last three years, has started to crumble. Trump voters are sticking with the president, while those who opposed him in 2016 generally have become even more vociferous in their opposition.

 

The Messy Politics of Voter Purges

PEW
Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican who has focused on modernizing the state’s elections system, announced in the months after he took office that he would, in compliance with state law, drop 235,000 people from voter rolls. Those people, he said, had either moved away, died or, mostly, failed to vote in six years.

 

Commentary: The First Freedom Fades

National Review

Alot of Democrats were annoyed by a comment Beto O’Rourke made at a CNN forum on gay rights. Asked whether churches that “oppose same-sex marriage” should lose their tax-exempt status, the former congressman and current presidential-race asterisk said, “Yes.”

 

Californians Could See New Rent Control Measure On November 2020 Ballot

Capital Public Radio

Less than a year after California voters decisively rejected Proposition 10, backers of that measure say they are close to qualifying a similar rent control initiative for the November 2020 ballot.

 

Other:

 

As Local News Outlets Shutter, Rural America Suffers Most

PEW

Journalism professor Penny Muse Abernathy lives in a news desert. She says there’s little local media coverage of Scotland County, North Carolina, among the poorest in the Tar Heel state. Her television news broadcasts come from neighboring South Carolina.

 

Dissent Erupts at Facebook Over Hands-Off Stance on Political Ads

New York Times

The letter was aimed at Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, and his top lieutenants. It decried the social network’s recent decision to let politicians post any claims they wanted — even false ones — in ads on the site. It asked Facebook’s leaders to rethink the stance.

 

Teens Explain Their YouTube Obsession (Because Adults Don’t Get It)

Wall Street Journal

It’s a question many adults have pondered: Why are kids so fascinated with YouTube? In search of the answers, I ventured to rural Texas to hear it straight from the mouths of teenagers themselves.

See also:

 

Experts Optimistic About the Next 50 Years of Digital Life

Pew Research

Fifty years after the first computer network was connected, most experts say digital life will mostly change humans’ existence for the better over the next 50 years. However, they warn this will happen only if people embrace reforms allowing better cooperation, security, basic rights and economic fairness.

 

MADDY INSTITUTE PUBLIC POLICY PROGRAMMING

 

Sunday, November 3, at 10 a.m. on ABC30 – Maddy Report: pre-empted

 

Sunday, November 3, at 10 a.m. on Newstalk 580AM/105.9FM (KMJ) – Maddy Report - Valley Views Edition: “California Facts, Valley Economic Opportunities” – Guests: Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin; Pete Weber, co-chair of CalFwd and Director of the Fresno Bridge Academy and Carolyn Chu, Legislative Analyst Office. Host: Maddy Institute Executive Director, Mark Keppler.

 

Sunday, November 3, at 7:30 a.m. on UniMas 61 (KTTF) – El Informe Maddy: “Climate Change Legislation” – Invitado: Alvar Escriva-Bou, Public Policy Institute of California. Presentado Por: Coordinadora del Programa del Maddy Institute, Maria Jeans.

 

AGRICULTURE/FOOD

 

Farmworkers Face Daunting Health Risks In California’s Wildfires

California Healthline

Farm laborers in yellow safety vests walked through neatly arranged rows of grapes Friday, harvesting the last of the deep purple bundles that hung from the vines, even as the sky behind them was dark with soot.

 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE / FIRE / PUBLIC SAFETY

 

Crime:

 

Sources: Law enforcement bulldozes purported hemp fields near Arvin

Bakersfield Californian

Law enforcement officials bulldozed purported hemp fields near Arvin Monday after tests showed the plants were actually marijuana, according to people familiar with the multi-agency investigation.

 

Public Safety:

 

30 pedestrians died in Fresno last year. California sees even more carnage ahead

Fresno Bee

In 2018, 30 pedestrians died in traffic accidents in Fresno. It’s a number that’s part of a national trend. Across the country, the number of people who died while walking last year reached its highest level since 1990. Officials in state after state project the carnage to increase in 2019, in 2020, and beyond.

