[Source: Los Angels Times Op-Ed] The California Environmental Quality Act is a valuable protector of this state’s resources. It guides planning by forcing agencies to consider the environmental implications of proposed projects. CEQA is also a woefully blunt instrument that thwarts economic growth and, perversely, can actually harm the environment. That’s exactly what’s happening with Read More…
Month: April 2016
Ahead of $15 minimum wage, one company leaves California for Texas
[Source: 89.3KPCC-So Cal Public Radio] California’s $15 minimum wage does not go into effect until 2022, but one Santa Fe Springs-based manufacturing company has already decided to leave the state this year to take advantage of cheaper wages in Texas. “This is the last thing I want to do, but I don’t see that I Read More…
The cumulative cost of regulations
[Source: Mercatus Center- George Mason University] The impact of regulation on economic growth has been widely studied, but most research has focused on a narrow set of regulations, industries, or both. These studies typically rely on regulatory indexes that measure subsets of all regulation, on country-to-country comparisons, on short time spans, or on surveys in Read More…
Don’t put AQMD under CARB’s thumb
[Source: Orange County Register] A 20-year study released last week by the USC Environmental Health Centers found “that millennial children in Southern California breathe easier than ones who came of age in the ’90s, for a reason as clear as the air in Los Angeles today,” in the school’s summary. It’s a major achievement for Read More…
Environmental groups sue over Four Corners power plant, mine
[Source: San Francisco Chronicle] Environmental groups are suing the federal government over its decision to extend operations at the coal-fired Four Corners Power Plant and the Navajo Mine in northwestern New Mexico. The suit against the U.S. Department of the Interior and other federal agencies was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Arizona, the Read More…
Can fresh air blow away the case against Obama’s climate policy?
[Source: Bloomberg] The U.S. has already broken the link between emissions and economic growth. Any regulation proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency follows a decades-long pattern. The activists squabble with the industrialists, pitting questions of business health against questions of public health. The squabbling plays out in newspapers and private lobbying meetings while the rules are drafted, and then it continues in court until Read More…
California’s workers’ compensation costs dropping
[Source: Sacramento Bee] The good news, at least for California employers, is that the 2012 overhaul of the state’s system of compensating workers for job-related illnesses and injuries appears to be having its stated effect. Although the changes – a deal between employers and unions that drew Gov. Jerry Brown’s blessing – increased cash benefits Read More…
California governor approves legislation raising paid family leave benefits for employees
[Source: Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo] On April 11, 2016, Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 908, which will increase workers’ access to State Disability Insurance (“SDI”) and Paid Family Leave (“PFL”) starting in 2018. PFL provides wage replacement benefits for up to six weeks to care for a child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, spouse, Read More…
Expanded paid sick leave mandate moving forward in L.A.
[Source: Los Angeles Business Journal] The city of Los Angeles is a step closer to requiring all employers to provide six days of paid sick leave to their workers, three days more than mandated under state law. The City Council’s economic development committee voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to forward the recommendation for three additional days Read More…