I can't even imagine how much it would cost to retrofit the entire grid.
Or even just the vulnerable parts. Maybe its less than I think, but I don't even know how to start making that estimate.
I mean, this blackout is projected to cause a billion dollars in lost revenue/damages, so there's a pretty heavy cost of not doing anything, as well. Plus, the rate of occurrence of these kinds of conditions is only going to get more frequent with climate change.
Of course, PG&E is fine with dumping the damages onto its consumers instead of eating another fire on its own. So hey, maybe that's their idea.
Like @akajaybay said, I would find this a lot easier to swallow if it was a stop-gap measure with a clear plan underway to modernize the grid. But I'm just not seeing that from the company.
(I'm grumpy because I've been without power for 12 hours so far and know I'm gonna have to throw out most of my fridge by the end of this.)
Welp. So much for that plan. I mean, you can't really point fingers to blame just yet for this one, but... let's just say a lot of people are watching and are on high alert.
Schools & Communities First, the group behind the initiative, already has qualified a split roll measure for the 2020 ballot. But backers are seeking to qualify a revised initiative to replace it, which meant the attorney general needed to write a new title and summary.
The summary for the original initiative, which Becerra released in February 2018, said that it “requires certain commercial and industrial real property to be taxed based on fair-market value. Dedicates portion of any increased revenue to education and local service.”
The new summary emphasizes the benefits over the taxes.
The revised initiative “increases funding for public schools, community colleges and local government services by changing tax assessment of commercial and industrial property,” Becerra wrote.
It’s a change that could make a difference to voters concerned about new taxes, Lapsley said. He argued that a new title wasn’t even necessary.
“There are only minor modifications,” Lapsley said, with revisions to the technical details of the effective dates, language changes to ensure every school district shares in the estimated $12 billion windfall from the tax changes, and provisions to ensure that more small businesses aren’t hit by the new taxes.
Gavin putting PG&E on fucking blast rn. Specifically calling them out on the mismanagement and greed that cost lives in Camp.
I hope to see more politician outrage over this. A sizable swath of the state just got through a second outage, and they're already planning another one starting tomorrow.
I keep seeing PGE's president responding to people's criticism by talking about how they're going to improve the PSPS system, but he's strangely silent on any plans to make PSPS outages unnecessary.
California state government on Friday stopped buying gas-powered sedans as part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The directive by the state’s Department of General Services, which oversees purchasing and contracts for California state government, exempts public safety vehicles. The department did not respond by deadline to requests for clarification about the order’s extent.
The new rules announced Friday also require that starting next year state agencies only buy vehicles from manufacturers that recognize California’s ability to set its own air pollution standards, a power the Trump administration is trying to revoke.
California is challenging that attempt in court and has struck deals with several car manufacturers who say they will comply with California’s standards in spite of the Trump administration’s efforts to roll them back.
Honda, Ford, BMW and Volkswagen have sided with California in the disagreement.
General Motors, Toyota, Mazda and Fiat Chrysler are aligning with the Trump administration in its attempt to under California’s regulatory power.
“Car makers that have chosen to be on the wrong side of history will be on the losing end of California’s buying power,” Newsom said in a written statement. “In court, and in the marketplace, California is standing up to those who put short-term profits ahead of our health and our future.”
Statewide rent control is coming next year. Caps are 5%+local inflation or 10%, whichever is lower.
It's applied retroactively to this past March, so if you've had some large increases, you should see rent reduce in Jan. Link below is your local calculator to tell.
Statewide rent control is coming next year. Caps are 5%+local inflation or 10%, whichever is lower.
It's applied retroactively to this past March, so if you've had some large increases, you should see rent reduce in Jan. Link below is your local calculator to tell.
I don't think this will really do anything. A %8-%10 yearly increase in rent costs is insane and I can't imagine anyone could pay that in a sustainable way. Random googling says that %2-%3 is the average amount rent increases per year which seems much more reasonable. I guess this stops a landlord from deciding that the rent is now 1 billion dollars to get rid of undesirable tenants which isn't bad but it's not rent control as implemented elsewhere.
Yeah, the ceiling feels so high it's designed to just stop rampant abuse.
Of course, there's already people out in force commenting that their landlords/landlords they know are planning on increasing rents annually now because there's no way they can't now because, since they're capped, if the market moves too quickly they'd become unprofitable. Which....sure.
It's kind of shocking to me that they need to use over 6000 employees and 40+ helicopters to visually inspect everything for damage.
