Technology Agency Launches New Mobile Template Technology Agency Secretary Carlos Ramos announced the launch of a new California State Mobile Web Template, Version 3.0 at the Government Mobility Forum. The newly redesigned template allows developers to create mobile applications that can access state resources from any smartphone device...
Shots for School (7th-12th Graders) This site provides news and information for schools, parents, and healthcare providers about school immunization requirements in California. 7th through 12th graders need a whooping cough (pertussis) shot before starting the school year. http://www.shotsforschool.org/
Changes to DMV Registration Renewals For vehicle registration renewal fees due July 1, 2011 and later: State law requires DMV to implement changes in the billing and renewal process for registration fees due on or after July 1, 2011. Registration renewal notices will be mailed out close to or on the expiration date. (Previously notices were mailed 60-days ahead of the expiration date). NOTE: Fees are still due for registration notices due prior to July 1, 2011. No money will be collected until renewal notices are issued. (Previously renewal fees could be collected up to 75 days ahead of the expiration date and were required to be collected within 30 days of expiration when part of another transaction such as a transfer of vehicle ownership) All customers will be given a 30-day grace period after they receive their registration notice. Penalties for delinquent payment will not be imposed until 30 days after the registration expiration date. (Previously penalties were due the day after the registration expiration date) Law enforcement is aware and will not cite vehicles until the first day of the second month after the vehicle registration expires. For example: A vehicle with a registration expiration date of July 10th would not be cited for delinquent registration prior to September 1, 2011.
SNO-PARK locations, passes, and fees Seasonal SNO-PARK permits are available for purchase online. This online service allows visitors an easy and convenient way to purchase SNO-PARK permits. Permits may be purchased by Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, or e-check. Daily permits may be purchased for $5.00; seasonal permits $25.00. An online service fee of $1.95 will be added to the price of each permit...
Government Mobility 2012 FEBRUARY 8, 2012, Sacramento Convention Center Empowering Government Organizations to Understand and Leverage Emerging Communication Technologies • Meet constituent expectations for improved service delivery models. • Make public agency information accessible for tech savvy Californians. • Answer questions and solve problems at the push of a button. Government Mobility Forum Prepares Government Technologists to Meet Demands for Delivery of Mobile Services • Prepare to meet demand by focusing on how new technologies will impact government and delivery of services. • Proven solutions showcased in Solutions Center. • Offers reference points for California Government personnel for follow up and guidance. Targeted Education Sessions Chaired by Subject Matter Experts • Learn how to tailor new technologies for smart phones and tablets. • Keynote speaker and general audience presentations discuss the promise and challenge of new mobile based platforms. • Speakers and instructors from major innovators in the mobile technology market.
Federal Unemployment Insurance Extensions Federal Unemployment Insurance Extensions Congress and President Obama have reauthorized the federal extensions of Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits for two months, sparing an estimated 1.1 million unemployed Californians from losing extension benefits after the New Year. The stop-gap measure takes UI claimants through the holidays and into the New Year with no interruptions of extended benefits...
CA.gov Receives Sunny Award for Transparency For the second consecutive year, California has been honored with a Sunny Award by the Sunshine Review for having one of the most effective government websites in the nation for promoting government transparency. The non-profit citizen advocacy group gave California an A grade for the CA.gov state portal which has easy-to-navigate information on the state budget, financial audit reports, state contracts, state official contact information, state taxes, state ethics commission information, public records requests, and registered lobbyists listings and reports... http://techblog.ca.gov/?p=1474
Debit Cards Replace Unemployment Checks The Employment Development Department (EDD) will be issuing debit cards in place of unemployment checks, beginning July 8th. The new EDD Debit Cards will offer a faster, more convenient, and more secure way for individuals to receive their benefits. The EDD has also created an informative YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/user/CaliforniaEDD) explaining features of the card, such as how to use it and avoid fees, as well providing important information customers need to know about their transition to the card. The card will be good for three years and may be used like any other Visa card to withdraw cash at an ATM and make purchases anywhere Visa is accepted. There is also a direct deposit transfer option so customers can choose to have some or all of their benefits transferred from their card account to their own personal bank account. The new EDD debit card is one of the largest prepaid card programs in the nation, covering both the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program as well as the State Disability Insurance (SDI) program. As there are 1.2 million unemployed Californians who receive unemployment benefits, the debit cards will be an important cost-saving method of distributing billions of dollars. The EDD will start issuing about 10,000 cards a day so the roll-out is expected to take a few months to complete. Click here for the full press-release: http://edd.ca.gov/About_EDD/pdf/nwsrel11-29.pdf
Be Careful When Selecting a Tax Preparer The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) and the California Tax Education Council (CTEC) remind the 65 percent of California taxpayers who use a paid tax preparer to be cautious when choosing a professional. CTEC and FTB partner to educate taxpayers about tax preparers’ legal responsibilities...
