San Francisco Public Press (https://www.sfpublicpress.org/author/michael-pistorio/)
San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos is crafting a proposal that would place a fee on alcohol sold in the city, potentially raising $25 million to $35 million annually to help pay for alcohol-related public health and criminal justice costs.
San Francisco’s budget fight has swung into high gear, with two heavy weights – public safety and health – sparring over money and launching intensive campaigns to sway public and supervisorial opinion any way they can. While lobbying is typically connoted with big business using money and power to influence legislation – think tobacco, auto and pharmaceutical industries – this season’s coalitions of interest groups include police officers, healthcare workers, firefighters and city attorneys, and all are hitting the streets and City Hall corridors hard to get their message out.
In a day of protest inside and outside City Hall, the Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Finance Committee shoved a wrench in Mayor Gavin Newsom’s interim budget Wednesday, while nearly 1,000 rallied outside for more equitable cuts to save health services.
The biggest change to existing lottery law if Proposition C passes is that it would no longer require lottery profits to be dedicated to educational institutions. Currently, these profits make up around 1 percent of the overall budget of California’s public education institutions.
The Bay Area economy continued to slow from late February to early April, though some sectors showed signs of stabilizing, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.
Releasing its latest Beige Book, a summary of 12 regional reports, the Fed points to Silicon Valley as the big drag on the local economy. There are indications, however, that the computer and information technology sectors may be poised to rebound later in the year.
