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Major Grant Award: California Consulting obtains $2.5 million for client~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We are pleased to announce that California Consulting, LLC and the UC Davis team successfully wrote a federal grant application from the U. S. Department of Energy to create an innovative waste-to-energy project for its West Village housing community.
The UC Davis West Village Community will be located on 200 acres of campus land. The community is designed to include affordable homes and apartment-style housing with first occupancy scheduled for fall 2011.
The project will generate power from a fuel cell which will be fed by gases collected from campus waste, such as food scraps and landscape trimmings. Benefits expected include reductions in both peak demand on the energy grid and greenhouse gas emissions. This system, used with other energy-saving technologies, intends to provide increased power reliability and quality at an affordable cost to residents.
The grant is one of five made nationally for a total of $20.5 million in funding by the Department of Energy, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
More information about UC Davis West Village: westvillage.ucdavis.edu. |
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Lobbying Update~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ News from the Capitol is indicating that the Democrat leadership is offering a counter proposal to the Governor's budget proposal that will fund public transit.
BACKGROUND:
It appears the Legislative Democrat majority are hammering out a proposal to counter the Governor's plan to swap gasoline taxes and cut funding for public transportation.
The Governor proposed eliminating the 6 percent sales tax on gas and diesel fuel and replacing it with a new 10.8 cent per-gallon excise tax on each gallon of fuel. The Governor's proposal is in effect a way around Prop. 42 guarantees. The Governor has proposed backfilling the money to state and local road projects but eliminating the public transit money. Pro. 42 funds state highway, local roads, and public transit.
The Governor contends that his plan would create a dedicated revenue source to pay off transportation bonds and save the general fund $1.8 billion while also reducing taxes at the pump by 5 cents per gallon.
Education leaders, transit officials and others have opposed the Governor's proposal saying it cuts transportation money for local projects and reduces education funding.
NEW DEMOCRAT PROPOSAL:
Reportedly the new Democrat plan would eliminate the sales tax on gas and raise the gas excise taxes. The gas sales tax generates about $2.9 billion per year. Apparently, the amount of a new per-gallon excise tax for gasoline has yet to be determined. The Democrat plan would also maintain the sales tax on diesel which would still go to transit operators. The Democrat plan also gives local agencies new authority to levy fees at the gas pump to raise money for transit operators.
The plan is expected to be announced soon and Senate President Pro-Tem Steinberg has said he wants to address the current year $6 billion deficit by mid-February.
Transit officials and transportation leaders appear more supportive of the new Democrat plan, although the proposal is yet to be officially released.
EDUCATION IMPACT:
Education leaders generally opposed the Governor's proposal because it also "hits" education with a major funding reduction.
Regarding the new Democrat plan, because of the way state taxes are calculated, sales taxes on gasoline are currently used as part of the formula to determine education funding under Prop. 98. Replacing the state sales tax with an excise tax---which would not be part of the Prop. 98would reduce the funding guarantee for public schools and community colleges by about $2 billion.
We assume that once the Democrat proposal is offered, negotiations will begin between the Democrats and the Governor regarding the Prop. 42/transportation/gas tax issue.
*This information was taken from various news reports and our sources at the Capitol. |
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New Clients~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
California Consulting is pleased to welcome our newest clients, The Lindsay Unified School District and the Ripon Unified School District.
Welcome aboard!
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School District Grants - Huge Grant Dollars Available~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The grant writing team at California Consulting is hard at work writing various federal and state grant applications for our school district clients. In the months of January and February our team has written the following applications for our School District clients:
- Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Grant
- Teaching American History Grant
- PacTIN grant for teachers
- Fender Music Grant
- Lowe's grant for schools
- Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools grant
- Sprint Character Education Grant
- Partnership for Character Education Grant
- US Department of Education Mental Health Grant
- After School Education and Safety Universal
- Arts in Education Grant
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