California limits vaccine medical exemptions as protests disrupt Legislature
The Chronicle's ALEXEI KOSEFF: "California acted Monday to impose new restrictions on medical exemptions for vaccinations that children must receive before starting school, after a day of raucous protests by anti-vaccine parents brought the Legislature to a standstill."
"Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB276, giving state public health officials the authority to revoke new exemptions, hours after lawmakers rushed through a companion bill with changes he had sought."
"Protesters flooded the Capitol, linking arms to block entrance to the building and repeatedly shutting down the state Senate and Assembly, in a last-ditch attempt to stop the measure."
California lawmaker pulls cannabis banking bill ahead of floor vote
Sacramento Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "A California bill that would authorize banks and credit unions to do business with cannabis companies on a limited basis has been pulled by its sponsor."
"Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, announced that he intends to make Senate Bill 51 a two-year bill, re-introducing the legislation in early 2020."
"If we’re going to do this, we have to do it right,” Hertzberg said in prepared remarks. “We owe it to the dozens of cities, counties, and cannabis industry officials who have been supporting this effort to see it through."
PG&E plan offers billions to victims, others after wildfires
From the AP's DAISY NGUYEN:" PG&E Corp. proposed Monday to resolve its bankruptcy case by offering nearly $18 billion to settle claims from devastating wildfires started by its equipment in recent years — an amount immediately criticized by victims who said less than half of that is intended for them."
"The preliminary plan filed in federal court is part of its effort to exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by next year."
"PG&E sought the protection in January because it said it could not afford billions in damages from wildfires in 2017 and 2018 that were caused by company equipment, including a November fire that killed 86 people and largely destroyed the Northern California town of Paradise."
NRA sues San Francisco after supervisors label it a ‘terrorist organization’
From the Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "The National Rifle Association, labeled a “domestic terrorist organization” by San Francisco supervisors last week, fired back with a federal lawsuit Monday, saying the supervisors’ resolution was a “blacklist” that violates freedom of speech."
"The action “unabashedly targets the NRA’s political speech” and is intended “to remove the NRA from the gun control debate,” lawyers for the organization, which has nearly 5 million members, said in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco."
"City supervisors unanimously passed the resolution last Tuesday and urged other cities, states and the federal government to follow suit. Supervisor Catherine Stefani, sponsor of the measure, blamed the NRA for the proliferation of guns in the United States and the increasingly common mass shootings. The board sent the resolution to Mayor London Breed, who will decide whether to sign or veto it."
California schools adopting propane-powered buses
JESSICA HICE in Capitol Weekly: "In the last decade, numerous California school districts have adopted propane-based school buses in an attempt to eliminate costs and toxic emissions."
"Since 2013, the Elk Grove Unified School District near Sacramento has added 16 propane buses to its fleet and expects up to 12 more in the next month."
"Propane auto gas, as it’s called, is “a proven way to dramatically decrease oxides of nitrogen emissions in communities,” noted a recent study by West University’s Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions. The report shed light on the positive effects of propane-powered school buses replacing old, diesel-powered buses."
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ACLU, Mercy San Juan will square off in SF court over transgender rights
Sacramento Bee's CATHIE ANDERSON: "The American Civil Liberties Union will square off once again against Mercy San Juan Medical Center in a San Francisco courtroom on Tuesday, asking that an appeals court overturn a lower-court ruling allowing the Carmichael-based hospital to deny hysterectomies to transgender patients."
"It is illegal for hospitals that are open to the general public in California to turn away patients simply because they are transgender,” said Elizabeth Gill, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Northern California. “Everyone should be able to get the care they need, even if their local hospital has a religious affiliation."
"Dignity Health, which operates Mercy San Juan, said in a statement provided to The Bee on Monday the medical center offers care to all members of the community without discrimination."
A new law signed by Newsom bans schools from suspending disruptive kids
Sacramento Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "It is will soon be illegal in California for both public and charter schools to suspend disruptive students from kindergarten through eighth grade."
"Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed into law Senate Bill 419, which permanently prohibits willful defiance suspensions in grades four and five. It also bans such suspensions in grades six through eight for five years."
"The law goes into effect July 1, 2020."
In college admissions scandal a judge must decide: Does it matter how much parents paid?
LA Times's JOEL RUBIN: "As a judge in Boston prepares to sentence parents in the college admissions cheating scandal, prosecutors, defense lawyers and others are battling over unresolved questions: Is prison the right punishment? And, if so, should the amount of money a parent paid in the scam determine their time behind bars?"
"So far, 15 of the nearly three dozen parents charged with conspiring to commit fraud with the scam’s leader, college admission consultant William “Rick” Singer, have pleaded guilty. The first two in the group were slated to be sentenced this week, but U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani hit pause in the proceedings to resolve a stark disagreement over how she should calculate the parents’ culpability."