I guess I just assumed that there would be some sort of system in place that could automatically detect continuity errors.
Well it's not just continuity issues it is inspecting for tree/bush limb issues this needs to be done every year and apparently PG&E was not doing the basic maintenance. So you get over grown lines + high winds = lots of random fires/power lines dropping.
Yea 10 percent is nuts if you live somewhere multiple years in a row, but at the very least it prevents getting an obscene increase from one year to the next. It gives you some time to figure out your next move.
Yeah, the ceiling feels so high it's designed to just stop rampant abuse.
Of course, there's already people out in force commenting that their landlords/landlords they know are planning on increasing rents annually now because there's no way they can't now because, since they're capped, if the market moves too quickly they'd become unprofitable. Which....sure.
Back when I was renting, I never had a year without a rent increase. Sure anecdotes don't mean much, but I doubt there are too many landlords out there that don't increase rent every year already.
Yeah, the ceiling feels so high it's designed to just stop rampant abuse.
Of course, there's already people out in force commenting that their landlords/landlords they know are planning on increasing rents annually now because there's no way they can't now because, since they're capped, if the market moves too quickly they'd become unprofitable. Which....sure.
Back when I was renting, I never had a year without a rent increase. Sure anecdotes don't mean much, but I doubt there are too many landlords out there that don't increase rent every year already.
When I rented, I actually had a number of years when they kept mine flat, but that was through the whole "bubble burst market crash" thing.
When I left, it got a larger-than 10% increase to get to market price.
Yeah, the ceiling feels so high it's designed to just stop rampant abuse.
Of course, there's already people out in force commenting that their landlords/landlords they know are planning on increasing rents annually now because there's no way they can't now because, since they're capped, if the market moves too quickly they'd become unprofitable. Which....sure.
Back when I was renting, I never had a year without a rent increase. Sure anecdotes don't mean much, but I doubt there are too many landlords out there that don't increase rent every year already.
When I rented, I actually had a number of years when they kept mine flat, but that was through the whole "bubble burst market crash" thing.
When I left, it got a larger-than 10% increase to get to market price.
Yeah, when some of my family inherited an apartment building, they just decided to sell it rather than try to deal with the kind of dancing around rate increases for multiple years it would take to get it back to the (admittedly silly) market rate
And we have a new development in l'affaire Hunter, as he pleads guilty:
GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter will plead guilty in federal court on Tuesday after denying for more than a year that he illegally misused campaign funds.
Hunter told TV station KUSI in San Diego that "Tomorrow, on Tuesday, I'm going to change my plea to guilty."
Hunter said he wanted to avoid a trial "for my kids. I think it would be really tough for them."
The California Republican didn't say definitively that he was resigning, but the former Marine officer did mention that "It's been a privilege to serve in Congress. I think we've done a lot of great things for the nation."
The Hunters have been a dynasty in southern California politics for decades. Hunter or his father, Duncan Hunter, Sr., have held that San Diego seat since 1980. The elder Hunter, a hardline military hawk, even ran briefly for president in 2008 before withdrawing.
When asked what would happen to his congressional seat, Hunter added: "I'm confident the transition will be a good one."
Margaret Hunter, the congressman's wife, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misuse campaign funds back in June, a move that put enormous pressure on him to find a deal with federal prosecutors.
Translation: Hunter doesn't want his dirty laundry aired in public in a trial.
Yeah, the ceiling feels so high it's designed to just stop rampant abuse.
Of course, there's already people out in force commenting that their landlords/landlords they know are planning on increasing rents annually now because there's no way they can't now because, since they're capped, if the market moves too quickly they'd become unprofitable. Which....sure.
Back when I was renting, I never had a year without a rent increase. Sure anecdotes don't mean much, but I doubt there are too many landlords out there that don't increase rent every year already.
When I rented, I actually had a number of years when they kept mine flat, but that was through the whole "bubble burst market crash" thing.
When I left, it got a larger-than 10% increase to get to market price.
The rent on my house is pretty low right now - probably a couple hundred bucks under market - and I think I dodged a rent increase this last year because the landlord has had bad luck with renters bailing after a year and didn't want to jinx it. It's nice to know that I don't have to worry about rent being stable for a few years and then suddenly jumping $500 or something.
