California State Senate Bill No. 3 to Will Increase Minimum Wage to $15 an Hour Over Next 6 Years

In April 2016, Governor Brown signed into law Senate Bill No. 3, that, among other things, will increase minimum wage in California to $15 over the coming years. 

On January 1, 2016, the California minimum wage increased from $9 to $10 for all employers (with the exception of California sheepherders...which you can read about more HERE).

The planned increases to get to $15 are outlined below and vary based on if the employer has 26 or more employees or 25 or fewer employees.

Employers with 26+ Employees

• 1/1/17 to 12/31/17: $10.50/hour (5% increase)
• 1/1/18 to 12/31/18: $11/hour (4.8% increase)
• 1/1/19 to 12/31/19: $12/hour (9.1% increase)
• 1/1/20 to 12/31/20: $13/hour (8.3% increase)
• 1/1/21 to 12/31/21: $14/hour (7.7% increase)
• 1/1/22 until adjusted again: $15/hour (6.7% increase)

If your employer has 25 or fewer employees, there will be a year lag in the increases. So in 2017, there will not be a change in the designated minimum wage if you work for a company in that range.  The first increase (from $10 to $10.50) will take place effective 1/1/18 and the final increase highlighted above (from $14 to $15) will take place effective 1/1/23.

So, if you are a minimum wage employee at a smaller company, you will be making slightly less than your "larger" company counterparts in California until 1/1/23.

After 2022, the minimum wage will generally be increased by the lesser of 3.5% and the inflation rate.

November 8, 2016 Presidential General Election Registration and Key Voting Dates

The State of California makes it extremely simple to register to vote online at registertovote.ca.gov for this coming November 8, 2016 Presidential General Election.

The system will search the DMV database for your California driver license or ID card, date of birth and last four digits of your SSN. The Ventura County Clerk and Recorder Elections Division will contact you when the registration is approved or if additional information is needed. See how easy it is at THIS LINK.

You can also register to vote the old fashioned way by picking up a paper voter registration application at the Ventura County elections office, library, DMV or post office. More information at www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm.

In California, the deadline to register to vote is 15 days before Election Date. Thus, to vote in the November 8th election your registration must be electronically submitted or postmarked by October 24th. 

As of August 22, 2016*, there were 419,869 registered voters in Ventura County, up from 412,924 on June 9th. You can register as Democrat (175,256; up from 169,759), Republican (139,129; up from 138,663), Non Partisan (85,638; up from 84,615) and Other (Green, Libertarian, Peace and Freedom, American Independent) (19,846; down from 19,887).

* Update as of 10/8/16: 428,296 registered; 178,028 Democrat, 140,343 Republican, 89,190 Non Partisan and 20,735 Other.

Turnout for the 2012 General Election was 77.39%, with 426,948 registered voters and 330,419 votes cast. Turnout for the 2016 Presidential Primary Election was 51.79%, with 413,045 registered voters and 213,914 votes cast.

Visit recorder.countyofventura.org/elections to learn more information about Ventura County elections.

Why Does the Label On My Peanut Butter Say CONTAINS PEANUTS?

So the other day I was making my son, the son without peanut allergies, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and glass of milk. I glanced at the label on the peanut butter jar and noticed "CONTAINS PEANUTS." highlighted in bold, below the ingredients, which clearly lists "dry roasted peanuts" as the main ingredient. Interesting.

Then I grabbed the bag of Sara Lee 100% Whole Wheat bread, looked at the label, and saw that in addition to the multiple mentions of wheat in the ingredients, it also says CONTAINS WHEAT, MILK AND SOY. Like we didn't already know the WHEAT bread contains WHEAT!

After putting the finishing touches on the PB&J, slicing off the crusts and cutting the the sandwich in half, it was time to pour the milk. Sure enough, underneath the ingredients of this Trader Joe's milk carton that clearly indicates milk three times in the ingredients, is the statement CONTAINS MILK.

Isn't this a bit overkill!?? Does someone think I'm stupid? (Don't answer that.)

The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) of 2004 initiated new food labeling requirements for eight food groups that, according to the FDA, are the source of 90% of food allergies in the U.S. Food allergies affect 2% of adults and 5% of children.

