AB 661 Is Good for Working Families and Good for the Economy

There are thousands of highly paid career opportunities in San Diego that are increasingly beyond the reach of young people of the region because those jobs tend to require some form of education beyond high school. Currently, 7 out of 10 of the fastest growing jobs in San Diego require some form of post-secondary education, and in order to fill those positions, employers are importing individuals from other states and countries.

Assembly Member Marty Block (78^th AD) has authored legislation that addresses both the region's need for an educated workforce and our families' need for affordable access to higher education. Block's bill, AB 661, would establish a pilot program to authorize the San Diego Community College District to grant bachelor's degrees in specific areas with high workforce shortages in the local area.

Prop 8 - Don't Depend On Appeals Court

Last year a US District Court judge in San Francisco declared that Proposition 8 violates the US Constitution. He ordered the state of California to begin immediately allowing same sex couples to marry.

The supporters of Proposition 8 appealed to the 9^th US Circuit Court of Appeals. That court stayed the lower court's decision while the appeals court determines if the lower courts decision is correct. That means that the state can continue to refuse marriage licenses to same sex couples, at least until the appeals court decides the issue. The appeals court agreed to an expedited hearing on the issue. But, even so, it does not expect to have an actual hearing on the case until September of this year.

Possible Social Security Benefit If DOMA And Prop 8 Overturned

That may change if Prop 8 and DOMA are overturned. For example, the Social Security Administration (SSA) provides a special benefit to married couples that have widely different incomes, and who would otherwise get widely different Social Security payments once they retire.

In a nut shell, the SSA guarantees that the spouse with the lower income will get a Social Security check that is at least 50% of the check received by the spouse with higher income.

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Governor Signs Budget Cut Legislation

California Unemployment Rate Down In February

  The California unemployment rate was 12.2 percent in February 2011, down 0.2 percentage points from the rate in January. 26 counties in the state had not seasonally adjusted unemployment rates of 15 % or higher. This is one fewer counties than in January, 20011. Only one other state, Nevada, had an unemployment higher than California.

California's non-farm payrolls gained 96,500 jobs in February, following a revised 700-job gain in January. Professional and business services (up 39,700 ) gained the most jobs in February, while government (down 1,200 ) lost the most jobs among the major industry sectors. (Data are seasonally adjusted.)

The Face Of America Becoming More Blended

According to the latest census figures, communities across the nation are becoming more integrated. Many African Americans are moving from northern states to the southern states. Other African Americans are moving from northern central cities to the suburbs of those cities. The longstanding process of African Americans moving from the south to northern central cities appears to have changed.

Many Northern cities lost blacks to southern counties and to the suburbs of Minneapolis, St. Paul, Detroit, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Columbus, Ohio. Among counties with more than 100,000 residents, those that gained the greatest number of blacks from 2000 to 2006 are in Georgia, Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia.