California would become the first state to sell its own brand of generic prescription drugs in an effort to drive down rising healthcare costs under a proposal Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to unveil in his new state budget Friday.
A broad overview of the ambitious but still conceptual plan provided by Newsom’s office says the state could contract with one or more generic drugmakers to manufacture certain prescriptions under the state’s own label. Those drugs would be available to all Californians for purchase, presumably at a lower cost. The governor’s office said the proposal would increase competition in the generic drug market, which in turn would lower prices for everyone.
California banned the usage of Chlorpyrifos-based pesticides, New York and the EU have since followed. EPA was considering a ban, but backed off and said they'd wait until 2022.
Turns out it doesn't matter, absent California and the EU, the industry has now decided they're not worth manufacturing for sale elsewhere, so they're effectively banned worldwide.
e: Worth noting - this is a good thing in that there's a definite link to developmental disorders and it's good to not use them. The bad thing is that the pesticides which are going to replace them - while not necessarily as bad for humans, are likely worse for invertebrates
It's not looking suuuuper optimistic, but I'm kinda avoiding the latest news on the weather blog I go to because the comments there have been REALLY doom and gloom.
In other news, today's the last day to register online to vote in the primary, so do that (you can still register in person up to the actual primary day, I think).
Oh, it is an excuse to post this to show how absurd the barometric pressure is right now (colors are PRESSURE ANOMALY, not TEMP).
Much of this can be blamed on the presently record-strength positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation. This essentially means that (in great contrast to recent years) both the stratospheric and tropospheric polar vortex are exceptionally strong at the moment, which is keeping Arctic air locked up tightly in the high latitudes. One consequence of this record-strength AO is a broad displacement of atmospheric mass from the Arctic to the mid-latitudes (in other words, unusually low pressure in the Arctic and unusually high pressure essentially everywhere else). The ECMWF model suggests that the AO may go even higher over the next 7 days–shattering the previous record (set just last week) by an even wider margin.
Also, I swung by, so some of the latest. Historical comparison:
Long-term forecasting not looking super positive, either. I'd posted in the weather thread, but actually, a "dry out the old stuff now, then a wet spurt so new stuff can grow" would actually be WORSE for fires, probably. So we'll see.
I have a number of local friends who were vehemently against prop 13, which baffled the hell out of me.
"It's designed to screw small businesses!" They crowed.
Once again, the money to saturate advertisements manages to confuse and misdirect.
There was a special amount of confusion on this one because some people thought it was repealing the property tax cap, which is in November and not on residential properties. So there was a disinformation campaign and it wasn't even getting pushed back on in an organized way, because it was disinformation at the wrong target.
I voted no on prop 13 because my personal experience with how California educational system allocates funds for construction is bullshit like digital door locks and $5000 teacher's desks that can be raised to be podiums.
I'm all for raising teacher's pay, but stuff like this just strikes me as trying to manipulate the electorate to gin up construction contracts.
In the past two years I've been to four community colleges and all of them were in either pristine condition structurally or already had construction going. But a couple were understaffed to the point where rooms were not being cleaned because not enough custodial staff could be hired.
“ RESULTS: EARLY RETURNS
(Last updated 5:59 a.m. Wednesday)
Keep in mind that even after all precincts have been counted, there will still be ballots to count. In some cases, it could be weeks before the official outcome is clear.
Votes %
Yes 705,369 71.17%
No 285,685 28.83%
Measure R is a civilian-driven ballot initiative that would two do things.
Expand the power of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission. If approved by L.A. County voters, the commission would have subpoena powers.
Require the Civilian Oversight Commission to build a comprehensive plan to find alternatives to incareration, especially for inmates who are mentally ill”
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, PG&E said it reached the settlement with the Butte County district attorney’s office on March 17. Under the deal, PG&E said prosecutors won’t pursue further criminal charges.
PG&E also pleaded guilty to one count of causing a fire in violation of the state penal code.
“The Utility will be sentenced to pay the maximum total fine and penalty of approximately $3.5 million. The Agreement provides that no other or additional sentence will be imposed on the Utility in the criminal action in connection with the 2018 Camp fire,” PG&E said in its filing. “The Utility has also agreed to pay $500,000 to the Butte County District Attorney Environmental and Consumer Protection Fund to reimburse costs spent on the investigation of the 2018 Camp fire.”
Disgraceful that's the maximum penalty for 84 fucking counts of manslaughter.
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday passed a non-enforceable resolution that would temporarily ban evictions against tenants affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but failed to pass an emergency ordinance on the same subject that would give the ban the force of law.
