In one of the first major policy initiatives of the new legislative session, Calfornia lawmakers are pondering a plan to provide $2 billion in housing for homeless people.
From the LAT's Gale Holland: "State senators jumped into California's homelessness crisis Monday, proposing $2 billion to build or rehabilitate permanent housing for mentally ill people living in the streets."
"Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, speaking with a bipartisan group of elected leaders, also called for $200 million over four years for temporary rent subsidies to bridge the gap until the new housing is completed. Officials estimated the construction funds, combined with federal and local money, could generate 10,000 to 14,000 units for California's 116,000 homeless people, more than 60% of whom live outdoors."
"The funding proposal is the most sweeping from the state in a generation, officials said, and reflects elected leaders’ growing frustration with local politicians, particularly in Los Angeles, who have failed to gain traction in the drive to help the state’s most destitute residents."
Meanwhile, California voters may face a deluge of initiatives on the November 2016 ballot, including a slew of competing tax proposals.
The Chronicle's John Wildemuth tells the tale: "A pair of competing measures to extend 2012’s expiring Proposition 30 tax hikes, a plan to boost the tobacco tax by $2 a pack and an initiative to put additional taxes on property valued at $3 million or more are all out on the street, with supporters working to collect enough signatures to qualify for the ballot."
"While backers of each of the tax measures insist their initiative will stand on its own, there’s concern that the competing cries for more money will provoke a “plague on all your houses” attitude by voters that could endanger all the initiatives."
"When people see the word ‘tax’ on the ballot, they think differently,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, which has sponsored several ballot measures over the years. If there are too many tax measures on the ballot clamoring for attention — and money — “a ‘no’ vote is the default for voters.”
Speaking of the ballot, it turns out that California voters can be asked, after all, for their nonbinding views on the landmark Citizens United case, in which a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court opened the floodgates of corporate and union political cash.
From the Bee's Alexei Koseff: "The California Supreme Court ruled 6-1 on Monday that Proposition 49, a nonbinding query to voters on whether Congress should seek to amend the Constitution to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial Citizens United decision, is constitutional."
"The measure, which was intended for the November 2014 ballot, is no longer eligible for consideration. But lawmakers are now free to pursue an identical inquiry in 2016 – as well as other advisory questions that could similarly inform the pursuit of a federal constitutional amendment."
“As a matter of state law, the Legislature has authority to conduct investigations by reasonable means to inform the exercise of its other powers,” Justice Kathryn M. Werdegar wrote. “We see no evidence the drafters of the California Constitution intended to deprive the Legislature of a tool other state legislatures have long used to ensure they are truly speaking on behalf of their states in the federal constitutional amendment process.”
Southern California drivers, never a pleasant lot, are particularly irritable now: It turns out they are paying a dollar more for gasoline than the average cost for the rest of the nation.
From Kevin Smith in the Daily Bulletin: "The average price for a gallon of regular in Los Angeles County was $3.07 Monday, up 27 cents from a month ago and up nearly 40 cents from the same time last year."
"The Inland Empire isn’t faring any better. The average price in San Bernardino County was $3.01. That was nearly 30 cents more than a month ago and up 38 cents from a year earlier.
By contrast, the average U.S. price for regular was $1.99 a gallon Monday, down 5.3 cents from a month ago and down 20 cents from a year ago."
"Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy.com, tied California’s rising prices to ongoing problems at the ExxonMobil refinery in Torrance. The facility, which typically produces about 10 percent of California’s specially formulated gasoline, has been offline for gas production since an equipment failure caused an explosion there in mid February, injuring four people."
When it comes to football, it seems as if everybody wants to go to L.A. Three teams, unhappy in their home cities, have formally asked the NFL if they can settle in Tinseltown.
From Matthew Artz in the Mercury News: "As expected, the relocation applications from the Raiders, San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Rams came on the first day they could be filed -- and just one week before the NFL's 32 owners are scheduled to meet in Houston to decide which team or teams will be allowed to play in Los Angeles next season."
"The Raiders and Chargers have proposed a joint $1.7 billion stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, while the Rams have a competing $1.8 billion stadium plan in Inglewood."
City officials could not be reached for comment late Monday after the NFL announced receiving the applications. The Raiders posted a three-sentence statement on their website confirming the application had been filed and declaring that "the matter is now in the hands of NFL owners."
Other stories on the proposed moves can be seen here and here.
And now from our "Movie Classics, Bollywood" file comes the tale of the airplane passenger who was watching an illegal flick and was busted by the lead actor in the movie, who just happened to be flying on the same plane. Only in India.
"Kriti Sanon, star of recently-released hit Bollywood film Diwale, said in a Twitter post she was on an airplane when she realized a man sitting next to her was watching a pirated version of the film on a handheld projector."
"Someone watchin pirated version of Dilwale in front of me on phone in the flight! Annoyed!!" Sanon tweeted."
"Sad to [see] the hard work of so many [people being] watched in such pathetic quality! [Please] enjoy films in cinemas," she wrote in a second tweet.
Both tweets bore the hashtag "#SayNoToPiracy."
The passenger wasn't impressed ....
