Medicaid work rules could leave a million Californians with no health insurance
CALMatters, ANA B. IBARRA: "If Congress moves forward with a controversial proposal to require people to report work hours to keep Medicaid, more than a million of California’s poorest residents could lose their health insurance.
The budget bill that the U.S. House advanced last week includes a requirement that certain adults — largely those under 65 without children or a disability — meet work reporting rules. In California, about a third of them could lose their health coverage, according to an analysis by the research group Urban Institute. Based on 2026 enrollment projections, that’s between 1.2 and 1.4 million Californians.'
Supreme Court lets Trump end humanitarian parole for 500,000 people from 4 countries
AP, LINDSAY WHITEHURST: "The Supreme Court on Friday again cleared the way for the Trump administration to strip temporary legal protections from hundreds of thousands of immigrants, pushing the total number of people who could be newly exposed to deportation to nearly 1 million.
The justices lifted a lower-court order that kept humanitarian parole protections in place for more than 500,000 migrants from four countries: Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The court has also allowed the administration to revoke temporary legal status from about 350,000 Venezuelan migrants in another case."
READ MORE -- Supreme Court says Trump may end legal parole given to 532,000 migrants from four countries -- LAT, DAVID G. SAVAGE/ANDREA CASTILLO
Capitol Briefs: Suspense by the numbers
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "Suspense by the numbers: The Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees did their annual culling of hundreds of bills last week. Capitol lobbyist, law professor and regular Capitol Weekly contributor Chris Micheli tallied up the results from each committee:
Assembly
666 total measures considered – 663 bills and 3 Assembly Constitutional Amendments"
Guidance by California Appellate Court on the Legislature and its legislative process – Part 2
Capitol Weekly, CHRIS MICHELI: "Last Amendment Rule
Where a statute is amended by two different acts, passed at different times, the last amendment repeals the first and operates as the only amendment to the original statute. Jubelt v. Myers (1948) 84 Cal.App.2d 653
Presumption of Last Enacted Statute
The application of the presumption that the statute which is enacted last is intended to prevail over statutes which are enacted earlier at the same session depends upon a real, or at least apparent, conflict or inconsistency between the two statutes. Western Mobilehome Association v. San Diego County (1971) 16 Cal.App.3d 941"
Gavin Newsom shifted to the center. Some Democratic lawmakers feel left behind
Sac Bee, KATE WOLFFE/STEPHEN HOBBS: "Democratic Latino lawmakers are waging a public fight against Gov. Gavin Newsom.
During two recent news conferences and in other public statements, members of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, one of several identity-based caucuses in the Capitol, called out Newsom for proposing significant changes to the Medi-Cal plans of undocumented immigrants over 19 years old, including adding $100 monthly premiums, eliminating dental and long-term care benefits and freezing enrollment."
Better know a CA gubernatorial candidate: Stephen Cloobeck
Capitol Weekly, BRIAN JOSEPH: "Entrepreneur/philanthropist Stephen Cloobeck sports a little bit of the star quality some Californians seem to expect from their governors.
The 63 year old was the founder, chairman and CEO of Diamond Resorts International, a timeshare company of 92 leisure resorts and almost 400,000 owners that was purchased by Hilton Grand Vacations in 2022 for $1.9 billion. In that role, Cloobeck appeared on the CBS show “Undercover Boss” multiple times, something he touts on his campaign website."
Mayor Lurie wants to close S.F. budget deficit by cutting roughly 1,400 city jobs
The Chronicle, J.D. MORRIS/ALDO TOLEDO: "Mayor Daniel Lurie plans to close San Francisco’s massive budget deficit by slashing about 1,400 city jobs and eliminating about $100 million in grant and contract spending.
The vast majority of the positions that Lurie seeks to cut in his first two-year budget proposal, which he was set to unveil Friday, are vacant. But as many as 150 are filled."
Businesses seek to overturn hotel and airport wage hikes by forcing a citywide election
LAT, DAVID ZAHNISER/SUHAUNA HUSSAIN: "A coalition of airlines, hotels and concession companies at Los Angeles International Airport filed paperwork Thursday to force a citywide vote on a new ordinance hiking the minimum wage of hotel and airport workers to $30 per hour by 2028.
The group, known as the L.A. Alliance for Tourism, Jobs and Progress, is hoping to persuade voters to repeal the ordinance. But first, the alliance would need to gather about 93,000 signatures within 30 days to qualify the measure for the ballot in an upcoming election."
