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New Post has been published on http://citizensjournal.us/gavin-newsom-transforms-lt-governors-post/

Gavin Newsom transforms Lt. Governor’s post

By John Hrabe

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Gavin Newsom Lieutenant Governor

A lieutenant governor’s only job, the old joke goes, is to wake up every morning and check the governor’s pulse.

The position has been considered so pointless that even Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom called for eliminating the post in 2012.

In spite of that image, Newsom has found a way to transform the job and establish a defining role in state politics and public policy. His flurry of activity, which has included 34 days as Acting Governor, has drawn the ire of other Democratic politicians with greater constitutional responsibilities envious of his achievements.

Just this year, Newsom has presided over a historic land exchange agreement with the federal government, launched a far-reaching statewide gun-control initiative, chaired a commission to tax and legalize marijuana and led the effort to block tuition increases at state universities.

“Gavin Newsom has destroyed that mold with an aggressive agenda of his own making,” boasts Newsom spokesman Rhys Williams, “leading on difficult issues that the state has been sometimes slow or reluctant to address.”

Republished with permission by Cal Watchdog.com

State Lands Commission: Newsom’s under-the-radar land exchange agreement

Among the position’s limited statutory responsibilities are serving on various state boards, including the University of California Board of Regents and California State University Board of Trustees. Those boards have given Newsom a platform to oppose tuition increases, endearing him to college students burdened by student debt.

He’s also made the most of his time on the more obscure boards, such as the State Lands Commission.

Established during the Great Depression, the independent commission presides over the 4 million acres of the state’s sovereign or public trust lands. Since he assumed the chairmanship of the State Lands Commission in February, Newsom executed the Commission’s “largest ever land exchange,” a move that Newsom says will realign the state’s energy portfolio and generate millions in state revenues.

“A strategic decision was made in 2011 to turn the state’s scattered patchwork of non-revenue generating school lands into functional contiguous parcels that reshape the State Land Commission’s revenue portfolio to include more sources of renewable energy,” Newsom said in an October press release announcing the agreement. “This exchange is a case illustration of that approach, which is projected to increase the Commission’s school land surface-lease revenue significantly and contribute to state and federal goals of environmental protection, renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction.”

Under the terms of the agreement, the state will hand over roughly 61,000 acres of non-revenue generating wilderness land in exchange for approximately 5,600 acres of federal lands with a 550 Megawatt solar facility. Although the state will receive a tenth of the acreage, it could generate $4 million in annual rent and royalties. Newsom’s office says that’s roughly half total revenues for all school land leases, including geothermal and other mineral extraction operations.

Senate President Kevin de Leon retaliates over Newsom’s gun-control proposal

Newsom’s doing so much with the lieutenant governor’s job, he’s even managed to upset fellow Democrat and Senate President pro Tem Kevin de León. Last year, the leader of the state Senate proposed wide-ranging new gun-control restrictions. After de León failed to win support from his legislative colleagues, Newsom resurrected components of the bill in a statewide initiative.

Among other restrictions, Newsom’s initiative would give government the power to confiscate all large-capacity magazines, including those privately owned by active and former law enforcement, require a Department of Justice ammunition purchase permit before ammunition purchases and create a database of ammunition purchasers.

Although he shares similar views on gun control, de León responded to the idea, according to the Los Angeles Times, by slashing Newsom’s staff by one-third.

“De León’s office is denying the connection to gun control, saying it was part of his commitment to improving ‘efficiency’ in the Senate,” writes John Phillips, an Orange County Register columnist and co-host of “The Drive Home with Jillian Barberie and John Phillips” on KABC AM 790. “Back on Planet Earth, we know that this was payback.”

While de León undercuts Newsom, Second Amendment advocates have already mobilized their grassroots advocacy campaign with plans to distribute more than 100,000 grassroots activism guides.

“We are committed to building the biggest, most-organized, and highly informed Second Amendment grassroots army ever seen in California to fight and oppose Gavin Newsom’s assault on our civil rights,” said Brandon Combs, president of the Firearms Policy Coalition Second Amendment Defense Committee. “We want 100,000 volunteers working on this by the end of the year. This initial deployment is just the beginning of our much larger opposition plan.”