California’s Unemployment Rate Decreases to 10.9% California’s unemployment rate decreased to 10.9 percent in January, and nonfarm payroll jobs decreased by 5,200 during the month, for a total gain of 322,400 nonfarm jobs since the recovery began in September 2009, according to data released today by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) from two separate surveys...
Child Safety Seats: New Law California Law Beginning January 1, 2012: Children *MUST* be secured in an appropriate child passenger restraint (safety seat or booster seat) IN THE BACK SEAT OF A VEHICLE until they are at least 8 YEARS OLD or 4' 9" in height.
California’s Unemployment Rate Decreases to 11.1 California’s Unemployment Rate Decreases to 11.1 Percent In December, and nonfarm payroll jobs increased by 10,700 during the month for a total gain of 240,300 jobs since 2011 began, according to data released today by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) from two separate surveys...
California News Portal Celebrates First Anniversary It's been a year since we launched news.ca.gov, and it has proven to be valuable tool. Already, more than 5,000 people use it each month to catch up on California news. The news site, which was launched in July 2010 as a part of the award-winning CA.gov State portal, aggregates real-time news and social media from across state government into a central page. More than 200 news feeds, Twitter feeds, and YouTube channels continuously populate the site with up-to-the-minute news. Clicking on topical areas such as business, education, government, health and safety, family, and visit provides users a view into new items organized by category. Users can also search for topics using the search feature. The site provides a way for people to find out what is happening in California at a glance. The unique part of the site is that it is constantly updated with real-time information, but it costs virtually nothing to operate or manage. As state agencies publish their news feeds, make Twitter updates, and post YouTube videos, the site is automatically updated with new content. The only time the system needs to be touched by staff is when a new feed is added or deleted. Before the creation of this news site, there was nothing like it available in state government. Anyone looking for up-to-date news and information would have to go directly to each agency website and search for it. Now, those looking for the news can go to the news.ca.gov site and find all of the information in one place. Since we first launched the site, there have been improvements. In January, we added the ability to search the news site and began archiving all of the Twitter, YouTube, and news feeds. Also, we added the ability to subscribe to the feeds. For example, if someone wanted to subscribe to the business news, they could subscribe and get all of the news delivered to their preferred news reader (e.g., Google Reader, FeedDemon). Once they subscribe to the feed in their own reader, they don't even have to visit the news.ca.gov page since their own news reader will check for updates for them. We also created a mini-news channel widget http://www.ca.gov/Multimedia/multimedia_rss.html. The dynamic widget takes all the feeds and puts them into a compact package, making it available for anyone to embed on their websites. The widget has received more than 6,300 impressions and has already been embedded on a number of different websites (including .com and .org sites). This brings more traffic to the news site and to state agency social media channels. All state agencies are encouraged to participate in the news channel. If your agency wants to add their feeds to the site, please contact info@eservices.ca.gov.
California Watch drops catchy name, goes geo-ambiguous The reporting focus will become less about California, and less about news that isn't directly ... instead of where most Californians live. But who else had 45 investigative journalists looking at California? Nobody. California Watch was a Pulitzer ...
Be Careful When Selecting a Tax Preparer The Franchise Tax Board (FTB) and the California Tax Education Council (CTEC) remind the 65 percent of California taxpayers who use a paid tax preparer to be cautious when choosing a professional. CTEC and FTB partner to educate taxpayers about tax preparers’ legal responsibilities...
