Uber, Lyft pitch landmark California worker proposal — and tech industry's first ballot threat
From POLITICO's JEREMY WHITE: "Uber and Lyft proposed a deal Thursday that would give their drivers better wages and bargaining rights, and the companies are prepared to pour millions of dollars into launching the tech industry's first ballot battle in California in order to get their way."
"Tech companies publicly backed a framework with wage and benefit guarantees months ago, but the new proposal gets more concrete, offering an explicit $21-per-hour wage floor guarantee while incorporating a fleshed-out bargaining agreement aimed at satisfying labor by setting up a tailored avenue for tech industry workers to organize."
"Even more crucial to the deal’s prospects in labor-friendly Sacramento, the proposal would also set up a collective bargaining mechanism — unique to California — that would apply broadly to the tech sector, rather than be negotiated company by company, and would be overseen by a new state entity. But with only about two weeks remaining in California’s legislative session, the announcement launches a down-to-the-wire political scramble that will no doubt fire up significant pushback from labor-aligned legislators."
READ MORE about ballot battle: Uber, Lyft warn they’ll take the fight over drivers’ status to California voters by the LAT's JOHANA BHUYIAN, LIAM DILLON, MARGOT ROOSEVELT; Uber, Lyft and DoorDash Pledge $90 Million to Fight Driver Legislation in California by the NYT's KATE CONGER; Uber, Lyft, DoorDash Threaten Ballot Fight Over California Gig-Worker Law by WSJ's ALEJANDRO LAZO and ELIOT BROWN; With no carveout in hand, Uber, Lyft, DoorDash pledge $90 million to California ballot fight by CalMatters' JUDY LIN.
Judge wants real name of fake cow before acting on Devin Nunes' Twitter lawsuit
Sacramento Bee's KATE IRBY: "A Virginia judge has asked Twitter to provide more information about the authors of two anonymous parody accounts that heckle California Republican Rep. Devin Nunes before deciding whether to dismiss the congressman’s lawsuit against the social media company."
"Judge John Marshall is weighing a request from San Francisco-based Twitter to dismiss Nunes’ lawsuit on the grounds that it does not belong in Virginia."
"Marshall asked Twitter to provide the names and addresses of the anonymous authors behind the two accounts, the gross amount of revenue for Twitter in 2018 and the first half of 2019 and the number of Twitter accounts in Virginia."
PPIC: A look at California's likely voters
MARK BALDISSARE/DEAN BONNER/ALYSSA DYKMAN in Capitol Weekly: "A report from the Public Policy Institute of California on the makeup of the California electorate as the 2020 elections approach."
"Eight in ten are registered to vote; independent registration continues to increase."
"As of February 2019, 19.9 million of California’s 25.3 million eligible adults were registered to vote. At 79.1% of eligible adults, this is an increase from the registration rate in 2015 (72.7%), the last year preceding a presidential election. The share of registered voters who are Democrats (43.1%) is similar to what it was in 2015 (43.2%), while the share of Republicans (23.6%) has declined (28.0%). At the same time, the share of voters who say they are independent (also known as “decline to state” or “no party preference”) has been increasing and is now 28.3%, up from 23.6% in 2015."
Health care perk nets California state workers an extra $3100 a year through SEIU contract
Sacramento Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "The state’s largest union has reached a tentative contract agreement with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s bargaining team that provides a 7 percent raise over three years and boosts take-home compensation with perks that include new or increased stipends for health care, commuting and bilingual speakers."
"SEIU Local 1000’s proposed contract would give $260 per month to workers with CalPERS health plans to go toward their insurance premiums, according to a summary of the agreement the union posted to its website Thursday. That adds up to $3,120 a year for each worker represented by the union."
"The amount matches the average Local 1000 employee’s contribution toward their health insurance, said union president Yvonne Walker."
Tech companies ready to spend $90 million on initiative to fight California employment rule
Sacramento Bee's SOPHIA BOLLAG/HANNAH WILEY: "Ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft are threatening to launch a ballot measure if they don’t get to rewrite new labor rules dictating who must be treated as an employee, officials at Lyft said Thursday."
"The two companies are proposing some benefits for drivers in exchange for an exemption from proposed labor rules that would allow them to continue classifying drivers as independent contractors. The two companies plan to pour $30 million each into a fund for a ballot measure if they don’t get their way, officials at Lyft said."
"Late Thursday, gig economy food-delivery service DoorDash said it would commit another $30 million to the proposed initiative."
