Archive for category: General News

One Member Story is All Too Familiar – Bye-Bye Golden State

This is a story that I know resonates with many today concerning the influence of CARB regulations on many members that are 60 years or older.
Several years ago I had the opportunity to meet a distant relative for the first time – an aunt. Always interested in my family history, I asked why they had left Oklahoma and came to California. She told me that her family had been able to make it through the “Great Depression” in the 1920’s because they lived on a farm and were able to raise chickens, had a garden and even a milk cow, so the family was always fed. While it was rough they managed to survive until the Dust-Bowl drought years hit in mid to late 1930’s, and that was the end. They packed up and headed for California, known to all back then as “The Land of Opportunity.” Read more

New Tax, Registration, Regulations For Public Works Contractors

California’s Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) recently announced that they are establishing a new public works program to replace the Compliance Monitoring Unit and Labor Compliance Program requirements for bond-funded and other public works projects. The legislation became effective July 1st, of this year, it launched a new set of regulations for public works contractors and subcontractors, using the DIR’s new online application, and a new tax disguised as a fee of $300, “effective this year” and paid “thereafter.” Read more

Employers in California are increasingly coming under attack on just about all fronts; taxes, energy costs, and growing employment liability of mammoth proportions. On the page across (CTN Aug 2014), Pat Whalen, who is part of our legal counsel team drafted a memo to our employer members that I hope all of you take the time and read. There are so many seemingly bad court decisions (in both state and federal court) and new regulations coming out of Sacramento that will have a very challenging effect on our employer members that one has to wonder when the end will come for small businesses here. Read more

Requirements on trucks pulling 53 foot van styled trailers – enforcement could begin soon

The U.S. EPA will be publishing in the Federal Register its approval for the California Air Resources Board to begin enforcement of its Heavy-Duty Tractor-Trailer Greenhouse Gas Regulation or more commonly called the SmartWay rule. Read more

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx announced on July 25, 2014 that Anne Ferro, Administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) intended to resign her position at the end of August. Read more