Republished with permission by Cal Watchdog.com

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New Post has been published on http://citizensjournal.us/calchamber-plans-another-successful-year-of-defeating-job-killer-bills/

CalChamber plans another successful year of defeating “job killer” bills

By John Hrabe

Sacramento’s been taking care of business.

Last week, the California Chamber of Commerce, known simply as CalChamber, announced a preliminary draft of its “job killer” bills, an annual list of proposed legislation that will hurt the state’s business community and economic competitiveness.

Republished with permission by Cal Watchdog.com

This year’s list includes 16 bills that, the chamber says, will make it harder to do business in California by increasing labor costs, litigation costs, health care costs and taxes. Notably excluded from the chamber’s list is a $10 billion sales tax on services that is being proposed by State Senator Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys.

“Although we will be opposing a number of bills throughout this year, the ‘job killer’ list represents the worst of the worst,” said Allan Zaremberg, president and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce. “These proposals will unnecessarily increase costs on California employers that will likely lead to a loss of jobs.”

“Job Killer” Bills: 93 percent defeated since 1997

Although organized labor and environmental groups provide major financial and grassroots support to legislative Democrats, they’ve largely been unsuccessful in passing bills branded “job killers” by CalChamber.

Since 1997, the not-for-profit business advocacy group has identified 631 bills as “job killers,” of which only 46 have made their way into becoming state law. That’s a 93 percent success rate for the organization that represents 13,000 members, including Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft and Walt Disney.

The chamber’s success has remained constant under both Republican and Democratic governors. During the past decade, 357 bills have been dubbed job killers with just 14 becoming law. It’s also scored major legislative victories while Democrats maintained a super-majority in both houses of the legislature.

Gov. Jerry Brown delivers for CalChamber

And the chamber’s best years have come with Jerry Brown in the governor’s mansion.

“Over the past four years, the Chamber has marked 129 bills as job killers. Only 8 of these measures have been signed into law,” points out Joel Fox, publisher of Fox and Hounds Daily, the state’s leading business blog.

Fox also credits the chamber’s success at defeating “job killer” bills with the state’s improving economic climate. California’s unemployment rate has dropped from 8 percent in February 2014 to 6.7 percent in February 2015. According to the state’s Employment Development Department, California added nearly a half-million jobs, a year-over-year increase of 3.1 percent.

Although California’s unemployment rate is higher than the national average of 5.5 percent, the state has been the country’s most improved economy. In February, the Golden State added 29,400 jobs, the nation’s best over-the-month increase, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“If many of the defeated bills passed,” Fox asks, “would California’s job creation number be so strong?”

“Part of the credit for this success goes to the California Chamber of Commerce’s effort to rally against bills that would hinder job creation and hurt the economy,” he said.

So, what’s included in this year’s list of “job killer” bills?

2015 “Job Killer” Bills

AB357 (David Chiu, D-San Francisco): Requires retailers and restaurants to give employees at least two-weeks’ notice for their work schedule.

SB3 (Mark Leno, D-San Francisco): Increases the minimum wage by $3.00 over the next two and a half years and imposes future automatic increases tied to inflation.

SB406 (Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara): Eliminates the small business exemption from the state’s family and medical leave law.

SB350 (Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles): Forces the state by 2030 to reduce petroleum use by 50 percent, increase the current Renewable Portfolio Standard to 50 percent and increase energy efficiency in buildings by 50 percent.

SB684 (Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley): Raises taxes on publicly-held corporations and financial institutions.

ACA 4 (Jim Frazier, D-Oakley): Lowers the vote threshold from two-thirds to 55 percent for new local tax measures.

SCA 5 (Hancock): Lowers the vote threshold from two-thirds to 55 percent for new local tax measures.

AB356 (Das Williams, D-Santa Barbara): Imposes new regulations and water monitoring restrictions on oil and gas drilling projects.

AB1490 (Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood): Imposes a de facto ban on oil fracking and oil well stimulation activities by halting any activity after a nearby earthquake of a magnitude 2.0 or higher.

SB32 (Fran Pavley, D-Agoura Hills): Raises California’s greenhouse gas emissions limits to 80 percent below the 1990 level by 2050 and gives the State Air Resources Board authority to set interim standards for 2030 and 2040.

