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SACRAMENTO – A key State Senate committee has voted to approve legislation by North Coast Senator Patricia Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa) that will likely encourage increased generation of solar power by both residential and commercial producers.
The Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities & Commerce voted 10-0 to pass Senate Bill 7 on Monday, sending the Wiggins measure on to the Senate Appropriations Committee for further consideration.
According to Wiggins, SB 7 would allow a “net-energy” solar customer to roll over excess solar power credits, if the customer doesn’t use the credits by the end of the year, for up to two years.
Her bill also requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), to evaluate the excess solar power credits, in a report that it is already required to submit to the Legislature, about the cost and benefits of net-energy metering. The PUC report would be due June 30, 2010.
In her testimony before the members of the committee, Wiggins said that “the problem I am attempting to resolve surrounds the rules of net energy metering. Existing law allows a customer of a utility provider, such as PG & E or SMUD, to sell solar power to the utility provider in order to offset the cost of his or her electric bill. This is referred to as net-energy metering.
“If the customer produces enough solar power to cover their electrical use, the customer owes nothing on their bill at the end of the year,” Wiggins added. “If the customer produces less solar power than the electricity consumed, at the end of the year, the customer owes the utility provider money.
“The problem is,” Wiggins said, “that the customer can also produce more solar power than the customer consumes, but the utility provider doesn’t have to pay the customer anything – zero – at the end of the year. SB 7 simply attempts to address this issue once and for all.”
The Wiggins legislation is sponsored by Recolte Energy and Sustainable Napa County. Additional supporters include the California Farm Bureau Federation, Dolce Winery, Family Winemakers of California, Far Niente Winery, National Development Council, Nickel & Nickel Winery, Oakland City Council, Peter A. & Vernice H. Gasser Foundation, Planning and Conservation League, Redwood Empire Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and the Wine Institute.
Wiggins represents California’s 2nd Senate District, which is comprised of portions, or all, of Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties.
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CLEARLAKE – Clearlake Mayor Chuck Leonard will join Rite Aid Regional Vice President Robert Lambrecht and Regional Pharmacy Vice President Germaine Robottom at a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Rite Aid store featuring the company’s "Customer World" design on Thursday, April 30, at 10 a.m.
The new store, located at 15025 Olympic Drive at the four corners intersection, opens its doors for the first time to customers at 8 a.m. that day.
The store incorporates features of the company’s "Customer World" design, which was created using customer feedback.
"We’re very excited to open our first Customer World store design in the Clearlake community," Lambrecht said. "Clearlake residents can now see and experience the new design and services that many customers have been raving about since we opened our first Customer World store about four years ago. Customers told us that their relationship with the pharmacist was important, so each new store highlights the pharmacy. Pharmacy is our core business so we made it the focal point, or star, of the Customer World design."
The store design, created using feedback from customer focus groups, is Rite Aid’s latest prototype design, offering a new look and many new services.
Before designing the new Customer World store, Rite Aid executives met with focus groups across the country to find out what they wanted in a drugstore and pharmacy. Customer feedback was implemented into the new design including expanding merchandise selections, improving store navigation and improving on the professional feel at the pharmacy.
The pharmacy department is easily seen and accessible from the entrance, emphasizing Rite Aid’s commitment to patient health and wellness. The Customer World pharmacy waiting area is designed with a lowered ceiling, comfortable chairs, a TV, and connects to a pharmacy consultation room, providing a private and professional setting for patient counseling by the pharmacist.
"Reaction to the new store design has been overwhelmingly positive from customers and associates alike," Lambrecht said. "Aisles are wide and clutter free, and the design makes it easy for customers to find what they’re shopping for. The store environment shows that we also care about our associates’ ability to efficiently get their work done."
The new Clearlake store is over 17,000 square feet with wide aisles and a bright open environment with direct views to each department. More visible department signs make it easier for shoppers to quickly locate merchandise. A new centrally located cosmetics department puts cosmetics and body care at center stage, appealing to Rite Aid’s core female customer. The new store will also feature a GNC vitamin department with specialty products, a new Picture Center complete with the latest digital capabilities, a Thrifty hand-dipped ice cream counter, drive-through pharmacy services and a larger pharmacy waiting area with important information on health and wellness.
Rite Aid Corporation is one of the nation’s leading drugstore chains with nearly 4,900 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia with fiscal 2009 annual sales of more than $26.3 billion.
