Bay Area City Heading Toward Bankruptcy?; Iowa Looks at Preempting Cities on Minimum Wage

MUNICIPAL FINANCE | Is Richmond, California, a port city on San Francisco Bay, heading toward bankruptcy? “I don’t think there’s any chance we can avoid it,” former City Councilman Vinay Pimple said. Like many California cities, public pension costs and retiree health care are sinking Richmond’s finances. The city, which has slashed 20 percent of its workforce since 2008 and has junk-rated bonds, isn’t alone in the Golden State. “The truth is that there are cities all over the state that just aren’t owning up to all their problems,” according to San Bernardino City Manager Mark Scott. [CALmatters / Los Angeles Times / Capitol Public Radio]

MINIMUM WAGE | Iowa’s House is angling to preempt cities and counties from raising their minimum wages higher than the state’s $7.25 an hour with new legislation. Johnson County was the first in the state to raise its minimum wage, to $10.10, last month, and at least three others followed suit. Business leaders have pushed for a clear statewide policy, but critics are calling the preemption an attack on civil rights that goes beyond the issue at hand. “For folks who believe in small government and local control, this makes absolutely no sense,” said Connie Ryan, Interfaith Alliance of Iowa Action Fund executive director. [Quad-City Times]

STATE BUDGET | Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, is seeking to bridge a $304 million budget gap with cuts to state agencies, higher-than-expected tobacco tax revenue, reserve funds and delayed spending. Some state legislators are criticizing him, saying he’s taking a page out of his Republican predecessor Bobby Jindal’s playbook and resorting to Band-Aid budget measures. Edwards’ top budget official, Jay Dardenne, says short-term fixes are the only solution at this stage in the fiscal cycle, and that the governor is trying to protect programs that lawmakers approved funding for last year in the current budget. “The time to curtail spending is when the budget is approved,” he said. [The Advocate]

CONSOLIDATED GOVERNMENT | An independent commission laid out a plan for the merger of Syracuse and Onondaga County into a single metropolitan government led by one executive and a 33-person legislature. Annual savings could be anywhere from $9 million to $33 million, if voters approve the ballot measure in November. The move comes on the heels of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo floating legislation cutting local government spending through service consolidation. "Our region's current economic and fiscal path is not sustainable,'' according to a consensus report. [Syracuse.com]

STATE WORKFORCE | A Mississippi Legislature bill that would eliminate civil service protections for many state workers stalled in the House on Wednesday. State employees oppose the measure, with some saying it could clear the way for privatization efforts. If the bill becomes law, agency directors would have greater authority to fire employees or shift their positions. [The Clarion-Ledger]

HEALTH | Ocean County, New Jersey’s Health Department is distributing potassium iodide pills to those who live and work within a 10-mile radius of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant. The pills are intended to deter radiation damage after a “nuclear emergency.” The distribution is “not in response to any danger,” and officials intend to notify the public if there is an emergency and they need to take the pills. The power plant is the nation’s oldest and due to close in 2019.  [The Press of Atlantic City]

ELECTIONS | Dallas County, Iowa failed to count 5,842 ballots--13 percent of the total ballots cast--in the 2016 election due to “human error.” The discrepancy was noticed Feb. 1, and discounted almost one-third of the absentee ballots. Election officials said the mistake did not change the results of any elections. [The Des Moines Register]

CRIME | State and local officials weighed in on the theft of Tom Brady’s Super Bowl jersey after the Patriot’s win this Sunday.  While Lt. Governor Dan Patrick claimed finding the jersey was “important,” Houston police chief Art Acevedo said it was not his priority. "It might be the highest priority for [the] lieutenant governor, I can tell you we had three homicides the night of the Super Bowl in the city of Houston, and we'd like to find [the jersey], but I don't think we're burning the midnight oil worrying about a jersey." [CBSSports.com]

CITY HALLS | Members of the Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to draft a law prohibiting the city’s almost 47,000 employees from registering individuals based on discriminatory criteria such as their religion or faith. The decision comes ahead of any attempt by President Trump to establish a national Muslim registry, as he’s advocated for in the past. [Los Angeles Times]

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT | Colorado’s oil and gas industry is showing signs of promise after two years down in the dumps. Erica Bowman, chief economist with the American Petroleum Institute, noted: “A lot of how Colorado fits into the broader national picture will depend on state policies.” One issue petroleum producers are watching is trade relations under the Trump administration. “Colorado is a net energy exporter. We need open access to Mexico,” Bowman said. [The Denver Post]

PARKS AND RECREATION | A community-driven effort to build a mountain-bike park in a neglected corner of Portland, Oregon, is now dealing with a legal complication thanks to an Oregon Supreme Court ruling that could expose the volunteers to be held liable to lawsuits if anyone gets hurt while using the Gateway Green mountain-bike park. The facility is supposed to open in a few months. [Willamette Week]

PUBLIC SAFETY | The proposal from the District of Columbia government would implement 15 mph “neighborhood slow zones” near schools, parks and youth and senior centers between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. [The Washington Post]