Sacramento Bee

Steven Hill in the Sacramento Bee | 'Parties Split Over Teen Voting Bill'

Communications — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:44:00 -0400

New America in the News:

...Steven Hill of the nonpartisan New America Foundation said democracy is not well served by a status quo in which 7 million Californians are eligible to vote but don't bother to register.

Among the youngest adults, ages 18 to 24, slightly more than half have filed voter applications, the PPIC survey found.

"To get people to vote, the first thing is to get them on the rolls," Hill said. "If they're not on the rolls, they can't vote – end of story..." LINK

CA Pension Bill in Sacramento Bee | Plan to Open Up CalPERS Reflects Worry About Inadequate Saving for Retirement

Communications — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:58:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Sacramento Bee | Plan to Open Up CalPERS Reflects Worry About Inadequate Saving for Retirement

Investing for retirement is the financial equivalent of eating your vegetables: It's good for you, but sometimes downright distasteful.

Now a proposal making its way through the California Legislature has people talking about whether the state can make putting aside retirement money more palatable.

The plan would let private businesses and workers funnel direct payroll deposits into a retirement investment account. The California Public Employees' Retirement System would administer the pooled money.

No one knows how many of California's 6 million workers without retirement plans would sign up. Many struggle in jobs that leave them with little money at the end of the month. The arcane language of finance can paralyze the uninitiated. And let's face it: We love buying stuff, even when we can't afford it.

"We want everything now," said Lynn Wigginton, a Sacramento certified financial planner. "All the bells and whistles, the newest car. It's a real obstacle to saving for retirement."

The savings plan could change that by making individual retirement investing as close to set-it-and-forget-it as possible.

*Assembly Bill 2940 would let private-sector workers without an employer-sponsored retirement plan sign up for IRAs watched over by CalPERS. The same apparatus used to take taxes out of paychecks would channel direct deposits into the accounts, which could be carried from job to job.

The plan's supporters, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and author Assemblyman Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles, believe CalPERS is up to the task. It's already the nation's largest public pension fund, managing $250 billion in assets for 1.5 million state and local government workers.

CalPERS hasn't yet commented on the idea. The fund's staff is analyzing the proposal and should make a recommendation to the CalPERS board at its mid-May meeting. . . Please click here to go to the Sacramento Bee website for the full article.

*Background on the pension bill: Advised by New America's Asset Building Program, Assembly Member Kevin De Leon (D-Los Angeles), introduced AB 2940 to establish the California Employees Savings Program. CalESP will provide voluntary and portable retirement savings accounts that workers can freely take with them from job to job. New America’s Asset Building Program has long called for the creation of a portable retirement account that will enable all workers the opportunity to build wealth and achieve financial security.

CA Retirement Saving Proposal in Sacramento Bee | California Assembly Panel Passes State-run IRA Proposal

Communications — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:15:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Sacramento Bee | California Assembly Panel Passes State-run IRA Proposal

A proposal to open California's retirement system to private sector workers prompted questions Wednesday about government competing with investment firms and the pension system's ability to handle the unique program.

"We just don't know if it's going to work yet," Assemblyman Kevin Jeffries, R-Lake Elsinore, said of the proposal to have the California Public Employees' Retirement System offer IRA accounts to workers whose employers don't offer retirement savings plans.

But Sacramento carpenter Lou Delgado said he would be interested in a CalPERS retirement account.

"I'm 40 years old and don't have anything in a real retirement plan, just some savings of my own," Delgado said. "I've worked for a lot of (companies) and never had something like that, so, yeah, I'd be interested in anything that could put away a few dollars a week at this stage of my life."

*The proposal, Assembly Bill 2940 by Assemblyman Kevin De León, D-Los Angeles, passed its first test Wednesday when a committee that deals with retirement issues approved it on a 4-1 vote, with Jeffries abstaining and another Republican, Joel Anderson of Alpine, voting against it.

Supporters said the idea has been percolating for years, both on the federal level and in statehouses. It's being pushed by think tanks as a way to get low- and middle-income Americans to start saving for retirement to supplement Social Security payouts.

"We're trying to create a new model to get people on board," said Mark Paul, senior scholar at the New America Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan institute . . .

As it is, about 6 million Californians work for businesses that do not offer retirement savings plans such as 401(k)s. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday that he likes the idea. . . Please click here to go to the Sacramento Bee website for the full article.

Michael Calabrese in Sacramento Bee | 'FCC auction to reshape telecom?'