SB546 (Leno): Requires health insurance companies to comply with new regulations before increasing their premiums.

AB359 (Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego): Bans grocery stores from laying off workers during a transfer in store ownership.

SB576 (Leno): Prevents mobile applications from collecting or sharing a user’s location data without consent.

AB244 (Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton): Makes changes to the state’s foreclosure rules with respect to successor in interest.

AB465 (Roger Hernández, D-Baldwin Park): Prevents workers and employers from reaching agreements that include any waiver of labor protections as a condition of employment.

SB203 (Bill Monning, D-Carmel): Singles out sodas and some sugar-added drinks for health warning labels, but excludes other unhealthy beverages.

Republished with permission by Cal Watchdog.com

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New Post has been published on http://citizensjournal.us/desalination-gaining-support-as-long-term-response-to-ca-drought/

Desalination gaining support as long-term response to CA drought

by John Hrabe

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With California’s snowpack at the lowest level in a century, Governor Jerry Brown announced Wednesday the first mandatory water reductions in state history.

“Today we are standing on dry grass where there should be five feet of snow,” Governor Brown said at a press event in the Sierra Nevada mountains. “This historic drought demands unprecedented action. Therefore, I’m issuing an executive order mandating substantial water reductions across our state.”

To combat the state’s ongoing drought, the governor has ordered the State Water Resources Control Board to implement a 25 percent reduction in water use by local water agencies. He’s also calling on water districts to adopt conservation pricing, a streamlined permitting process for water projects and an investment in new water infrastructure technologies.

“People should realize we are in a new era,” the governor said. “The idea of your nice little green lawn getting watered every day, those days are past.”

Water everywhere, but only fraction from the sea

While conservation is the key element of the state’s short-term drought response, those latter provisions of the governor’s plan have many Californians turning to desalination as a promising long-term solution to the state’s water needs.

“The Governor’s Executive Order issued today is consistent with the policy goals established in the state’s Water Action Plan and clearly demonstrates his commitment to developing new local water supplies including seawater desalination,” said Scott Maloni, vice-president of Poseidon Water, a water development company that specializes in desalination.

For hundreds of years, sailors have found ways to remove salt and other impurities from the earth’s salt water and turn it into drinking water. Today, that process has gone high-tech at more than 17,000 desalination plants in 150 countries around the world. According to the International Desalination Association, more than 300 million people use approximately 21.1 billion gallons of water produced from desalination every day.

However, outside of the Middle East, where desalination is a vital component of the region’s water portfolio, desalination is responsible for just a fraction of the world’s drinking water.

“Even with all of the water in Earth’s oceans, we satisfy less than half a percent of human water needs with desalinated water,” Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute and author of the book, The World’s Water, pointed out to Scientific American. “The problem is that the desalination of water requires a lot of energy.”

As of 2013, the California Department of Water Resources estimated that desalinated water cost $2,000 an acre foot, or double the price of water from other sources. But, the high energy production costs aren’t stopping enterprising companies from entering the desalination market, rather it’s a lengthy and bureaucratic permitting process.

Desalination plants battle lengthy permitting process

Next year, a $1 billion desalination plant in Carlsbad is expected to come online and produce 50 million gallons per day — after years of permitting battles with city governments and state agencies.

“They went through seven or eight years of hell to get here,” Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies, told the San Jose Mercury News last year. “But they stuck it out. They got it done. If it succeeds, it will encourage others to try. And if it fails, it will have a chilling effect.”

Poseidon Water, which spearheaded the Carlsbad Desalination Project, is now working to gain final approvals from the California Coastal Commission on a desalination plant in Huntington Beach that would also produce 50 million gallons per day.

“A streamlined permitting process will significantly help our proposed Huntington Beach project become a reality,” said Maloni of Poseidon Water. “We are looking forward to bringing this project before the Coastal Commission for their approval this year and finally bringing a drought-proof water supply to millions of coastal residents.”

If the company gains its final discretionary approval from the Coastal Commission, the plant is scheduled to be operational by 2018. That’s not soon enough, given the state’s dwindling water supplies. Earlier this year, the Orange County Water District announced its intention to buy all of the 56,000 acre-feet of water produced by the plant.

