California Archives - Checks and Balances Project

Realtor Lobbyist Denies Fix Is In For Bakersfield City Council Vote to Kill Homeowners Program

2017-07-19

We had the opportunity to talk with realtors lobbyist Kim Schaefer today on KERN AM Radio. Previously, Ms. Schaefer had privately claimed that her organization was promised votes by local elected officials to kill the popular home improvement financing program (PACE) in exchange for political cover. You can see her claim here: If true,… Read more »

Checks and Balances Project Demands Kern County Board of Supervisors Cure and Correct anti-PACE Program Vote

2017-07-18

Checks and Balances Project demanded answers to possible illegal contact by members of the Kern County Board of Supervisors with the realtor’s lobby before the Board killed a popular program that homeowners use to finance energy efficiency, renewable energy and seismic improvements.

Why Did California Realtors Do an About Face on PACE?

2017-07-11

Checks and Balances Project received a reader tip in May alleging the California Association of REALTORS (C.A.R.) has subjected Bakersfield, California, among other localities, to an intense anti-PACE campaign. PACE or Property Assessed Clean Energy programs provide homeowners in California, Missouri and Florida with upfront financing for energy efficient and renewable energy improvements to their… Read more »

Bakersfield CA Councilmember Bob Smith Subject of Public Records Inquiry

2017-06-14

A Local Spotlight on the National Effort to Undermine Property Assessed Clean Energy Recent reports have called our attention to what appears to be a coordinated attack on Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE). PACE allows homeowners to finance residential and commercial energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, as well as hurricane-mitigation and other improvements, through… Read more »

San Bruno Disaster Emails Published in a New, Searchable Database

2016-06-13

Today, we publish 120,746 emails and attachments exchanged between Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

California Official Denies Lobbying by Arizona Hired Gun

2015-12-14

Lon Huber was special projects advisor for RUCO, the Residential Utility Consumer Office of Arizona, when, in 2013, he proposed a new kind of fee to Chairman Bob Stump of the Arizona Corporation Commission. Huber’s idea was a “fixed charge on every solar customer’s bill.” It would become the nation’s first monthly utility fee for customers who… Read more »

Is TURN’s Relationship with California Utility Commissioner Mike Florio More Important than Consumer Protection?

2015-06-3

Checks and Balances Project did something yesterday we haven’t done before: we requested records from a well-known consumer protection nonprofit. In a letter to California’s The Utilities Reform Network (TURN), we asked the organization to voluntarily provide communications records with Mike Florio, a public utility commissioner under fire for ethical misconduct who had been its… Read more »

2015-04-10

I am excited for this opportunity to continue my earlier work advocating for a healthier climate future. Much has changed since my last foray when I challenged the Koch Brothers to debate the merits of California’s landmark AB 32, the law aimed at reducing California’s carbon pollution to 1990 levels by 2020. One thing remains… Read more »

Checks and Balances Project Launches Captured Regulators Initiative

2015-02-25

Influence peddling in America is a $9 billion a year industry. It’s as big as Major League Baseball or NASA’s Mars spacecraft program, changing from direct meetings with lawmakers to a vertically integrated set of businesses that work every stage of government decision making – including the shaping of public opinion. Many have charted the… Read more »