Using the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to Turn Out the Lights
Using the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to Turn Out the Lights
In California, if something saves money for taxpayers and improves life while reducing energy consumption, it’s bad for the environment and must be terminated. How do we know? Public participation in environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). For example, a law firm working on behalf of construction unions has identified numerous environmental...
By Kevin Dayton
Will Mandated Project Labor Agreements Again Trigger Ineligibility for Federal Funds?
Will Mandated Project Labor Agreements Again Trigger Ineligibility for Federal Funds?
Political observers are now speculating about which executive actions Donald Trump will take after becoming President. One of his actions may reverse federal policy toward government-mandated union Project Labor Agreements on federally-funded projects. President Trump can rescind President Obama’s 2009 executive order encouraging Project Labor Agreements on federally-funded projects. In addition, he can issue his...
By Kevin Dayton
Another California Local Government Gives Unions a Contract Monopoly to Get State Funding
Another California Local Government Gives Unions a Contract Monopoly to Get State Funding
Numerous California elected officials are condemning President-Elect Donald Trump’s proposal of immigration-related conditions for local governments to obtain federal grants. But at the same time, California elected officials are imposing their own union-related conditions for local governments to obtain state grants. Local control is obviously not the principle at issue. There is now a second case in 2016 of a California local government voting to give unions monopoly...
By Kevin Dayton
Union-Owned Non-Profit Affordable Housing Development Active in San Diego County Politics
Union-Owned Non-Profit Affordable Housing Development Active in San Diego County Politics
A non-profit affordable housing complex located in National City, California has become a major political force in San Diego County. Since 2010, the “San Diego County Building Trades Council Family Housing Corporation dba National City Park Apartments” has donated about $800,000 directly to campaign committees, most of them based in San Diego County. It has been a top...
By Kevin Dayton
Unions Foiled in Plot to Evade Open Government Law
Unions Foiled in Plot to Evade Open Government Law
It’s rare to see a California local government rescind a vote. But on October 4, 2016, the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to rescind a controversial and probably illegal vote taken three weeks earlier to satisfy the political demands of construction unions. Rescind Project Labor Agreement Vote – San Joaquin County Board of...
By Kevin Dayton
"Other" in California Prevailing Wage Creeps Higher
"Other" in California Prevailing Wage Creeps Higher
The California Department of Industrial Relations does not determine state prevailing wage rates for construction trades by surveying contractors or workers or by using statistics gathered by the California Economic Development Department. By law, the state uses union agreements to set prevailing wages. Thus, the prevailing wage is always the “union wage.” And the geographical...
By Kevin Dayton
Citizens Group Objecting to Solar Power in Kern County Is Union Front Group
Citizens Group Objecting to Solar Power in Kern County Is Union Front Group
Construction trade unions in California remain distressed about how solar power is harming the environment. Their latest worry is the 150-megawatt Willow Springs Solar Project proposed for Kern County, in Antelope Valley at the Los Angeles County border. An energy company called First Solar has been planning this project since 2010. In February 2015 Kern County released a...
By Kevin Dayton
How Unions Undermined the Rights of California's Charter Cities
How Unions Undermined the Rights of California's Charter Cities
In recognition that the municipal needs of people in the City of Needles might be different than the needs of people in the City of San Francisco, the California Constitution gives cities the right to control their own municipal affairs through a charter. These charters – approved by voters – are mini-constitutions that allow “home-rule.” Matters...
By Kevin Dayton
College Board in Orange County Lets Unions Take Over Taxpayer Oversight
College Board in Orange County Lets Unions Take Over Taxpayer Oversight
Unions continue to undermine the independence and effectiveness of citizens bond oversight committees at California school and community college districts. In December 2015, the elected board of trustees for the Rancho Santiago Community College District voted 4-2 to reject an application from the President & CEO of the long-established Orange County Taxpayers Association to serve on...
By Kevin Dayton
Unions Fill Power Vacuum at Obscure California Regional Government
Unions Fill Power Vacuum at Obscure California Regional Government
On June 7, 2016, voters in nine California counties in the San Francisco Bay Area will vote on a proposal (Measure AA) to annually assess a $12 tax on every property parcel. This tax would apply equally to each parcel, ranging in assessed property value from Google headquarters in Mountain View to a $30,000 trailer...
By Kevin Dayton
Unions Pester Community Choice Aggregation Energy Programs in California
Unions Pester Community Choice Aggregation Energy Programs in California
Where there is innovation, there is union interference. Marin Clean Energy, the first “Community Choice Aggregation” program in California, is planning to build a solar farm on a “brownfield” in the City of Richmond. Only one party objected to the project on environmental grounds: “Bay Area Citizens for Responsible Solar,” a front group for California...
By Kevin Dayton
More Union Deals in Monterey County's Quest for Water Project Funding
More Union Deals in Monterey County's Quest for Water Project Funding
More than a year of waiting has proven fruitless for Monterey County. It’s now February 2016 and the State of California still hasn’t provided any funding to the Monterey County Water Resources Agency for a tunnel expected to significantly increase its capability for water storage. California State Assemblymember Luis Alejo, who represents the region, could...
By Kevin Dayton
California Construction Unions Saved the Planet Again in 2015
California Construction Unions Saved the Planet Again in 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...
By Kevin Dayton
Project Labor Agreement Threats Surge in California in 2015
Project Labor Agreement Threats Surge in California in 2015
California’s construction trade unions greatly expanded their campaign in 2015 to get local elected officials to require construction companies to sign a Project Labor Agreement with unions as a condition of winning a public works contract. In 2015, 47 California local governments considered a union Project Labor Agreement mandate for future taxpayer-funded construction contracts. On a few occasions in 2015, Project...
By Kevin Dayton