Republished with permission by Cal Watchdog.com

“Desalination should be front and center”

The longer the drought persists, the more likely parched water agencies will be to add desalination plants as a component of their water portfolios.

“While conservation is a must, looking at ways to overcome the obstacles that have thwarted previous efforts on desalination should now be front and center in the water deliberations,” writes Joel Fox, editor of Fox & Hounds Daily. “Proposals to desalinate water from the Pacific Ocean have run into environmental concerns and cost issues. … The thinking on the cost issue is changing, however, because of the severity of the drought, the increased value of water, and potential energy resources to make the process work.”

In order to change thinking about desalination, it will require overcoming challenges from environmentalists, who view desalination as a precursor to more development.

“If you’re going to do something like desal, you want to make sure you’re doing everything you can in terms of conservation, water recycling, water re-use,” Susan Jordan of the California Coastal Protection Network told KQED, “and you don’t want unsustainable development that just perpetuates your problem, or the state’s problem.”

Republished with permission by Cal Watchdog.com

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New Post has been published on http://citizensjournal.us/lawmakers-seek-soda-warning-labels/

Lawmakers seek soda warning labels

by John Hrabe

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A group of state lawmakers wants to single out “The Coke Side of Life” for a mandatory warning label that could send the Pepsi Generation to unhealthy beverages.

State Senator Bill Monning, D-Carmel, and seven of his Democratic colleagues have proposed the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Safety Warning Act, which would prevent sodas from being sold in California, unless they include a warning label on the potential health hazards. The proposed warning label would read:

“STATE OF CALIFORNIA SAFETY WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay.”

That’s not a formatting error. The bill mandates the first five words be all caps and that the entire notice appear in bold type.

Republished with permission by Cal Watchdog.com

Senate Bill 203 would require all “sugar-sweetened beverages” to include the warning label on its packaging and brandish the same disclaimer on all vending machines and soda dispensers that sell “sugar-sweetened” beverages. Violators would be fined anywhere from $50 to $500 per offense, with the proceeds going to a new bureaucracy, the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Safety Warning Fund.

Warning label to combat diabetes epidemic

Proponents contend warning labels on sodas and other beverages will help stem the state’s growing diabetes epidemic.

“Given the rock solid scientific evidence showing the dangers of sugary beverages, the state of California has a responsibility to inform consumers about products proven to be harmful to the public’s health,” Monning said in a press release. “This bill will give Californians the at-a-glance information they need to make more healthful choices every day.”

The legislation pegs the state’s cost of diabetes at roughly $24.5 billion per year and puts the blame squarely on sodas.

“California adults who drink one soda or more per day are 27 percent more likely to be overweight or obese, regardless of income or ethnicity,” the legislation declares. “A 20-ounce bottle of soda contains the equivalent of approximately 17 teaspoons of sugar. Yet, the American Heart Association recommends that Americans consume no more than five to nine teaspoons of sugar per day.”

Bill only targets ‘sugar-sweetened,’ not all sugary beverages

While the bill singles out sodas and sugar-added drinks, it ignores other beverages with similar sugar content. Excluded from the definition of “sugar-sweetened beverages” are drinks containing 100 percent natural fruit or vegetable juice with no added caloric sweeteners as well as dietary supplements, infant formula, milk and milk substitutes.

“We oppose singling out sugar-sweetened beverages for this warning label,” Robert Achermann, executive director of the California/Nevada Beverage Association, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

A recent study in the British Medical Journal found milk drinkers at a greater risk of cancer and heart disease. According to Forbes, “The good milk drinkers were more likely to die from heart disease and cancer, and among the women, the milk drinkers suffered more overall fractures and hip fractures.”

Some nutrition experts have encouraged school districts to ban flavored milk, which can contain as much sugar as Coca-Cola.

“Chocolate milk is soda in drag,” Ann Cooper, director of nutrition services for the Boulder Valley School District, told the Associated Press. “It works as a treat in homes, but it doesn’t belong in schools.”

Stomach can’t differentiate between fruit juice and soda

Health experts have raised concerns about sodas because of their sugar content, not carbonation. And the human body doesn’t distinguish between liquids with natural sugars and those with artificially added sugar.

