[Source: The Mercury News] Landmark building rules will be first-in-the nation solar requirement. California already generates more electricity from solar power than any other state. But now a dramatic expansion is about to begin as new building codes take effect Jan. 1 requiring all newly constructed homes statewide to be powered by the sun. The Read More…
Newsroom
California weighs controversial rule to tackle truck tailpipe pollution
[Source: CalMatters] California’s clean air enforcers want major truck manufacturers to sell zero-emission vehicles in the state — but the agency’s proposal faces criticism from environmentalists and truck makers alike. Noemí Bueno’s daughter was barely 14 months old when she started struggling to breathe. Bueno, a San Bernardino resident who works as a crossing guard Read More…
Supervisor Kathryn Barger joins South Coast AQMD Governing Board
[Source: SCAQMD] Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger was sworn in [Friday, December 6th] as the newest member of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) Governing Board, replacing Supervisor Janice Hahn as the County of Los Angeles’s representative. Barger was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in November Read More…
Antarctic ozone hole has closed in near-record time for 2019
[Sources: ESA | NASA Ozone Watch] Seeing the ozone hole permanently vanish won’t be for another decade, but for 2019, it has sealed itself up in near-record time. Just a month or so ago, the 2019 Antarctic ozone hole was declared the smallest seen since it was first discovered back in 1985. Now, data from Read More…
Environmental groups call for government to label ‘forever chemicals’
[Source: Newsweek] Eighty-two environmental organizations expressed concern on Tuesday that Senator Jim Inhofe had stripped language about so-called “forever chemicals” suspected to affect 400 U.S. military sites from the National Defense Authorization Bill. In a “skinny” NDAA bill submitted last month, Inhofe, the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, removed language regarding pervasive Per-and Read More…
The false premises and promises of the push for split roll
[Source: Orange County Register/Carolyn Cavecche] I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. But I am keeping my fingers crossed that California voters, already living in the highest taxed state in the nation, will see through the political antics of the desperate. In 2018, some of California’s largest labor organizations and civil rights groups filed Read More…
Small businesses and communities rely on Prop. 13
[Source: Orange County Register/John Kabateck] A study by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) found only 22 percent of U.S. small-business owners own the property on which they operate. The majority lease or rent their property. Furthermore, many small-business owners have what is called a triple net lease, which means in addition to the Read More…
Proposition 13 overhaul is pension bailout in disguise
[Source: Orange County Register] Buoyed by a friendly official title and summary from the attorney general, backers of a new ballot initiative to overhaul Proposition 13 are moving full steam ahead with their plan to eliminate tax protections for certain businesses in order to provide what they say will be “full and fair funding” to Read More…
Measures employers should incorporate to mitigate risks under PAGA
[Source: CalChamber] One of the most onerous labor laws employers in California contend with is the Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA). The law, which some have nicknamed “the sue your boss law,” allows employees to file lawsuits to recover civil penalties on behalf of themselves, other employees, and the State of California for labor code Read More…