Roads, highways, bridges, power plants, waterways, and buildings need to be significantly upgraded. However, the financial reality dictates that such ambitious infrastructure projects must be properly prioritized and funded within the bounds of a budget. Critical upgrades must be undertaken with transparency, accountability, and frugality at a time when the state is facing years of enormous deficits. Independent voters will be looking to balance economic feasibility with much-needed infrastructure enhancement over the next few years.
San Francisco leads the way in the local, sustainable food movement. Several city ordinances, however, have prevented more urban food producers from cropping up. Mayor Gavin Newsom hopes to change this. His office is proposing an amendment to the city code which would permit urban farms in more venues.
An ad-hoc group of transportation experts, headed by former state director of transportation Will Kempton, slammed the California High Speed Rail Authority saying it needed “a thorough reassessment of a number of critical engineering, financial, economic and managerial issues.” Um, that doesn’t leave much for them to be in approval of, does it?
California is poised to sell 11 state office buildings to a consortium of private investors for $2.3 billion who, in turn, will charge the state rent for at least 20 years to occupy the taxpayer-financed structures.
Twelve companies have received a total of $71.5 million in sales and use tax exemptions for clean energy projects in California. These are the first tax breaks from SB 71, which passed in March.
The Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), which will be implemented in California starting in January after the defeat of Prop 23, may be an instructive example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. It mandates that carbon levels in fuel be lowered 10% by 2020, by using biofuel or purchasing emission credits. This is certainly a laudable goal.
The recent approval of six major solar power projects on public land in California shows that the federal government, state governments, and private enterprise really can work together. These projects were fast-tracked after California and the Department of the Interior joined together to make them happen.
California’s program to strengthen hospitals at risk of severe damage in a future earthquake would get an overhaul under legislation on the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The measure is the latest in a line of legislation dating back to 1973 attempting to ensure hospitals withstand the jolt of a major quake.