Last year, Susan Jebb, who leads a nutrition and obesity unit at Cambridge University, urged the British government to drop fruit juice from its recommended five-a-day servings of fruit and vegetables, according to The Guardian.

“Fruit juice isn’t the same as intact fruit and it has as much sugar as many classical sugar drinks,” said Jebb, a nutrition expert. “It is also absorbed very fast, so by the time it gets to your stomach your body doesn’t know whether it’s Coca-Cola or orange juice, frankly.”

That’s backed up by 2014 research from Glasgow University which, according to the Daily Mail, found fruit juice is “potentially ‘just as bad for you’ as sugary, sweetened drinks.”

“Fruit juice has a similar energy density and sugar content to other sugary drinks,” said Naveed Sattar, a Glasgow University professor of metabolic medicine and one of the study’s co-authors. His example: 250 milliliters of apple juice typically contains 110 calories and 26 grams of sugar; and 250 milliliters of cola typically contains 105 calories and 26.5 grams of sugar.”

Researchers concluded drinking fruit juice is “probably counter-productive” and “fuels the perception that drinking fruit juice is good for health.”

Proposed warning label misleading

Even members of the medical community that back the measure attack “sugary drinks,” not sugar-sweetened drinks.

“When you have medical professionals, public health officials and an overwhelming body of science all pointing to sugary drinks as the leading contributor to the skyrocketing diabetes epidemic, California must take action,” said Dr. Harold Goldstein, executive director of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, which is sponsoring the warning label mandate.

If the concern is diabetes, the legislation could have the side effect of encouraging more people to switch to beverages without the warning label, such as fruit juice. Obesity expert Dr. Robert Lustig told NPR News that “calorie-for-calorie, 100 percent orange juice is worse for you than soda.”

“High-fructose corn syrup is only available in the United States, Japan, Canada and very limited exposure in parts of Europe,” Lustig told NPR’s Science Friday host Ira Flatow. The corn syrup is a common sugary additive in drinks and food. “And guess what? The whole world now has obesity and metabolic syndrome. So it’s not about high-fructose corn syrup per se.”

In addition to Monning, the bill is co-sponsored by Democratic Sens. Mark Leno of San Francisco, Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles, Dr. Richard Pan of Sacramento and Fran Pavley of Calabasas; as well as by Democratic Assemblymen David Chiu of San Francisco, Das Williams of Santa Barbara and Jim Wood of Healdsburg.

Republished with permission by Cal Watchdog.com

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New Post has been published on http://citizensjournal.us/state-officials-report-expensive-gifts-and-luxury-trips/

State officials report expensive gifts and luxury trips

by John Hrabe

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State lawmakers and constitutional officers accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in international travel, fine wines, rounds of golf and expensive meals in 2014, according to annual financial disclosure reports filed this week with state ethics officials.

Among the top gift recipients from last year was Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, who accepted $15,623 in free perks. De Leon’s total was boosted by a $9,759 trip to Peru in December paid for by the Climate Registry, a government-sponsored nonprofit organization that tracks greenhouse gas emissions.

Other state legislative leaders accepted tens of thousands of dollars in gifts. According to the Los Angeles Times’ review of disclosure reports, “Assembly Republican leader Kristin Olsen of Modesto reported $13,577 in gifts, led by $5,723 in travel expenses paid for by the California Foundation on the Environment and Economy for a study trip to Canada, and a $2,914 trip to Hawaii for a conference paid for by the nonprofit Independent Voter Project.”

Republished with permission by Cal Watchdog.com

Last year, state law restricted state officials to $440 in gifts from each source.

Gatto, Beall shun junkets

But not all lawmakers were looking to supplement their government salaries with perks from special interests. For the second straight year, Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, led a small group of legislators who shunned extravagant gifts, declined once-in-a-lifetime trips around the world and went above-and-beyond the legal requirements for financial disclosure.

What set Gatto apart from his colleagues? For starters, his form included additional footnotes to explain discrepancies between this year’s and last year’s report. In 2013, Gatto reported several stocks that are missing from this year’s report. However, a helpful footnote explained the stocks had dropped below the reportable threshold in the last year.

State Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, once again shunned gifts from special interest groups and corporations that lobby the Legislature. He reported a few thousand dollars in life insurance stock shares and a handful of gifts from the California Democratic Party. Like Gatto, Beall went out of his way to disclose gifts, such as a $117.83 dinner for which he later reimbursed de Leon. Since the reimbursement check hadn’t cleared, Beall reported the dinner anyway.

