Total Recall?
That Arnold Schwarzenegger film title may be apropos for the California Energy Commission's decision last week to at least temporarily revoke about $27 million in grants earmarked for a string of hydrogen refueling stations through the state formerly governed by the action-film star.
Under the California Fuel Cell Partnership, about two-thirds of the grants were to be directed to Linde Group and Air Products & Chemicals. Those two companies were supposed to build the stations to accommodate the expected first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles in the middle of this decade, according to the Santa Monica Mirror. But there were issues.
The grants have been revoked so that the cash-strapped state can reassess the grant process, largely because of complaints that the two large companies more-or-less self-dealt the contracts. The way this allegedly happened is that at least one of the eight automakers involved in the California Fuel Cell Partnership (Chrysler, Daimler, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Nissan, Toyota and Volkswagen) were required to approve any potential station location. But, the Mirror writes, "Suspicions of collusion in the grant approvals arose because Linde and Air Products executives interact at many meetings and because the carmakers approved only one refueling location not belonging to either of those companies."
In 2004, former California Governor Schwarzenegger approved the so-called California Hydrogen Blueprint Plan that set a goal of as many as 100 statewide hydrogen fueling stations by the end of 2010 with a longer-term phase goal of as many as 250 stations. The U.S. Energy Department says there are currently 23 stations in the state.
The hydrogen station flap is the most recent involving the most populous U.S. state and its efforts to broaden an infrastructure that would support zero-emissions vehicles. In March, NRG Energy reached an agreement for the state to invest $120 million to install more than 10,000 electric-vehicle charging points to be built by NRG that would comprise what's been billed as an "Electric Expressway." The settlement spurred San Francisco-based Ecotality to sue the state, because the agreement allegedly gives NRG an unfair advantage over companies like Ecotality in terms of charging-station market share.
Source: green.autoblog.com
California Lawmaker Champions Undocumented Worker Legalization Program - YAHOO!
In an interesting reversal of standard lawmaking, California assembly member Manuel Perez, D-Coachella, wants to legalize some of the state's undocumented workers, the National Journal reports. This shift in approach to the illegal immigration problem, the publication maintains, spells ultimate success for the program and the state.
What does the proposed law intend to do?
Around the Capitol says that AB 1544, officially known as the "Undocumented workers: California Agricultural Jobs and Industry Stabilization Program," would apply for federal approval to employ illegal immigrants. Before taking this step, the Employment Development Department would have to issue a certification that "there are not enough legal residents of California to fill all open agricultural and service industry jobs in California." After receiving permission to work as registered undocumented workers, these employees would be "entitled to all the same wage and hour and working conditions protections under existing law provided to an employee who is a legal resident of California."
Why would deportation of illegal workers harm the State of California?
AB 1544 contends that deportation of illegal farm workers would rob the state's agricultural industry of an experienced workforce. Fearing that e-Verify would lead to a mass firing of agricultural workers, the bill puts forth there are no guarantees that legal workers would step up to fill the resulting vacancies.
Who would qualify, if this program becomes law?
If AB 1544 passes as written, an undocumented immigrant must have been a California resident and employed in the agricultural or service sectors prior to Jan. 25, 2012. The candidate must submit to fingerprinting and not have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor. Immediate family members of a qualified candidate may accompany the undocumented worker.
How does California benefit?
In addition to securing the workforce California's agricultural and service industries claim is in flux, the state gains a new group of taxpayers who are currently receiving payments off the books. The National Journal cites the 1986 Reagan-amnesty as an example for the likely broadening of the tax base.
Is there support for the bill?
The California Grape and Tree Fruit League supports AB 1544, Hispanic Business reports. Perez did lose the support of assembly member Linda Halderman, R-Fresno, who initially co-authored the bill but later withdrew her name from the legislation. She opposed some of the provisions added by the United Farm Workers of America, who are also in favor of AB 1544.
Will the federal government get behind this legislation, if Gov. Jerry Brown signs it into law?
It is doubtful that the federal government will grant California the waivers it needs to launch the undocumented worker legalization program. Utah's Republican-sponsored immigrant worker legalization never received federal support after it was passed in 2011.
Sylvia Cochran offers an insider's perspective of the American immigration system. Having gone through the steps of becoming a citizen -- and currently living in a border state -- she brings hands-on familiarity with hot-button issues to the table.
Source: news.yahoo.com
California had 142,000 foreclosures in a year, the most of any state - The Business Journal
California had more completed foreclosures in the last year than any other state.
California had 142,622 foreclosures completed in the year ending April, according to CoreLogic Inc.
That's the most foreclosures in the last year of any state, far ahead of No. 2 Florida, with 92,137, and No. 3 Michigan, with 60,198. The U.S. total for the year was 838,186.