"The dispute revolves around whether Singer caused the universities and testing companies he exploited any financial loss. Under federal sentencing guidelines, prison terms for fraud are typically pegged to a victim’s financial loss. If the loss cannot be tallied, the amount a perpetrator gained can be used instead. Singer has pleaded guilty to four felonies, acknowledging he rigged SAT and ACT exams for his clients and misrepresented their children as recruits for sports they didn’t play."
Prop. 47/realignment helping lower arrest rate, study finds
The Chronicle's EVAN SERNOFFSKY: "Arrest rates in California have declined sharply over the past four decades, coinciding with an overall decline in crime around the state and country. But two recent progressive reforms to the state’s criminal justice system are also significantly driving down arrests around California, a new study released Monday found."
"The report by the Public Policy Institute of California found that AB109, more commonly known as realignment, and Proposition 47, which reduced many drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, have combined to lower the overall arrest rate by nearly 20%."
"The laws “substantially reduced arrest rates in California above and beyond the contribution of changing crime rates,” the study’s authors wrote."
NRA sues San Francisco over 'terrorist organization' label
The Chronicle's BOB EGELKO: "The National Rifle Association, labeled a “domestic terrorist organization” by San Francisco supervisors last week, fired back with a federal lawsuit Monday, saying the supervisors’ resolution was a “blacklist” that violates freedom of speech."
"The action “unabashedly targets the NRA’s political speech” and is intended “to remove the NRA from the gun control debate,” lawyers for the organization, which has nearly 5 million members, said in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco."
"City supervisors unanimously passed the resolution last Tuesday and urged other cities, states and the federal government to follow suit. Supervisor Catherine Stefani, sponsor of the measure, blamed the NRA for the proliferation of guns in the United States and the increasingly common mass shootings. The board sent the resolution to Mayor London Breed, who will decide whether to sign or veto it."
Can Kamala Harris recapture the lost magic?
LA Times's MELANIE MASON/MARK Z BARABAK: "Jan Sweetland was searching for a female Democrat to support for president and thought she’d found the one in Kamala Harris. She was so entranced at a May campaign event that her husband, Dennis, leaned over with an observation: “This is your woman."
"Sweetland, a 72-year-old retiree from Bedford, N.H, agreed, and approached campaign organizers that day with an offer to volunteer."
"The campaign never followed up, and by midsummer Harris’s glow had dimmed considerably. The Sweetlands were dismayed by Harris’ uneven appearances on the campaign trail and disenchanted by her wan performance in Democrats’ July debate."
City should fill unused treatment beds on SF General's campus ASAP, says new legislation
The Chronicle's TRISHA THADANI: " Two supervisors plan to announce legislation Tuesday that would direct the Department of Public Health to fill all 55 beds at a long-term-care facility on San Francisco General Hospital’s campus as soon as possible."
"The legislation, from Supervisors Hillary Ronen and Matt Haney, takes aim at the department’s decision to transform a number of unused beds at the Adult Residential Facility into temporary respite spots. City officials — including members of the Board of Supervisors and health care workers — have railed against the decision, saying the city cannot afford to lose long-term-care beds for its most vulnerable mentally ill."
"Despite the huge need on the streets, the Adult Residential Facility has been severely underused for over a year. The department expanded its capacity to 55 beds a few years ago. As of July, 32 people lived there, according to the department."
SF is surviving the global recycling crisis, but it's not easy
The Chronicle's ELENA SHAO: "At Recology’s recycling center on a San Francisco pier, huge mounds of unsorted paper, plastic, aluminum and glass lie on warehouse floors. Workers operate tractors and haul in loads collected from blue bins across the city’s neighborhoods, businesses and construction sites."
"It’s about what you’d expect from a recycling facility that handles about 4,000 tons of recyclables a week — with one noticeable difference."
"Look at that — it’s all clean,” said Recology public relations manager Robert Reed. “You won’t smell any garbage here.”
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Sacramento wants to overturn this homeless ruling. Now it's asking the Supreme Court for help
Sacramento Bee's ALEXANDRA YOON-HENDRICKS: "For nearly a year, city and county officials across the West have lamented a federal appeals court’s ruling last September barring municipalities from prosecuting homeless people for sleeping on the streets if there are no available shelter beds."
"Now, Sacramento County and the city of Sacramento have joined the fight to overturn the ruling. They will share the impacts of the ruling on its homelessness efforts in an amicus curiae, or “friend of the court,” brief to the U.S. Supreme Court later this month."
"By submitting a brief in the case of Martin v. City of Boise, the county and city of Sacramento are answering a call to action from Boise, which argues that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision has tied the hands of law enforcement and threatened public health and safety."