A new COVID subvariant spreads rapidly as Trump pivots away from vaccines
LAT, RONG-GONG LIN II: "A new, highly transmissible COVID subvariant has been detected in California — heightening the risk of a potential summer wave as recent moves by the Trump administration threaten to make vaccines harder to get, and more expensive, for many Americans, some health experts warn.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced this week that he was rescinding the federal government’s recommendation that pregnant women and healthy children get immunized against COVID, effective immediately."
California, Trump and the battle over transgender athletes
LAT, HAILEY BRANSON-POTTS: "The intense scrutiny of teenage transgender athletes in California intensified this week as the U.S. Justice Department announced it was investigating the state for allowing them to participate in girls’ sports and President Trump threatened to cut federal funding over the issue.
My colleagues Kevin Rector, Brittny Mejia and Howard Blume reported that the Justice Department is investigating whether California, its interscholastic sports federation, and the Jurupa Unified School District are violating the rights of cisgender high school girls by allowing trans athletes to compete alongside them."
Trump cites California LGBTQ+ centers to justify big cuts to ‘woke’ campuses
CALMatters, ADAM ECHELMAN: "Over 2,500 miles from Washington D.C., in a windowless meeting room at a San Diego community college, President Donald Trump’s fight with higher education is playing out.
“This presidential thing, we will not let that happen here at Mesa College,” said Lucio Lira, the coordinator at the college’s “pride center,” as an audience of over 50 students, faculty and staff applauded loudly."
Newsom’s ed budget: high spending, low results (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly, LANCE IZUMI: "Despite a $12 billion budget deficit, Governor Gavin Newsom still proposes to spend more on the state’s public schools, despite findings of a Georgetown University study showing that California is not getting education bang for its taxpayer buck.
The “May Revise” is the updated version of the governor’s January budget proposal based on more current economic, revenue, and expenditure projections."
Here’s how dependent each UC campus is on international students
The Chronicle, NANETTE ASIMOV: "With tens of thousands of students from other countries studying at University of California campuses, UC officials say they are “very concerned” about President Donald Trump’s targeting of international enrollment, which could put a dent in colleges' budgets, slow research and harm the state economy.
On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the Trump administration will “aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students.” Also this week, Trump paused new student visa interviews, and he dangled the idea of a 15% cap on international enrollment."
‘Dangerous’ heat wave expected to break records across California this weekend
LAT, KAREN GARCIA: "A heat wave is set to inflict misery on nearly the entire length of California starting Friday.
Triple-digit heat is expected up and down the state, pushing record-level temperatures for the first time this year. Heat advisories are in effect for large swaths of the region over the course of the two-day heat wave, with possible thunderstorms near the border with Nevada in the Reno area."
Will S.F. and Oakland escape the heat? Here’s how Bay Area weather will shake out this weekend
The Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "Near-100-degree temperatures are forecast across inland parts of the Bay Area on Friday, which would be the hottest weather since October for many cities. But the heat won’t be equally distributed. Downtown San Francisco and Oakland may not even hit 80 degrees as a relatively cool marine layer persists along the coast.
It’s not uncommon for San Francisco to remain in the 60s and 70s while the Central Valley bakes in the triple digits. Friday’s weather pattern will be no different, yielding a wide range of temperatures from coastal beaches to inland valleys."
In areas near January’s fires, rent is climbing faster than rest of county
LAT, PHI DO/ANDREW KHOURI: "Several months after fires tore through Pacific Palisades and Altadena, rent near burn areas is rising faster than elsewhere in Los Angeles County, according to an L.A. Times analysis of Zillow data.
In ZIP codes within three miles of the Palisades fire, rent increased 4.8% from December to April, according to the analysis. Within three miles of the Eaton fire that destroyed swaths of Altadena, rent jumped 5.2%."
New S.F. data is most detailed yet on how long it takes to move through city’s notorious permit process
The Chronicle, DANIELLE ECHEVERRIA: "The time it takes to get approval to build something in San Francisco has fallen since a number of streamlining measures were implemented last year — but some departments still struggle to meet the city’s new target times.
That’s according to new data compiled by the Planning Department and the Department of Building Inspection, which is published in a new dashboard tracking the processes as part of Mayor Daniel Lurie’s PermitSF initiative. The effort aims to simplify the city’s notoriously long and often convoluted permitting process."
New Alameda County DA withdraws from historic death penalty resentencing
CALMatters, CAYLA MIHALOVICH: "Alameda County’s new district attorney is rejecting her predecessor’s recommendations to resentence people on death row — recommendations triggered by a historic review of systemic prosecutorial misconduct.
Records obtained by CalMatters show at least four cases in which District Attorney Ursula Jones Dickson has moved to withdraw resentencing motions filed under Pamela Price, who was recalled from office in November."
