September 22, 2016   REVENUE/TAX California voters will decide hundreds of tax and bond measures (Sacramento Bee) On Tuesday, the California Taxpayers Association released a lengthy report on 228 local tax measures and another 193 local bond measures, totaling $32 billion, that would require property tax increases to service. Tax or bond measures will be on the ballot in 50 of the state’s 58 counties. Cumulatively, Cal-Tax says, the local tax measures would generate more than $3 billion a year, a roughly 3 percent increase in the approximately $100 billion in local taxes now levied. More than two-thirds of the new revenue would be sales taxes, Cal-Tax calculated, which means they would be paid by everyone buying taxable goods in the city or county seeking voter approval. In some, they would push state and local sales taxes to or even beyond the 10 percent mark. Other proposals include parcel taxes (a form of property tax), utility user taxes, hotel taxes and, interestingly, 37 measures to tax marijuana sales. PROPOSITIONS Walnut Creek passes resolution opposing Prop 64 (KTVU) The Walnut Creek City Council on Tuesday approved a resolution that expresses the city's opposition to Proposition 64, which seeks to legalize recreational marijuana in California. Walnut Creek Police Chief Thomas Chaplin told council members that he is concerned about public safety if voters approve the ballot measure in November. He said police in Colorado and Washington, where pot is legal, have seen impacts on public safety.   TRANSPORTATION / INFRASTRUCTURE San Diego roads better, but still need improvement (San Diego Union-Tribune) A comprehensive new assessment shows the overall condition of San Diego’s streets has significantly improved since 2011, but that only 60 percent of city streets can be classified as in “good” condition. Sharply increased spending on street repair has pushed the average condition of the city’s roughly 3,000 miles of streets above the “good” threshold, which is defined as a rating of 70 or above. The average condition of San Diego streets the last time they were surveyed in 2011 was 58.9. That increased to 71.5 during the latest survey, which Mayor Kevin Faulconer will unveil Tuesday afternoon.   HOUSING Does San Diego need rent control? (San Diego Union-Tribune) With rent prices in San Diego County rising 8.4 percent in a year, a local group is marching Thursday with the goal of bringing rent control to the San Diego region. San Diego Tenants United says the average rent in the county — $1,743 a month — is too much for working people and, despite the negative connotation of rent control, they say a new 21st Century model is needed. Rent control was a major issue in California in the 1980s, especially for mobile home parks, but is typically denounced by economists because it can lead to a reduction in the quality and quantity of housing available.   Santa Rosa dedicates more special tax revenue to housing (Press Democrat) Santa Rosa has agreed to increase the amount of revenue it dedicates every year to homeless services and affordable housing production from a special real estate tax. The move follows a stinging critique earlier this year by a downtown developer who charged that the city had exacerbated its current housing crisis by diverting millions meant for affordable housing. In recent years the city has set aside 20 percent of the revenue it receives from every real estate transaction, known as the real property transfer tax. The money goes to help build housing and to support homeless services.   California's housing crisis isn't going away anytime soon. (Los Angeles Times) The state's average price for a home is $466,900 — more than double the national average. But Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to make it easier to build more homes died last month in the state Legislature after failing to receive any lawmaker support. The plan would have wiped away some restrictions on building if developers set aside some units for low-income residents, which would have ultimately increased new construction in the hopes of driving down costs.   MARIJUANA Marijuana tax on Fillmore ballot (Ventura County Star) Voters in Fillmore will be asked in November whether the city should tax the sale and cultivation of marijuana, even though selling and growing it for any reason is illegal in the city and will remain so into the foreseeable future. But city leaders said they wanted to have a tax mechanism in place in case the council changes its mind later, especially if Californians vote Nov. 8 to legalize recreational marijuana.   SLO County adopts urgent rules on marijuana cultivation (The Tribune) With a goal of limiting the number of new marijuana grows in California Valley, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors passed urgency rules Tuesday banning any new cultivation of marijuana in the unincorporated areas of the county — but allowing existing sites to continue if they can prove the plants were under cultivation as of Aug. 23. The ordinance, which passed on a 4-1 vote with Supervisor Adam Hill dissenting, would require the existing sites throughout the county to meet certain criteria to continue, such as having at least a 6-foot-tall fence to enclose the cultivation area. They would also be required to register with the county within 45 days. It contains exemptions for qualified patients or primary caregivers who also meet certain criteria. ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY Governor Jerry Brown signs historic climate legislation in Long Beach (Long Beach Post) California Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 1383 into law in Long Beach yesterday, a bill introduced by State Senator Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, which establishes the strongest restrictions on super pollutants than any other legislation in the country. Specifically, the law restricts black carbon, fluorinated gases and methane—all super pollutants, which could help cut the projected rate of global warming by half in 2050.   Protests filed over the details of proposed Diablo Canyon shutdown (San Diego Union Tribune) It's been less than three months since Pacific Gas & Electric, along with an assortment of groups including environmentalists, announced its intention to shut down the last remaining nuclear power plant in California — Diablo Canyon. Now the protests have been filed. And the groups complaining range from backers of nuclear energy who want to keep the plant open to green activists eager to see Diablo's demise but who don't like some of the particulars of the joint proposal PG&E has filed with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

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