California News Portal Celebrates First Anniversary It's been a year since we launched news.ca.gov, and it has proven to be valuable tool. Already, more than 5,000 people use it each month to catch up on California news. The news site, which was launched in July 2010 as a part of the award-winning CA.gov State portal, aggregates real-time news and social media from across state government into a central page. More than 200 news feeds, Twitter feeds, and YouTube channels continuously populate the site with up-to-the-minute news. Clicking on topical areas such as business, education, government, health and safety, family, and visit provides users a view into new items organized by category. Users can also search for topics using the search feature. The site provides a way for people to find out what is happening in California at a glance. The unique part of the site is that it is constantly updated with real-time information, but it costs virtually nothing to operate or manage. As state agencies publish their news feeds, make Twitter updates, and post YouTube videos, the site is automatically updated with new content. The only time the system needs to be touched by staff is when a new feed is added or deleted. Before the creation of this news site, there was nothing like it available in state government. Anyone looking for up-to-date news and information would have to go directly to each agency website and search for it. Now, those looking for the news can go to the news.ca.gov site and find all of the information in one place. Since we first launched the site, there have been improvements. In January, we added the ability to search the news site and began archiving all of the Twitter, YouTube, and news feeds. Also, we added the ability to subscribe to the feeds. For example, if someone wanted to subscribe to the business news, they could subscribe and get all of the news delivered to their preferred news reader (e.g., Google Reader, FeedDemon). Once they subscribe to the feed in their own reader, they don't even have to visit the news.ca.gov page since their own news reader will check for updates for them. We also created a mini-news channel widget http://www.ca.gov/Multimedia/multimedia_rss.html. The dynamic widget takes all the feeds and puts them into a compact package, making it available for anyone to embed on their websites. The widget has received more than 6,300 impressions and has already been embedded on a number of different websites (including .com and .org sites). This brings more traffic to the news site and to state agency social media channels. All state agencies are encouraged to participate in the news channel. If your agency wants to add their feeds to the site, please contact info@eservices.ca.gov.
California Puts Tentative Price on Health Policies Under New Law California, widely seen as a model for how individuals will buy health insurance under the new health care law, announced Thursday that 13 insurers had been chosen to sell policies through the insurance marketplace — or exchange — being ...
California earthquake felt over surprisingly large area A 5.7 magnitude temblor Thursday night was the largest earthquake to shake California since 2008 and has generated curiosity from seismologists. The temblor occurred in a rugged section of Northern California that has not been studied as ...
California’s Unemployment Rate Decreases to 11.1 California’s Unemployment Rate Decreases to 11.1 Percent In December, and nonfarm payroll jobs increased by 10,700 during the month for a total gain of 240,300 jobs since 2011 began, according to data released today by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) from two separate surveys...
Did California Just Expose a Major Flaw in Obamacare? Excited or not, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, is set to be fully implemented in just six months and one week. Targeted at revamping our entire health care system, it will mandate individuals to carry ...
California cities looking for economic recovery Despite the economic recovery, some California cities are still contending with a weak housing market, high unemployment and low tax revenue. Here's a look at the struggles of 10 cities. The flag of Stockton, Calif., near city hall. (Photo: Ben ...
Jacob and Sophia: Most popular baby names in California For the third year in a row, Jacob reigned as the top male baby name in California, the Social Security Administration revealed last week. Jayden, Daniel, Ethan and Matthew were next in line. On Golden State girls list, Sophia soared at the top ...
Child Safety Seats: New Law California Law Beginning January 1, 2012: Children *MUST* be secured in an appropriate child passenger restraint (safety seat or booster seat) IN THE BACK SEAT OF A VEHICLE until they are at least 8 YEARS OLD or 4' 9" in height.
California’s Unemployment Rate Decreases to 10.9% California’s unemployment rate decreased to 10.9 percent in January, and nonfarm payroll jobs decreased by 5,200 during the month, for a total gain of 322,400 nonfarm jobs since the recovery began in September 2009, according to data released today by the California Employment Development Department (EDD) from two separate surveys...
California Lottery jackpot at $12 million for May 25 The California Lottery’s SuperLotto Pus lottery jackpot for May 25 stands at $12 million, according to lottery officials. Drawings take place every Wednesday and Saturday after the draw entry closes at 7:45 p.m. PT. "Jackpot prizes are paid in ...
California’s Unconstitutional Foie Gras Crackdown Linnekin, a lawyer, is executive director of Keep Food Legal, a Washington, D.C. nonprofit that advocates in favor of food freedom—the right to grow, raise, produce, buy, sell, share, cook, eat, and drink the foods of our own choosing.
California teachers union backs governor's budget plan The California Teachers Association has chosen sides in the incipient conflict over Gov. Jerry Brown's school funding proposal, backing the governor's call to earmark additional money for disadvantaged and English language-learning students. While ...
