No pay today for California lawmakers over budget. Will U.S. cities benefit from Afghanistan troop withdrawal? Hold on to your seats! If you can find a chair. Allegations of racial bias in Section 8 enforcement. Why you can’t trust Google Inc.
No pay today for California lawmakers over budget
Prop 25 says that if California legislators fail to pass a budget by the June 15 constitutional deadline, their pay is cut off. On Tuesday, State Controller John Chiang said the budget lawmakers presented to the Governor last week was “miscalculated, miscounted or unfinished” and didn’t pencil out. As a result, he decided to withhold from the legislators the $400 daily pay they receive from the state. Democrats have responded angrily saying they have fulfilled their commitment to bring a budget on time to the Governor and have threatened to sue in order to get paid. Chiang says since he’s the person who writes the checks, it’s up to him to assess whether revenue equals or exceeds spending. According to his calculations, the budget comes up 2 billion dollars short. Does state controller Chiang have the authority to determine the soundness of the budget? Should California’s lawmakers get paid or cut-off?
Guests:
John Chiang, California State Controller
Julie Small, KPCC's State Capital Reporter
Will U.S. cities benefit from Afghanistan troop withdrawal?
President Obama is expected to talk to the nation tonight at 5:00pm, about troop withdrawals and his plans to wind down the now 10-year war in Afghanistan. Closer to home, L.A’s Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was recently named President of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, a nomination that puts him in the forefront of the fight over federal budget cuts. On Monday, Villaraigosa met with President Obama to talk about the possibility of shifting funds away from the war in Afghanistan to pay for the needs of America’s cities, which have been hard hit by the recession, unemployment and the housing crisis. Will Villaraigosa’s new political prominence on the national stage be good for California? The newly-minted President of Mayors joins us to share the details of his recent political travels.
Guest:
Antonio Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles
Hold on to your seats! If you can find a chair
Remember that Seinfeld episode in which George Costanza intervened to secure a chair for a security guard who worked in a retail clothing store? Well, the guard – who didn’t even want a chair – got one, fell asleep on the job, and ultimately got fired. That’s television, but here in California there are real retail workers who think they should have chairs. And they’re filing class action law suits against big retailers like Target, Home Depot and Walmart for failing to provide “suitable seating.” There’s no express seating requirement in California Labor Code requiring employers to provide such seating, but section 1198 of the code prohibits employers from violating Industrial Wage Commission (IWC) wage orders. Wage Order 7-2001 does require businesses to provide seating to employees “when the nature of the work reasonably permits the use of seats.” Furthermore, if employees must stand for their jobs, seats must be available for workers “when it does not interfere with the performance of their duties.” Are lawyers overreaching by tying the California Labor Code to the IWC wage order? Are suits like these necessary to protect workers’ rights? Or is this just opportunistic litigation? Will employees be shown a seat, or the door?
Guest:
Jeff K. Winikow, a Century City attorney whose practice focuses on employees' rights
Allegations of racial bias in Section 8 enforcement
In the Antelope Valley, thousands of low-income families use federal housing subsidies. Now they say they're being targeted unfairly by housing authority investigators and city officials. A federal lawsuit filed on their behalf claims the cities of Lancaster and Palmdale have "declare[d] 'war' on black and Latino families." The mayors say they simply are enforcing Section 8 regulations. The dispute has caused the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to investigate how enforcement is carried out. In the meantime, the Board has suspended its portion of enforcement funding. How are Section 8 investigators carrying out compliance checks? How should enforcement be conducted? Is there a connection between violent crime and Section 8 violators? Is this about racism in a historically Caucasian region?
Guest:
James Ledford Jr., Mayor of Palmdale
Catherine Lhamon, Director of Impact Litigation at Public Counsel which initiated lawsuit against cities of Lancaster and Palmdale
Why you can’t trust Google Inc.
What does Google do with all the information it collects from us as we use its search? Nothing good according to the world’s leading Google critic Scott Cleland. Cleland is the author of Search and Destroy, a new book that warns against the power and influence of Google Inc. In Cleland’s view, Google’s sole aim is to consolidate and centralize the information it gathers from users so as to track, profile and monetize every aspect of our online experience. Cleland claims that by capturing information it gleans from a range of free products it offers, Google is evolving into the Internet’s “lone superpower.” What irks the author even more is that we are so trusting of this behemoth with its motto, “don’t be evil” and that there are no checks on its ability to violate property or privacy rights. Cleland also contends that Google can and will use its unprecedented centralization of information to influence politics and even undermine out freedoms. Is Google really conspiring to control the world or is this just hyperbole and paranoia? What do we have to fear from the search engine we all use?
Guest:
Scott Cleland, author of Search & Destroy: Why You Can’t Trust Google Inc.