By Charles Fleming in Los Angeles Times
June 6, 2016
We’re No. 1. Again.
California led all states in auto thefts last year, and Los Angeles was the top city.
L.A. saw a total of 57,247 cars stolen last year, according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, almost twice as many as closest rival San Francisco’s 30,554 and more than double Houston’s 25,433 or New York-New Jersey’s 22,391.
Read more at Los Angeles Times
By David Kersten at Fox & Hounds
June 3, 2016
Proposition 13 is certain to continue to be a hot topic in 2016 and beyond as “reformers” continue to work on mobilizing a statewide effort to enact a “split-roll” that raises billions of dollars in increased property taxes from California businesses.
I have worked in and around Prop. 13 in one form or another for my entire career and have collected more data and research on its impacts that anybody else I have ever come in contact with.
Read more at Fox & Hounds
By Susan Shelley in Los Angeles Daily News
May 24, 2016
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors would like voters to approve higher property taxes to pay for parks.
It’s the latest tax hike proposal to loom over the county of Los Angeles, joining a government wish-list that includes a half-cent increase in the sales tax for transit and an extra half-percent income tax on millionaires to pay for homeless services.
Read more at Los Angeles Daily News
By Dan Walters in The Sacramento Bee
May 23, 2016
Gov. Jerry Brown’s ballot measure to overhaul criminal sentencing says those convicted of a “nonviolent felony offense” would be potentially eligible for parole.
However, it doesn’t define the term, and that makes figuring out which felons could qualify for parole difficult – perhaps by design, to minimize adverse voter reaction.
By Ken Hambrick in East Bay Times
May 21, 2016
Nothing is so permanent as a temporary tax. If there was ever a truism, that’s it.
Back in 2012, Jerry Brown, citing a budget shortfall, went to voters and said, in effect, he wouldn’t raise their taxes; he wanted us to raise taxes on ourselves. But he promised that the pain would only be temporary.
Read more at East Bay Times
By Dan Walters in The Sacramento Bee
May 22, 2016
Once upon a time, California city officials used two tools to shape how their communities evolved – setting property tax rates and controlling land use.
By Matthias Gafni in East Bay Times
May 18, 2016
POINT BUCKLER — A two-year Delta fight came to a head Tuesday as a state water agency proposed a $4.6 million fine — its largest ever — and cleanup order against a Pittsburg resident who owns a small island in the Suisun Marsh.
The San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board issued the complaint and abatement order alleging John Sweeney and his Point Buckler Club, a kite-surfing outfit catering to Silicon Valley executives, filled and degraded more than 29 acres of tidal wetlands on the 51-acre island, located just north of Pittsburg. The agency claims the unauthorized work and loss of wetlands created a “direct, negative impact” on the Suisun Marsh, “which provides critical habitat to migratory birds and threatened and endangered species including migrating salmon and Delta smelt.”
Read more at East Bay Times
By George Runner at Flashreport
May 17, 2016
Just one decade ago California’s housing market crashed, resulting in mass foreclosures and dramatic declines in home values. Today, we face a very different problem—a severe housing shortage.
There just aren’t enough homes. Supply is low, demand is high and home prices continue to rise. In fact, home prices in California are so high that middle and lower income families are being priced out of home ownership.
Read more at Flashreport
By Dan Walters in The Sacramento Bee
May 16, 2016
California voters will face just one statewide measure on the June primary ballot, but they will pass judgment on at least 165 local government proposals, according to a compilation by government finance tracker Michael Coleman.
Coleman, who operates the CaliforniaCityFinance.com website, says the total includes 90 local tax measures on the ballot, 57 bond issue authorizations, which would also require tax increases, and one referendum to repeal a tax.
Read more at The Sacramento Bee
By Tony Bizjak in The Sacramento Bee
May 15, 2016
It’s looking like the November ballot will be a big one for transportation in California.
A dozen counties, including Sacramento and Placer, are planning to put sales tax measures on the ballot, asking voters to chip in billions of dollars to help fix rutted roads and relieve at least some of the state’s growing post-recession congestion.
Read more at The Sacramento Bee