I think even if this law only prevents the most egregious cases of rent hikes, at least it's doing that.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
As a sidenote, it says "qualifying rental units," which if it's the same as existing city rental control things, I think limits it to properties built before 1995, but don't quote me on that. So it probably has even less impact than most people think, and shouldn't dissuade new properties being built, in that sense.
And we have a new development in l'affaire Hunter, as he pleads guilty:
GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter will plead guilty in federal court on Tuesday after denying for more than a year that he illegally misused campaign funds.
Hunter told TV station KUSI in San Diego that "Tomorrow, on Tuesday, I'm going to change my plea to guilty."
Hunter said he wanted to avoid a trial "for my kids. I think it would be really tough for them."
The California Republican didn't say definitively that he was resigning, but the former Marine officer did mention that "It's been a privilege to serve in Congress. I think we've done a lot of great things for the nation."
The Hunters have been a dynasty in southern California politics for decades. Hunter or his father, Duncan Hunter, Sr., have held that San Diego seat since 1980. The elder Hunter, a hardline military hawk, even ran briefly for president in 2008 before withdrawing.
When asked what would happen to his congressional seat, Hunter added: "I'm confident the transition will be a good one."
Margaret Hunter, the congressman's wife, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misuse campaign funds back in June, a move that put enormous pressure on him to find a deal with federal prosecutors.
Translation: Hunter doesn't want his dirty laundry aired in public in a trial.
Adios, Representative Hunter (R-Big Vape).
Come on East County, you deserve better than someone that’s going to continue the Hunters’ terrible legacy
As a sidenote, it says "qualifying rental units," which if it's the same as existing city rental control things, I think limits it to properties built before 1995, but don't quote me on that. So it probably has even less impact than most people think, and shouldn't dissuade new properties being built, in that sense.
This bill is getting less and less exciting.
... at least it... probably won't egg my house?
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
And we have a new development in l'affaire Hunter, as he pleads guilty:
GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter will plead guilty in federal court on Tuesday after denying for more than a year that he illegally misused campaign funds.
Hunter told TV station KUSI in San Diego that "Tomorrow, on Tuesday, I'm going to change my plea to guilty."
Hunter said he wanted to avoid a trial "for my kids. I think it would be really tough for them."
The California Republican didn't say definitively that he was resigning, but the former Marine officer did mention that "It's been a privilege to serve in Congress. I think we've done a lot of great things for the nation."
The Hunters have been a dynasty in southern California politics for decades. Hunter or his father, Duncan Hunter, Sr., have held that San Diego seat since 1980. The elder Hunter, a hardline military hawk, even ran briefly for president in 2008 before withdrawing.
When asked what would happen to his congressional seat, Hunter added: "I'm confident the transition will be a good one."
Margaret Hunter, the congressman's wife, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misuse campaign funds back in June, a move that put enormous pressure on him to find a deal with federal prosecutors.
Translation: Hunter doesn't want his dirty laundry aired in public in a trial.
Adios, Representative Hunter (R-Big Vape).
Come on East County, you deserve better than someone that’s going to continue the Hunters’ terrible legacy
It's been a while, but I don't think they do?
Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly but the white privilege runs very strong. It's one of those places that passes laws to keep brown people from opening restaurants.
SFHs and condos with non-corporate owners are exempted from rent control. Feeling a little like politicians don't want to hurt their real estate side hustles.
And we have a new development in l'affaire Hunter, as he pleads guilty:
GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter will plead guilty in federal court on Tuesday after denying for more than a year that he illegally misused campaign funds.
Hunter told TV station KUSI in San Diego that "Tomorrow, on Tuesday, I'm going to change my plea to guilty."
Hunter said he wanted to avoid a trial "for my kids. I think it would be really tough for them."
The California Republican didn't say definitively that he was resigning, but the former Marine officer did mention that "It's been a privilege to serve in Congress. I think we've done a lot of great things for the nation."
The Hunters have been a dynasty in southern California politics for decades. Hunter or his father, Duncan Hunter, Sr., have held that San Diego seat since 1980. The elder Hunter, a hardline military hawk, even ran briefly for president in 2008 before withdrawing.
When asked what would happen to his congressional seat, Hunter added: "I'm confident the transition will be a good one."
Margaret Hunter, the congressman's wife, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misuse campaign funds back in June, a move that put enormous pressure on him to find a deal with federal prosecutors.
Translation: Hunter doesn't want his dirty laundry aired in public in a trial.
Adios, Representative Hunter (R-Big Vape).
