November 21, 2016   CALIFORNIA BUDGET Brown probably won’t leave budget deficit, but future cloudy (Sacramento Bee) California’s gubernatorial transitions have included a less-than-stellar tradition in recent decades – outgoing governors leaving budget deficits to successors. The current governor, Jerry Brown, started the syndrome in 1983 when he departed after his first gubernatorial stint and left a $1.5 billion budget hole – big money in those days – for Republican George Deukmejian. The state had shouldered burdens for schools and local governments after the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, but simultaneously, Brown and legislators cut income taxes to comport with voters’ anti-tax mood, creating operational deficits that had exhausted reserves by 1983. Statewide TRANSPORTATION / INFRASTRUCTURE Trump's $1 trillion plan hits D.C. speed bumps (Politico) It was supposed to be a big, beautiful infrastructure bill. But President-elect Donald Trump’s pitch for a $1 trillion upgrade of the nation’s roads, bridges, tunnels and airports is already running into potholes as it meets reality in Washington. The overwhelming sticking point, as always, is how to pay for it. Trump's advisers are so far floating the same kinds of financing schemes that Congress has batted around for years with little success, including proposals to lure private investors or reap a revenue windfall through an overhaul of the tax code. Key lawmakers say they’re in the dark on how Trump’s plan would work — with some conservatives simply hoping that his call for massive tax breaks will provide an economic jolt that makes the hard spending decisions easier. Nationwide   HOMELESSNESS/POVERTY Homelessness declining overall, but spiking in San Francisco, San Jose (NBC Bay Area) Homelessness is declining overall in the U.S., but there are cities in California – including San Jose and San Francisco – where homelessness is on the rise, according to new data from the federal government. A lack of affordable housing and growing problems with opioid addiction are fueling the problem in many cities in the West, experts said Thursday. San Jose, San Francisco   Churches open doors to SF homeless in winter shelter program (SF Gate) Dozens of additional homeless residents of San Francisco will be able to get out of the rain and cold after the city’s faith community came together Sunday, opened church doors and began cooking meals for the needy. The winter shelter program, for which volunteers from 40 local congregations cook and serve two meals a day, got under way just in time to shelter indigent people from the pounding rain that engulfed Northern California. Sixty beds were made available for homeless men Sunday in the basement auditorium at St. Boniface Church at 133 Golden Gate Ave., where meals will be served every night. It is one of four places of worship that will be opening up space over the winter months, including basements and pews, in the 28th year of the shelter program. San Francisco PENSIONS CalPERS, CalSTRS considering more rate increases (CalPensions) The state’s two largest public pension systems never recovered from huge investment losses during the deep recession and stock market crash in 2008. CalPERS lost about $100 billion and CalSTRS about $68 billion. Now after a lengthy bull market, most experts are predicting a decade of weak investment returns, well below the annual average earnings of 7.5 percent that CalPERS and CalSTRS expect to pay two-thirds of their future pension costs. The two systems are still seriously underfunded, CalPERS at 68 percent and CalSTRS at 65 percent. This is not money in the bank. It’s an estimate of the future pension costs covered by expected employer-employee contributions and the investment earnings forecast. Last week, the CalPERS and CalSTRS boards got separate staff briefings on how the “maturing” of the two big retirement systems creates new funding difficulties. Both are nearing a time when there will be more retirees in the system than active workers. Statewide   JOBS/ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT California unemployment is stalled at 5.5 percent; here’s why (Sacramento Bee) California employers added 31,200 more jobs to the state’s economy in October, although the unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent, state officials said Friday. The Employment Development Department said October marked the fourth straight month that the unemployment rate hasn’t changed. Although job growth has remained fairly strong, employers aren’t creating jobs quickly enough as more Californians stream into the labor market. An additional 90,000 state residents entered the labor market in October, according to the EDD. Sacramento’s regional unemployment rate went up a tenth of a point, to 5.2 percent, although the area added 2,500 jobs during October. The public sector added 6,600 jobs, with public schools doing the bulk of the hiring as the academic year got into full swing. Retailers added 2,100 jobs, but the construction industry began its seasonal cutback by eliminating 3,100 jobs. Statewide MARIJUANA Sacramento region scrambles to regulate pot growers after passage of Prop. 64 (Sacramento Bee) Cities across the Sacramento region have been scrambling to regulate marijuana following passage this month of Proposition 64, which legalizes adult recreational use of pot in California. West Sacramento on Wednesday imposed a temporary ban on outdoor cultivation and sales of recreational marijuana. Other cities acted just before or after the election, enacting similar measures that control marijuana sales and growth. West Sacramento’s 45-day moratorium gives the city time to study practices elsewhere before approving permanent rules, officials said during Wednesday’s council meeting. Mayor Christopher Cabaldon said the council respects that voters in West Sacramento passed Proposition 64 by a wide margin. Cities in the County of Sacramento   CITY IN THE SPOTLIGHT He started 14 years ago as Sacramento’s parking chief – now he’s the city manager (Sacramento Bee) Assistant city manager Howard Chan officially takes over Saturday as interim city manager of Sacramento, replacing John Shirey. Chan will immediately oversee the city’s nearly 6,000 full, part-time and seasonal employees and run day-to-day operations. Under the city charter, the city manager has power over daily decisions and reports to the City Council. Chan said one of his first priorities will be hiring a new police chief. Current chief Sam Somers Jr. is retiring in December, and the city is holding public forums to gather input on a new chief and police reform proposals. Sacramento

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