Daily Headlines

Daily Headlines March 18, 2024

We scan major news sources* and compile selected articles to keep you up-to-date on current issues affecting California business – the economy, health care, environment, transportation and more. Receive Daily Headlines by Email

Today’s Top Story

US Agency Releases Final Rule on Reporting Climate Risk, Greenhouse Gas Emissions
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has released its long-awaited final rule on reporting requirements for certain climate risks and greenhouse gas emissions for publicly traded companies.

Women Making History
CalChamber Profiles Women Board Members

This Women’s History Month, the CalChamber is highlighting our current women board members. Below are two brief profiles of leaders running some of the state’s top businesses and making history in the process.

Top California News

  • California Legislators Propose Plan to Reduce Budget Crunch
    …But whatever projections you go by, the budget deficit will influence nearly every policy decision the Legislature will make as it hammers out a budget agreement. On Thursday, Senate Democrats got a jump start by announcing early budgetary action to “shrink the shortfall” by about $17 billion, while agreeing to the use of $12.2 billion of the state’s rainy day fund that Newsom proposed earlier. CalMatters (No subscription required)
  • California’s Largest New Reservoir Project in 50 Years Gains Momentum
    …Last weekend, President Biden signed a package of bills that included $205 million in construction funding for Sites Reservoir, a proposed $4.5 billion project planned for the rolling ranchlands west of the town of Maxwell, about 70 miles north of Sacramento…Plans call for Sites to be a vast off-stream reservoir 13 miles long, 4 miles wide and 260 feet deep that would store water diverted from the Sacramento River in wet years, for use by cities and farms around the state in dry years. The San Jose Mercury News (Subscription required)
  • Why Private Developers Are Rejecting Government Money for Affordable Housing
    …By forgoing government assistance and the many regulations and requirements that come with it, SDS Capital Group said the 49-unit apartment building it is financing in South Los Angeles will cost about $291,000 a unit to build. The roughly 4,500 apartments for low-income people that have been built with funding from a $1.2 billion bond measure L.A. voters approved in 2016 have cost an average of $600,000 each. The Wall Street Journal (Subscription required)
  • Bay Area Job Market Suffered ‘Mini-Recession’ in 2023: New Stats
    The Bay Area job market was so feeble in 2023 that the region suffered brutal job losses for most of the year before employers mounted a massive hiring rebound in recent months, a new analysis shows. Despite the rally in job creation, the slump that gripped the nine-county Bay Area for most of 2023 means it still has failed to regain the heights it enjoyed before the coronavirus pandemic and resulting wide-ranging business shutdowns. The San Jose Mercury News (Subscription required)
  • How Fresno Region Became One of California’s Fastest-Growing Areas
    …About 4,300 more people lived in the Fresno metropolitan area in July 2023 than in July 2022, according to recently released estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau released this week. That reflects a population growth of nearly 0.4% for the region of 1.18 million residents — lower than the national rate of 0.5%. San Francisco Chronicle (Subscription required)
  • California’s Home Insurer of Last Resort Sees Enrollment Surge, Raising Concerns Over Its Finances
    …Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara’s response to the crisis is a set of new rules still being implemented that would allow insurers to raise rates to cover reinsurance costs and projected losses from catastrophic fires, but also require them to provide coverage for more homes in the canyons and hills. The proposals, which aim to move people off the FAIR plan and slow the increase in premiums, have won support from insurance industry trade groups and some consumer groups, but criticism from other consumer advocates. Los Angeles Times (Subscription required)

Top National, International News

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