Come on East County, you deserve better than someone that’s going to continue the Hunters’ terrible legacy
It's been a while, but I don't think they do?
Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly but the white privilege runs very strong. It's one of those places that passes laws to keep brown people from opening restaurants.
Former Rep. Darrell Issa, former San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio and state Sen. Brian Jones all announced they would run against Hunter, who barely survived his 2018 reelection campaign against Democratic challenger Ammar Campa-Najjar.
Campa-Najjar is once again vying for the now-open seat. He said Hunter’s change of plea will improve his chances of winning in the March primary and the November general election.
“We are all ready to move past this dark cloud of scandal,” Campa-Najjar said by telephone. “I look forward to restoring some integrity and dignity to this district.”
daveNYCWhy universe hate Waspinator?Registered Userregular
The last rent increase numbers under NYC's rent stabilization system were 0.5 to 2.75 percent for one-year leases and 1.5 to 3.75 percent for two-year leases. NYC isn't know for having a reasonable rental market where costs are under control, so I don't think a law that allows a 5% to 10% increase is going to have a big impact.
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
And we have a new development in l'affaire Hunter, as he pleads guilty:
GOP Rep. Duncan Hunter will plead guilty in federal court on Tuesday after denying for more than a year that he illegally misused campaign funds.
Hunter told TV station KUSI in San Diego that "Tomorrow, on Tuesday, I'm going to change my plea to guilty."
Hunter said he wanted to avoid a trial "for my kids. I think it would be really tough for them."
The California Republican didn't say definitively that he was resigning, but the former Marine officer did mention that "It's been a privilege to serve in Congress. I think we've done a lot of great things for the nation."
The Hunters have been a dynasty in southern California politics for decades. Hunter or his father, Duncan Hunter, Sr., have held that San Diego seat since 1980. The elder Hunter, a hardline military hawk, even ran briefly for president in 2008 before withdrawing.
When asked what would happen to his congressional seat, Hunter added: "I'm confident the transition will be a good one."
Margaret Hunter, the congressman's wife, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misuse campaign funds back in June, a move that put enormous pressure on him to find a deal with federal prosecutors.
Translation: Hunter doesn't want his dirty laundry aired in public in a trial.
Adios, Representative Hunter (R-Big Vape).
Come on East County, you deserve better than someone that’s going to continue the Hunters’ terrible legacy
It's been a while, but I don't think they do?
Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly but the white privilege runs very strong. It's one of those places that passes laws to keep brown people from opening restaurants.
Former Rep. Darrell Issa, former San Diego Councilman Carl DeMaio and state Sen. Brian Jones all announced they would run against Hunter, who barely survived his 2018 reelection campaign against Democratic challenger Ammar Campa-Najjar.
Campa-Najjar is once again vying for the now-open seat. He said Hunter’s change of plea will improve his chances of winning in the March primary and the November general election.
“We are all ready to move past this dark cloud of scandal,” Campa-Najjar said by telephone. “I look forward to restoring some integrity and dignity to this district.”
Ha fuck, the wife just started considering Temecula as a place to move to, which is in this district
The GOP's death in California at the hands of the national party continues.
California’s Republican Party is getting even smaller.
The super-minority in the Legislature has lost another state lawmaker, as former Assembly Republican leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley has decided to run for re-election in 2020 with no party preference.
“Instead of focusing on solutions for the big problems that we’ve got, we focused on winning elections,” Mayes said. “For me, I’m at the point in my life where I’m done with gamesmanship.”
He’s the second Republican state lawmaker to defect from the party this year, following Assemblyman Brian Maienschein of San Diego, who became a Democrat in January.
Mayes has tried to change the direction of the party in liberal California by forming an organization for moderate Republicans called “New Way California.” Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is the most prominent member of the group, who told Republicans at a March New Way event, “If you take your guidelines just from the party, it is deadly.”
Mayes has often spoken critically of President Donald Trump and voiced his support for a more moderate set of policies.
“It’s something I’ve been giving quite a bit of thought to,” Mayes said of his decision to leave the party. “Really simply: It’s because of my frustration with the way our political system is working today. The political discord in this country is tearing us apart. Unfortunately, all politics is no longer local. It’s national.”
...
In a statement, the California Republican Party Board of Directors said it has unanimously rescinded its endorsement of Mayes, which was granted after the lawmaker’s staff requested it on Oct. 22.
...
The party has just one day to find someone to run against Mayes.
