BANG*Mercury News, JULIA PRODIS SULEK: "It splintered the Bay Area’s deep-blue congressional delegation, aligning progressive reps. Barbara Lee and Ro Khanna with far-right Republicans Matt Gaetz and Paul Gosar on one side, and putting Nancy Pelosi alongside Kevin McCarthy and Marjorie Taylor Greene on the other.
The roll call from this week’s historic debt ceiling vote created once-unthinkable alliances, contorting House members into a bipartisan game of Twister to keep the country from a disastrous default.
In the end, more Democrats (165) than Republicans (149) supported the agreement between President Biden and McCarthy, the Republican House Speaker. More members of the GOP majority (71) voted no than Democrats (46)."
Republican states say SCOTUS pork ruling bolsters their case against California emissions standards
The Chronicle, BOB EGELKO: "The Supreme Court’s ruling allowing California to ban in-state sales of pork from pigs kept in small cages has raised questions about the limits of a state’s power to take actions with impact outside its borders. Now a group of Republican-led states is arguing that the ruling should invalidate California’s federally approved authority to set its own strict vehicle emissions standards.
While the court’s decision May 11 found that California would not disrupt interstate commerce by enforcing its voters’ moral standards on pork produced elsewhere, the court also invoked the Constitution’s “guarantee of equal sovereignty among the states,” 17 states, led by Ohio, said in a filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s renewed approval in March 2022 of California’s request to set pollution standards for new cars and trucks that are tighter than federal standards “impairs the States’ constitutional and economic interests,” they argued, because “it denies them equal sovereignty and forces them to spend more to purchase the many vehicles they need.”"
Poll: Rare bipartisan support for reforming California’s ballot referendum rules
LA Times, TARYN LUNA: "California voters support efforts to reform the state’s century-old process for ballot referendums, with Republicans and Democrats in rare agreement over a proposal pushed by labor unions and good-government groups to increase transparency around campaigns to overturn state laws.
A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll co-sponsored by The Times found more than three-quarters of registered voters — including 7 in 10 Republicans — support changes. Those include disclosing the top three funders of a referendum campaign on each page of a petition, making signature gatherers attest under penalty of perjury that they didn’t lie to voters and suspending the licenses of those who knowingly mislead voters.
By similar margins, voters across party lines support calls to simplify ballot descriptions to make it easier to understand if a referendum upholds or reverses a law and to list the top three donors in support and op"
ROADMAP 2035: What Now – Timelines and Implementation
Capitol Weekly, STAFF: "This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at Capitol Weekly’s conference examining California’s climate goals: ROADMAP 2035: Cars, Carbon and Climate Change – How Do We Meet California’s Zero Emissions Goals? which was held in Sacramento at the California Endowment Conference Center on Thursday, May 25, 2023
This is Panel 2 – What Now: Timelines and Implementation
Panelists: Dr. Jen Gress, California Air Resources Board; Kip Lipper, Policy Advisor to the Sen. Pro Tem; Michael Pimentel, California Transit Association; Scott Wetch, Carter, Wetch and Associates"
Fourteen lobbying firms account for nearly a third of all first quarter lobbying payments
Capitol Weekly, BRIAN JOSEPH: "In the first quarter of 2023, special interests paid firms more than $67 million to lobby the California state government, according to a Capitol Weekly analysis of lobbying firm reports.
This figure doesn’t represent all of the money spent on lobbying during the first three months of the calendar year, as it doesn’t include wages and expenses for in-house lobbyists, among other expenses. But it does offer a window into Sacramento’s opaque world of lobbyists for hire – revealing, in particular, which firms are making the most money.
The following analysis collects the total dollar value of all lobbying payments received by lobbying firms currently registered in the state, as disclosed on Form 625, which is filed quarterly with the California Secretary of State’s office."
Welfare: As US tightens work rules, California considers loosening them
CALMatters, JEANNE KUANG: "Just as Republicans in Congress are moving to beef up work requirements for people who receive welfare, California lawmakers are moving to do the opposite.
Included in a recent state Assembly budget proposal, and in a bill the Assembly passed on Wednesday, is a plan to remake CalWORKs, the state’s federally funded cash welfare program that requires recipients to work or search for jobs using a list of approved activities.
Under the proposed state changes, recipients would gain greater flexibility to participate in activities such as going to school, domestic violence counseling, addiction treatment or mental health care. The proposal, estimated to cost $100 million, also would lessen financial penalties if recipients violate work rules."
What is ‘social housing’? California lawmakers pass trio of bills to shift affordability debate
Sac Bee, MAYA MILLER: "Many of the bills California lawmakers have passed to spur the growth of affordable housing have focused on streamlining rules around local approval and paying construction workers living wages.
But this week legislators advanced three measures that represent a shift in approach — from subsidized private development toward a European model of public ownership for apartments and homes.
Advocates call it “social housing,” an umbrella term for government or nonprofit ownership intended to keep homes permanently affordable. It also empowers tenants to meaningfully participate in decision making, rather than living at the will of a landlord."
California’s digital privacy battle: It’s police vs. civil libertarians, with an abortion twist
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG: "On March 1, 2019, 38-year-old Adbadalla Thabet arrived at a Bank of America in the Paramount neighborhood of Los Angeles to deposit cash from a string of gas stations he helped his family manage. As he parked, two other vehicles — one red, one gray — approached from behind. The driver of the gray vehicle shot and killed Thabet while the driver of the red vehicle took his backpack and sped away, court documents show.
