February 7, 2018
Orange County
Voice of OC: Federal judge temporarily halts riverbed homeless evictions
The temporary injunction came within hours of attorney Carol Sobel filing an emergency request to Carter Tuesday night asking to halt the Santa Ana Riverbed homeless evictions, because the county planned to step up citations and arrests.
OC Register: Garden Grove has seen large increase in hotel tax revenue over last two years, Mayor says
Revenue from the city’s transient occupancy tax – or hotel tax – has increased by 20 percent in the last two fiscal years, bringing in $25 million in that time, Mayor Steve Jones said during his recent State of the City Address.
OC Register: OCTA to purchase 10 hydrogen fuel electric buses at cost of about $12 million
The cost is a mix of OCTA and grant funds through the California Air Resources Board and the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
OC Register: Homebuying runs flat in central Orange County. How did your ZIP code do?
Geographically, sales in southern Orange County rose 4.7 percent last year; rose 0.6 percent in beach towns; and fell 2.2 percent in northern Orange County.
Labor
The Intercept: The eminent libertarians who might save public sector unions
Unions got a surprising lifeline from an unlikely friend: Two prominent conservative legal scholars filed an amicus brief in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31 — the case before the court — urging the justices to uphold a 1977 decision that ruled the agency fees constitutional.
California
OC Register: California taxpayers could foot the bill to shutter old oil rigs in the Pacific
State lawmakers are considering an unprecedented request to spend more than $100 million in taxpayer money to dismantle two offshore oil-drilling facilities because the oil companies that were leasing the sites went bankrupt last year.
LA Times: California lobbyists could receive a four-year ban for sexual harassment under new legislation
Any California registered lobbyist found to have committed sexual harassment could be banned from similar work for up to four years under a plan introduced on Tuesday at the state Capitol.
Publication Date: February 7, 2018
