[Source: The Washington Post] Given the pace at which the Environmental Protection Agency chief has rolled back his predecessors’ work (or at least attempted to), Scott Pruitt secured his place as a one of the most consequential Cabinet-level officials within the Trump administration with an aggressive first year at the helm. The Post’s Brady Dennis Read More…
Category: U.S. News
E.P.A. officials, disheartened by agency’s direction, are leaving in droves
[Source: New York Times] More than 700 people have left the Environmental Protection Agency since President Trump took office, a wave of departures that puts the administration nearly a quarter of the way toward its goal of shrinking the agency to levels last seen during the Reagan administration. Of the employees who have quit, retired Read More…
California’s top air agency condemns EPA’s move to allow high-polluting, older trucks on roads
[Source: California Air Resources Board] Decades of clean air progress stand to be reversed if the US EPA opts to repeal its rule on limiting production of “glider kits,” said Steve Cliff, Deputy Executive Officer of the California Air Resources Board, testifying at a public hearing today at EPA headquarters in Washington D.C. A ‘glider Read More…
Remember: W-2s due January 31 to IRS
[Source: CalChamber] The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reminds employers and other businesses of the January 31 filing deadline that now applies to filing Form W-2 wage statements and independent contractor forms. Under the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act, employers are now required to file their copies of Form W-2 and Form W-3 with the Read More…
Trump’s environmental rollbacks hit California hard, despite Sacramento’s resistance
[Source: Los Angeles Times] When 50,000 acre-feet of water went gushing out of the Sacramento River last month, it fast became a test of California’s ability to protect its environmental policies from an increasingly hostile Trump administration. The episode proved humbling. Heeding the calls of big agriculture interests and area congressional Republicans, the administration pumped Read More…
The GOP tax plan could be the death of Prop. 13
[Source: Los Angeles Times] After a shellacking at the polls on Tuesday, Republicans might not need any new reasons to abandon their unpopular tax overhaul. But here’s one more: It could lead California to finally dismantle Proposition 13, one of the state’s last remaining GOP accomplishments. The federal tax plan, introduced by House Republicans last Read More…
Small business lobby opposed to GOP tax bill
[Source: The Hill] A top small business group has come out against the Republican tax-reform bill, arguing the legislation “leaves too many small businesses behind.” “We are concerned that the pass-through provision does not help most small businesses. Small business is the engine of the economy. We believe that tax reform should provide substantial relief Read More…
Scott Pruitt blocks scientists with EPA funding from serving as agency advisers
[Source: The Washington Post] The head of the Environmental Protection Agency upended the agency’s key advisory groups on Tuesday, announcing plans to jettison scientists who have received EPA grants. The move sets in motion a fundamental shift, one that could change the scientific and technical advice that historically has guided the agency as it crafts Read More…
Small-business owners aren’t happy with government
[Source: L.A. BIZ] Washington’s ongoing showdown over tax reform appears to be doing little to buoy the nation’s small-business owners, a majority of whom say regulations and other aspects of government are far more important to their day-to-day operations. That’s according to a report released today by Thumbtack.com, a website that connects consumers with local Read More…