Instead, the board is expected to convene Wednesday for a special meeting to consider the same emergency ordinance as a regular ordinance, which would require a simple majority. That regular ordinance would also temporarily ban evictions against tenants affected by the coronavirus pandemic, but wouldn’t take effect until May 1.
The economic fallout stemming from COVID-19, the potentially deadly disease caused by the virus, has already been widespread and deeply felt – tens of thousands are filing for unemployment benefits in the state or seeing their hours reduced significantly, as industries cut back to reduce the spread of the virus. Some are having to stay home to care for sick loved ones or children no longer at school.
Under Sacramento County’s proposed ordinance, modeled after the one passed by the city of Sacramento last week and proposed by Board Chair Phil Serna, tenants in unincorporated communities who can prove they’ve been financially impacted by the virus have up to 120 days, or about four months, after the state of emergency declaration ends to pay deferred rent.
Eviction blocking is moving from cities to counties, wouldn't be surprised if we get something state-wide soonish.
Pacific Gas & Electric, the utility that has pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the 2018 Camp fire, plans to pay its $4-million fine from a fund set aside for victims of the blaze.
The utility is on the hook for $3.5 million in fines and penalties and an additional $500,000 that will go to the Butte County District Attorney’s Environmental and Consumer Protection Fund as part of a plea agreement the utility recently reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The utility plans to pay that $4 million out of a $13.5-billion Fire Victim Trust that was set up during its bankruptcy after the wildfire, which killed 85 people and destroyed more than 18,000 buildings in the rural mountain town of Paradise in Northern California.
The sudden recession brought by the new coronavirus is expected to drive California into a $53.4 billion deficit over the next year and send the state’s unemployment rate well above its peak in the Great Recession, according to a memo released by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office Thursday.
The revenue estimates show Newsom’s first detailed look at how his office anticipates the coronavirus outbreak to affect state spending. It’s a stark contrast to January, when his office in a $222 billion budget proposal projected the state would accumulate a $5.6 billion surplus and add to its reserves through July 2021.
Newsom disclosed the memo ahead of releasing his revised budget proposal, which is due May 14. He has been urging the federal government to send more money to states. Without federal assistance, the state must make substantial cuts in its 2020-21 budget, the Democratic governor has said.
...
Newsom’s Finance Department estimates that the state’s unemployment rate will rise to 18 percent. It was 3.9 percent earlier this year, and its peak in the Great Recession was 12 percent.
...
Aside from falling tax revenue, Newsom’s office expects the coronavirus to trigger more spending on certain emergency and safety net programs. That spending could top $13 billion, according to the Finance Department.
Newsom described his January budget proposal as an example of what “big-hearted, effective governance looks like.” He had proposed new spending on homelessness, teacher training, an effort to curb prescription drug prices and an expansion of health care for undocumented seniors.
In Newsom’s January budget proposal, California public schools and community colleges were expected to receive $84 billion through a funding formula determined by the 1988 law known as Proposition 98. Newsom’s administration described the number as an “all-time high” in guaranteed funding for California schools.
His office in the new memo projects guaranteed school funding to fall $18.3 billion below the earlier estimate.
California lawmakers by law must pass a state budget by June 15. Newsom extended state tax filing deadlines to July 15 because of the coronavirus outbreak. Several lawmakers have said they might pass a baseline budget by the June deadline and consider amending the spending plan in August when they have a clearer picture of tax revenue.
Furlough days would be fine, pay reduction would not be fine. One is temporary while the other is permanent. We had to fight tooth and nail against the state, because no employer is benevolent, for a 7% increase over three years, with the last bit due this year before collective bargaining begins for a new four year contract. A large number of state workers live paycheck to paycheck because pay is the same across the board regardless of where you live.
There's other places to get the money that doesn't involve fucking up our below market value pay for decades to come. We can't just move over to private sector either since all our benefits are tied up in the state until we have the required number of years.
Yeah, I'm curious how the proposed pay cut would interact with the planned raises. Do we lose the raise and also an additional 10%? What happens to planned merit pay increases? Because there's a big difference between getting an additional 7% then losing 10% versus just losing 10% period.
On the upside, I could switch to permanent wfh, cancel my parking, save money on gas, and mitigate the loss somewhat. Which just brings me from "fucked" to "somewhat uncomfortable".
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.
I think the two furlough days per month ARE the pay cut?
No, furlough days are just the State telling us we don't come into work for a couple days a month but in exchange we get PTO on the books. It's a deferred payment essentially.
Pay cuts are take your monthly salary, cut it by 10%, you don't get back that 10% at a later date when/if the cut is repealed it's just gone forever.
Get ready for about a million "The WORST time for NEW TAXES" television spots...