The eight foods, all proteins, are milk, eggs, fish (e.g., bass, flounder, cod), Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, shrimp), tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans), peanuts, wheat and soybeans.

Source: FDA.gov: FALCPA requires food manufacturers to label food products that contain an ingredient that is or contains protein from a major food allergen in one of two ways:

The first option for food manufacturers is to include the name of the food source in parenthesis following the common or usual name of the major food allergen in the list of ingredients in instances when the name of the food source of the major allergen does not appear elsewhere in the ingredient statement.

The second option is to place the word "Contains" followed by the name of the food source from which the major food allergen is derived, immediately after or adjacent to the list of ingredients, in type size that is no smaller than the type size used for the list of ingredients.

I've underlined the statement that puzzles me. If the allergen appears elsewhere in the ingredient statement, it would appear the label meets FALCPA labeling requirements. Yet, the labels shown above all include the redundant "CONTAINS (PEANUTS/WHEAT/MILK)" statement anyways. Why, why, why? I suspect the manufacturers figure, why not. Maybe someone will blog about it and give us free publicity.

So later on, after the kid's belly was full, I thought, what other allergens lurk in our fridge? Ah ha! Eggs! It took me a bit longer to find the label on the egg carton, hidden on the inside cover (hey, I don't cook much). I was actually a bit disappointed to NOT find the statement "CONTAINS EGGS" on the label. Darn it, now I'm left to wonder, are these really eggs?

To learn more about FALCPA requirements, visit www.fda.gov or download an actual pdf copy of the law at www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/UCM179394.pdf. Joking aside, it's a great law that helps food allergy sufferers more clearly identify foods that could cause them much grief.

History on Display at the Channel Islands Maritime Museum in Oxnard

Located in the Channel Islands Harbor next to The Whales Tail Bar & Grill, the Channel Islands Maritime Museum houses an outstanding collection of maritime art, objects and unique ship models.

The Museum is home to a permanent collection of extensive marine art, featuring works by 17th century Dutch and Flemish artists Willem van de Velde and Bonaventura Peeters. Noted modern artists in the collection include John Stobart, Montague Dawson, David Thimgan, Roy Cross and Christopher Blossom.

The museum houses one of the two largest collections of antique Napoleonic prisoner of war sailing ship models in the country. Three thousand years of maritime history are illustrated by historic ship models, including the life's work of renowned builder Edward Marple. Exhibits on whaling, sailors' arts and the history of the Channel Islands Harbor and Port of Hueneme round out the collection.

The Museum also hosts lectures. temporary exhibits, open houses and more.

The museum is open Thursday to Monday from 11 AM to 5 PM. Admission is $7 for Adults, $5 for Seniors (62+) and $3 for children ages 6 to 17 (as of October 2016). Admission is FREE the 3rd Thursday of each month. For more information, visit www.channelislandsmaritimemuseum.org or call 805.984.6260.

Do You Remember Eating a Breakfast Sandwich at Starbucks Between 4/28/15 and 8/17/15?

Heck, not only do I not recall if I ate a breakfast sandwich at a Starbucks location between the dates of April 25, 2015 and August 17, 2015, but I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday.

The reason I ask is that Starbucks has entered into a class action settlement that claims that certain California Starbucks locations charged too much during said time frame for its Reduced-Fat Turkey Bacon Breakfast Sandwich ($3.75 was allegedly charged when the listed price was $3.45) and the Sausage & Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich ($3.45 charged instead of $3.25 it is alleged).

Starbucks denied all claims but decided to settle the case to avoid further expense, which among other things includes the cost of advertising the settlement for prospective claimants.

But they are not paying me to write about it here.

Yes, you can make a claim to recoup your losses if you overpaid for one of these two breakfast sandwiches during the 111 day period noted above.

What can you get out of this?

If you purchased said sandwiches using your Starbucks Reward account, you're in luck. There's a digital record of your expenditures and you will automatically receive a credit of 25 cents per sandwich purchased. Heck, if you ate a breakfast sandwich every day during that period, you will be receiving a credit of $27.75 in your account and don't need to fill anything out. Yippee! Or maybe you ate two per day. That would be $55.50 in moolah back in your account.

