Oil `Windfall’ Tax Gains Momentum
As the statewide average price for regular gasoline passed $3 a gallon Monday, politicians and grass-roots activists pumped up their calls for new taxes on companies that produce or refine oil in California, the Los Angeles Times reports. The chairman of the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee won a first vote on his latest proposal to slap a 2 percent surtax on so-called windfall profits from petroleum producing, refining and sales activities.
Assemblyman Johan Klehs (D-San Leandro) proposal, an outgrowth of a bill defeated on the Assembly floor in January, would earmark proceeds to provide tax credits to middle- and low-income seniors to buy prescription drugs. He estimates that the tax could amount to as much as $190 million annually.
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Call Made for Grand Tax Break
As architect Frank Gehry unveiled his design for the first phase of the $1.8 billion Grand Avenue project, developers said that the city will have to waive the bed tax on the 275-room luxury hotel that is the centerpiece of the redevelopment plan, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. Developer William Witte of The Related Cos. and city officials said a development agreement will need to be worked out to include a waiver of the tax in order to entice an operator for the five-star hotel proposed for 2nd Street and Grand Avenue. Set on a three-acre block across the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the first phase would cost $750 million and would include a 50-story glass tower that would house the hotel, 250 condominiums, a rooftop pool, bar and spa. The project also would include open-terraced restaurants, a health club, a bookstore, a garden-like atmosphere and outdoor art.
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LAX auditors: Security Tree Should Have Reached the Sky
A security scare on a flight bound for Los Angeles two years ago underscored the need for better communication among law-enforcement agents, a federal review of the incident has concluded, the Daily Breeze reports. The flight made national headlines in mid-2004 after the behavior of 13 Middle Eastern men on board aroused the suspicions of passengers and crew. The FBI determined shortly after the plane landed at Los Angeles International Airport that the men had posed no threat. But the incident revealed shortcomings in how the Department of Homeland Security coordinates information on suspicious passengers and activities, according to a report by the department’s auditors. It also raised questions about which agency has the authority to investigate such in-flight incidents.
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Bill to let landlords reject sex offenders
Thousands of California apartment owners would gain the right to ask prospective tenants if they are registered sex offenders – and then deny them apartments – under a bill receiving its first hearing in the Legislature Tuesday, the Sacramento Bee reported. The proposal also allows landlords to evict tenants for misrepresentation if they aren’t truthful. The bill follows a failed attempt by landlords in January to win similar rights in a state with an estimated 66,000 registered sex offenders. The California Apartment Association, which sponsored AB2603, says landlords are increasingly fearful of legal scenarios that stop them from screening or evicting sex offenders who appear in an online Megan’s Law database, but make them liable for tenants who commit crimes. Opponents say the measure is unnecessary and amounts to lifelong denial of housing for sex offenders.
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Labor Unrest, Exec Exits Hit Disney Park
There’s more misery in store at seven-month-old Hong Kong Disneyland this week as unions threaten to disrupt the park and two more execs ankled, Variety reports. Senior VP of marketing and sales Roy Tan Hardy and director of strategic marketing Jennifer Chua resigned Thursday. These moves follow the resignation of sales director Mabel Chau last month, while managing director Don Robinson quit three months ago. Robinson was replaced by Bill Ernest. The resignations were widely associated with the ticketing fiasco that forced the park to shutter during Chinese New Year, at the end of January and beginning of February, when too many people with flexible-entry tickets turned up. Meanwhile, the Disney Cast Members Union is mulling a protest against long working hours and demanding pay parity between costumed staff and show performers during the daily Disney parade.
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