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Opinion: California Puts Lipstick on its Porcine FI$Cal Technology Project

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Opinion: California Puts Lipstick on its Porcine FI$Cal Technology Project


California state Capitol building
The California state Capitol constructing in Sacramento. File photograph courtesy of Sen. Toni Atkins’ workplace

The state authorities’s continual incapacity to make use of excessive expertise in a well timed and cost-effective method is nowhere extra evident than in a challenge referred to as “Monetary Info System for California.”

That awkward title was devised in order that it might be referred to as by the catchy title of “FI$Cal,” however by no matter moniker, the trouble to create a single program for managing state funds has been nothing however hassle, consuming almost twenty years of political and bureaucratic time and costing taxpayers at the very least $1 billion.

The state auditor’s workplace, tasked by regulation with monitoring FI$Cal’s progress, or lack thereof, has issued a string of stories detailing its missed deadlines, incomplete options and ever-rising prices. At one level, the auditor even blew the whistle on an effort to have the challenge declared full, although it was removed from being completely operational.

Earlier this yr, the auditor as soon as once more catalogued FI$Cal’s shortcomings, together with its apparent incapacity to satisfy a June deadline for completion, noting that crucial last step — making it useable by the state controller’s workplace to provide annual complete monetary statements — “has fallen delayed.” The report warned that if the state can’t “publish correct and well timed monetary statements,” it dangers having its credit standing lowered and never qualifying for federal funds.

“These monetary reporting delays could in the end show expensive for the state,” the auditor warned.

The Legislature has been annoyed by the challenge’s sorry report and because the June deadline approached, each legislative homes voted for extra oversight. They handed a invoice requiring detailed annual stories on the quantity and size of unplanned outages and modifications to make FI$Cal perform effectively sufficient to adjust to federal necessities.

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The measure’s creator, Assemblyman Rudy Salas, a Bakersfield Democrat, instructed his fellow legislators in a press release, “As FI$Cal enters its 18th yr at a price of roughly $1 billion, it’s clear that stronger oversight and transparency must be established,” including, “This invoice will assist set up higher oversight and performance with a high-risk state challenge, and assist get FI$Cal again on monitor.”

Eight days after passing Salas’ invoice on June 23, the Legislature did one thing else about FI$Cal, though few lawmakers have been in all probability conscious of what they have been doing, because it was buried in one of many many price range “trailer payments” which can be handed with little scrutiny.

The trailer invoice merely declared that “the system’s challenge targets … are decided to be full as of July 1, 2022. Due to this fact, no additional reporting pursuant to Part 11546 on system growth, implementation, enhancement, upkeep and operations, safety, or associated workload is required.”

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In different phrases, the trailer invoice put into regulation what challenge managers had as soon as tried to do on their very own — declare FI$Cal to be full although it’s clearly not. The laws additionally eliminated the state auditor as an unbiased overseer of your entire challenge, relegating it to a much-narrower position, and in essence gave the challenge’s managers one other 10 years to make it totally useable.

Final month, Gov. Gavin Newsom accomplished the fictional train of declaring the clearly incomplete FI$Cal to be completed by vetoing Salas’ invoice.

“Whereas I admire the intent to enhance performance of the Fl$Cal system, this invoice is pointless,” Newsom mentioned in his veto message. “This concern was resolved within the last 2022-23 price range settlement contained in Meeting Invoice 156, which expanded legislative reporting necessities whereas additionally facilitating the transition of a number of departments into the Fl$Cal system. For these causes, I can’t signal this invoice.”

It’s paying homage to the previous saying about placing lipstick on a pig.

CalMatters is a public curiosity journalism enterprise dedicated to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it issues.

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Caitlyn Jenner says she'd 'destroy' Kamala Harris in hypothetical race to be CA gov

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Caitlyn Jenner says she'd 'destroy' Kamala Harris in hypothetical race to be CA gov


Caitlyn Jenner, the gold-medal Olympian-turned reality TV personality, is considering another run for Governor of California. This time, she says, if she were to go up against Vice President Kamala Harris, she would “destroy her.” 

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Jenner, who publicly came out as transgender nearly 10 years ago, made a foray into politics when she ran as a Republican during the recall election that attempted to unseat Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021. Jenner only received one percent of the vote and was not considered a serious candidate. 

Jenner posted this week on social media that she’s having conversations with “many people” and hopes to have an announcement soon about whether she will run. 

Caitlyn Jenner speaks at the 4th annual Womens March LA: Women Rising at Pershing Square on January 18, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images)

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She has also posted in Trumpian-style all caps: “MAKE CA GREAT AGAIN!”

As for VP Harris, she has not indicated any future plans for when she leaves office. However, a recent poll suggests Harris would have a sizable advantage should she decide to run in 2026. At that point, Newsom cannot run again because of term limits. 

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If Jenner decides to run and wins, it would mark the nation and state’s first transgender governor.  



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Northern California 6-year-old, parents hailed as heroes for saving woman who crashed into canal

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Northern California 6-year-old, parents hailed as heroes for saving woman who crashed into canal


LIVE OAK — A six-year-old and her parents are being called heroes by a Northern California community for jumping into a canal to save a 75-year-old woman who drove off the road. 