 

Assemblymember Salas and Corcoran PD Celebrate New Headquarters

Hanford Sentinel

On Saturday, Assemblymember Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield) joined the Corcoran Police Department and local leaders such as Corcoran City Manager, Dr. Kindon Meik, Mayor of Corcoran, Sid Palmerin, Corcoran City Council, Chief of Police, Reuben P. Shortnacy, Chuck Jelloian, President & CEO of CrisCom and Supervisor Richard Valle for a historic ribbon cutting ceremony to unveil the new headquarters for the Corcoran Police Department.

 

Fire:

 

California wildfires: Where are fires burning and which are the most dangerous?

Fresno Bee

Firefighters are battling several major wildfires across California, including an explosive Sonoma County blaze that has engulfed 66,000 acres, according to the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

See also:

 

Frustrations build at lack of communication during PG&E's power shutoffs

abc30

A sign reading "Closed" greeted customers at the largest foothill grocery store in the area Monday afternoon after a generator went down that was powering cash registers.

See also:

 

Briceburg Fire fully contained at 5,563 acres, according to fire officials

Sierra Star

Firefighters gained full containment of the Briceburg Fire on Wednesday evening, Oct. 23, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The vegetation fire which burned 5,563 acres outside Yosemite National Park in the Merced River Canyon, burned for more than two weeks.

 

Crews battle California blazes before windstorms return

Bakersfield Californian

Crews fought Tuesday to drown, slash and smother wildfires that have incinerated dozens of homes in Northern and Southern California before returning windstorms can blow them back into furious life.

See also:

 

California has 400 more firefighters this year. Is that enough to battle its wildfires?

Sacramento Bee

California state firefighters in the last two years had to spend weeks at a time fighting the worst fires in the state’s history, often to the detriment of their family lives and mental health.

 

PG&E failed to notify 23,000 of blackouts; CPUC launches probe of utility power outages

Los Angeles Times

Pacific Gas & Electric on Monday revealed that it failed to notify about 23,000 of its customers of precautionary power shutdowns earlier this month and also disclosed that its equipment malfunctioned near two fires that broke out in Contra Costa County on Sunday afternoon.

 

EDITORIAL: Climate change has set California on fire. Are you paying attention?

Los Angeles Times

Nobody can honestly say this is a surprise, given the devastating fires of recent years. Yet it feels surprising all the same. How did things get so bad in California, so quickly?

 

ECONOMY / JOBS

 

Economy:

 

Discovery of lithium at Boron mine raises eastern Kern's economic prospects

Bakersfield Californian

One of Eastern Kern County's leading industries has received a big boost with news the area's largest mining company has discovered lithium — an integral building block of electric cars — in the local waste piles it has generated over the past 90 years.

 

Promoting women’s economic empowerment: Mission impossible?

Brookings

Every year billions of dollars are poured into development projects and programs to promote gender equality in economic opportunity. Some argue that these investments do not have any long-term effects on women’s employment and entrepreneurship patterns because human behaviors are very difficult to change.

 

S&P 500 Rises to a Record

Wall Street Journal

The S&P 500 set a record for the first time in three months to kick off a busy week that features a flurry of corporate earnings, a Federal Reserve meeting and the October jobs report.

 

Column: In ‘membership economy,’ automatic renewals favor businesses more than consumers

Los Angeles Times

And perhaps the biggest benefit: Businesses know that lots of people won’t bother with the hassle of canceling a subscription. They may not even know they still have a relationship with a company.

 

2019 California Economic Summit Registration Opens

CAFWD

Register for the 2019 California Economic Summit, which will take place in Fresno on November 7-8. The Summit, produced by California Forward, marks the eighth annual gathering of private, public and civic leaders from across California’s diverse regions committed to creating a shared economic agenda to expand prosperity for all.

 

Jobs:

 

A Snapshot of California’s Working Poor

Public Policy Institute of California

Employment does not eliminate poverty. Struggling workers in California can face many barriers to exiting poverty, including low wages, a high cost of living, and a changing job market.

 

The Gig’s Up for Freelancers

Wall Street Journal

I’ll give up my keyboard when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. Didn’t Charlton Heston say that? Don’t tell anyone, but this weekly column may be illegal next year—all because of the latest self-wounding law from the statehouse in Sacramento.