Moderate Republican who has been trying to push the state party in a direction opposite that of the national party to better reflect the state and have a greater likelihood of getting people elected, gets disgusted, leaves the party to run as NPP, and does so giving the state party one day to find someone to run against him and make the ballot with their endorsement, kinda as a middle finger.
“California is leading the way to a clean energy future,” said Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. “13 years ago, we set a huge goal: to build a million solar roofs in our state by 2019. Republicans and Democrats came together behind a policy that would be successful years after we all left office — it wouldn’t be ready for our re-election campaigns — because we understood that big, worthwhile goals were more important than politics. Today, we celebrate the vision and the hardworking Californians that made a million solar roofs a reality.”
Credit where due to Schwarzenegger for getting this ball rolling.
The benefits of the Million Solar Roofs Initiative exceeded expectations. The initiative’s goal was to build 3 gigawatts of rooftop solar throughout the state. The program met its goal in 2015, ahead of schedule, and the market has continued to grow. Today, California consumers have installed nearly 9 gigawatts of local solar energy, three-fold the original goal, thanks to the successful transformation brought about by the Million Solar Roofs Initiative launched in 2006 with Senate Bill 1, authored by former state senator Kevin Murray (D-Culver City). Those 9 gigawatts of solar energy — the size equivalent of six large natural gas power plants — generate more than 13 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity each year avoiding 22 million tons of CO2, 16,000 tons of smog-forming pollutants, over 350 billion cubic feet of natural gas and bypassing expensive and aging utility infrastructure.
(Now, that 9 gigawatts is only theoretically possible at peak sun in clear weather for the whole state, but still)
As per usual, I'm just picking some out (mostly ones I think are good) but not everyone's articles are up, so there'll be multiple posts.
SB 3: Minimum wage
Another pay hike is on the way for minimum wage workers. The minimum wage in California goes up by one dollar to $12 an hour for workers at companies with 25 or fewer employees and to $13 an hour for workers at larger companies.
SB 188: Hairstyles
California becomes the first state to ban workplace and school discrimination based on a person's natural hairstyle or hair texture. Protected hairstyles include braids, twists and locks.
AB 51: Arbitration agreements
Starting January 1, workers can't be forced into mandatory arbitration by an employer. The law bans mandatory arbitration agreements with employees. The law does not apply to arbitration agreements entered into prior to January 1, 2020.
SB 83: Paid family leave
New parents will have more time to care for their child. Benefits under Paid Family Leave will increase from six weeks to eight weeks starting on July 1, 2020.
AB 652: Religious displays
You have more protections to display religious items like menorahs or crosses outside your home. The law prohibits landlords and homeowner associations from banning the display of religious items on entry doors or door frames. The items cannot be larger than 26 by 12 inches.
AB 375: Online privacy
Want to know what information companies like Facebook or Google are collecting about you. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) gives internet users more control over their data. Among other things, the law gives users the right to know what data is collected, the right to reject the sale of your information and the right to delete your data.
SB 30: Domestic partners
What's good for same-sex couples is good for heterosexual couples. This law allows heterosexual couples to register as domestic partners instead of getting married. Currently, only heterosexual couples age 62 or older were allowed to register as domestic partners because of social security benefits. The new law could help couples with combined higher incomes avoid the federal marriage tax penalty.
AB 2119: Transgender youth
Transgender youth in the foster care system will get appropriate health care. The law is the first in the country to include access to gender-affirming medical services, mental health counseling, hormone therapy and surgery.
SB 167: Public safety power shutoffs
Requires utilities like PG&E to devise plans on reducing the negative impact of planned power shutoffs to first responders and people with disabilities.
AB 247: Tree trimming
Gives the California Public Utilities Commission more oversight over tree trimming efforts by utilities. Power companies would have to submit timely reports on their brush and tree trimming work.
SB 209: Wildfire warning center
Establishes a wildfire warning center to broaden the state's ability to predict and prepare for wildfire. The center would rely on a statewide network of automated weather stations and fire detection cameras.
