Yesterday Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D) and the Senate Democratic Caucus introduced a 27 bill package to help create an estimated 140,000 jobs for Californians. Below is a summary of the jobs package released yesterday by the Pro Tem’s press office. Click here for a summary of the fact sheets for each bill. For additional information visit the website for the package, titled “Agenda 2010″, by clicking here.
SENATE DEMOCRATS INTRODUCE JOBS AGENDA (Tuesday February 9, 2010)
(SACRAMENTO)– Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) and the Senate Democratic Caucus have introduced a 27 bill package to help jumpstart our stalled economy by creating 140,000 jobs for Californians.
This comprehensive bill package invests existing state and federal funds for targeted projects, expands jobs in the new economy, prepares Californians for jobs in growth industries, and provides working families with sorely needed relief.
The bill package proposes to create 140,000 jobs without raising taxes or waiving any environmental, consumer, or workplace protection laws. Further, all of the bills need only a majority vote for approval.
The California Research Bureau has concluded that a jobs package which creates 100,000 jobs creates $6.7 billion in economic activity per year, saves the General Fund approximately $2.3 billion in increased revenue and avoided costs, and results in a net increase in employment of approximately 300,000 jobs- reducing unemployment by 275,000.
“I have been through enough budgets to know that the only way to increase and sustain the tax base is to create high wage jobs,” Steinberg said. “Of course, the entire country is talking about job creation, but its importance can’t be overstated in California. There is no more important barometer of economic struggle and family suffering than a 12.4 percent unemployment rate. Agenda 2010 represents a real, nonpartisan, empirically supported effort to help create jobs for Californians.”
Agenda 2010 Overview
1. Investment of Public Funds to Create Jobs;
2. Expansion of Jobs in the New Economy;
3. Prepare California’s Workforce
4. Value California’s Working Families
I –INVESTING PUBLIC FUNDS TO CREATE JOBS Agenda 2010 proposes quickly investing federal funds and already approved state bond funds wisely to expand in-state job creation. If the U.S. Senate passes the pending “Jobs for Main Street Act of 2010,” the total job creation estimate for this package climbs to 200,000.
Put Federal Funds to Use to Get Californians back to work: Senate Democrats have introduced legislation to ensure the state can invest federal funds efficiently and quickly to create jobs in California. The bills identify the state agencies responsible for administering federal funds and include accountability and reporting provisions to ensure the funds are spent efficiently.
- SB 965 (DeSaulnier): Authorizes the High Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) to receive and expend federal money it receives to further the development of High Speed Rail in California. Creates 50,625 jobs.
- SBX8 33/SB 205 (Hancock): Authorizes the state Superintendent of Public Instruction (SPI) to administer $773 million in federal Qualified School Construction Bond funds available to California schools that would expedite public school construction, rehabilitation and repair projects to improve schools. Creates 11,400 jobs.
- SBX8 27/SB958 (Lowenthal): Designates the Multifamily Housing Program at the Department of Housing and Community Development to distribute the anticipated $193 million in federal funds received from the National Housing Trust Fund to build affordable housing in California. (Requires passage of federal jobs bill before state legislation can be enacted.) Creates 2,965 jobs.
- SBX8 36 (Correa): Distributes as much as $3.6 billion in federal transportation funds between state and local agencies for shovel ready projects for improvements to highways, streets and roads, and public transit systems from the “Jobs For Main Street Act of 2010,” which passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is now pending in the U.S. Senate. (Requires passage of federal jobs bill before state legislation can be enacted.) Creates 54,000 jobs.
Appropriate Approved State Bond Funds for Innovative Programs: The package targets unspent state bond funds to innovative new programs that create jobs, improve infrastructure or make California more sustainable.
- SB 964 (Alquist): Appropriate $25 million in High-Speed Rail bond funds (Proposition 1A) to finance a the first phase of a workforce training program jointly managed by the rail authority and the state’s community colleges to construct maintain and operate a high-speed rail system in California. The program will train 5,000 Californians for jobs.
- SBX8 35 (Lowenthal/Hancock): Redirect $80 million in Proposition 1D bond funds stalled in the bureaucracy to expedite shovel-ready “green school” energy efficiency projects that create jobs and save energy. Creates 1,680 jobs.
SBX8 28 (Yee): Accelerates up to $105 million in Proposition 1C housing bond funds by redirecting funds from ineffective programs to those that can fund shovel-ready projects to create jobs and build affordable housing and parks. Creates 1,590 jobs. - Special Session Budget Bill: Fix the Governor’s proposed “Gas Tax Swap” to maintain the state’s investment in transportation infrastructure, continue a state commitment to public transit, provide a growing source of transportation funding and maintain thousands of transportation related jobs, and make debt service payments on transportation bonds. This will preserve about $1.2 billion for transportation infrastructure saving some 18,000 jobs.
