2025 SCAG Economic Report Released – The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) released their annual economic report this month. The report is conducted by a team of economists from the Southern California region and is rather comprehensive. It cites good growth in healthcare, logistics, and technology. The report did find the region only produced 22,000 jobs; however. That’s the lowest since the Great Recession. The report does contain a short “Major New Construction in the Region” section. See page 13 for that segment.

PPIC Survey on Californians and Their Economic State – The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released its economic survey earlier this month. If you are interested in how Californians perceive their economic conditions, you should definitely give it a read. A few highlights are that three in ten Californians say they are worse off financially than a year ago. Another is that 48% believe the state is headed in the right direction, with 51% saying it is not. When asked about the state’s economic outlook, 68% expect bad times for the state in the next 12 months.

ARTBA Foresees Healthy Market in 2026 – Speaking of economics, SCCA’s federal partner, the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA), released their annual market analysis. ARTBA economists expect the public highway and street work sector of the industry to grow by three percent in 2026.

PPIC on Regulatory Burden and Startup Businesses – Another great PPIC report questions the accuracy of the idea that the number of regulations suppress business startups. California businesses, on average according to the PPIC, are subject to 8 regulations. Most states have between 5 and 13. But when analyzed at specific regulatory constraints, which the PPIC defines as the number of occurrences of “shall,” “must,” “may not,” “required,” and “prohibited,” the state has 420,000 constraints with about 3,700 per business. The report found that indeed states with more regulations do, in fact, have fewer business startups. Not much of a surprise, but the value in this report is that it verifies and validates long-held opinions that regulations are a burden on businesses, especially new ones.

Senator Wiener Displeased with Bay Area Transit Fix – In an indication that transit agencies across the state face immediate financial hardships, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) railed against a proposal from the California Department of Finance that would authorize Bay Area transit agencies to borrow against state commitments for projects with longer completion timelines. Senator Wiener, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, stated he was “disappointed and concerned.” Not only does this indicate the financial hardships transit agencies face, it also is a strong sign that the transit lobby will be out in full force in 2026 looking to find additional state revenue.

CA Annual Auditors Report on Improper Activities – At the end of each year, the California Auditor compiles the leads it received on improper state activities as reported by state employees utilizing the California Whistleblower Act. The Act is intended to provide a venue for state workers to report situations of waste, fraud and abuse. One investigation revealed the state wasted more than $4.6 million when it paid for 6,200 mobile devices. The report covers other investigations into state departments including the California Air Resources Board.

California’s Dangerous Roads – It’s rather common for the heavy construction industry to receive reports on the condition of Californians' infrastructure. It’s also common, unfortunately, to hear about the tragic accidents involving the construction workforce on the state’s highways. This report is unrelated to the industry, but directly related to the product that highway contractors produce. Nearly 40,000 people have died and 2 million people have been injured on California roads. What's the cause of these tragedies? Unsurprisingly, they’re repeat drunk drivers, chronic speeders and drivers with histories of recklessness and it ends up the state is doing very little to get them off the roads. The online journal CalMatters has the story…