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January 27, 2012 |
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As part of PECG’s 50th anniversary program, we are beginning a new Member Spotlight feature to recognize the work of individual PECG members in various state agencies throughout California. The first Spotlight will shine on Sunil Shori, an engineer with the Public Utilities Commission. Sunil was heavily involved in the investigation and remedial actions taken after the PG&E natural gas pipeline exploded in September 2010 in San Bruno, resulting in eight fatalities and destroying dozens of homes. Sunil’s recommendations and testimony have been particularly influential in the development of new federal and state legislation and regulations addressing the need for better practices and closer public inspection of the installation and testing of natural gas pipelines throughout the country. PECG congratulates Sunil on the outstanding job he is doing to protect the safety of Californians and all Americans from future disasters. To learn more, visit the new Member Spotlight section of the PECG website.
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The Air Resources Board has unanimously approved amendments to their vehicle emission and clean fuel programs to assist in achieving air quality and greenhouse gas emissions goals. Yesterday, PECG testified n support of the proposed amendments at the ARB hearing in Los Angeles.
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On behalf of our DWR and other members, PECG has been increasingly involved in water issues throughout California. PECG participated in the Verdexchange Conference in Los Angeles
this week, which reported the latest developments in clean energy, green technology, water, and water transportation, such as proposals regarding the Sacramento Delta.
PECG was also represented at the Annual Transportation Research Board Meeting in Washington, D.C. which deals with hundreds of issues and presentations ranging from funding to project delivery to the latest technological developments.
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Some progress is being made toward establishing federal funding for transportation for the next several years. Every few years, Congress approves and the President signs a bill which authorizes the federal gas tax and some additional revenue to be allocated to the states for transportation projects over a five to six year period. When the last authorization ended, the usual deadlock-on-everything practice in Congress took over and no agreement could be reached. Thus, an extension of previous funding levels was approved every few months, with the current one set to expire at the end of March.
The Senate is supporting a measure by Senator Boxer which would authorize $109 billion over two years. This would require $12 billion over and above gas tax revenue. In the House, a five-year $260 billion bill has been proposed, with funding contingent upon approval of additional domestic oil drilling and other features. If some agreement is not reached, additional short term extensions to allow some funding to dribble out to the states will probably continue, at least through the November election.
Funding uncertainties are nothing new to transportation and it is probable that current levels will continue, but dramatic federal funding increases for transportation or other infrastructure appear unlikely in the current political atmosphere during this election year.
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State Auditor Elaine Howle is the latest to take a shot at the California High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA). The Authority has been roundly criticized for some time due to its lack of a credible business or financial plan, doubling of cost estimates, their selection of the route for the initial segment, an overreliance on contractors with little oversight, and a management style which gained it more critics than supporters. Governor Brown supports high-speed rail and recently appointed two new members to the Authority’s Board to attempt to get the project, so to speak, back on track. The Chief Executive Officer recently resigned and a new Chair has been selected to head the Authority’s Board.
In recent months, the Legislative Analyst has recommended that Caltrans take over the project; the Legislature has expressed reservations about approving more funding; the Governor has proposed that HSRA be placed under a new transportation agency; an expert panel has recommended that the Legislature not approve more funding until HSRA gets its act together; and now the State Auditor has called the project’s funding “increasingly risky”. The Auditor also criticized the ratio of 25 contractors to every HSRA employee, splitting of contracts to avoid competitive bidding, and questionable ridership projections.
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January 20, 2012 |
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PECG met with Department of Water Resources (DWR) Director Mark Cowin and his management staff this week. Topics discussed included the Bay Delta Conversation Plan, the State Water Project, the Federal Central Valley Project, the Central Valley Flood Protection Project, and the appropriate role for DWR and its engineering staff now and in the future. Also discussed were the supervisory pay raise issue, DWR’s management support to make that a reality, and the potential Water Bond Measure on the November ballot. It was a good meeting and PECG leaders look forward to working with DWR management in the future.
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The arbitration on PECG’s grievance challenging the elimination of Home Storage Permits in Caltrans Central Region was conducted last week. At issue is Caltrans’ failure to notice PECG and to meet and confer before rescinding those permits. Caltrans recently cancelled some Home Storage Permits in the Northern Region without notifying PECG and providing an opportunity to meet and confer.
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Governor Brown gave his annual State of the State speech on Wednesday, January 18. He expressed his support for renewable energy, clean technology, high-speed rail, water, and schools. Regarding pensions, he asked the Legislature to “please take up the issue and do something real.”
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January 13, 2012 |
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The monthly PECG/Caltrans meeting was held earlier this week. Topics included workload and staffing needs in the coming years, Caltrans’ role in high-speed rail, and salaries for supervisors. On the latter point, Caltrans and DPA continue to support granting the long-overdue pay raises to PECG-represented supervisors and have been seeking to convince the Department of Finance. Caltrans is providing additional information to Finance regarding how the raises could be funded through savings from vacant positions and other sources. In addition to working with DPA and Caltrans, PECG has been continuing to seek support from other departments for the long-overdue increases.
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High-speed rail continues to be a lightning rod for criticism. PECG has been meeting with federal and state officials regarding the need for state engineers, not an endless array of consultants, to perform the engineering work on this massive project if indeed it is ever built. Earlier this week, Senator Dianne Feinstein wrote to Governor Brown, urging him to “deploy the expertise and resources of Caltrans” on the project. Previously, the Legislative Analyst recommended that Caltrans take over the project. The California High-Speed Rail Peer Review Group recently recommended that the Legislature not approve funding for high-speed rail in the absence of a credible business and financial plan.
