Residents brace for higher bills if increase is OK’d

The Desert Sun

Warren Horton spent more than $7,000 installing a high-efficiency refrigerator and air conditioning system in his Cathedral City home, trying to drive down his electric bills as low as they could go.

Now he fears those bills could rise again if the California Public Utilities Commission approves a rate restructuring plan from Southern California Edison, which covers roughly the western half of the valley.

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Saverin’s move is an insult to immigrant families like mine who worked hard to build something in this country.

AlterNet
by: Samuel Kang

The Huffington Post
by:Preeti Vissa

If one man can be described as absolutely key to solving the ongoing foreclosure crisis — and thus not only helping millions of struggling homeowners but also stabilizing the neighborhoods where they live — it is Edward DeMarco, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The rest of the country is inching forward on tangible progress, but DeMarco could do more than anyone.

The need is as urgent now as it ever was.

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Bill Would Gut Telecom Regulation, May Cost Local Governments $70 million

Contact: Bruce Mirken, Greenlining Institute Media Relations Coordinator, 510-926-4022; 415-846-7758 (cell)

SACRAMENTO – As the Senate Appropriations Committee prepares to consider SB 1161, legislation to deregulate Internet-based phone services, The Greenlining Institute urged senators to take a close, hard look at the measure’s fiscal impact.

A recent California Public Utilities Commission staff analysis found that the bill, by exempting Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone services from the Utility Users Tax, could cost local governments roughly $70 million.

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Contact: Bruce Mirken, Greenlining Institute Media Relations Coordinator, 415-846-7758 (cell)

FRESNO, CALIFORNIA – At its public meeting today in Fresno, the California Public Utilities Commission postponed voting on whether to oppose SB 1161, legislation that threatens the CPUC’s ability to protect millions of telephone customers.

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Fierce Enterprise Communications
by: Chris Rizo

Industry-backed legislation that would bar California officials from regulating Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service in the Golden State drew opposition this week from lawyers at the California Public Utilities Commission.

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MEDIA ADVISORY
May 8, 2012

Contact:
Bruce Mirken, Greenlining Institute Media Relations Coordinator, 510-926-4022; 415-846-7758 (cell)
Mindy Spatt, Communications Director, The Utility Reform Network (TURN) , 415-929-8876, ext. 306

FRESNO, CALIFORNIA – At a rare public meeting in Fresno on May 10, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will consider whether to take a position on telecommunications industry-sponsored legislation that threatens vital protections for telephone consumers. Consumer advocates from around the state will join local leaders in opposing the bill, and will hold a press conference immediately after the meeting.

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Capitol Weekly
By Michelle Romero, Nisha Balaram

Ballot initiatives are playing an increasingly important role in setting policy in California, on nearly every issue from education to same-sex marriage, but today millions of Californians are excluded from a crucial part of the process.  Despite a long history of struggle to gain voting rights in this country and to ensure that all eligible citizens can exercise this right freely, millions of citizens who do not speak English very well have no say in determining what gets on the ballot.

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The Huffington Post
By Bonnie Kavoussi

State governments are losing out on much-needed tax revenue from rich online retailers, even as they’re forced to lay off teachers and policemen.

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San Francisco Chronicle
by: Andrew S. Ross

Losing end: That 9.8 percent figure the New York Times came up with in its highly publicized report on how little tax Apple pays has been disputed by the company. It’s the same figure Berkeley’s Greenlining Institute came up with in a survey of Fortune 500 high-tech companies released last week.

What is not open to dispute is the magic kingdom of tax havens that Apple lives in. Most telling in the Times report were the words of De Anza College President Brian Murphy, whose campus is a mile and a half from Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.

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