READ MORE related to Transportation: SF redesigns busy intersections as 2019 traffic fatalities outpace last year -- The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN
California lawmaker was accused of harassment. Now his campaign spending is under investigation
Sacramento Bee's BRYAN ANDERSON: "California ethics officials have opened an investigation into Assemblyman Bill Brough, R-Dana Point, over concerns about his use of campaign funds. He is accused of using the money to pay off his family’s cell phone bill, go out to fancy restaurants and take a personal trip to a Boston Red Sox game."
"The complaint, prompted by the work of a conservative blogger, is being reviewed by the Fair Political Practices Commission, according to an Aug. 20 letter the commission sent. Aaron Park, who frequently posts to his “Right on Daily blog,” also raised concerns over a $1,200 restaurant bill, a $1,321 custom-made liquor cabinet and $1,311 for cigars and a high-end humidor."
"Brough was elected to the Assembly in 2014. The total payments in question since he took office add up to nearly $200,000."
(OP-ED) Profiting from immoral immigrant detention should be illegal
JACKIE GONZALEZ in Capitol Weekly: "As our country bears witness to the horrific attacks and reckless hate unleashed against immigrants, we must find truth and power in the basic principles of solidarity and justice. This begins with the simple premise that defending our values starts at home, and California is home to more immigrants than any state in the Union. Any confrontation with injustice against immigrants must necessarily hold accountable the institutions that perpetuate oppression."
"The most logical starting point is to end private detention."
"The United States is home to the largest immigrant detention system in the world, a cruel arm of the broader system of mass incarceration, which has long devastated communities of color.The most recent effort to expand this perverse apparatus was put on full display last week by Trump’s newly announced regulations, which would end protections for migrant children that have existed for decades and place migrant families in indefinite detention."
Illegal cannabis farms still scarring public lands, two years after Prop. 64
LA Times's PIPER MCDANIEL: "W hen California voters legalized cannabis in 2016, supporters of Proposition 64 hoped it would significantly reduce the scourge of black market weed cultivation, particularly on public lands."
"Yet nearly two years later, illegal marijuana grows are still rampant across wide swaths of the national forests in California, leaving behind a trail of garbage, human waste, dead animals and caustic chemicals. Nearly all of these farms are the work of Mexican drug trafficking organizations, posing dangers not just for the environment, but to hikers and others who might encounter them."
"In 2018, law enforcement in California removed 1,396,824 marijuana plants and eradicated 889 outdoor cultivation sites, most of which were operated by Mexican drug traffickers on federal lands, according to the Central Valley California High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program."
The debate Democrats have waited for: Joe Biden vs. Elizabeth Warren
LA Times's JANET HOOK: "At last Democratic voters will get the face-off many have been waiting for: Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren on the same presidential debate stage for the first time."
"With that, a fork in the road is coming into view for the Democratic Party."
"Only 10 candidates qualified for the Democrats’ September debate by the Wednesday deadline. ABC, the sponsoring network for the event, had already announced that would mean one night of debating, Sept. 12."
Why we may soon live on corporate island-nations
The Chronicle's GREGORY THOMAS: "At a time when the Amazon rainforest is burning out of control, political polarization in the U.S. feels irreparable, technological development seems to be increasing exponentially, and climate change looms as an existential threat to our species, it’s hard not to speculate about humanity soon undergoing some massive changes. Maybe it’s a zombie apocalypse, maybe techno-utopia. Who’s to say?"
"Patri Friedman has an idea. He’s been working on a radical vision of the future of human civilization the better part of two decades. The self-described narco-capitalist, who lives in the mountains above Los Gatos, believes some of us may soon find ourselves living on permanent offshore island-nations — perhaps ones financed by big tech’s FAANG companies."
"I defintely see that at some point we’ll get corproate states, and I know some people find that creepy,” Friedman says. “I’m kind of on the fence about whether I’d like living in Apple-topia or Google-topia — definitely not Facebook-topia or Netflix-topia."
No single 'gay gene' determines same-sex sexual behavior, DNA analysis finds
LA Times's AMINA KHAN: "A new study that analyzed the DNA of nearly half a million people has found that, while genetic differences play a significant role in sexual behavior, there is no single gene responsible."
"The findings, which looked at behavior and not sexual identity, debunk the notion of a singular “gay gene.” Even when all tested genetic variants were taken into account, they collectively accounted for no more than a quarter of the same-sex behavior reported by the study participants."
"Instead, the results published Thursday in the journal Science hint at the complex blend of factors that influence human sexuality, including society and the environment."