It happened on Larkin Road near Paseo Avenue in the Sutter County community of Live Oak on Monday. 

“I just about lost her, but I didn’t,” said Terry Carpenter, husband of the woman who was rescued. “We got more chances.” 

Terry said his wife of 33 years, Robin Carpenter, is the love of his life and soulmate. He is grateful he has been granted more time to spend with her after she survived her car crashing off a two-lane road and overturning into a canal. 

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“She’s doing really well,” Terry said. “No broken bones, praise the Lord.” 

It is what some call a miracle that could have had a much different outcome without a family of good Samaritans. 

“Her lips were purple,” said Ashley Martin, who helped rescue the woman. “There wasn’t a breath at all. I was scared.” 

Martin and her husband, Cyle Johnson, are being hailed heroes by the Live Oak community for jumping into the canal, cutting Robin out of her seat belt and pulling her head above water until first responders arrived. 

“She was literally submerged underwater,” Martin said. “She had a back brace on. Apparently, she just had back surgery. So, I grabbed her brace from down below and I flipped her upward just in a quick motion to get her out of that water.” 

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The couple said the real hero was their six-year-old daughter, Cayleigh Johnson. 

“It was scary,” Cayleigh said. “So the car was going like this, and it just went boom, right into the ditch.” 

Cayleigh was playing outside and screamed for her parents who were inside the house near the canal.

I spoke with Robin from her hospital bed over the phone who told us she is in a lot of pain but grateful.

“The thing I can remember is I started falling asleep and then I was going over the bump and I went into the ditch and that’s all I remember,” Robin said. 

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It was a split-second decision for a family who firefighters said helped save a stranger’s life. 

“It’s pretty unique that someone would jump in and help somebody that they don’t even know,” said Battalion Chief for Sutter County Fire Richard Epperson. 

Robin is hopeful that she will be released from the hospital on Wednesday in time to be home for Thanksgiving. 

“She gets Thanksgiving and Christmas now with her family and grandkids,” Martin said. 

Terry and Robin are looking forward to eventually meeting the family who helped save Robin’s life. The family expressed the same feelings about meeting the woman they helped when she is out of the hospital. 

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“I can’t wait for my baby to get home,” Terry said. 



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California may exclude Tesla from EV rebate program

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California may exclude Tesla from EV rebate program


California Gov. Gavin Newsom may exclude Tesla and other automakers from an electric vehicle (EV) rebate program if the incoming Trump administration scraps a federal tax credit for electric car purchases.

Newsom proposed creating a new version of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, which was phased out in 2023 after funding more than 594,000 vehicles and saving more than 456 million gallons of fuel, the governor’s office said in a news release on Monday.

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“Consumers continue to prove the skeptics wrong – zero-emission vehicles are here to stay,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re not turning back on a clean transportation future – we’re going to make it more affordable for people to drive vehicles that don’t pollute.”

The proposed rebates would be funded with money from the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, which is funded by polluters under the state’s cap-and-trade program, the governor’s office said. Officials did not say how much the program would cost or save consumers.

NEBRASKA AG LAUNCHES ASSAULT AGAINST CALIFORNIA’S ELECTRIC VEHICLE PUSH

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday proposed creating a new version of the state’s Clean Vehicle Rebate Program if the incoming Trump administration scraps a federal tax credit for electric car purchases. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, File / Getty Images)

They would also include changes to promote innovation and competition in the zero-emission vehicles market – changes that could prevent automakers like Tesla from qualifying for the rebates.

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who relocated Tesla’s corporate headquarters from California to Texas in 2021, responded to the possibility of having Tesla EVs left out of the program.

Tesla automobile plugged in and charging a Supercharger rapid battery charging station for the electric vehicle company Tesla Motors, in the Silicon Valley town of Mountain View, California, August 24, 2016.

Tesla and other automakers may not qualify for the proposed tax credits, according to the governor’s office. (Getty Images, File / Getty Images)

“Even though Tesla is the only company who manufactures their EVs in California! This is insane,” Musk wrote on X, which he also owns.

BENTLEY PUSHES BACK ALL-EV LINEUP TIMELINE TO 2035

Those buying or leasing Tesla vehicles accounted for about 42% of the state’s rebates, The Associated Press reported, citing data from the California Air Resources Board.

Newsom’s office told Fox Business Digital that the proposal is intended to foster market competition, and any potential market cap is subject to negotiation with the state Legislature. 

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“Under a potential market cap, and depending on what the cap is, there’s a possibility that Tesla and other automakers could be excluded,” the governor’s office said. “But that’s again subject to negotiations with the legislature.”

Newsom’s office noted that such market caps have been part of rebate programs since George W. Bush’s administration in 2005.

Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom

Newsom has pushed Californians to replace gas-powered vehicles with zero-emission vehicles. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Federal tax credits for EVs are currently worth up to $7,500 for new zero-emission vehicles. President-elect Trump has previously vowed to end the credit.

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California has surpassed 2 million zero-emission vehicles sold, according to the governor’s office. The state, however, could face a $2 billion budget deficit next year, Reuters reported, citing a non-partisan legislative estimate released last week.

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