CoreLogic (NYSE: CLGX) reported 66,000 foreclosures completed in April nationwide, the same number as in March, but down from 78,000 a year earlier.
Completed foreclosures count homes actually lost to foreclosure.
Since the financial meltdown in September 2008, there have been about 3.6 million foreclosures completed nationwide.
Mark Fleming, the company's chief economist, said that in the United States over the last year there was one completed foreclosure for every 622 mortgaged homes.
California, along with its neighbors Arizona and Nevada, is a "non-judicial foreclosure" state, where the timeline to complete a foreclosure is shorter. Other non-judicial foreclosure states include Michigan, Texas, Georgia and Tennessee. Data on them can be seen here.
A table of figures for judicial foreclosure states can be seen here.
Behind California, Florida and Michigan came Texas (57,536 in the year ended April) and Georgia (56,894), and these five states accounted for nearly half of all completed foreclosures in the United States.
South Dakota had the fewest completed foreclosures over the year, with just 62.
Florida had the highest foreclosure inventory as a percentage of all mortgaged homes in the state, at 12 percent. That's far higher than No. 2 New Jersey's 6.7 percent. California's inventory was 2.5 percent in April.
CoreLogic, based in Santa Ana, used to be part of First American Corp. until a company split in the summer of 2010. The other portion of the company is now First American Financial Corp. (NYSE: FAF). CoreLogic collects and analyzes data in the real estate industry.
Anand Nallathambi is CoreLogic's CEO and president.
Steven E.F. Brown is web editor at the San Francisco Business Times.
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Source: www.bizjournals.com
California Note Sale May Top $10 Billion, Chiang Says - Bloomberg
California, the most indebted state, may need to sell more than $10 billion in short-term securities in order to pay bills through the fiscal year that begins in July, Controller John Chiang said.
The size of the revenue-anticipation note sale may exceed previous estimates as tax collections have trailed projections and the state exhausted most of its internal borrowing ability, Chiang said in an interview yesterday in Bloomberg’s San Francisco office.
“It could be more,” said Chiang, a 49-year-old Democrat. “The question is whether there is market capacity.”
A $10 billion sale would be the largest since 2010. California lost more than 1 million jobs in the recession that started in 2007, reducing revenue by 24 percent. This year, the largest state by population borrowed $5.4 billion in September and had to seek another $1 billion in February after tax collections fell short and spending exceeded expectations.
State and local governments commonly sell short-term notes -- usually payable in one year -- to bolster cash flow until tax receipts increase later in the year. The amount of the issue in the coming fiscal year will be determined by cash-flow projections compiled by Chiang and Governor Jerry Brown’s budget office, and the final budget due July 1.
Brown, a Democrat, announced May 14 that California’s deficit had swollen to $15.7 billion from $9.2 billion in January, after income-tax collections came in 20 percent below what he had estimated in his spending plan.
The state’s chief financial officer, Chiang is also responsible for auditing state agencies, school districts and other elements of local government.
Audits Planned
Chiang, whose staff is investigating the financial practices of near-bankrupt Stockton, said his office’s planned audit of about 400 recently abolished redevelopment agencies in California will help identify other troubled municipalities.
“That is really going to unmask the financial wherewithal of a lot of these jurisdictions,” Chiang said. “Have they been spending properly? Have they been borrowing properly? If they have not, it’s going to expose quite a bit.”
The redevelopment agency audits are a requirement of the law the California Legislature approved last year to eliminate them. Audits of Hercules, a city of 24,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area, found “glaring holes” in accounting and management of state and federal funds, according to a May 10 news release.
“The staff at Hercules, finance staff, said their redevelopment agencies were operated horribly,” Chiang said yesterday. “But we already know Hercules is troubled. The question is: What’s happening with other jurisdictions?”
California Bankruptcies
California is home to two of the largest U.S. municipal bankruptcies: Orange County, which filed in 1994 after losing $1.7 billion on investments; and Vallejo, in 2008, after failing to win union concessions.
Chiang, who serves on the governing board of the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the largest public pension in the U.S., said the fund is likely to lower its assumed rate of return again after dropping it to 7.5 percent in March from 7.75 percent.
The rate is used to calculate how much money the plan will need to cover promised benefits, and what employers must contribute. While the fund’s actuary recommended lowering the rate to 7.25 percent, the Calpers board resisted, saying it would burden local governments when they were already facing financial strains.
“I thing we are going to have to continue to drop the discount rate,” Chiang said. “The reality is that you drop it too quickly, you put a world of hurt on the state’s finances. You would have jurisdictions face even greater financial difficulties.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael B. Marois in Sacramento at mmarois@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at smerelman@bloomberg.net
Source: www.bloomberg.com
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