To strike or not to strike, that is the question. For BART, it looks like a final day of talks.
From the Chronicle's Michael Cabanatuan: "BART and its workers failed to reach a labor agreement Sunday night - but unions said they would not go on strike and would give the transit agency one more day to reach a new pact.:
"Union leaders said they were extending the strike deadline - until Monday at midnight - out of courtesy to riders."
"The announcement came after a group of state legislators who had been talking to BART and its unions throughout the day said late Sunday that BART issued a surprise final offer at 4 p.m. that hurt the effort to avoid a strike. The legislators asked the unions not to walk off the job and asked BART to withdraw its offer and continue talking."
Gov. Brown finished his work on bills Sunday night, signining a flurry of measures that included a measure backing the prevailing wage.
From Capitol Weekly's Summer ParkerPerry: "In a major victory for organized labor, Gov. Brown signed into law Sunday night a bill blocking state funds to cities that don’t pay the prevailing wage on public works projects – a measure aimed directly at charter cities, some of which have sought to avoid paying the prevailing wage in order to save money."
"The bill, arguably the most important bill to emerge this year from the Legislature, also limits state funds to cities that have allowed a public works project without the prevailing wage being paid in the last two years."
"The prevailing wage, a pay level derived from a complex formula set by the state, essentially reflects union-level wages, which often are higher than non-union pay. Critics, led by the charter cities and opponents of organized labor, said the prevailing wage restriction was unconstitutional and forced up the cost of public projects."
Gov. Brown, not easy to classify when it comes to predicting how he'll act on bills, is predictably unpredictable.
From News10's John Myers: "Vetoes Remain Rare: In an interview last year, the governor made clear his default position is to allow legislators to, in fact, legislate. "There's something called comity," Brown said in defending his general deference to the 120 members of the Legislature. 2013 was no exception: of the 805 bills that were sent to his desk this year, the governor vetoed only 96. Brown's rejection rate has been noticeably lower than that of his predecessors. Even so, the final weekend batch of decisions saw a rising number of vetoes -- perhaps pushing off the bad news for some legislative sponsors until the bitter end... or probably more likely, a sign that the governor was growing testy at the other things he could have been doing instead of reviewing so many proposed new laws."
"Consistently Inconsistent? Brown has been known to invoke the famous quote of Ralph Waldo Emerson -- namely, that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." And in a manner that both delights his fans and infuriates his critics, the governor again in 2013 proved that policy inconsistencies are seemingly a part of his governing style.
No doubt many will use his last minute decision to sign into law Senate Bill 7, legislation requiring California's charter cities to pay the local prevailing wage on most public works projects or risk losing state funds for construction projects, as an example."
California's alternative energy programs are costly and incomplete, but the expectation -- and hope -- is that they'll grow.
From the LAT's Ralph Vartabedian and Evan Halper: "California is spending nearly $15 million to build 10 hydrogen fueling stations, even though just 227 hydrogen-powered vehicles exist in the state today."
"It's a hefty bet on the future, given that government officials have been trying for nine years, with little success, to get automakers to build more hydrogen cars."
"The project is part of a sprawling but little-known state program that packs a powerful financial punch: It spent $1.6 billion last year on a myriad of energy-efficiency and alternative-energy projects."
Adrift and uncertain, many young people are caught in what only can be described as a new "lost generation."
From Mark Emmons in the Mercury-News: "But as Bay Area counties report the results of their most recent homeless counts, which for the first time were required by the federal government to focus on identifying young people, a worrisome trend has become apparent: the troubling number of homeless under age 25."
"The Santa Clara County census, for instance, found that 17 percent of the total homeless population now consists of young adults and unaccompanied minors. Advocates on the front lines say that's no surprise considering the brutally high jobless rate among young people -- a key contributor to this largely unrecognized problem."
"And the fear is today's youthful, still-optimistic street denizens will spiral into tomorrow's chronically homeless who become a drain on social services for decades to come.
The young man walked the downtown streets, playing the role of tour guide as he pointed out places where he has spent the night during the past three years. That doorway. Next to this parking garage. Dozing against those trees."