All Qualified Construction Workers Should Help Rebuild California
California needs all hands on deck to help rebuild the state with an immediate need for affordable housing and recovery from the destruction of recent wildfires. While some legislation introduced in Sacramento opens an opportunity for all experienced construction workers to help rebuild California, why do other bills place barriers to rebuilding the state before […]
How Voters Can Transform California in One Election
Oxnard, California, wouldn’t immediately come to mind as the epicenter of a political revolution, but that’s exactly what it will be, if a small group of citizen activists succeed in putting not one, but five reforms in front of voters in the next major election. The citizens initiative has been available to Californians at the […]
A Quicker Way to Rebuild California
On behalf of the men and women who will be needed to fulfill the promise of meeting California’s construction needs, I congratulate Gov. Gavin Newsom on becoming our state’s 40th chief executive. With over 500 large and small companies and their trade workers, who make up the Associated Builders and Contractors of Northern California, we […]
Towards a Grand Bargain on California Water Policy
When it comes to water policy in California, perhaps the people are more savvy than the special interests. Because the people, or more precisely, the voters, by huge majorities, have approved nine water bonds in the past 25 years, totaling $27.1 billion. It is likely they’re going to approve another one this November for another […]
A Line-Item Veto Well Worth Making
When Gov. Jerry Brown considers a new state budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1, he’ll have a rare opportunity to simultaneously continue a program giving people a second chance in life, reducing prison recidivism, and saving the taxpayers money. All he has to do is run his pen through a part of the […]
A Catalog of California’s Anti-Janus Legislation
No state in America is as firmly in the grip of public sector unions as California. For nearly twenty years, they have exercised nearly absolute power in the State Legislature. Over the past few years, as they have slipped in and out of having a two-thirds majority, and often with the help of a few […]
The Unintended Consequences of Senate Bill 825
If only the issues held more interest for the public, they might stir more outrage. What Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) and pre-apprenticeship training programs lack in eye-grabbing and ear-riveting attention, they more than make up for in unintended consequences for thousands of working Californians. If Senate Bill 825 becomes law, there will be serious consequences […]
Rent Control is Not the Answer
State housing activists recently came to Sacramento to celebrate a special achievement of theirs. They gathered on the steps of the Capitol to announce they had a solution to high housing costs in California: a repeal of the law which prevents statewide rent control. With the blessing of voters this Fall, they expressed the hope […]
Senate Bill 825 Will Exacerbate Construction Crisis
As a woman that began her career in the trades, I want to formally applaud Assemblywoman Catharine Baker for her resolution, Assembly Concurrent Resolution 182, commemorating Women in Construction Week which passed its first roll-call vote, 69-0, within minutes of her finishing her presentation. I proudly observed it happening from the balcony of the Assembly […]
Amazon Has $5 Billion to Invest in a Second Headquarters City! Will Business Unfriendly LA Make the Cut?
On Thursday, Amazon announced that it was opening a search for second headquarters city (HQ2) in North America and was requesting proposals from interested state/province, county, and city governments by October 19. Amazon said that this new headquarters is expected to grow to over 50,000 employees (with an average compensation north of $100,000 a year) and that […]