A proposal by the mayor of San Jose to cut the costs of public pensions statewide is getting mixed reviews from the Legislature's nonpartisan budget adviser.
From Ed Mendel in Calpensions.com: "The analyst said this part of the initiative has the potential to reduce “hundreds of millions to billions of dollars per year in state and local government costs,” depending on how much retirement benefits are reduced and salary and other benefits are increased."
"A lesser-known part of the initiative aims to strengthen retirement benefits by requiring governments to propose, but not enact, annual plans for fully funding pensions and retiree health care in an unusually short 15 years."
"The analyst said annual costs could increase “hundreds of millions to billions” over the next two decades for governments “choosing to increase contributions for unfunded liabilities, more than offset by retirement cost savings in future decades.”
Gov. Brown is raising money hand-over-fist for his reelection effort, and the campaign cash includes $37,000 from a casino he visited earlier this month.
From ther Bee's David Siders: "The donation, from Hawaiian Gardens Casino, was received last week and reported Saturday. Brown traveled to Los Angeles County to speak at a groundbreaking ceremony at the casino on Dec. 2. The casino previously donated $12,500 to Brown's re-election campaign and $25,000 to his ballot initiative last year to raise taxes, Proposition 30."
"The administration has said the casino expansion will create hundreds of local jobs, and Brown said at the event, "I come here today because I want to recognize a family and a business that is contributing to the local community."
A review of test scores shows that California is failing in its efforts to improve the performance of Latinos, who are poised to outnumber whites.
From the AP's Martha Mendoza: "In California, 52 percent of the state's 6 million school children are Hispanic, just 26 percent are white. And Hispanic students in general are getting worse educations than their white peers. Their class sizes are larger, course offerings are fewer and funding is lower."
"The consequence is obvious: lower achievement."
Just 33 percent of Hispanic students are proficient in reading in third grade, compared with 64 percent of white students. By high school, one in four Hispanic 10th graders in California cannot pass the high school math exit exam, compared with 1 out of 10 white students."
And while overall test scores across the state have gone up in the past decade, the achievement gap hasn't changed.
Officials in California's farm belt say they are meeting the feds' demands to clean up the air, but the EPA disagrees.
From the LAT's Tony Barboza: "The dispute boiled over last month, when Sadredin and other local leaders declared that smog no longer exceeds a federal health standard for ozone. They urged the EPA to approve the finding so they can end fees they began charging drivers three years ago."
"But federal regulators are pushing back."
"The EPA says that readings at two of the most polluted air quality monitoring sites are flawed and do not prove that the region's air has been cleaned up enough to reach the agency's 1979 standard for ozone. The EPA says that it will hold the San Joaquin Valley to the same standards as the rest of the nation and has asked the district for more data to back up its contention."
Water is getting scarcer, although to some it's not immediately apparent.
From the San Gabriel Valley Tribune's Steve Scauzillo: "Los Angeles is slouching toward its driest year in history. But the dubious milestone won’t turn lawns in Beverly Hills brown or cause Angelenos to take military showers."
"Despite Thursday’s rain showers, forecasters predict this will be the third straight year of drought. Yet the lack of normal rainfall amounts has about as much effect on the daily lives of Southern Californians as the civil war in Syria."
“Unless you are a cattle rancher in Texas or a farmer in Central California, it is pretty invisible,” said Bill Patzert, climatologist from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge."
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Happy Holidays!