Daily Business Report-Aug. 12, 2016
New Poll: Marijuana Legalization Measure
Enjoys Widespread Support in California
California’s likely voters appear poised to pass Proposition 64 in the November general election to legalize recreational marijuana, according to a statewide poll by Proboskey Research.
The 61.8 percent who say they will vote yes, in favor of Prop 64 reflects a modest increase since Proboskey Research last tested the issue in February of this year.
Moreover, support appears relatively enthusiastic, with a plurality (44.7 percent) saying they will “definitely” vote yes, in favor of the proposition.
Voters who said they would “probably” vote in favor of the measure totaled 14.9 percent. Voters “leaning” toward voting yes totaled 2.2 percent.
Probolsky Research, headquartered in Newport Beach, specializes in opinion research on behalf of business, government, non-profit and special interest clients.
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Proposition 64
The initiative was designed to legalize marijuana and hemp under state law and enact a 15 percent sales tax as well as a cultivation tax of $9.25 per ounce for flowers and $2.75 per ounce for leaves, with exceptions for qualifying medical marijuana sales and cultivation. The initiative was also designed to prevent licenses for corporate or large-scale marijuana businesses for five years in order to deter the “unreasonable restraints on competition by creation or maintenance of unlawful monopoly power.” Other provisions relate to rights of employers, driving under the influence, and marijuana business locations.
Marijuana in California
California voters were first presented with a marijuana-related ballot measure in 1972, when Proposition 19 appeared on the ballot. The measure would have decriminalized marijuana use and possession for people 18 years of age or older upon voter approval. In 1996, California became the first state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana when voters approved Proposition 215, and in 2010, voters were give the chance to vote on the legalization of recreational marijuana again with the appearnce of Proposition 19. The measure was defeated.
Source: Ballotpedia, The Encyclopedia of American Politics
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Cubic Completes Transition to
Opal Card-Only Transit System Trips
Cubic Transportation Systems announced another milestone for the Cubic-designed Opal smart card ticketing system with retirement of the last paper tickets in Sydney, Australia.
Launched in December 2012, the Opal card system, which was designed, installed and operated by Cubic, is now used for 95 percent of all public transport trips. To date, customers have taken 800 million trips and more than 7.5 million cards have been issued. The transition to an Opal-only system was aided by Cubic’s development of a single-trip, disposable smart card ticket.
Starting this month, the old-style paper tickets for public transport will no longer be sold or accepted, marking the completion of Sydney’s transition to the modern, integrated electronic-ticketing system. Customers who don’t have an Opal card can now purchase the single-trip Opal smart cards through 255 Opal top-up machines, which are located at train, light rail and ferry stops.
“Opal is enormously popular with Sydney and regional customers who no longer need to fumble for coins or wait in long ticket queues,” said Tom Walker, Asia-Pacific managing director for Cubic Transportation Systems. “The introduction of the single-trip smart cards provides a last resort option for customers who don’t have an Opal card at the time of travel.”
The transition to a single electronic ticketing system also has major benefits for transport agencies and operators across Sydney and surrounding regional areas. Opal card technology will make it much easier to gather essential information, with strong privacy controls, to study the travel patterns of frequent and infrequent public transport users. The collected data then becomes invaluable for transport planners, as it will offer a better understanding of how customers use the system, so services can be adjusted to meet the demand.
An Opal-only system is also expected to save millions of dollars through reducing fare evasion, particularly by the misuse of concession paper tickets, which currently cost taxpayers $22 million a year.
Cubic Transportation Systems is a business unit of San Diego-based Cubic Corporation.
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Contractor Accused of Evicting Service
Members Must Pay $250K Settlement
By City News Service
One of two contractors that unlawfully evicted 18 military members and their families from private military housing in San Diego and Orange counties said Thursday it took steps to prevent similar actions from happening again.
Under the settlement with the state of California announced Wednesday, Lincoln Military Property Management LP San Diego Family Housing LLC, and their eviction law firm, are required to pay $200,000 in civil penalties, as well as provide $52,000 in debt relief for the service members harmed by their conduct and assist victims with restoring and repairing credit history.
“It is unfortunate that this occurred, but we have taken specific actions to address it,” San Diego Family Housing said in a statement released Thursday. “We look forward to continuing to provide excellent housing and healthy communities to the military families who reside in one of our more than 10,000 off-base housing units in California and across our country who we are honored to serve.”
State Attorney General Kamala Harris said the evictions violated the California Military and Veterans Code, the Service members Civil Relief Act, and other state debt collection laws which protect service members who are sued while serving on active military duty.