Elk Grove, Sac City districts failed to train staff on sex-abuse 'red flags,' lawsuits say
Sacramento Bee's SAWSAN MORRAR/DARRELL SMITH: "After two recent high-profile child molestation arrests and convictions, lawsuits filed Wednesday against the Sacramento City Unified and Elk Grove Unified school districts accuse them of failing to train their employees to recognize signs of child abuse."
"The lawsuits stem from cases involving after-school program leader Joshua Rolando Vasquez in Sacramento City Unified and volunteer reading aide Eric Ernest Echols in Elk Grove Unified."
"Along with the two convicted child molesters and the districts, the two lawsuits name the city of Sacramento, and also accuse a local principal of negligent supervision of her employee."
To get into CSU, you may soon have to take an extra math or science class. Here's why
Sacramento Bee's SAWSAN MORRAR: "The California State University Board of Trustees on Thursday considered adding an extra requirement for freshman admission – a proposal that is drawing opposition from student advocates and educators who say it could reduce access for low-income and minority students."
"CSU is considering requiring freshman applicants to its 23 universities statewide to take one additional class that teaches quantitative reasoning to be eligible for admission. The class could be a fourth year of high school math or science, or an elective."
"Quantitative reasoning is described by the Association of American Colleges and Universities as the ability to analyze and synthesize knowledge of the world around them."
Seniors facing eviction fear homelessness and isolation as California's housing crisis rolls on
LA Times's ANDREW KHOURI/COLLEEN SHALBY: "Mario Canel met his wife inside the apartment where he’s lived for the last 33 years."
"Canel, a house painter, was at the Silver Lake complex off of Sunset Boulevard on a job, but he and his customer quickly connected over their shared Guatemalan roots. It wasn’t long before Mario and Sabina married, and her home became his. For years, they basked in such comforts as plucking chayote from a vine outside their front window."
"When his wife died in April 2005, Canel was consoled with walks throughout the neighborhood and his connection to people inside the eight-unit bungalow court. It also helped that even as the surrounding neighborhood gentrified, rent control held his rent below $400."
Where can you afford to rent in California?
LA Times's RYAN MURPHY/PRIYA KRISHNAKUMAR: "Economists say you shouldn't spend more than 30% of your earnings on rental costs. Using Zillow data, we mapped out the state's rental market. Use this tool to see where you can afford to live."
Bay Area restaurant owners reckon with the industry's mental health issues
The Chronicle's JANELLE BITKER: "Patrick Mulvaney picked up the phone to learn one of his longtime friends, a 41-year-old chef named Noah Zonca, was dead."
"It was May 2018 and Mulvaney, the chef-owner of Sacramento restaurant Mulvaney’s B&L, was devastated. Zonca’s family told Mulvaney that he had battled depression and addiction before drowning in a river. A month later, celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain died by suicide. Four more people connected to the Sacramento restaurant scene, including a server at Mulvaney’s B&L, died later that year."
"I started talking with friends about mental health,” Mulvaney said. “How do we respond to this? Because this is not acceptable."
Mosquito that transmits Zika virus found for first time in Sacramento County, officials say
Sacramento Bee's CATHIE ANDERSON: "For the first time, the aggressive day-biting mosquito that can transmit the Zika virus has been discovered in Sacramento County, according to the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito & Vector Control District."
"Now that we have found these invasive mosquitoes in our area, the goal is to control and limit their expansion,” said Sacramento-Yolo District Manager Gary Goodman. “We are mobilizing and responding quickly in order to protect the residents we serve."
"The Aedes aegypti mosquitoes can carry not only the Zika virus but also the debilitating chikungunya virus and the deadly dengue fever. Zika, though, strikes fear in many pregnant women because it can cause preterm births, miscarriages and congenital defects despite the fact that its symptoms are generally mild — fever, rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain, malaise or headache."
Trump's new tariffs will begin Sunday -- here's what they mean for your wallet
Sacramento Bee's DAVID LIGHTMAN: "The U.S.-China trade war is set to enter a new phase, one expected to be so costly that it will take away much of what Americans gained from the 2017 tax cut."
"But experts say there is good news for consumers: the effect of the new tariffs slated to be implemented Sunday won’t be felt right away."
"The impact won’t be immediate. You won’t all of a sudden be paying more, but it (the tariff impact) will trickle down to the consumer,” said Melissa Miller, senior manager at the World Trade Center Kansas City, which promotes international trade."