EDUCATION

 

K-12:

 

Clovis principal honored with top education award

abc30

A local elementary school principal is getting national recognition for outstanding school leadership. George Petersen is receiving top marks for his work in education, but he tells Action News school wasn't really his subject as a kid.

 

School districts waiting for PG&E confirmation to resume classes

abc30

The power remains out in several Central Valley counties while several school officials remain in the dark on whether they'll be able to start classes back up on Tuesday. "It wasn't a big enough warning for people to prepare for this," said Tiffanie Ratchford.

 

'Open letter' signed by 30 calls on VUSD trustees to make superintendent search transparent

Visalia Times Delta

An open letter signed by 30 community leaders and educators is calling on Visalia Unified trustees to open up the search for the district's top spot. The letter asks trustees to "unanimously support a process for superintendent selection that provides for broad-based community involvement."

 

Downtown Elementary parents, community members question equity with potential school changes

Bakersfield Californian

The term equity has been used as it relates to discussions about possible changes to Downtown Elementary School in the Bakersfield City School District. But what does equity really mean? Depending on who you ask, there are various applications of the word.

 

Central Valley Students Tell Stories Of Intersectional Feminism In 'Calafia' Magazine

KVPR
Next week, the Youth Leadership Institute’s policy journal, Calafia, hits the newsstands. Youth Leadership Institute is an organization with offices across the state where staff work to empower youth and help them shape policy and create media.

 

Fresno Bee To Fill Reporting Gap With Privately Funded 'Education Lab'

KVPR
The Fresno Bee has served the Valley for nearly a hundred years, but like so many newspapers across the country, it has lost revenue along with dozens of reporters in the past decade. Now, the paper is trying a different approach to serve and inform its public.

 

Examining State Policies During National Dyslexia Awareness Month

EdNote

Throughout the month of October, the International Dyslexia Association, the National Institute for Learning Development and other organizations have been highlighting stories and resources as part of National Dyslexia Awareness Month.

 

California’s Bilingual Opportunity: Supporting Students’ Home Languages

California Budget & Policy Center

Every day, millions of California students come to school with an invaluable asset: living in homes where a language other than English is spoken. However, this asset is often squandered as many of these students do not become literate in their home language.

 

Op-Ed: Accomplished charter-school leader fired for publicly worrying about academic excellence

AEI

Earlier this month, Ascend, the high-performing Brooklyn charter-school network, fired its accomplished founder and CEO, Steven Wilson. What had Wilson done to deserve this? Not much.

 

Higher Ed:

 

New Tablets At Fresno County Jail To Improve Inmate Literacy

Business Journal

The Fresno County Sheriff’s office received 250 tablets for inmates of the Fresno County Jail to use to improve literacy and education. The Samsung tablets work on an Edovo platform. Edovo is a company that specializes in bringing technology to prisons and jails.

 

In-school suspensions the answer to school discipline? Not necessarily, experts say

EdSource

More California schools are allowing disruptive students to serve suspensions on campus instead of sending them home. But experts said educators need to provide those students with high-quality behavior counseling for that approach to be successful.

 

ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY

 

Environment:

 

Conservation Group Buys World's Largest Privately Owned Giant Sequoia Grove

KVPR
A Bay Area conservation group has signed a deal to purchase the world’s largest privately owned giant sequoia forest in the Southern Sierra Nevada. FM89's News Director Alice Daniel spoke with Sam Hodder, president and CEO of Save the Redwoods League.

See also:

 

California’s blackouts could make fighting climate change even harder

Los Angeles Times

The state’s electric grid was experiencing rapid and unprecedented changes even before Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison began shutting off power to millions of people in a desperate scramble to prevent their transmission lines from sparking wildfires.

 

Noise Pollution Hurts Wildlife, But States Have Trouble Turning Down the Volume

PEW

Standing near the railing, Colin McCann, a legislative analyst for Washington State Ferries, points to the water where the agency recently dropped a microphone 500 feet below the surface as part of a study to capture the acoustic profile of every vessel in the state’s fleet.

 

GM Sides With Trump in California Emissions Fight, Splitting the Industry

New York Times

Breaking with some of their biggest rivals, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Toyota said Monday they were intervening on the side of the Trump administration in an escalating battle with California over fuel economy standards for automobiles.