Communications — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:41:00 -0500

New America in the News:
FCC auction may reshape telecom field (Sacramento Bee)
Unlike traditional cell phone or Wi-Fi signals, the 700-MHz spectrum can sneak through concrete walls, foliage, heavy rain and other barriers to wireless reception. "It's why you can get TV in your basement with rabbit ears," said Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank. ...

Peter Harbage in Sacramento Bee on Bush's Veto of SCHIP

Communications — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 08:42:00 -0400

New America in the News:

President Bush's veto of a bill that would have allowed California to achieve near-universal health care for children comes at a critical juncture in the state.

Employer-based coverage is decreasing, enrollment in the state's Healthy Families program is increasing and efforts by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democrats to overhaul the health care system have not yielded a solution a month into a special legislative session.

Moreover, new Bush administration rules would make it harder for California to enroll children from middle-income families in Healthy Families.

"For Schwarzenegger and (Democrats), Healthy Families is a big part of health reform," said Peter Harbage, a consultant who has prepared a study for the California Healthcare Foundation on the possible impact of reduced funding from the federal State Children's Health Insurance Program.

SCHIP provides $2 for every $1 the state spends on its Healthy Families program for children. But a $60 billion, five-year extension of SCHIP approved by Congress with bipartisan support was vetoed last week by the president...

Peter Harbage is a Senior Program Associate at New America Foundation. For a direct link to this article, please visit the Sacramento Bee website.

Sacramento Bee Reports on 'Exporting California'

Communications — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 19:48:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told a political conference Thursday that it may cost California money to advance its presidential primary by four months, but that the campaign has the potential to bring more federal dollars to the state.

"We can turn $60 million into billions and billions of dollars," the Republican governor said during the conference at a Sacramento hotel. "It's the greatest investment California ever can make."

Schwarzenegger said that after ignoring California for more than three decades, and focusing on states with earlier primaries, presidential candidates will have to campaign vigorously here...

He said the media should press candidates on issues of importance to Californians, such as immigration, health care, education and offshore oil drilling.

Schwarzenegger said candidates should be asked why Californians get only 79 cents for every tax dollar they send to Washington...

The conference -- "Exporting California: California's Influence in 2008 and Beyond" -- was sponsored by the Public Policy Institute of California, the James Irvine Foundation and the New America Foundation...

For the complete article, please visit the Sacramento Bee website.

Presto! Tax Return Becomes a Nest Egg

Articles — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 03:00:00 -0400

Americans can't save. They rank it right up there with -- oh, cleaning out the closet. Recent research confirms that the national savings rate in the United States dipped below zero percent in 2005 and stayed there for the better part of the year. The last time that happened was during the Great Depression.

For most of us to save money, someone else needs to do it for us. That's why so many of us have our employers deduct money from our paychecks to send to a 401k account. Saving needs to be easy and automatic for it to stand… more

Redistricting Reform: Road Map to Nowhere?

Articles — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 02:00:00 -0400

Redistricting reform in California has become a roller coaster ride. Ever since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger launched his effort last January for a mid-decade redistricting by a panel of retired judges, the ups and downs have been dizzying as the governor and Legislature have tried to outmaneuver each other.

In the latest downward dip of the roller coaster, recently a state court threw Proposition 77, the governor's vehicle for redistricting reform, off the ballot due to a clerical mistake--the proponents sent the wrong version to the printer!

If you feel like you are being whipped around, you have company. To make matters… more

Joining the 'Ownership Society'

Articles — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 03:00:00 -0400

The bad news first. California now ranks last nationally in home ownership. It also has the fourth worst "asset poverty" rate in the nation, meaning that nearly a third of the state's households are on such a financial brink that they'd fall below the poverty level within three months after an unexpected hardship like a job loss or medical emergency.

California's future economy depends on more people gaining access to home ownership and higher education. But it's difficult enough to survive without savings or assets, let alone thrive. Living from month to month makes it impossible to send kids to… more

Voting Regulation Must be Vital to Secretary of State

Articles — Thu, 17 Mar 2005 00:00:00 -0500

California is about to hire a new secretary of state. If former state Sen. Bruce McPherson is confirmed by the Legislature, which seems likely, he will have to decide whether to continue reforms to California's election practices begun by his predecessor, Kevin Shelley.

His decisions will be crucial to the future of California's elections.

Just because Shelley's administration imploded in a cloud of controversy does not mean all its programs were flawed. For instance, Shelley cracked down on the revolving door between the voting equipment industry and government, stopping his staff from working for those they had regulated.

Shelley mandated a… more