Key Policy Issues Affecting the California Housing Crisis

By Chad Lonski
05/29/2019
Reluctance to Rezone Unused Retail Areas to Residential Pension liabilities at the civic level have led to public officials refusing to rezone obsolete commercial properties for conversion to residential use. Demand for commercial real estate space has diminished since the rise of digital commerce and the convenience of home delivery. Unfortunately, cities are fervently holding...

TAGS: CEQA, Housing, Zoning

California Construction Unions Saved the Planet Again in 2015

By Kevin Dayton
12/30/2015
California construction trade unions continue to protect the environment from the scourges of renewable energy and infill development. A chart below provides examples of their achievements for the planet in 2015. Meanwhile, 2015 ends with the annual chatter at the state capitol that “maybe next year” will be the year that the California legislature amends the California Environmental Quality...

TAGS: California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE), CEQA, Greenmail, Project Labor Agreement, Project Labor Agreements, San Diego Convention Center Expansion, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California

How Project Labor Agreements Elevate Costs to Taxpayers

By Edward Ring
11/17/2015
When considering the labor movement in the United States, there is a huge distinction between government unions and private sector unions. Government unions elect their own bosses, they operate within agencies that collect taxes instead of having to make a profit by enticing consumers to buy their products, and they operate the machinery of government...

TAGS: California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, Project Labor Agreements

California Unions Masquerade as Community-Based Environmental Groups

By Kevin Dayton
07/31/2015
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is a labor issue. That’s why unions are prominent opponents of any amendments to CEQA that would restrict or prohibit using the law to achieve objectives not related to environmental protection. Unions routinely use CEQA as a tool to pressure public agencies and private developers (or their agents) to sign collective bargaining agreements, project labor...

TAGS: California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), CEQA, CEQA Reform, Greenmail

Unions Still Selectively Finding Environmental Calamity in California Solar Projects

By Kevin Dayton
01/21/2015
Out of nowhere comes a new, well-funded champion of Mother Earth. A group called “Monterey County Residents for Responsible Development” has submitted two sets of letters and exhibits to Monterey County alleging serious deficiencies in its environmental review for the county’s first large solar photovoltaic power plant, the 280 megawatt California Flats. Obviously the Monterey...

TAGS: AB 32, Adams Broadwell Joseph & Cardozo, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE), CEQA, Did Unions Hasten Demise of California’s Solar Thermal Power Plants?, Greenmail, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California

California Union Uses "Greenmail," Manufacturer Takes Plans Out of State

By Loren Kaye
10/21/2014
When it comes to organized labor, California is a friendly state. We long ago eschewed right-to-work status. Labor unions enjoy a web of laws that ease organizing workers, like  farmworkers,refinery employees, teachers, and state and local government workers. Other laws give union contracts special status unavailable to nonunion employees, such as the ability to work longer days without triggering overtime and avoid the new sick...

TAGS: California Environmental Quality Act, card check, CEQA