We may be set to kill Prop 13 for commercial/industrial property this year, but I kind of tend to think that makes the resi Prop 13 basically indestructible thereafter, barring, like, a secession event or other major political upheaval.
Get ready for about a million "The WORST time for NEW TAXES" television spots...
We may be set to kill Prop 13 for commercial/industrial property this year, but I kind of tend to think that makes the resi Prop 13 basically indestructible thereafter, barring, like, a secession event or other major political upheaval.
I've frankly never understood com/ind prop 13, and destroying it would do a lot of work to fix tax revenue issues.
resi prop 13 makes some sense in that I definitely had gandparents that would have fallen into the trap it was trying to avoid, I think you could modify it to be less friendly toward dynastic transfer of land ownership, and close some of the loopholes like single stud "renovations"
-get rid of the 2/3rds tax thing
-make residential, primary residence only.
-change in title ownership is transfer. No landed gentry.
-airbnb counts as business usage and exempts property from the prop benefits
-get rid of the 2/3rds tax thing
-make residential, primary residence only. -change in title ownership is transfer. No landed gentry.
-airbnb counts as business usage and exempts property from the prop benefits
The rest sounds great but this would really fuckin' suck for a lot of people that are already getting gentrified out of Californian cities. My grandparents had to move back to Oklahoma after they'd paid off their home before Prop 13 passed because what was a little agricultural town turned into a fucking coastal golf resort for the rich. They later moved back to California because none of their kids moved back East with them, and my grandmother died with fuck all to her name besides a single wide trailer and a shitty Buick. If somebody works their entire life to create a home it shouldn't be ripped away from their children because taxes have ballooned out of control. Think about what this would do to intergenerational households.
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
-get rid of the 2/3rds tax thing
-make residential, primary residence only. -change in title ownership is transfer. No landed gentry.
-airbnb counts as business usage and exempts property from the prop benefits
The rest sounds great but this would really fuckin' suck for a lot of people that are already getting gentrified out of Californian cities. My grandparents had to move back to Oklahoma after they'd paid off their home before Prop 13 passed because what was a little agricultural town turned into a fucking coastal golf resort for the rich. They later moved back to California because none of their kids moved back East with them, and my grandmother died with fuck all to her name besides a single wide trailer and a shitty Buick. If somebody works their entire life to create a home it shouldn't be ripped away from their children because taxes have ballooned out of control. Think about what this would do to intergenerational households.
The flip side of it is that the incentive to stifle housing development--which has been a huge problem in California. Lack of supply driving up prices.
-get rid of the 2/3rds tax thing
-make residential, primary residence only. -change in title ownership is transfer. No landed gentry.
-airbnb counts as business usage and exempts property from the prop benefits
The rest sounds great but this would really fuckin' suck for a lot of people that are already getting gentrified out of Californian cities. My grandparents had to move back to Oklahoma after they'd paid off their home before Prop 13 passed because what was a little agricultural town turned into a fucking coastal golf resort for the rich. They later moved back to California because none of their kids moved back East with them, and my grandmother died with fuck all to her name besides a single wide trailer and a shitty Buick. If somebody works their entire life to create a home it shouldn't be ripped away from their children because taxes have ballooned out of control. Think about what this would do to intergenerational households.
If the taxes ballooned out of control then you have an asset that's value has also ballooned out of control. Giving your children a large inheritance is already more than most get. You shouldn't be able to exempt them from indefinitely paying their share of taxes that support the community as well.
Posts
If Hunter had resigned earlier, Newsom would have been required to hold a special election
Gotta get that last paycheck
We're a big enough market that this could work.
I wonder if CA could sell in other states, too.
California banned the usage of Chlorpyrifos-based pesticides, New York and the EU have since followed. EPA was considering a ban, but backed off and said they'd wait until 2022.
Turns out it doesn't matter, absent California and the EU, the industry has now decided they're not worth manufacturing for sale elsewhere, so they're effectively banned worldwide.
e: Worth noting - this is a good thing in that there's a definite link to developmental disorders and it's good to not use them. The bad thing is that the pesticides which are going to replace them - while not necessarily as bad for humans, are likely worse for invertebrates
There's a very well written, easily understandable article on the history of the ban here
There's still time, but... ouch.
How much of it won’t just run off to the ocean though?
These baby's hold snowpack like nobody else!
Having a runoff season is pretty ecologically important, so that's not actually a bad thing. 100% capture is devastating.
That said, reservoir levels for now look pretty good, because they're still full from the last few years.
It's not looking suuuuper optimistic, but I'm kinda avoiding the latest news on the weather blog I go to because the comments there have been REALLY doom and gloom.
In other news, today's the last day to register online to vote in the primary, so do that (you can still register in person up to the actual primary day, I think).