LA times one is quite good, here's an abridged summary stolen from reddit:
Expanded red flag gun law
Judges can extend gun seizure for dangerous individuals
Must be 21 to buy a semi-automatic rifle
Can't own a gun if you're banned in another state
More oversight for vaccination exemptions
Health insurance mandate
Easier access to birth control pills
Food handlers must take allergy training
School districts have more control over charter school creation
Charter school teachers must meet public school requirements
Schools can't deny alternate lunch due to debt
Young children less easily suspended for being disruptive
Student gender information must be updated
The new independent contractor law
Minimum wage to $13, $12 for small businesses
Companies cannot require arbitration in contract
Payday loans capped at 36%
Food workers cannot wear latex gloves due to allergies
90 day eviction notice law made permanent
Rent control at 5% per year + inflation
Landlords must accept section 8 vouchers
Granny flats easier to build
Housing discrimination laws apply to Airbnb etc
Police can only use deadly force when a life is endangered
Child sex abuse statute of limitations extended
Prisoners no longer charged copay for medical care
Rape kits must be tested faster
Civil suits can be filed for fake sex video distribution
No more contracts for private prisons
Surveillance drones must respect existing privacy laws
More control for personal info used by companies
No trophy hunting bobcats
No smoking in state parks
New drilling pipelines not allowed on state land
Microbead ban
Fur trapping banned
Circuses banned from using exotic animals
Political texts must disclose more info
Can change parties on voting day
Confirmed for November:
Repeal prop 57 (the early parole for nonviolent one)
Constitutional amendment to enshrine money bail because bail bond companies are evil
Repeal prop 13 for commercial property
On the docket:
Rent control 2: electric boogaloo
Uber and Lyft seek exemption from contractor law
Legal sports gambling
Dialysis 2: electric boogaloo
Increase cap on malpractice suits 2: electric boogaloo
Stem cell research bonds
Outside chance, still needs lots of signatures:
Decriminalize shrooms
daveNYCWhy universe hate Waspinator?Registered Userregular
The domestic partner one will also help a few people with health insurance. I took advantage of NYC's policy to get my GF on my work policy instead of her having to shell out serious cash for an unsubsidized silver policy on the exchange.
Shut up, Mr. Burton! You were not brought upon this world to get it!
Prop 13 changes will be exciting. That's gonna rile everyone up in some nice little generational warfare.
Unless commercial properties include rental units owned by small landlords, I don't see much populist pushback against this. It won't force seniors to mortgage their houses. It will throw more of a tax burden on businesses but California isn't a low business tax state and companies don't stay here because of low operating costs. I'm sure there will be well funded no-campaign but I don't see voters being automatically against it like they would be against a prop 13 repeal.
Interestingly enough housing prices seem to have stabilized in my area over the last year. I think we might have reached the cap of what people are able to afford.
Rep. Duncan Hunter will officially step down from Congress next week, more than a month after the California Republican pleaded guilty to conspiracy to misuse campaign funds.
Hunter had previously said he would leave Congress after the holidays. His resignation will take effect Jan. 13, according to a copy of the letter he sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday.
Posts
I mean, this blackout is projected to cause a billion dollars in lost revenue/damages, so there's a pretty heavy cost of not doing anything, as well. Plus, the rate of occurrence of these kinds of conditions is only going to get more frequent with climate change.
Of course, PG&E is fine with dumping the damages onto its consumers instead of eating another fire on its own. So hey, maybe that's their idea.
Like @akajaybay said, I would find this a lot easier to swallow if it was a stop-gap measure with a clear plan underway to modernize the grid. But I'm just not seeing that from the company.
(I'm grumpy because I've been without power for 12 hours so far and know I'm gonna have to throw out most of my fridge by the end of this.)
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
People have been shooting at PGE employees so "angry mob" is not an unreasonable risk..
Welp. So much for that plan. I mean, you can't really point fingers to blame just yet for this one, but... let's just say a lot of people are watching and are on high alert.
I guess I just assumed that there would be some sort of system in place that could automatically detect continuity errors.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
They haven't repaired or updated so much for so long it's more than just bad lines at this point.
That would require paying for upkeep and maintenaince, when that money could go to executive compensation instead.
PSN: ShogunGunshow
Origin: ShogunGunshow
I hope to see more politician outrage over this. A sizable swath of the state just got through a second outage, and they're already planning another one starting tomorrow.
I keep seeing PGE's president responding to people's criticism by talking about how they're going to improve the PSPS system, but he's strangely silent on any plans to make PSPS outages unnecessary.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article237423024.html
It's applied retroactively to this past March, so if you've had some large increases, you should see rent reduce in Jan. Link below is your local calculator to tell.
https://californiarentcontrolcalculator.com/
I don't think this will really do anything. A %8-%10 yearly increase in rent costs is insane and I can't imagine anyone could pay that in a sustainable way. Random googling says that %2-%3 is the average amount rent increases per year which seems much more reasonable. I guess this stops a landlord from deciding that the rent is now 1 billion dollars to get rid of undesirable tenants which isn't bad but it's not rent control as implemented elsewhere.