Gatto and Beall were joined this year by a few other California politicians that took the state’s disclosure requirements to heart. State Controller Betty Yee filed her report a month early and included a number of gifts valued below the reporting requirement.

The California Fair Political Practices Commission only requires gifts valued at $50 or more to be reported. Nevertheless, Yee included various food and beverage gifts, including $14 for a commemorative Coca-Cola bottle.

Assemblyman Matt Harper, R-Huntington Beach, reported a long list of gifts from Orange County politicos on January 11, the date of his wedding. According to the state’s disclosure guidelines, wedding gifts are not subject to the $440 gift limit, but half of the value is reportable.

Lawmakers: Side jobs and major businesses

California’s Legislature may be full-time, but that hasn’t stopped a few lawmakers from running side businesses.

Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian, who reported no gifts on his 2015 financial disclosure report, disclosed stock in Walker R.R. Associates valued between $100,000 and $1 million. He also serves as the general partner of Katch-Go Petroleum, a partnership valued over $1 million with more than $100,000 per year in gross income. Those profits are from several Central Coast service stations.

State Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, reported dozens of customers for Hill’s Poll Service Inc., of which he serves as president.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom needed 29 pages to report income, assets and gifts received in 2014. Newsom’s gifts included $350 from the Oakland Raiders, $100 from the Clinton Foundation and $375 from French President François Hollande.

By far the most active stock trader was Assembly member Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, who listed 75 stock investments on her annual disclosure form. Not all the stock purchases were retained for the entire year.

Another trader, Assembly member Catharine Baker, R-San Ramon, reported her covered calls and short positions in CommScope Holding Company held between June 27 and August 18, when the stock gained nearly 7 percent.

Big fluctuation in gift values

In some cases, there were major disparities in the fair market value reported by state lawmakers for similar gifts. When he still was a state senator, on July 11, Secretary of State Alex Padilla accepted $247.50 in golf from the California Correctional Peace Officers Association and another $247.50 in golf from the Governor’s Cup Foundation.

The same day, Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced, reported golf from the same entities valued at $440 each.

Assemblyman Brian Maienschein reported $4,011 in free parking at the San Diego Airport. During the same year, fellow San Diego Republican Assemblyman Rocky Chavez reported $4,723 in free parking from the same agency. The same perk in Los Angeles for Board of Equalization member Jerome Horton was valued at just $360.

According to the Fair Political Practices Commission, parking is considered a travel payment that is required to be disclosed, although it is not subject to the gift limit. In 2010, half a dozen state lawmakers were fined for failing to disclose gifts, including $100 worth of free parking from the city of Los Angeles.

Republished with permission by Cal Watchdog.com

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New Post has been published on http://citizensjournal.us/prop-47s-drug-law-reforms-inject-controversy/

Prop. 47’s drug-law reforms inject controversy

by John Hrabe

  California’s decision to reduce sentences for some drug and property crimes has been heralded as a much needed reform of the criminal justice system. While it’s too soon to know what effect the measure is having on crime, critics charge it could jeopardize progress in the state’s drug courts and a widespread drop in property crimes.

Republished with permission by Cal Watchdog.com

Last November, voters approved Proposition 47 by a 20 percentage-point margin. The measure reclassified half a dozen drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors. It also removed some degree of prosecutorial discretion for “wobbler” crimes, those that can either be charged as a felony or misdemeanor.

“We must devote our resources to keeping violent criminals off the streets, not cycling addicts in and out of jail,” San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon posted on Facebook following Prop. 47’s victory. “Nobody wins when we incarcerate someone at a cost of thousands to taxpayers, just for them to be released some time later and reoffend.”

If nobody won under the old system, critics say addicts could very well lose under the new law if it ends up undermining the state’s programs for treating substance abuse.

Prop 47: Prioritize violent, serious crimes

Proponents of the measure argued it was a necessary criminal justice reform to save money and reduce the state’s prison population.

“Proposition 47 invests in solutions supported by the best criminal justice science, which will increase safety and make better use of taxpayer dollars,” the measure’s proponents argued in their ballot statement. “Proposition 47 is sensible. It focuses law enforcement dollars on violent and serious crime while providing new funding for education and crime prevention programs that will make us all safer.”

In 2013, 1,212,801 people were arrested in California, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Drug-related violations accounted for 217,520 arrests, the largest category. Property crimes resulted in 139,624 arrests and ranked third after driving under the influence.

According to a report by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, 188,790 Californians faced felony charges for the six offenses reclassified under Prop. 47. The non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated that roughly 40,000 offenders every year would be affected by the change in state law.

The substantial number of cases affected by the measure bolsters proponents’ argument that the measure will bring about major cost savings to the state.

Drug courts lose powerful threat

In recent years, California’s drug courts have been one of the most effective programs for addressing drug addiction. These programs are targeted at low-level drug offenses and provide substance abuse treatment instead of prison time.

“But at the heart of the program,” the Los Angeles Times recently noted, “is the threat of a felony sentence if participants flunk out.”

Prop. 47 effectively eliminated that threat by reducing the punishment for some drug crimes. In some counties, as much as “70% of the drug court population were charged with crimes listed in Proposition 47.”  Instead of getting help to tackle their addiction at an early stage, drug addicts are able to take the misdemeanor slap on the wrist.

“It’s a disorder of now, it’s a disorder of compulsions,” Dr. Doug Marlowe, the chief of science, policy and law for the National Association of Drug Court Professionals, told the Times. “Without some substantial stick and carrot, the outcomes are quite poor.”

That’s already come to pass in San Diego County, where one judge has seen defendants take their misdemeanor charge instead of opting for treatment through drug court.

“They said, ‘Nope,’” said San Diego Judge Peter Gallagher, according to the Associated Press. “They’ll go back and take misdemeanor punishment.”

2014: Drop in property crimes

In addition to undermining the state’s drug courts, critics worry Prop. 47 could halt the state’s drop in property crimes. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the state’s property crime rate, despite an uptick in 2013, is near historic lows. “The 2013 property crime rate of 2,665 per 100,000 residents is down 3.9% from 2012 and close to the 50-year low of 2,594 reached in 2011,” PPIC observed in its report, “Crime Trends in California.”

That progress continued into 2014. The FBI recently released its preliminary crime statistics for the first six months of 2014. The first half of 2014 is an important statistical milestone in property crime because it’s the last period of data prior to when Prop. 47 took effect.

In all five of the state’s largest cities — from San Diego to San Francisco — there was a drop in the number of property crime offenses reported to law enforcement. Here are the number of property crimes in the state’s five largest cities, ranked by population:

Los Angeles: down from 41,993 to 39,916, a decrease of 4.9 percent;

San Diego: down from 15,767 to 13,759, a decrease of 12.7 percent;

San Jose: down from 13,482 to 12,053, a decrease of 10.6 percent;

San Francisco: down from 22,181 to 21,330, a decrease of 3.8 percent;

Fresno: down from 11,295 to 10,517, a decrease of 6.9 percent.

As property crimes declined, violent crime rates in the five largest cities have remained flat, with the exception of Los Angeles. The LAPD recently announced that violent crime increased 14.3 percent in 2014.

The numbers that come in for 2015 will be key to how Prop. 47’s reforms are interpreted.

Republished with permission by Cal Watchdog.com

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New Post has been published on http://citizensjournal.us/are-millennials-being-priced-out-of-california/

Are millennials being priced out of California?

By John Hrabe

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Republished with permission by Cal Watchdog.com

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Are millennials being priced out of California?

A recent report by the U.S. Census Bureau analyzing statistics from the latest American Community Survey showed the Millennial Generation is struggling to find full-time employment, obtain affordable housing and reach financial independence. The problems are particularly bad here in California.

Young Californians are not only worse off than their parents’ generation, but they’re doing worse than their counterparts in the rest of the country.

“Many of the differences between generations examined within these latest data reflect long-term demographic and societal changes,” said Jonathan Vespa, a Census Bureau demographer. “Three decades of decennial census statistics combined with the latest American Community Survey statistics give us a unique view of how — and where — our nation is changing.”

