A new California Forward survey:

Californians see problems, but are optimistic about solutions

These are tough times for state governments. Huge deficits loom almost everywhere, from California to New York, from New Jersey to Texas.

Wait — Texas? Wasn’t Texas supposed to be thriving even as the rest of America suffered? Didn’t its governor declare, during his re-election campaign, that “we have billions in surplus”? Yes, it was, and yes, he did. But reality has now intruded, in the form of a deficit expected to run as high as $25 billion over the next two years . . .…

California's demise is greatly exaggerated

By Bill Lockyer and Stephen Levy

Russ Hancock of Joint Venture Silicon Valley has shared the following links on the Smart Permit Process and their Renewable Energy Procurement Project:

Smart Permit Document

Renewable Energy Procurement…

Follow the link below for the Sacramento Region's presentation:

Valley Vision PPT - Bill Mueller

Follow the link below for Steven Levy's presentation from the December meeting:

Stephen Levy PPT

Follow the below links for the San Luis Obispo presentation and video from the December meeting:

San Luis Obispo - Mike Manchak

San Luis Obispo Video

Follow the link to view Virginia Walker's presentation from the December meeting:

Butte Region PPT - Virginia Walker

NOTE: Due to video content, Rory Rottschalk's portion of the Butte presentation cannot be uploaded.

Bill Allen,  President and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Los Angeles County, will lead a webinar on how to promote a business friendly economic environment.  LAEDC has just completed a strategic plan which engaged a wide range of public and private leaders in LA County.   This strategic plan includes specific recommendations on how to streamlining regulatory processes to help firms reduce time to market and improve the overall environment for doing business in this complex…

Sonoma County has embarked on a multi-faceted approach to improve Latino educational achievement.  Their 2020 goals are to reduce the number of Latino students with less than a high school education from 58% to 4%, as well as increase Latino students with some college and with a college degree by 10%.  Their immediate actions have been to focus on mentor program development and coordination, green collar jobs preparation, expanding the MESA (math, engineering, science achievement) program,…