Yesterday, High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) Chief Executive Officer Roelof van Ark announced his resignation, effective in two months. Tom Umberg, Chair of the HSRA Board of Directors, has stepped down, to be replaced by Dan Richard, a recent Brown appointee.
HSRA has issued a Request for Qualifications to design and build the first leg of the project in the Central Valley. A key issue is whether Caltrans or a consultant will design the realignment of Route 99 in Fresno as part of that project. It is anticipated that Requests for Proposals from qualified firms will be sought in the next couple of months.
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The revelations regarding Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) are worse than anyone could have imagined. After their natural gas pipeline in San Bruno exploded in 2010, killing eight and destroying dozens of homes, a series of incompetent and intentional mistakes and practices by the company have dominated Bay Area headlines. PECG has worked closely with federal and state agencies to increase public inspection of construction and testing the natural gas pipelines throughout California. As a result, the number of engineer inspectors at the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) recently doubled and will more than double again in the next budget year.
Last week, it was revealed that PG&E gave bonuses to their managers based on how few leaks from gas lines were reported. Now, the latest report shows that PG&E diverted more than $100 million in funds intended for safety, inspection, and replacement work, using the money for executive bonuses and stockholder profits. It has also been revealed that PG&E “broke numerous state and federal safety laws” by failing to inspect the San Bruno line before it exploded.
What actions the PUC and federal agencies may take as a result of these latest disclosures is unknown, but huge fines are among the possibilities, particularly since it has now been revealed that PG&E collected $430 million more than the PUC authorized over an eleven year period.
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January 6, 2012 |
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A funny thing happened on the way to the Governor’s January 10 announcement of his proposed State Budget for the next fiscal year beginning on July 1, 2012. Somebody inadvertently posted it on the Internet.
Thus, the Governor scrambled to call a press conference and announced his budget plan on January 5. This caused a certain degree of confusion.
The balanced budget of last summer is no longer balanced. This is due to less than anticipated revenues during the ongoing recession, some court and federal actions and inactions, and a couple of other factors. Thus, the Department of Finance (DOF) now estimates that the current fiscal year will end with a $4.1 billion deficit, followed by an additional $5.1 billion in 2012-13. This deficit will drop to less than $2 billion per year in about three years.
At his press conference, the Governor said these deficits will occur if nothing is done. He is proposing a measure on the November ballot to ask the voters to approve “temporary” increases on personal income tax for the wealthy and the sales tax. His budget document says “the budget assumes the passage of the Governor’s proposed initiative in the November election.” Otherwise, there will be significant additional cuts, particularly to schools, as well as flood control programs at the Department of Water Resources (DWR).
On a positive note, the Governor’s budget proposes an additional 135 positions in DWR to complete preliminary engineering work in connection with development of a plan to meet the State’s future water needs. His budget proposal takes a swipe at public employee pensions and supports high-speed rail and reducing greenhouse gas emissions without specific budget recommendations.
There would be some restructuring at the Cabinet level by putting Caltrans, DMV, High-Speed Rail Authority, the Highway Patrol, the CTC, and the Board of Pilot Commissioners into one agency, shifting the business and housing elements of the current Business, Transportation and Housing Agency to elsewhere.
After reducing Caltrans’ Capital Outlay Support (engineering related) staff by about 200 positions for each of the last several years, the Governor’s budget would add 180 positions back. However, that will be subject to the May revise projections when the transportation program and funding is clearer. Twenty-nine additional engineering positions for the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) inspectors are also proposed. Based on an initial review of the budget document, it appears that changes to PECG-represented staff at other state departments is not significant.
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The Governor has asked the Legislature to approve what he considers to be public employee pension reform. His package would include higher employee contributions for everyone and, for new hires, an increased retirement age and a mandatory hybrid plan which would replace part of the defined benefit pension with a 401(k) system.
An organization calling itself California Pension Reform is waiting for Title and Summary from the Attorney General’s Office to begin seeking signatures to qualify a measure for the November ballot. One of its proposals would be similar to the Governor’s hybrid plan, while the other would be considerably more damaging and perhaps unconstitutional. No doubt other proposals will come forth in the coming weeks and months.
PECG continues to be an active member of a coalition of organizations designed to prevent the weakening or destruction of the pension system for public servants at all levels of government.
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Career public servants who become senior citizens are not the only target for criticism. A High-speed rail peer review group issued a report criticizing the latest proposal from the High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) which doubled the cost of the planned project in the Central Valley
while delaying construction by up to 13 years. Uncertain funding and lack of adequate business and other plans have been targets of criticism for HSRA for some time and the peer review group’s letter to legislative leaders continued that criticism. Chaired by former Caltrans Director Will Kempton, the group was particularly critical of the lack of long term funding commitments, calling that a “fundamental flaw” which would represent an “immense financial risk”. HSRA responded that the peer group report was “deeply flawed” and presents a “narrow, inaccurate and superficial assessment.”
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2012 appears to be the start of yet another bad year for PG&E. The September 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people made PG&E a target of criticism. New federal and state safety laws and regulations were enacted after PG&E’s practices, testing, and records were found to be seriously defective. PUC’s inspection staff of engineers was recently doubled and will be increased again in the next Budget.
The latest revelation is that PG&E gave bonuses to supervisors based on how few leaks they discovered and reported in natural gas pipelines in their areas of responsibility. Fewer reported leaks meant bigger bonuses. PUC Engineer (and PECG member) Sunil Shori reported in 2009 that PG&E’s leak surveys were “not effective” resulting in a “reduced level of safety”. This preceded the San Bruno
blast. Input from PG&E whistle blowers resulted in discovery of the bonus system.
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