Also, I swung by, so some of the latest. Historical comparison:
Long-term forecasting not looking super positive, either. I'd posted in the weather thread, but actually, a "dry out the old stuff now, then a wet spurt so new stuff can grow" would actually be WORSE for fires, probably. So we'll see.
Especially after I saw an op-ed in the... Mercury that basically said "the schools ran out of money, and expect more?" Fuck that guy.
"It's designed to screw small businesses!" They crowed.
Once again, the money to saturate advertisements manages to confuse and misdirect.
There was a special amount of confusion on this one because some people thought it was repealing the property tax cap, which is in November and not on residential properties. So there was a disinformation campaign and it wasn't even getting pushed back on in an organized way, because it was disinformation at the wrong target.
I'm all for raising teacher's pay, but stuff like this just strikes me as trying to manipulate the electorate to gin up construction contracts.
In the past two years I've been to four community colleges and all of them were in either pristine condition structurally or already had construction going. But a couple were understaffed to the point where rooms were not being cleaned because not enough custodial staff could be hired.
https://laist.com/latest/post/20200303/super-tuesday-2020-march-3-primary-measure-r
“ RESULTS: EARLY RETURNS
(Last updated 5:59 a.m. Wednesday)
Keep in mind that even after all precincts have been counted, there will still be ballots to count. In some cases, it could be weeks before the official outcome is clear.
Votes %
Yes 705,369 71.17%
No 285,685 28.83%
Measure R is a civilian-driven ballot initiative that would two do things.
Expand the power of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission. If approved by L.A. County voters, the commission would have subpoena powers.
Require the Civilian Oversight Commission to build a comprehensive plan to find alternatives to incareration, especially for inmates who are mentally ill”
🙌
Her slogan is "Send a Bish to Congress" which amuses me enough to give props.
Headline kinda says it all.
Disgraceful that's the maximum penalty for 84 fucking counts of manslaughter.
Eviction blocking is moving from cities to counties, wouldn't be surprised if we get something state-wide soonish.
Looks like we're going to be rounding out the year with "not great, but not fucked" given reservoirs were in mostly good shape heading into the year.
The part of the state that's in drought conditions already is going to get a needed late soaking this weekend, looks like.
https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article242717191.html
State workers facing furloughs and a 10% pay cut with the recession.
There's other places to get the money that doesn't involve fucking up our below market value pay for decades to come. We can't just move over to private sector either since all our benefits are tied up in the state until we have the required number of years.
On the upside, I could switch to permanent wfh, cancel my parking, save money on gas, and mitigate the loss somewhat. Which just brings me from "fucked" to "somewhat uncomfortable".
No, furlough days are just the State telling us we don't come into work for a couple days a month but in exchange we get PTO on the books. It's a deferred payment essentially.
Pay cuts are take your monthly salary, cut it by 10%, you don't get back that 10% at a later date when/if the cut is repealed it's just gone forever.
Southern Sierra still bad, unfortunately.
It's ok, though, we'll just steal more from NorCal.
Get ready for about a million "The WORST time for NEW TAXES" television spots...
We may be set to kill Prop 13 for commercial/industrial property this year, but I kind of tend to think that makes the resi Prop 13 basically indestructible thereafter, barring, like, a secession event or other major political upheaval.
I've frankly never understood com/ind prop 13, and destroying it would do a lot of work to fix tax revenue issues.
resi prop 13 makes some sense in that I definitely had gandparents that would have fallen into the trap it was trying to avoid, I think you could modify it to be less friendly toward dynastic transfer of land ownership, and close some of the loopholes like single stud "renovations"
-get rid of the 2/3rds tax thing
-make residential, primary residence only.
-change in title ownership is transfer. No landed gentry.
-airbnb counts as business usage and exempts property from the prop benefits
The rest sounds great but this would really fuckin' suck for a lot of people that are already getting gentrified out of Californian cities. My grandparents had to move back to Oklahoma after they'd paid off their home before Prop 13 passed because what was a little agricultural town turned into a fucking coastal golf resort for the rich. They later moved back to California because none of their kids moved back East with them, and my grandmother died with fuck all to her name besides a single wide trailer and a shitty Buick. If somebody works their entire life to create a home it shouldn't be ripped away from their children because taxes have ballooned out of control. Think about what this would do to intergenerational households.
The flip side of it is that the incentive to stifle housing development--which has been a huge problem in California. Lack of supply driving up prices.
If the taxes ballooned out of control then you have an asset that's value has also ballooned out of control. Giving your children a large inheritance is already more than most get. You shouldn't be able to exempt them from indefinitely paying their share of taxes that support the community as well.