By Faughn Economy • Workforce 0 Comments

Governor Newsom today in Stanislaus County — previews 2025-2026 state budget and receives California Jobs First Plan for North San Joaquin Valley, including Ag contributions

What you need to know: Governor Newsom continued his statewide California Jobs First tour today to outline a first-of-its-kind, bottom-up economic vision for California’s future, receiving the regional plan from local leaders in the North San Joaquin Valley. The Governor also previewed toplines of this year’s state budget — a balanced spending plan that makes government more efficient, increases accountability, and improves the safety, health, and well-being of Californians.

Stanislaus County, California – Governor Gavin Newsom, as part of his ongoing statewide California Jobs First tour, today received the North San Joaquin Valley’s regional economic plan from community leaders representing San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Merced counties. The plan is one of 13 regional plans that will make up the upcoming California Jobs First Economic Blueprint.

Governor Newsom also previewed his 2025-26 state budget proposal by outlining the state’s continued plans to support robust economic growth, high-paying jobs and career development, and strong accountability measures to address housing, homelessness, and mental health.

“California is not only dominating but paving the way for the future of jobs and the American economy, with local homegrown economic plans for every region of our state. With a balanced budget and key investments maintained for the upcoming fiscal year, we are well-positioned to continue the forward momentum we have created. California remains the standard bearer for our nation, and we’re looking forward to another strong year ahead,” said Governor Newsom.

The California Jobs First Economic Blueprint will guide the state’s investments in key sectors to drive sustainable economic growth, innovation, and access to good-paying jobs over the next decade. The complete Economic Blueprint will be released in the coming weeks, along with a grant solicitation for a portion of the remaining $120 million over three years in competitive funding to support “ready-to-go” projects aligned to the state’s strategic sectors, ensuring that every region across California continues to play a critical role in the sustainable growth of the world’s fifth largest economy.

Made up of ten key industry sectors, this framework will help streamline the state’s economic, business, and workforce development programs to create more jobs faster.  The state’s thirteen economic regions engaged more than 10,000 local residents and experts who collectively identified these sectors as key to driving local economies into the future.

Today, leaders in the North San Joaquin Valley region presented their regional plan to the Governor and provided information about their key economic sectors.

  • Advanced Manufacturing, including building materials, mobility technologies, and measurement and testing products
  • Clean Economy, particularly solar energy, green hydrogen, biofuels, and carbon management, an emerging sector with enormous growth potential, driven by the increasing demand for carbon capture and sequestration technologies.
  • Bioeconomy, a forward-looking sector that is transforming waste streams from biomass (such as agricultural and forestry residues, municipal solid waste, and food processing byproducts) into valuable bioproducts such as fuels, plastics, chemicals, solvents, fabrics, polymers, food additives, and alternative proteins.

A balanced budget and a more efficient government

Continuing to deliver key investments and responsible fiscal management, Governor Newsom previewed the toplines of his 2025-26 state budget proposal — a balanced budget that emphasizes fiscal stability and lean and efficient government. The full budget release, accompanied by a briefing led by the Department of Finance, is scheduled for Friday, January 10, 2025.

The Governor’s $322.2 billion proposal includes $228.9 billion in general fund spending. The proposed budget is fully balanced with no deficit and projects $16.5 billion in additional revenue above the 2024 Budget Act thanks to a stronger economy, stock market, and cash receipts. It includes savings from the elimination of 6,500 government positions, resulting in $1.2 billion in savings over two years, alongside operational efficiencies like reduced travel budgets, printing costs, and IT modernizations that further reduce costs by $3.5 billion.

While introducing no cuts to core programs, the proposal maintains transformative initiatives that include the full implementation of Universal Transitional Kindergarten (TK), expanded after-school and summer programs, and Universal School Meals.

Investments focus on education, economic growth, public safety, and accountability. The full Governor’s budget proposal will be released on Friday, January 10, 2025.

https://plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov/wordpress/?p=28513&utm_source=chatgpt.com

By Faughn New Developments • New Location 0 Comments

Breaking New Ground in Madera!

Breaking New Ground in Madera!
We are excited to celebrate the groundbreaking of Stock Five Development, Inc.’s latest project, a future 7-Eleven in Madera, CA! This development represents a new opportunity for the community, bringing convenience, jobs, and growth to the area.
We were honored to have key individuals join us for this milestone, including those who played a vital role in the first phase and those who continue to drive this project forward. A special thank you to Cecilia Gallegos, Mayor of Madera, for her support, and Sterling Graham, President of Head Waters Building Group, for sharing a few words during the ceremony. Your contributions are truly appreciated!
This project is more than just construction, it’s about enhancing the community and creating a positive impact for years to come. We are grateful to the City of Madera and all of our partners for their dedication and collaboration. We look forward to seeing this vision take shape!

https://www.instagram.com/elite_team_offices/p/DF81hteSMT4/?img_index=1

By Faughn New Developments 0 Comments

New military lab at Edwards boosts national security, E. Kern economy

Eastern Kern is expected to benefit economically from a new, state-of-the-art engineering lab expected to improve the area’s workforce training capabilities along with U.S. military readiness at Edwards Air Force Base. The U.S. Air Force announced Thursday its new Flight Test Engineering Lab opened late last year after a series of delays and contract modifications that pushed back its debut by eight months and raised its price tag 13.6% to reach $41.35 million.