Better educated but worse job climate for young Californians

Among the five years of data, the most striking statistics are in the area of employment. Despite being better educated, young Californians are earning less money than their parents and are less likely to have full-time employment.

In 1980, 71.1 percent of Californians aged 18 to 34 were employed — better than the national average of 69.3 percent. Today, California’s employment rate of young adults is lower than the national average at 62.1 percent.

Tom Allison and Konrad Mugglestone of Young Invincibles write, “The great recession hit young workers hard, leaving roughly 5 million young adults unemployed five years after the downturn officially ended.

Young Californians earning less today

Of those young people working full-time, wages are down in 2013 inflation-adjusted dollars. Thirty-four years ago, the average Californian earned $36,961 dollars per year. That median wage has dropped to $35,734 per year for the average Californians aged 18 to 34.

As Slate recently wrote of U.S. Census data analyzed by the Young Invincibles, “For Americans between the ages of 25 and 34, annual income earned from wages has fallen in four of the top five biggest employment sectors — retail (down 9.9 percent), the leisure and hospitality business (down 14.65 percent), manufacturing (down 2.87 percent), and professional and business services (down 4.28 percent).” According to the study, the one exception is health care, which has remained nearly unchanged.

While Californians earn more than the national average, much of the wealth has been concentrated in the Bay Area, which skews California’s statewide figures.

In San Francisco County, the average full-time worker, between the ages of 18 and 34, earned a median annual salary of $59,580 — more than double the average wages in rural Madera and Modoc counties. The average young worker in the tech-dominant San Jose metro region earns $51,149 per year — 52 percent more than their counterparts in the Los Angeles metro area.

Millennials can expect lower wages  throughout  their working lives. Lisa Kahn, a labor economist at Yale University, found that college graduates that enter a weak economy suffer lower wages throughout their entire careers.

“I find large, negative wage effects of graduating in a worse economy which persist for the entire period studied. I also find that cohorts who graduate in worse national economies are in lower-level occupations, have slightly higher tenure and higher educational attainment, while labor supply is unaffected. Taken as a whole, the results suggest that the labor market consequences of graduating from college in a bad economy are large, negative and persistent.”

Price of housing top in nation

While wages have declined for millennials, the cost of housing has continued to increase.

California is home to three of the most expensive major cities for housing in the country: Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco. The most expensive city in the country, San Francisco, has an average median home price of $744,400 and requires an annual salary of $145,500 to pay the nearly $3,400 mortgage, according to Business Insider. That’s double Seattle and Chicago and more than three times the cost of Houston, Dallas and San Antonio.

The city of San Jose estimates the average apartment in San Jose rents for $2,230 — up by 49 percent in the past four years.

“Housing costs in the peninsula, from San Francisco to San Jose, have doubled in the last five years,” writes Kerry Cavanaugh of the Los Angeles Times. “It’s even worse in San Francisco, which recently surpassed New York City as the most expensive rental market in the nation.”

More Californians live with Mom and Dad

Unsurprisingly, due to these increased housing costs, millennials in California are more likely to live with their parents than those in the rest of the country or previous generations.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau report, 34.5 percent of Californians aged 18 to 34 are living with a parent who is the householder. That represents a dramatic shift from 1980, when just 1 in 5 young Californians lived with their parents. Then, fewer Californians lived with their parents in comparison to the rest of the country. Now, more Californians live at home than the national average.

“Housing is typically the largest share of household expenditures and raising its price reduces discretionary incomes, while increasing poverty,” writes Wendell Cox, principal of Demographia, an international public policy and demographics firm.

Poverty, too, has increased among young Californians. Nearly one in five Californians aged 18 to 35 lives below the poverty line, an increase from 1980.

“Let’s say you’re a kid out of college and your first job, you’re getting paid $40,000 a year,” Richard Green, director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, told the Los Angeles Times. “You want to live in a safe neighborhood in Los Angeles, with decent access to jobs, transit, et cetera. You’re looking at $1,400 to $1,500 a month in rent. So that means you’re paying $18,000 a year out of your $40,000 just in rent.”

The U.S. Census Bureau analyzed five years of demographic, economic and housing data collected between 2009 and 2013.

- See more at: http://calwatchdog.com/2014/12/22/are-millennials-being-priced-out-of-california/#sthash.0BDQ4opl.dpuf