News

The state Division of Workers' Compensation has issued new regulations for employers that include posting by Oct. 8, 2010, a "Notice to Employees - Injuries Caused by Work." The California Chamber of Commerce has issued a summary of the new regulations and links to helpful resources. 

California's legislative session has officially ended, although the Governor has suggested he may call a special session and there still is no approval on a state budget. Hundreds of bills have been sent to the Governor for his signature, while others haven't made it that far. Check out the list of bills pending with the governor here.

Despite a strengthened second-round application for federal Race to the Top funds for education reform, California ranked 16th out of all state applicants, with a final score of 423.6, according to information (including reviewers’ scores and comments) now posted on the federal Race to the Top website.
 

The Little Hoover Commission released its "report, Managing for Change: Modernizing California's Water Governance, this week, urging the governor and the Legislature to restructure the state's water administratio

In an op-ed today in the Wall Street Journal, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger outlines the state's public pension situation and reiterates that he will not sign a budget until reforms are passed........."The Assembly needs to reverse the massive and retroactive increase in pension formulas it enacted 11 years ago. It also needs to prohibit "spiking"—giving someone a big raise in his last year of work so his pension is boosted.

Moving to try to help small businesses, BizFed member City National Bank announced this week that it will pay half of the standard loan guarantee fees, up to $3,000, for Small Business Administration loans in order to encourage lending.

Standard loan fees range between 2 percent to 3.75 percent of the guaranteed portion of a small business loan.

There is good news today for all LA County residents with two significant wins Monday: One means jobs, safety, and better people and goods movement and the other will give us a fighting chance to build the reliable, sustainable WATER infrastructure system this entire state needs.
 

BizFed member California League of Cities is working on drafting proposals the Legislature can consider toward publicizing the salaries of the highest-paid public officials in the state in the wake of revelations that the Southern California city of Bell paid three of its top administrators a total of $1.6 million a year.

As calls for public pension reform continue to rise, efforts to spark change are emerging on a growing number of fronts: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested yesterday that he may leave office without signing a budget unless pension reform is included, Long Beach's Mayor is proposing revisions to the public pension plan, and LA City's Mayor says pension reform will be on next year's ballot.