[Source: CalChamber] The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reminds employers and other businesses of the January 31 filing deadline that now applies to filing Form W-2 wage statements and independent contractor forms. Under the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act, employers are now required to file their copies of Form W-2 and Form W-3 with the Read More…
Month: November 2017
California is taxed enough without Republican tax reform
[Source: Orange County Register] The House of Representatives has passed H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, by a vote of 227-205. Now it’s up to the Senate to pass its version, then both chambers will have to reconcile the differences in their plans. There are a few things California taxpayers can Read More…
Ports’ plan overlooks concerns on competition
[Source: Ronald Stein/Los Angeles Business Journal] Summary of the oped: Here we go again, the Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) by the Ports is another go-it-alone crusade to lower emissions like the States’ AB32 from 2006 that produced miniscule results and cost the public billions of dollars. The CAAP has no meaningful analysis of competitiveness, Read More…
Trump’s environmental rollbacks hit California hard, despite Sacramento’s resistance
[Source: Los Angeles Times] When 50,000 acre-feet of water went gushing out of the Sacramento River last month, it fast became a test of California’s ability to protect its environmental policies from an increasingly hostile Trump administration. The episode proved humbling. Heeding the calls of big agriculture interests and area congressional Republicans, the administration pumped Read More…
2018 brings salary history prohibition: employers beware
[Source: Fox and Hounds] Starting January 1, 2018, all California employers will be prohibited from asking about a job applicant’s prior salary history. This prohibition applies to both public and private employers, regardless of size. Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 168 (Eggman) on October 12 as Chapter 688. This bill adds Section 432.3 to the Labor Code. The Read More…
New Bay Area rule aims to cut cancer risks from polluted air
[Source: East Bay Times] A pioneering rule approved by pollution regulators Wednesday aims to lessen the cancer risk from breathing air around Bay Area oil refineries, power plants, crematoria, sewer plants and many other businesses. An estimated 400 plants in nine counties are expected to be affected by the rule that requires reductions in toxic Read More…
Southern California smog worsens for second straight year despite reduced emissions
[Source: Los Angeles Times] Southern California smog worsened for a second straight year in the latest sign that progress in cleaning the nation’s most polluted air is faltering. The dive in air quality comes even though emissions are declining, forcing regulators to explain why returns are diminishing after years of progress battling smog. Ozone, the Read More…
Why greenhouse gases are increasing — again
[Source: The Mercury News] After three years of barely budging, fossil fuel emissions are once again climbing, according to new Stanford-led analyses. Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from human activities were nearly flat between 2014 and 2106, despite growth in the global economy, reports the Global Carbon Project, an international team chaired by Read More…
The GOP tax plan could be the death of Prop. 13
[Source: Los Angeles Times] After a shellacking at the polls on Tuesday, Republicans might not need any new reasons to abandon their unpopular tax overhaul. But here’s one more: It could lead California to finally dismantle Proposition 13, one of the state’s last remaining GOP accomplishments. The federal tax plan, introduced by House Republicans last Read More…