See also:

 

Brown: California fires show 'the horror' world will face from climate change

Politico

As Californians suffer widespread power outages and mass evacuations due to wildfire dangers, former Gov. Jerry Brown is warning that the dark scenario may be “only the beginning” for Americans across the country — unless officials in Washington seriously tackle the issue of climate change.

 

EDITORIAL: Climate change isn’t changing us enough, California

San Diego Union-Tribune

It’s been decades since widespread scientific acceptance of the danger posed to the climate by burning fossil fuels began manifesting itself in urgent calls for Americans to change their ways and stop using cars so much.

 

EDITORIAL: Climate change has set California on fire. Are you paying attention?

Los Angeles Times

Nobody can honestly say this is a surprise, given the devastating fires of recent years. Yet it feels surprising all the same. How did things get so bad in California, so quickly?

 

Energy:

 

As California enters a brave new energy world, can it keep the lights on?

CALmatters

California is casting off fossil fuels on its way to becoming a fully electrified state. But it's unclear whether the aging electricity grid can deliver.

 

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

 

Health:

 

Warazewski:  Fresno was a dangerous place to breathe Sunday. Why weren’t we told with any urgency?

Fresno Bee

Fresno and parts of the central San Joaquin Valley experienced some of the worst air quality on record Sunday, when the simple act of breathing outdoors could’ve been hazardous to your health.

See also:

 

In Opioid Settlements, Suboxone Plays a Leading Role

Pew Trusts
In this week’s $260 million settlement between drug companies and two Ohio counties hit hard by the opioid crisis, $25 million worth of the addiction medication known as Suboxone is a big part of the deal.

 

When the Prescription for Teens Is More Social Media, not Less

Wall Street Journal

Psychologists have a new directive for anxious teens: Post selfies on Instagram and Snapchat. Most teens, it can seem to grown-ups, need to be pulled away from social media. Teens with anxiety disorders, however, may need to be pushed toward it.

 

Deaths linked to vaping often involved THC products, not nicotine, CDC says

CNN

People who died as a result of a mysterious outbreak of vaping-related lung injury often used products exclusively containing THC, the main psychoactive substance in cannabis, according to new numbers released Monday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

Human Services:

 

'We're going to do it together': New mental health resource opens downtown

Visalia Times Delta

Before Gwen Schrank cut the red ribbon during the grand opening event for Visalia Clubhouse on Friday, she told those in attendance it was a miracle that she stood before them.

 

Frail nursing home patients told to relocate as their Medi-Cal plans cut off payment

Sacramento Bee

Some of California’s most vulnerable nursing home residents, many of whom have nowhere else to go, are receiving letters from their health care plans saying they are no longer eligible for long-term care.

 

Lawmakers must do more to fund mental health care at the University of California. Here’s how to get the money

CALmatters

This summer, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature passed a $214 billion budget that includes $5.3 million earmarked for improving mental health services in the University of California system.

 

IMMIGRATION

 

Trump Administration to Allow Thousands of Salvadorans to Remain in U.S. for Extra Year

Wall Street Journal

The Trump administration extended temporary protected status for more than 250,000 Salvadorans living in the U.S. through January 2021, and will offer them an additional year of protection once a court battle over the matter concludes.

 

Blog: Immigrants still successfully pursue the American Dream

AEI
President Trump has reportedly expressed concern about the sort of immigrants coming to America. Too many from poorer countries — such as Haiti — and too few from richer countries, such as Norway.

 

LAND USE/HOUSING

 

Land Use:

 

Three Fresno-area businesses closing: Two national restaurants, one local shop

Fresno Bee

Two of the closures are national restaurant franchises that launched their first locations in Fresno and Clovis in recent years. The third is a locally owned store in River Park that will still have a merchandise presence in the center.

 

The same areas of California keep catching on fire. What about limits on home building?

Los Angeles Times

The survey revealed broad backing across party lines, demographic groups and all regions in California for restricting growth in wildfire zones.

