Like California’s social safety net? New report says it’s paid for by the tech industry
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TECH SECTOR CASH KEEPS CALIFORNIA SOCIAL SAFETY NET ALOFT, REPORT SAYS
In these cash-crunched times, when California lawmakers are dealing with a skyrocketing deficit, the tech industry would like to remind everyone of its contributions to state coffers.
The industry funded Chamber of Progress on Tuesday unveiled a new report showing just how much the tech sector underpins California’s economy.
“Assuming a five-year average growth rate, the tech industry adds, on average, a minimum of $2.6 billion to California’s annual state government revenue and over $14.3 billion across a five-year period,” the report says.
From that $2.6 billion, K-12 education receives $916 million annually, health services receive $614 million, higher education receives $266 million and human services receives $270 million, according to the report.
“Overall,the $2.6 billion in additional annual tax revenue from the tech industry supports 20,577 additional jobs in California each year,” according to the report.
The report author, economist Kaitlyn Harger, writes in the report that although the tech sector is accused of increasing income inequality in the Golden State, “less attention is paid to how California’s social safety net relies on the tech economy.”
Given that importance, Harger writes that lawmakers should “consider the impact of policy on the tech industry’s performance.”
That’s a not-so-veiled warning to lawmakers as they consider a raft of bills that would impact the tech industry, including a bill to give local jurisdictions the power to regulate autonomous vehicles.
You can read the report here.
WILL NETANYAHU ADDRESS CONGRESS?
Via David Lightman...
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to get an invitation to address a joint session of Congress. Some California Democrats are not pleased.
“I think it is cynical and I wouldn’t do it during the war,” said Rep. Ami Bera, D-Sacramento, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Bera told C-SPAN last week that “We have seen what this (conflict over the war) does on college campuses and how divisive this is.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, had similar thoughts. “I think it’s a bad idea. I think it would just be divisive and unhelpful.,” Schiff, the Democratic candidate for a California U.S. Senate seat, told The Bee
Schiff, a strong supporter of Israel, said Netanyahu’s government and policies “have really put Israel in this untenable position. And so I think that would be a political exercise to have them come speak to Congress now, which would not be in the interests of the U.S.-Israel relationship.”
Republicans have been trying to show their strong support for Israel at a time when Democrats are divided over U.S. policy regarding the Israel-Hamas war. Steve Garvey, Schiff’s Republican opponent, says he’s a strong supporter of Israel.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told an Israel Independence Day reception last week that a Netanyahu speech, which has not been scheduled, would be “a strong show of support for the Israeli government in their time of greatest need,” Reuters reported.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Don’t forget to breathe…Taking care of yourself is a form of resistance when you’re fighting to change and survive the systems that were designed to break you.”
- Assemblyman Isaac G. Bryan, D-Los Angeles, via X.
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