II – EXPANSION OF JOBS IN THE NEW ECONOMY
The package seeks to expand on California’s successful market for innovative jobs in energy efficiency and renewable projects. To continue the state’s economic gains in the new economy, Agenda 2010 includes the following bills:
- SB 722 (Simitian/Padilla): Enacts a workable 33% Renewable Portfolio Standard in California to promote in-state job development and renewable energy resources. Creates 20,000 jobs.
- SBX8 34 (Padilla/Pavley): Expedite planning, permitting, and approval of large scale renewable energy projects in California. It will give priority to projects that can quickly create jobs and meet federal ARRA incentives within the next year including at least eleven projects awaiting action by state energy agencies.
- SBX8 26 (Pavley): Creates a state program to standardize Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs to lower financing cost, enhance investor receptivity of the PACE bonds, and make PACE improvements more attractive to home and business owners. Authorizes a $50 million reserve fund available as credit enhancements for qualified PACE financing programs to further lower financing costs. Creates 10,500 jobs.
- SBX8 31 (Cedillo): Move $20 million in unspent ARRA funds out of the bureaucracy at the California Energy Commission (CEC) and to the California Community Colleges for energy efficiency projects that reduce energy consumption, increase skills training opportunities and increase the sustainability of community college campuses. Creates 488 jobs.
- SB 675 (Steinberg): The bill would use existing Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) funds for the construction or reconfiguring facilities or schools for career technical education that prepares students for employment related to clean technology, renewable energy or energy efficiency. Creates 7,500 jobs.
Three bills to appropriate $60 million in available state funds for job creation in environmental restoration, increased recycling and litter reduction, water supply and flood protection, and clean air. Creates 900 jobs. - SBX8 30 (Oropeza): Appropriate $20 million from Proposition 84 for immediate job creation for local community conservation corps in urban inner-city areas.
- SB 991 (Wolk): Appropriate $20 million from Proposition 1E to commence immediate repairs of levees and other flood control investments in high-risk flood areas of California.
- SBX8 37 (Cedillo): Appropriate $20 million from the Carl Moyer Program, the Air Quality Improvement Program (AQIP), and Proposition 1B to provide immediate jobs and incentives to clean up diesel pollution from trucks adjacent to ports and goods movement facilities.
- SB TBA (Leno): Expand the “Work Share” program at the Employee Development Department (EDD) so more employees can maintain employment and receive partial UI benefits. Requires a more aggressive outreach plan.
- SB 967 (Correa/DeSaulnier): Reward companies that hire California workers by providing a bid preference or contract credit for companies committing to employ Californians on contracts with the state.
- SB 959 (Ducheny): One-Stop Shop to Permit Projects: Re-establish Permit Assistance Centers at Cal-EPA to provide businesses with assistance in getting projects permitted, sited and approved for development.
- SBX8 32 (Wolk): Conform California tax law to federal law to, among other things, ensure renewable energy project developers can access and use ARRA funds available for projects in California that provide some 7,600 jobs, and ensure homeowners who sell their homes in a “short sale” do not have to count as income the amount of money the banks “forgive” on outstanding loans.
III – PREPARING CALIFORNIA’S WORKFORCE
Senate Democrats are committed to maximizing opportunities for Californians to acquire the necessary job skills to gain and keep employment with focus on jobs in high-growth, high-wage sectors of the economy.
- SB 957 (Price): Refocus Cal Grant C awards, which are used to pursue short-term occupational or technical training, to students training in high-need, high-growth or high-wage industries in California. Prepares 8,000 students for high-growth jobs.
- SB 956 (Romero): Redirect a portion of federal workforce training funds to expand training to the California Paraprofessional Teacher Training Program (PTTP). The primary purpose is to recruit school paraprofessionals (commonly referred to as classroom aides) to participate in local career ladders that enable them to become certificated classroom teachers in public schools.
- SB 974 (Steinberg): Swap out inefficient Enterprise Zone tax credits with new tax credits to encourage California businesses to invest resources, time and expertise in middle and high school “career pathways” to train students for their future careers
- SB 968 (Negrete-McLeod): Prohibit EDD from eliminating an individual’s UI benefits solely because that individual is pursuing additional education or training at a community college or four-year institution.
IV – VALUE CALIFORNIA’S WORKING FAMILIES
Making sure working families are fairly compensated for their jobs, can keep shelter over their heads, and reasonably plan to afford their children’s college education will help struggling Californians get through this economic downturn.
- SBX8 29 (Steinberg): Restructure the current furlough policy to exempt special fund agencies.
- SBX8 38 (Corbett): Establishes a “Homeowner’s Bill of Rights” to better protect distressed homeowners and ensure those homeowners receive a decision on their loan modification application before their financial institution can foreclose on their homes.
- SB 969 (Florez): Rationalize student fee structure at UC, CSU, and Community Colleges, establish predictable fee level so families can plan to pay for college education by setting a baseline fee and capping the extent to which student fees could rise in any one year to no more than 5%.
For more information contact Alicia Trost, (916) 651-4188.