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The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. at Tuscan Village in Lower Lake.
A Mexican dinner will be provided by 2 Goombas. The cost is $20 per person.
Don Coffin will provide music for the festivities.
To RSVP or for more information call 707-994-3600.
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"Wells Fargo's affiliates promised investors auction-rate securities were as safe and liquid as cash, when in fact they were not, and now investors are unable to get their money when they need it," Attorney General Brown said. "This lawsuit seeks to recover $1.5 billion for Californians and holds these companies accountable for giving investors false and deceptive advice."
Auction-rate securities are investments with long-term maturity dates (e.g., bonds) that Wells Fargo and other banks marketed as short-term investments equivalent to cash. These investments paid a slightly better rate of return than a bank account. And, investors could sell the securities at regular weekly or monthly auctions which provided the promise of liquidity.
In February 2008, these auctions froze up nationwide, and investors were no longer able to redeem their securities for cash, as promised. This left approximately 2,400 Californians who had invested with Wells Fargo without access to more than $1.5 billion. Almost 40 percent of Wells Fargo's auction-rate securities were held by Californians, far more than any other state nationwide.
By August 2008, major financial institutions including UBS, Citigroup, Wachovia and Merrill Lynch met their obligations to investors and restored the cash value of these securities. The three Wells Fargo affiliates, however, have refused to do so.
Consequently, Attorney General Brown filed his complaint in San Francisco Superior Court to restore the cash value of these securities, force the companies to disgorge any subsequent profits tied to the securities, and obtain civil penalties of $25,000 per violation. This could amount to hundreds of millions in civil penalties.
The suit contends that three Wells Fargo's affiliates – Wells Fargo Investments LLC, Wells Fargo Brokerage Services LLC and Wells Fargo Institutional Securities LLC – violated California's Securities Law by:
– Routinely misrepresenting, marketing and selling auction-rate securities as safe, liquid and cash-like investments similar to certificates of deposit or money-market accounts and omitting material facts in violation of California Corporations Code 25401;
– Offering and selling, as a broker-dealer, securities by means of a manipulative, deceptive or other fraudulent scheme, device, or contrivance in violation of California Corporations Code 25216(a);
– Marketing and selling auction-rate securities to investors for whom these investments were unsuitable in violation of California Corporations Code 25216(c) and California Code of Regulations, title 10, section 260.218.2; and
– Failing to supervise and adequately train sales agents pushing these investments in violation of California Corporations Code 25216(c) and California Code of Regulations, title 10, section 260.218.4.
In marketing and selling these investments, Wells Fargo's affiliates ignored clear industry and internal warning about risk and previous auction failure:
– In March 2005, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the "Big 4" accounting firms, and the Financial Accounting Standards Board all determined that auction-rate securities should not be considered "cash equivalents."
Despite these warnings, Wells Fargo's affiliates continued to aggressively sell and falsely market auction-rate securities as safe, liquid, cash-like investments until the nationwide auction markets froze in February 2008.
In marketing and selling these investments, Wells Fargo's affiliates failed to inform investors about how auction-rate securities or the auction process worked and the risks and consequences of auction failure.
Following the collapse of these auctions, Wells Fargo's affiliates took advantage of the situation and offered loan programs to those who needed immediate access to the money tied up in these investments.
Investments ranged from $25,000 to millions, and investors included small businesses and small business owners, retirees, married couples, and other hard working Californians. These investors were led to believe they were putting their savings and assets into a safe and accessible place, but instead, they were left without access to their cash, leading to serious hardship. For example:
– A Southern California woman suffering from lung cancer and needing extra funds to help treat her illness sold her home and put the money into a Wells Fargo savings account. A Wells Fargo agent later recommended she put the money into an account with a higher interest rate. When the woman told the agent she needed to access the money and could not afford to lose any of it, she was reassured that her money would be safe like cash. Without disclosing the nature of the investment, the agent invested the funds in auction-rate securities and when the auctions failed, the woman could not access her money.
– A Bay Area company invested $400,000 in a money market account until it was solicited by phone to invest in what was described to them as a liquid, money market-like-account. They were told the only difference was the amount of notice needed to pull the funds (one week vs. one day). The funds were intended to help the business expand, but after the auctions failed, employees were instead laid off. The company was never informed that they were investing in auction-rate securities or that there were substantial risks tied to the investment.
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