Sacramento County Business, Economy & Jobs Digest

After years of delay, a new California regulation to protect indoor workers from extreme heat is now in effect.

California Forever’s announcement July 22 that it has decided to pull a ballot measure that would have let voters decide on a controversial planned city in rural Solano County drew swift reaction from political leaders and opponents.

On July 22, California Forever announced it was withdrawing its initiative to amend the Solano County General Plan off the November ballot and would instead begin working with the county through the normal, though less expeditious, process.

A judge has halted a union effort at the Wonderful Company, throwing into question a new state law designed to make it easier for agricultural workers to organize.

California courts have long upheld below-minimum wage pay for prison inmates working a wide range of jobs. A 2024 ballot measure that would ban forced labor could alter those decisions.

A mother picks up her son from daycare in Richmond on Sept. 26, 2022. Photo by Marissa Leshnov for CalMatters

A program for low-income, first-generation STEM students at community colleges is receiving millions of dollars to expand across the state.

Private-sector jobs in California have declined since their post-pandemic peak, while public-sector employment has shown gains, the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office says.

On June 19, California YIMBY announced support for the California Forever project going to the Solano County ballot in November.

On June 11, Solano County elections officials announced the verification of necessary signatures for the California Forever sponsored initiative to amend the county General Plan to be on the November ballot.

Plans for a new 1600-space parking garage and a new hotel with 300 rooms have been announced by Sky River Casino in Elk Grove.

Introducing John Klunder, a Citrus Heights resident growing and selling produce from his family's small suburban farm on Mariposa Avenue.

A panel of labor experts at the CalMatters Ideas Festival say California workers should have more access to more apprenticeships that pay more. Barriers still exist, especially for women and low-income Californians.

A new "development collective" is being proposed for Auburn Boulevard businesses in Citrus Heights.

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, flew more 6,000 miles to Rome this month to deliver a brief speech on climate change at a Vatican-sponsored conference.

As Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators spend the next few weeks fashioning a state budget that’s plagued by a multibillion-dollar deficit, they can’t count on a booming economy to make their task easier.

On May 9, a Solving Sacramento panel discussion were upbeat on the potential for Sacramento to grow an inclusive economy.

In its April 25 meeting, the Citrus Heights City Council heard a report from the police department detailing efforts to reduce shopping cart theft, noting that over 1,500 carts had been removed from city streets in 2023.

More than half of the U.S. House supports a bill to extend the funds, but it can’t get out of committee.

Manhattan Beach-based electric car company Fisker Inc. has added a Sacramento sales location as the struggling company seeks to get more cars into the market.

During the much-ballyhooed “California exodus” amid the pandemic, remote workers moved to other states where they could live for a fraction of the cost compared to cities like Los Angeles or San Francisco.

A bill to rein in a proposed monthly fee on California electric bills would let California’s largest for-profit utility companies charge customers $24 per month — with fees as low as $6 for lower-income customers — as a kind of membership fee for the power grid.

Dozens of members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, including vocational nurses, social workers, kitchen and janitorial staff, picketed outside the Sutter Center for Psychiatry

The California Public Utilities Commission will consider on May 9 a new proposal that would change how Californians pay for electricity.

It's been difficult to be an almond farmer these past few years. But it’s also been difficult to stop being an almond farmer, as orchard owners who try to sell their land have a hard time finding willing buyers.

A coalition of timber businesses filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the embattled Pacific Gas & Electric Co., alleging $225 million in damages caused by the 2021 Dixie Fire.

A California Republican’s bill would exempt low and middle income wildfire victims from solar panels requirements on rebuilt homes that didn’t have them when they burned down.

Anti-tax groups in California have qualified a measure for the November ballot that would make raising state and local taxes much more difficult. It’s a showdown that’s been building for nearly five decades.

The Sacramento Business Journal’s Corporate Citizenship Awards honor the individuals and organizations that go above and beyond to give back to the Sacramento-area community.

At a press event to celebrate the above-average snowpack survey in the Sierra Nevada on April 2, Newsom unveiled the state’s controversial updated California Water Plan.

Although Elk Grove taxpayers will shoulder most of the $302 million cost of the initial phase of the relocation and construction of a new Sacramento Zoo, other parties including the Sacramento Zoological Society will share the burden.

Former Goodwill Sacramento Valley & Northern Nevada CEO Richard Abrusci faces additional charges in a federal indictment alleging he stole more than $1.5 million from multiple area nonprofits.