Bill to Increase Penalties for Failing to Pay Prevailing Wage Goes to Governor

Kevin de Leon's Assembly Bill 2002 is on its way to the governor. This bill increases the penalties for not paying prevailing wage from $50 to $100 per day. This bill will put some teeth into the enforcement of prevailing wage laws. I have heard from some administrators of Labor Compliance Programs that there is a calculated risk that some contractors make with regards to underpaying their workers.

If they can cheat their workers on ten jobs and get caught on one they still can pocket substantial sums of money. Hopefully this increase will serve as a real deterrent for them.

According the bills analysis

The author and sponsor of this bill believes it is necessary to ensure greater compliance with prevailing wage law. Los Angeles Unified School District data reveals that the district has initiated almost 1900 cases in the last five
years involving underpayment of wages. Total penalties and back wages collected over the period were $7.2 million.

The bills supporters include organized labor and the LA Unified School District. Not surprisingly, the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is opposing this.

Bejing Olympics Preparation

The Beijing Olympics are almost over. As a US Track and Field fan I am hanging my head low. Two words: Usain Bolt.

On the bright side, the Chinese have shown some amazing construction skills. One of the most amazing things is the facilities that were built to get ready for the games. The Boston Globe posted a photo series that showed some of the preparations. It can be found here.

My favorite is the aerial view of the stadiums.

Blogger in New Orleans Exposes Redevelopment Corruption

One of the major sore spots for me personally is the New Orleans. The slow response and the lack of reconstruction have really made things hard for many members of my family. One of my friends, Ardis Graham, forwarded a great story to me that shows the power of one blogger. The New York Times article tells the story of Karen Gadbois. She is a New Orleans activist who exposed corruption in federal programs that were focused on rebuilding the city.

The New Orleans Housing Authority (NOAH) said they were renovating houses, but they were not renovating many of them. There were many houses that they said were being renovated that were set to be demolished, because they were health hazards. Her blog got someone listening.

According to the Article:

In fact, (her blog) has set off a bomb that has exploded in slow motion here in the past three weeks, largely thanks to Ms. Gadbois: the federally financed program to gut and repair the storm-damaged homes of the poor and elderly, on which the city spent $1.8 million, has been exposed as — at least partly — a sham.

The F.B.I. on Monday raided the agency running the program, the local United States attorney announced last week he was investigating, and Mayor C. Ray Nagin, hauled grudgingly before the City Council, complained about what he called “amateur investigations,” a reluctant nod to Ms. Gadbois and her followers in the news media.

And here is how she did it:

“It wasn’t even that the house didn’t exist; the whole block didn’t exist,” Ms. Gadbois recalled. “Something’s not right here. We saw properties that had supposedly been remediated by NOAH coming up to be declared imminent health threats, and then demolished.”

It galled her, she said, that public money was being used to rehab a house, and later to demolish it, often by agencies sharing the same office space.

But it was actually worse once Ms. Gadbois got in the car with her colleague, Sarah Lewis, and started to look at the houses NOAH was supposed to be working on.

“The first day we went out, there were 10 properties, and they were just not done,” she said — nothing had been done to them, even though they were listed by the city as remediated. Photographs of some posted on her Web site look ready for the wrecking ball rather than an all-clear inspection certificate. In the end, she inspected several hundred houses: only a few had actually been remediated.

Portland vs LA

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-roadsage18-2008aug18,0,1196877.story

California Airports Brace for Turbulence

In anticipation of a major contraction of the airline industry several California newspapers ran stories on the hard times coming for airports up and down the state.

Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee details the statewide problems that the airports are facing. All of the airports were hurt after 9/11/01 by a decline in traffic. The air traffic came back in 2004 but according to the article this trend is changing.

Suddenly, the trend may be reversing again, thanks to a sharp economic recession, rising air fares, extra charges for baggage and other services, and financial turmoil in the airline industry, much of it stemming from rapid increases in its fuel costs.

Airlines are cutting flights and even eliminating service to communities, especially smaller ones. But even the big boys are being hit. Los Angeles International, which handles a third of the state's airline passenger traffic, is expecting double-digit drops in flights and available passenger seats, while Ontario, also owned by the city of Los Angeles, is bracing for a 37 percent decline in flights.

The traffic declines at LAX, Ontario and other California airports are hitting their bottom lines, because operational and debt service revenues depend on how many takeoffs and landings and how many passengers the airports handle.

The second article was in the San Diego Union Tribune. It highlighted the fact that Lindbergh is reevaluating its Capital Improvement Plan now. They are looking at delaying building ten new gates and a new parking structure.

Lastly the LA Times reported that international flights at LAX are being cut back as well. It appears this contraction of the airline industry has been globalized.

Los Angeles International Airport, battered by financially devastated domestic airlines, is now headed for trouble from overseas.

Foreign carriers, until now a bright spot for the airport in an increasingly dismal year, are slashing flights at LAX amid high fuel costs and slowing international demand, dealing yet another blow to Southern California's economy.

The California Budget Dance Continues, but We Will Have a Vote

It looks like there will finally be a budget vote, in the Legislature, but this will be just a symbolic vote. It is very unlikely that the 54 votes needed to pass the bill will be there, but I guess it is a move forward.

Capitol Notes from KQED summarizes the most recent steps:

BUDGET DAY PLUS 44 -- It now looks as though the Assembly will convene on Sunday to consider a budget proposal, in what would be the first actual floor vote on a new spending plan this year.

But it's not necessarily a deal. In fact, as of now, it's not a deal at all.

Assembly Democrats have scheduled a floor vote for 3 p.m. on Sunday, and believe that the budget to be debated represents a fair balance between their position and that of Governor Schwarzenegger. One would assume that this means some blend of taxes and spending limitations... even budget reform. But there's no confirmation of exactly what will, or won't, be in this budget bill.

As such, it's not surprising that there's no word of official support from the governor. And Assembly Republicans are quick to point out that they're not on board with what they've heard so far... which means the bill will almost undoubtedly fail to garner the necessary 54 votes for passage.

In years past, such floor actions have been derided as a political "drill," because the outcome was never in doubt. But this year, it seems everyone is finally ready to have that public debate. And perhaps some venting on both sides... assuming no deal is struck in the next three days... is the only way the budget impasse can be resolved.

Budget Deal? No Deal

When I say that there might be a budget deal I wanted to get it up on the blog as soon as I knew that a deal might be in place. However, the deal fell apart. According to the Sac Bee:

In the five hours between Perata's two comments, it became clear that Republican leaders were not joining Perata's call for a vote. Neither were Assembly Democrats nor Schwarzenegger.

"I think we keep getting closer, but there are still issues to work out," said Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger's spokesman. "We hope that the legislators have the same sense of urgency that we do. We need to get this done."

It appears that the contentious items are for future budgets. These include the "spending cap" and giving the governor the ability to governor to make mid year budget cuts. Until both sides come together the budget impasse will continue.