The laws prevent the entry of a default judgment unless an attorney has been appointed to represent the interests of the absent service member, and they prohibit the use of false statements to collect a debt.
In addition, the contractors allegedly violated California privacy laws by filing court documents that included unredacted Social Security numbers, birth dates, or other personal information of nearly 100 service members and military family members.
The settlement also requires the defendants to provide privacy protections to victims, including identity theft repair and mitigation services for a year.
In addition, any default judgment evicting a service member and his or her family that was unlawfully obtained will be dismissed.
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UCSD Part of New Consortium to
Revolutionize Electric Car Battery Performance
Researchers at the University of California San Diego are part of the new Battery500 consortium led by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) aiming to almost triple the energy packed in electric car batteries and make them smaller, lighter and less expensive. This would allow manufacturers to make more affordable electric vehicles that can travel two to three times farther.
The consortium will receive up to $10 million a year over five years from the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy and Renewable Energy, the White House announced.
“Our goal is to extract every available drop of energy from battery materials, while also producing a high-performance battery that is reliable, safe and less expensive,” said consortium director and PNNL materials scientist Jun Liu. “Through our multi-institutional partnership, which includes some of the world’s most innovative energy storage leaders, the Battery500 consortium will examine the best options to create the most powerful next-generation lithium batteries for electric cars.”
“We are excited to partner with some of the leaders in the battery research community to develop the next generation of battery technologies,” said nanoengineering professor Ping Liu, the principal investigator of the UC San Diego team, which is comprised of researchers from the university’s Sustainable Power and Energy Center. “We’ll be taking advantage of our different areas of expertise to try to reach this project’s aggressive goal and timeline.”
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University of San Diego Launches
Certificate Program for Nurses and Others
Nurses and health care professionals who want to start or expand a business can take advantage of a new certificate program for entrepreneurs at the University of San Diego.
The program, a joint effort between the University of San Diego School of Business and Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, will teach nurses and health care professionals how to create a business plan and other key entrepreneurial skills. Participants also will have the opportunity to make a “Shark Tank”-style presentation to a group of investment professionals at the end of the course.
“We know there are many talented nurses and health care professionals who have new and innovative ideas for products and services to improve our health care system and this program will give them the tools they need to make their dream a reality,” said Sally Brosz Hardin, dean of the University of San Diego Hahn School of Nursing.
The program includes eight seminar-style workshops offered every other Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon beginning Oct. 8, 2016 through Feb. 4, 2017. Taught by experts from the University of San Diego, workshops will cover marketing, financing, negotiation, leadership, and other skills. Participants will learn how to understand market demographics, use social media, and create a financing and operational plan.
“What sets our program apart is the opportunity leave with a comprehensive plan that has been vetted by real-world investors and venture capitalists,” said Jaime Alonso Gómez, dean of the School of Business.
The cost of the program is $2,500. For more information and registration go to www.sandiego.edu/nursing or call (619) 260-4548.
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Contractor Accused of Evicting Service
Members Must Pay $250K Settlement
By City News Service
One of two contractors that unlawfully evicted 18 military members and their families from private military housing in San Diego and Orange counties said Thursday it took steps to prevent similar actions from happening again.
Under the settlement with the state of California announced Wednesday, Lincoln Military Property Management LP San Diego Family Housing LLC, and their eviction law firm, are required to pay $200,000 in civil penalties, as well as provide $52,000 in debt relief for the service members harmed by their conduct and assist victims with restoring and repairing credit history.
“It is unfortunate that this occurred, but we have taken specific actions to address it,” San Diego Family Housing said in a statement released Thursday. “We look forward to continuing to provide excellent housing and healthy communities to the military families who reside in one of our more than 10,000 off-base housing units in California and across our country who we are honored to serve.”
State Attorney General Kamala Harris said the evictions violated the California Military and Veterans Code, the Service members Civil Relief Act, and other state debt collection laws which protect service members who are sued while serving on active military duty.
The laws prevent the entry of a default judgment unless an attorney has been appointed to represent the interests of the absent service member, and they prohibit the use of false statements to collect a debt.
In addition, the contractors allegedly violated California privacy laws by filing court documents that included unredacted Social Security numbers, birth dates, or other personal information of nearly 100 service members and military family members.
The settlement also requires the defendants to provide privacy protections to victims, including identity theft repair and mitigation services for a year.
In addition, any default judgment evicting a service member and his or her family that was unlawfully obtained will be dismissed.