 

Housing:

 

Lawsuit Alleges City Of Clovis Has 'No Willingness' To Follow Affordable Housing Law

KVPR

The City of Clovis is being sued for its lack of affordable housing. A lawsuit filed in Fresno County Superior Court Wednesday alleged that the city isn’t in compliance with state housing law, and is discriminating against low-income people by not planning for high density housing.

 

Californians Could See New Rent Control Measure On November 2020 Ballot

Capital Public Radio

Less than a year after California voters decisively rejected Proposition 10, backers of that measure say they are close to qualifying a similar rent control initiative for the November 2020 ballot.

 

Why California Doesn’t Have 40 Million Residents, Yet

New York Times

In 2018, the Golden State grew by 186,807 people, according to data released by the state last week. That’s about two Los Angeles Memorial Coliseums, or almost 10 Oracle Arenas full of new Californians.

 

PUBLIC FINANCES

 

Commentary: Don’t Expand California’s False Claims Act to Tax Cases

Fox & Hounds

During the 2019 Legislative Session, a bill was pursued to expand California’s False Claims Act (CFCA) to tax matters under the California Revenue & Taxation Code (CRTC). Such an expansion would put taxpayers at risk and disrupt the state’s tax collection process, which is why such a bill should be rejected by the Legislature, just as it was this summer.

 

Second chance for major ruling on pension cuts

PublicCEO

A case that could result in the state Supreme Court reviewing the California Rule, which has overturned several voter-approved public pension cuts, is fully briefed and ready to be scheduled for oral arguments.

 

Budget deficit nears the $1 trillion mark

Roll Call

The fiscal 2019 deficit was up 26 percent over the 2018 level. Paul M. Krawzak unpacks what accounts for the rising red ink.

 

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reduced tax expenditures but by much less than the 1986 Tax Reform Act

AEI

For years, tax reformers have advocated reducing marginal tax rates, broadening the tax base, and eliminating provisions that provide special benefits to select forms of investment and consumption and select groups of taxpayers. They claimed this would promote fairness, simplicity, and efficiency.

 

Moving from a debt-busting tax cut to pro-growth tax reform

AEI

In 2016, House Republicans released a “Better Way” tax reform framework, which called for dramatically lowering tax rates, eliminating the alternative minimum tax (AMT), repealing or reforming the vast majority of tax breaks, ending the estate tax, and replacing the corporate income tax with a business consumption tax.

 

TRANSPORTATION

 

Gas prices continue to fall in California, Valley. What are we paying this week?

Fresno Bee

Customers in Fresno, Hanford and Madera saw gasoline prices fall by an average of about 9 cents per gallon over the past week, among the largest declines in 30 metro markets across California after prices spiked several weeks ago.

 

LAX bans Uber, Lyft pickup at the curb. How the new system works

Los Angeles Times

The days of stepping into an Uber, Lyft or taxi curbside at Los Angeles International Airport are over. Starting today, travelers leaving LAX will be required to board a shuttle or walk to a waiting area east of Terminal 1 to hire a car.

 

WATER

 

Clean Water Company Gets $10k From Local Pitch Competition

Business Journal

The Central Valley Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum gives potential business startups opportunities to chat with industry professionals about technology, business management and more.

 

Here’s how $500M new reservoir planned near Patterson would work

Modesto Bee

A proposed reservoir in Del Puerto Canyon, just west of Patterson, promises reliable water deliveries for farms in western Stanislaus County and nearby counties. It could serve to recharge groundwater for Patterson, a city of 23,750 residents, while other proposed benefits are water deliveries for wildlife refuges and flood control on occasions when storms threaten flash floods on Del Puerto Creek.

 

 

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Maddy Institute Updated List of San Joaquin Valley Elected Officials HERE.

 

The Kenneth L. Maddy Institute at California State University, Fresno was established to honor the legacy of one of California’s most principled and effective legislative leaders of the last half of the 20th Century by engaging, preparing and inspiring a new generation of governmental leaders for the 21st Century. Its mission is to inspire citizen participation, elevate government performance, provide non-partisan analysis and assist in providing solutions for public policy issues important to the region, state and nation.

                                                     

This document is to be used for informational purposes only. Unless specifically noted, The Maddy Institute at California State University, Fresno does not officially endorse or support views that may be expressed in the document. If you want to print a story, please do so now before the link expires.

 

 

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