If you have proof of purchase of your sandwich(es) in the form of a receipt, you must complete a claim form, available at www.BreakfastSandwichSettlement.com (I knew I should have purchased that domain name years ago) and receive 25 cents per purchase. The credit expires after 90 days. If any of you actually can find such receipts during that time frame, contact me. I want to hire you as my accountant.

If you are like most people and have no receipts, yet, unlike me, actually can recall acquiring at least one of the above mentioned breakfast sandwiches during said 111 day period, then all you gotta do is, confirm, "under penalty of perjury," that you did purchase at least one of these allegedly delicious breakfast sandwiches between 4/28/15 and 8/17/15. The reward for such amazing recollection will be a 50 cent coupon code good for up to 90 days after issuance.

Or, you can be like me, and spend 30 minutes writing about the insanity of it all and get a few laughs out of this breakfast sandwich caper. As I sit here drinking my $4.95 Grande Frappuccino.

Three Ventura County Schools Win 2016 National Blue Ribbon Schools Honors

Three Ventura County Schools were named National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2016 today by U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr. The Blue Ribbon Schools are selected based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. The Ventura County winners are among just 279 public and 50 private schools to be selected nationwide. The local winners are:

Environmental Academy of Research Technology and Earth Sciences (EARThS Academy)
Conejo Valley Unified School District

Vista Elementary School
Simi Valley Unified School District

Westlake High School
Conejo Valley Unified School District

The U.S. Department of Education will formally recognize the winners at an awards ceremony in Arlington, Virginia on November 7 and 8, 2016. The honored schools include public and non-public elementary, middle and high schools, including traditional, charter, magnet schools, parochial and independent schools in 42 States, the District of Colombia as well as Department of Defense Education Activity schools.

The National Blue Ribbon Schools award affirms the success of educators, students and families in creating safe and welcoming schools where students master challenging content. The National Blue Ribbon Schools flag gracing a school’s building is a widely recognized symbol of exemplary teaching and learning. National Blue Ribbon Schools are an inspiration and a model for schools still striving for excellence. Now in its 34th year, the U. S. Department of Education has bestowed this coveted award on fewer than 8,500 schools.

A complete list of all 2016 honorees is at www2.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/2016/national.pdf. 

Note: There were no Ventura County schools on the 2014 and 2015 National Blue Ribbon Schools lists; however, our local Yerba Buena Elementary School of Agoura Hills was a 2015 recipient and La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks received this prestigious award in 2013.

About the Ventura County Office of Education

The Ventura County Office of Education provides a broad array of fiscal, training and technology support services to local school districts, helping to maintain and improve lifelong educational opportunities for children, educators and community members. VCOE also operates schools that serve students with severe disabilities and behavioral issues, provides career education courses, and coordinates countywide academic competitions including Mock Trial and the Ventura County Science Fair. Learn more at: www.vcoe.org.

Thousand Oaks Ranks #49 on 2016 BICYCLING Magazine List of Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities

The Amgen Tour came by so fast in 2016 that it was just a blur!

Today, BICYCLING Magazine published its biennial list of the top 50 bike-friendly cities in the United States. The list is updated every other year based on data from over 100 cities and factors in miles of bike lanes and other information.

The City of Thousand Oaks made the cut at #49 this time, down from #33 on the 2014 list. The article mentions that the City gave bicycle safety education to 5,500 K-8 students over the last year, upgraded paths by providing separate facilities for bicyclists and equestrians and added green paint to bike lane intersections. However, the write-up notes that "much of Thousand Oaks' bike lanes remain far too narrow" and that only 3 out of the city's 157 miles of bike lanes contain a striped buffer to allow extra space between cars and cyclists.

Other Southern California cities on the list include Los Angeles (#24, up from #28 in 2014) and Long Beach (#28, down from #23 in 2014). The top 3 cities on this biennial list are Chicago, San Francisco and Portland.

For Class I Bike Paths in and around Ventura County, click THIS LINK.

Other local cycling clubs/groups in and around Ventura County at THIS LINK.