September 16, 2016   PROPOSITIONS The problem Proposition 53 aims to solve is speculative, but the damage it could inflict is very real (Los Angeles Times) Proposition 53 would require that California voters grant their approval (by a simple majority) before the state can issue revenue bonds for certain types of blockbuster projects. The measure would apply to revenue bonds worth at least $2 billion issued or sold by the state for any project “financed, owned, operated or managed” by the state, including those done by agencies in which the state has a role. Dubbed the “No Blank Checks” initiative by its proponents, Proposition 53 presents itself as a safeguard against unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats running up state residents’ costs through revenue-bond issues for bloated construction projects. But it’s founded on an exceedingly shaky premise, and it’s written so broadly that it could give state voters veto power over large but purely local projects in which they have little or no stake.   TRANSPORTATION / INFRASTRUCTURE Tech buses proliferating throughout Bay Area (East Bay Times) On any given day, more than 800 “tech buses” negotiate narrow city streets and congested freeways to cart employees to offices throughout the Bay Area, according to a first-of-its-kind survey released Wednesday by a regional transportation planning agency. There are so many of the large, privately owned shuttles operating in the Bay Area that if they all fell under a single agency, they would be the seventh-largest transportation provider in the region in terms of ridership, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which released the study in conjunction with the Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored advocacy organization. All told, the 35 shuttle services included in the survey collectively carried some 34,000 passengers a day, or more than 9.6 million people in 2014, the last year for which data was available.   WATER / DROUGHT An era of limits: California proposes steering more water to fish, less to farms, cities (Sacramento Bee) The proposal by staff members at the State Water Resources Control Board is yet another effort to improve the ecosystem of one of California’s most overused river systems, where flows sometimes drop to a comparative trickle. Overhauling the San Joaquin system is sure to add new drama to the conflicts over California’s stretched water supply, a situation that has been complicated by the onset of drought five years ago. The five-person board will gather input from farmers, environmentalists and others before voting on a plan, likely early next year.   New state water plan may force tighter conservation restrictions (San Francisco Chronicle) San Francisco faces potentially drastic cutbacks in its water supply, as state regulators proposed leaving more water in three Northern California rivers Thursday to protect wildlife in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta estuary, the linchpin of California’s water supply. The draft rules by the State Water Resources Control Board would raise the amount of water into the Merced, Stanislaus and Tuolumne rivers to 30 to 50 percent of what would naturally flow in them. That means less water would be available for urban users and farmers in the northern San Joaquin Valley, compounding their need to conserve.   HOUSING Low inventory keeps Sacramento-area home prices high; sales up 3.5 percent (Sacramento Bee) Home prices in the Sacramento region have increased by double digits over a year’s time, driven by low inventory, according to Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Sacramento. Coldwell said the median sale price of a home in Sacramento, El Dorado and Placer counties last month was $345,000, up 11 percent from a median of $311,000 in August 2015. However, rising costs may be cooling off as last month’s median was unchanged from July’s median of $345,000.   Perseverance pays off for veteran housing (Ventura County Star) The city of Ventura is one step closer to adding more housing for local veterans, with its move to take back east-side land it had given to the state for the project. It has been a long, uphill, bureaucratic slog to get to this point, and the deal is not done yet.   SF housing projects get help from city (San Francisco Gate) Four affordable housing projects scattered among San Francisco neighborhoods will receive city money to jump-start development, the first allocation of $310 million in affordable housing funds city voters approved in November. The projects will create 529 housing units in the Excelsior, the Mission, Forest Hills and the Western Addition. The target audience is varied as well — the projects have units for seniors, families and formerly homeless persons. The funding — aimed at predevelopment costs — comes in at just under $11 million.   MARIJUANA If marijuana is legalized, where would $1 billion in new tax revenue go? (Orange County Register) Supporters of legal recreational marijuana use point to Colorado, which legalized cannabis for adults in 2012. There, taxes and fees on weed are helping to build schools, repair roads and stabilize city budgets. But critics of Proposition 64, California’s legalization initiative on the November ballot, point out tax revenue from legal weed would be dispersed much differently here. Proponents acknowledge California’s measure includes key differences in how pot funds could be used. But they add that local governments and students still can benefit from the measure.   ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY California's dairy industry knows how to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, but can it afford to? (Sacramento Bee) Today, many more California dairies are trying to figure out how they, too, can cobble together enough money to buy their own digesters. They anticipate regulations that would compel them to slash methane emissions by at least 40 percent by 2030, the target set by a bill awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature. Hitting that target would require about 200 of California’s 1,400 dairies to join the Van Warmerdams in building a digester, said Michael Boccadoro, president for the advocacy group Dairy Cares.   CITY IN THE SPOTLIGHT L.A. Council President Herb Wesson names himself temporary overseer of Valley district (Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson said Thursday that he has chosen himself to temporarily manage the San Fernando Valley district that had been represented by Felipe Fuentes. Wesson, whose own council district stretches from Koreatown to South Los Angeles, will oversee services in the northeast Valley for the next six to eight months, depending on when the contest to replace Fuentes is decided. LEGAL FPPC approves fine for city official who remodeled kitchen with campaign cash (Sacramento Bee) The Fair Political Practices Commission approved a $55,000 settlement deal Thursday with Tina Baca Del Rio, a Commerce councilwoman who failed to file numerous financial disclosure forms with the state and used her campaign fund to cover expenses for her kitchen remodel. The case first appeared on the political watchdog’s monthly agenda in July with a proposed $104,000 fine on 24 counts of violating California’s Political Reform Act. Baca Del Rio had previously ignored notices from the FPPC, but showed up at the agency’s offices the day of the July meeting to negotiate a deal.

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