The Air Force said in a news release the lab was designed to improve the testing and integration of critical systems, specifically in electro optics/infrared sensors and long-range cyber-warfare data link capabilities. The installation will also help the Air Force develop what it described as digital twin tools accelerating creation of future combat capabilities, it said.

“As military technology continues to evolve, the FTEL stands as a critical hub for the next generation of weapons and systems, paving the way for the development of more effective, adaptable tools to safeguard national security,” it said in the release.

A senior official at the base, Paul Waters, director of the 412th Test Engineering Group, emphasized the lab’s importance in helping meet the evolving needs of the U.S. military. He said its development and testing capabilities will help the base enhance the accuracy of sensors, improve data communication and integrate flight test data with advanced modeling and simulation.

“These tools will not only accelerate our development processes but also help us stay ahead of rapidly advancing global threats,” he stated in the release.

“By refining advanced sensors, data links and validated models, we are preparing our forces for an increasingly complex global security environment,” he added.

The Air Force plans to leverage the FTEL’s capabilities to “accelerate the training and development of our workforce,” Waters stated.

“Three state-of-the-art training rooms allow us to accelerate the development (of) our young engineers,” Waters added.

Eastern Kern has scored several economic successes in recent years. The most recent is a $2 million partnership paid for by Congress to establish an aerospace innovation hub intended to smooth the flow of technology developed at Edwards and China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station to local industry.

https://www.bakersfield.com/news/new-military-lab-at-edwards-boosts-national-security-e-kern-economy/article_c5b26266-ecbd-11ef-84df-e73ad871d1ea.html?utm_source=bakersfield.com&utm_campaign=%2Fnewsletters%2Fbusiness-headlines%2F%3Femail-scrape%26-dc%3D1739894423&utm_medium=email&utm_content=headline

By Faughn Economy 0 Comments

Manteca Building Tops $2.477 Billion In 5 Years

Manteca construction — based on city issued permits — hit a record $757 million in 2024. The 5,205 permits included 1,306 new single family home starts and the Manteca Crossing shopping center anchored by what will be Manteca’s second Food 4 Less breaking ground at Atherton Drive and Airport Way. Keep in mind the figures represent only private sector construction activity.

If you toss in two major Manteca Unified projects that broke ground that include two-story classroom buildings at the East Union and Manteca high school campuses — along with several major city street projects, construction activity started in Manteca last year pushed the $850 million mark. That reflects just the value of the construction.

Assuming the 1,306 homes will reflect average selling price of new homes built in Manteca during 2023, buyers will end up spending $875 million collectively buying the homes started in 2024. The impact of the new construction — and the ongoing economic activity 1,306 new households — are even higher. Economists apply a 7-fold multiplier effect on the overall economy from every $1 in new construction.

That represents not just the wages that are spent paid to those who mine, produce, and build construction projects but also auxiliary benefactors such as jobs in mortgage lending, title offices, and such. Some of that clearly stays in the Manteca area. The real big impact locally is the ongoing annual income of the 1,306 new households and the effect it will have on the Manteca economy.

The median household income in Manteca was $89,000 at the start of 2024.

That’s said, the buyers of new homes tend to have higher household incomes.

Certain segments of Manteca south of the 120 Bypass based on tracking of mortgage data, reflects new neighbors where the household income exceeds $100,000. Taking a lowball assumption of $90,000 for the income of each new household that will occupy the 1,306 homes, the overall household income will easily top $117.5 million on an annual basis.

Granted mortgage payments plus taxes and utilities will eat up a good share of the $117.5 million. But beyond that spending for everything from food, gasoline, entertainment, home improvement, furnishing, clothing, and such makes its way into the local and regional economies. During the past five years, Manteca has issued 22,701 permits for everything from spas and swimming pools to massive distribution centers, and apartment complexes.

The overall figure is $2.477 billion. That includes $376 million in 2020, $391 million in 2021, $528 million in 2022, $424 million in 2023, and $757 million in 2024. To put that in perspective, it took 13 years for overall Manteca building permit activity to reach a combined $1 billion between 1998 and 2010. Manteca had a combined $1.18 billion just in the past two years. The record for the biggest permitted project in Manteca still stands. That was $180 million for the 500-room Great Wolf hotel and indoor water resort that opened on June 29, 2021.

https://www.mantecabulletin.com/news/local-news/manteca-building-tops-2477-billion-in-5-years/