Of course, there's already people out in force commenting that their landlords/landlords they know are planning on increasing rents annually now because there's no way they can't now because, since they're capped, if the market moves too quickly they'd become unprofitable. Which....sure.
Well it's not just continuity issues it is inspecting for tree/bush limb issues this needs to be done every year and apparently PG&E was not doing the basic maintenance. So you get over grown lines + high winds = lots of random fires/power lines dropping.
Back when I was renting, I never had a year without a rent increase. Sure anecdotes don't mean much, but I doubt there are too many landlords out there that don't increase rent every year already.
When I rented, I actually had a number of years when they kept mine flat, but that was through the whole "bubble burst market crash" thing.
When I left, it got a larger-than 10% increase to get to market price.
Yeah, when some of my family inherited an apartment building, they just decided to sell it rather than try to deal with the kind of dancing around rate increases for multiple years it would take to get it back to the (admittedly silly) market rate
Translation: Hunter doesn't want his dirty laundry aired in public in a trial.
Adios, Representative Hunter (R-Big Vape).
The rent on my house is pretty low right now - probably a couple hundred bucks under market - and I think I dodged a rent increase this last year because the landlord has had bad luck with renters bailing after a year and didn't want to jinx it. It's nice to know that I don't have to worry about rent being stable for a few years and then suddenly jumping $500 or something.
I think even if this law only prevents the most egregious cases of rent hikes, at least it's doing that.
Come on East County, you deserve better than someone that’s going to continue the Hunters’ terrible legacy
This bill is getting less and less exciting.
... at least it... probably won't egg my house?
It's been a while, but I don't think they do?
Maybe I'm remembering incorrectly but the white privilege runs very strong. It's one of those places that passes laws to keep brown people from opening restaurants.
Could be wrong, don't think so though.
The district is R+11. Which is why Darrell Issa is looking to make a comeback:
Ha fuck, the wife just started considering Temecula as a place to move to, which is in this district
At least it would be 2 more blue votes
The GOP's death in California at the hands of the national party continues.
Moderate Republican who has been trying to push the state party in a direction opposite that of the national party to better reflect the state and have a greater likelihood of getting people elected, gets disgusted, leaves the party to run as NPP, and does so giving the state party one day to find someone to run against him and make the ballot with their endorsement, kinda as a middle finger.
California hits 1 million solar roofs.
Credit where due to Schwarzenegger for getting this ball rolling.
(Now, that 9 gigawatts is only theoretically possible at peak sun in clear weather for the whole state, but still)
https://abc7news.com/politics/new-california-laws-in-2020/5750088/
As per usual, I'm just picking some out (mostly ones I think are good) but not everyone's articles are up, so there'll be multiple posts.
https://www.latimes.com/projects/new-california-2020-laws/
http://www.mercurynews.com/dozens-of-new-california-laws-set-to-take-effect
https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/california/new-california-laws-help-animals-fire-victims-immigrants-2/2207918/
https://laist.com/2019/12/27/californias_new_laws_starting_jan_1_2020.php
LA times one is quite good, here's an abridged summary stolen from reddit:
Early preview of 2020 props
Confirmed for March:
School bond
Confirmed for November:
Repeal prop 57 (the early parole for nonviolent one)
Constitutional amendment to enshrine money bail because bail bond companies are evil
Repeal prop 13 for commercial property
On the docket:
Rent control 2: electric boogaloo
Uber and Lyft seek exemption from contractor law
Legal sports gambling
Dialysis 2: electric boogaloo
Increase cap on malpractice suits 2: electric boogaloo
Stem cell research bonds
Outside chance, still needs lots of signatures:
Decriminalize shrooms
Unless commercial properties include rental units owned by small landlords, I don't see much populist pushback against this. It won't force seniors to mortgage their houses. It will throw more of a tax burden on businesses but California isn't a low business tax state and companies don't stay here because of low operating costs. I'm sure there will be well funded no-campaign but I don't see voters being automatically against it like they would be against a prop 13 repeal.
Interestingly enough housing prices seem to have stabilized in my area over the last year. I think we might have reached the cap of what people are able to afford.