Where is the Money Going?
State Sitting on $455 Million in Unused Federal Funds for State Water Projects
“States are required to make timely loans or grants using all available drinking water funds to eligible water systems for necessary projects, and California has failed to meet this standard,” the EPA wrote. As of October 2012, California had not allocated $455 million available to it, the largest untouched amount by any state participating in the program. read more
San Francisco OKs Seismic Retrofitting, While Tenants Shudder at Higher Rents
Officials estimate that upgrade costs could run between $60,000 and $130,000 per building, but owners will be able to pass the costs along to tenants via rent increases over 20 years—even those protected by the city’s rent control law. Tenants with incomes below $78,000 a year can apply for a hardship exemption to lessen the blow and a separate ordinance is being considered to automatically exempt single parents on welfare and senior citizens on permanent disability. read more
Tiny Canyon Lake, Facing Huge Pension Rate Increase, Asks to Bail on CalPERS
The Southern California city is the first in the state to make the request now, according to Reuters, although other entities have pulled out in the past. Canyon Lake officials notified the $256-billion California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) on April 4 that it is willing to pay a $661,000 termination fee to drop out. read more
Specialty License Plate Revenues Are Poorly Collected and Often Misspent
A report (pdf) by the auditor found that the state failed to collect $22 million generated by the plates over two years, ending in mid-2012, and that money dispersed wasn’t always spent properly.
The auditor found that the DMV “potentially undercharged” plate owners $10.2 million, failed to collect another $12 million from retention fees related to the plates and overstated its costs for administering the environmental fund by $6.3 million. read more
UC Schools Follow the Money, Rejecting California Applicants for Those Out-of-State
Acceptance of California high school seniors at UC schools dropped 2.2% for Fall 2013, according to university sources. Only 60.6% of those 99,132 students who applied for admission were accepted. Five years ago, the admission rate was 70%.
Conversely, 22,761 students from out-of-state, or 21% more than last year, were admitted. Non-Californians pay almost three times as much for tuition ($36,078) as the $13,200 California residents pay.
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State Lawmakers Keep Their Hands off Payday Lenders
Senate Bill 515 would have capped the number of these predatory loans that a customer could take out to four per year, established a database to track payday loans, allowed more time for loans to be repaid and limited the availability of a loan based on the borrower’s income.
But the Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee buried the legislation on a 5-3 vote. read more
Lowest Bidder on First Leg of Bullet-Train Has History of Cost Overruns and Litigation
Tutor Perini Corp. has a history of bidding low and fighting hard for cost-overruns as a project progresses. While nine out of 10 public works projects historically go over budget (pdf), The Bay Citizen found that 11 Tutor Perini projects completed since 2000 cost, on average, 40% more than original bids. Local governments ended up spending $765 million more on the projects than originally anticipated. One project ended up 107% over bid. read more
Billionaire Wins Millions in Lawsuit Against Ex-Billionaire over Bogus Wine
Billionaire William Koch, brother of Koch Industry billionaires David and Charles, won a seven-year battle with California internet entrepreneur and sometimes-billionaire Eric Greenberg over a multimillion-dollar purchase of wine.
Koch began his pursuit after purchasing 17,000 bottles of Greenberg’s wine collection at a Zachys Wine & Liquor Inc. auction in 2005 for $3.7 million. He quickly discovered that 24 bottles worth $228,603 were filled with cheap wine. read more
Busted Bolts Delay $6.4-Billion Bay Bridge Upgrade
California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) engineers are trying to figure out why 32 anchoring bolts (9 to 24 feet long) popped out last month when 96 of the 288 steel rods were stress tested. Now Caltrans officials are being stress tested as they not only wrestle with finding a cause, but ponder what solutions might be available and at what cost. read more
Antitrust Case Revived against Gas Traders Blamed for Sparking Energy Crisis
FERC said the gas traders and producers goosed indexes used for setting prices by giving incorrect information to the two trade magazines that published them. Gas Daily collected its information through telephone conversations with industry sources and Inside FERC went with unconfirmed spreadsheet submissions via email. FERC found that many of the companies would pass the spreadsheet around before turning it in and any trader could adjust the numbers. read more
Court Rulings Could Put Another $2 Billion in Consumer Pockets for Energy Ripoffs
More than a decade after energy companies gouged California ratepayers during a trumped-up energy crisis, the state stands to recoup $2 billion.
Last March, the court ruled that the two energy wholesalers jacked up prices in 2000-01 when it sold the state electricity from federal dams. The court’s two decisions this week affirmed that ruling and accepted California’s damage claims. read more
Report Warns State Is at “Catastrophic Risk for Devastating Floods”
A new study, “California’s Flood Future,” from the state Department of Water Resources (DWR) says 7.2 million Californians live in floodplains that are at “catastrophic risk for devastating floods.” Structures worth $575 billion are exposed to flooding along with critical infrastructure and $7 billion in crops, making a major flood far more threatening than superstorm Sandy back East that caused $60 billion in damage. read more
Stockton Wasn’t Lying—It Really Is Bankrupt
Setting the stage for a groundbreaking confrontation between Wall Street and retirees, a federal judge ruled Monday that the city of Stockton was, indeed, eligible for bankruptcy protection from its creditors.
Judge Christopher Klein found the creditors’ arguments for keeping the city out of bankruptcy as deficient as their behavior during negotiations leading up to his decision. read more
Commission IDs State Parks Problems: They Are Public and There Are Too Many of Them
The commission report identified a number of problems with the “obsolete” old model: inadequate staffing, more parks than could be managed, an “outdated self-view,” a centralized bureaucracy and a bad attitude about working with outsiders. And the state was trying to run parks that should be turned over to local control.
It also noted that the parks department has been starved for cash. read more
State Adds Some Jobs and Gives Jobless a 2-Week Reprieve on Sequestration Benefit Cuts
Long-term unemployed former California workers who aren’t among February’s 41,200 new hires announced on Friday are about to see their extended benefits slashed 10.7%, but not today as planned.
Around 400,000 people now receiving the benefits received a two-week reprieve from the state Employment Development Department (EDD) after the state determined it couldn’t figure out how to implement the cuts dictated by the federal government’s sequestration agreement. read more
Riverside Backs Out of $100,000 Dorner Reward on a Technicality
More than 35 donors pledged $1.2 million to the cause, but Riverside this week revoked its $100,000 reward because the terms of its offer had not been met. Riverside had offered to pay anyone with information that led to the arrest and conviction of Dorner, who killed himself February 12 in a Big Bear cabin while surrounded by police.
Riverside contends that Dorner had neither been arrested nor convicted, so no payout was due. read more