Law enforcement suspected the two of following Thabet throughout the morning as he visited the family’s gas stations to collect money. A “reverse search warrant” allowed the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to demand that Google surrender identifying information of every device with a Google account at six locations Thabet visited during a five-hour window. The evidence collected from that warrant was used to prosecute Daniel Meza and Walter Meneses.
Meza pleaded guilty and Meneses pleaded no contest."
Sacramento jails violate consent decree, fail to observe suicidal inmates, grand jury says
Sac Bee, THERESA CLIFT: "Sacramento County’s housing and handling of inmates is in violation of federal law and an agreement to improve mental-health and medical conditions for inmates, a civil grand jury found.
Federal law requires inmates who are suicidal to be housed in cells without so-called blind spots, so deputies can monitor them on security cameras 24/7 to make sure they are safe. But instead, the county is placing most suicidal inmates in cells not entirely visible to cameras, including booking cells, where they may stay for over six hours, the report found.
The other violation relates to a 2019 county settlement of a major class action lawsuit regarding jail conditions, called the Mays Consent Decree. But over three years later, the county has not made many of the vital required improvements, the new report found."
Yet another home insurance giant quietly stops writing new policies in California
The Chronicle, CLAIRE HAO: "Allstate has stopped writing new homeowner, condominium and commercial insurance policies in California, the company confirmed to The Chronicle.
The insurer, the fourth largest property and casualty insurance provider in the state in 2021, paused new policies “so we can continue to protect current customers,” spokesperson Brittany Nash wrote in an email to the Chronicle.
The pause began last year but appeared to receive only a passing mention in industry publications. The Chronicle learned of the development this week, after reviewing an Allstate rate increase request to the California Department of Insurance."
LA Times, HANNAH WILEY: "Amid a housing shortage that’s pushed low-income renters onto the streets and made it difficult for moderate earners to find affordable options, California lawmakers introduced new measures this year to mitigate high costs of living and prevent evictions.
Here are two bills to help renters that cleared a major hurdle and one proposal that flopped this week as the Legislature took action before a key deadline on Friday:
The Assembly easily approved a bill to ban landlords from charging more than one month’s rent as a security deposit."
These San Jose residents’ water bills could jump big time in July
BANG*Mercury News, GABRIEL GRESCHLER: "Over a tenth of San Jose’s population may soon see their water bills significantly jump if councilmembers approve an increase on Tuesday, making it one of the largest rate hikes in the Bay Area this coming year.
Customers of the city-operated San Jose Municipal Water System (SJMWS), which serves approximately 140,000 city residents, could see a 14% rise in their monthly water bills — roughly $16 extra per month. Price increases will go into effect July 1 if the San Jose City Council gives the thumbs up.
Officials blame the cost bump on increasing charges by third-party groups who dispense the water, drought-related impacts on supply and usage, and infrastructure improvements that need to be completed. The city-run system serves customers in North San Jose, Alviso, Evergreen, Edenvale and Coyote Valley."
How common is long COVID? A new study provides fresh clues
LA Times, RONG-GONG LIN II, LUKE MONEY: "One in 10 people infected with the coronavirus during the Omicron era suffered from long COVID, according to preliminary data from a new study — indicating the syndrome remains a notable threat even in the pandemic’s post-emergency phase.
The initial finding, published May 25 in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., was based on 2,231 patients who had their first coronavirus infection on or after Dec. 1, 2021, when the Omicron strain started to dominate the nation.
Of them, data indicate that 224 patients, or 10%, were classified as having long COVID six months after their acute infection. The categorization was made after scientists developed their own data-based definition of the syndrome, based on a number of symptoms that were more likely to be seen in patients with a prior coronavirus infection."
Taking a pass on college? California apprenticeships offer another path
CALMatters, ANDREA MADISON: "After receiving a high school diploma, securing a stable, well-paying job is often priority number one for recent graduates in California who decide against pursuing higher education.
If you’ve determined that college isn’t the best next step, you are not alone. About 37% of students graduating from the state’s public high schools don’t go on to attend college.
When the CalMatters College Journalism Network put out a call for questions about college in California, we heard from one reader who was weighing their options."
Borenstein: How California teachers can bypass state strike restrictions (OP-ED)
BANG*Mercury News, DANIEL BORENSTEIN: "The Oakland teachers strike is over, the school year has ended, but the legal battle over the 12-day walkout that probably violated state bargaining rules is just beginning.
The unusual case and a similar one in Los Angeles this year, stemming from a three-day strike of school support staff such as bus drivers, teacher aides and custodians, highlight the power imbalance in California school strikes that left tens of thousands of students without classroom instruction."
Bolstered by Miami track record, Carvalho revamps LAUSD Primary Promise reading program
EdSource, KAREN D'SOUZA: "Alberto Carvalho came to Los Angeles Unified last year having delivered impressive academic results at the helm of Miami-Dade, another large urban district grappling with myriad challenges.
Among the hallmarks of his 14-year tenure in Florida are a centralized approach to education, a passion for data and a commitment to the science of reading. He is now bringing to bear these key tenets to the nation’s second-largest school district. Many of the changes the superintendent is pushing at LAUSD, such as restructuring the Primary Promise reading initiative, jibe with this track record in Miami.
“The reading progress in Miami was achieved by virtue of the identification of the most fragile schools, disproportionate allocation of resources, additional training and accountability measures, reduction of class size in those targeted schools and creating an echo of parental support,” he said. “We deployed the essentials of the science of reading. We invested aggressively, annually, in professional development, not just in some teachers but in all teachers, increasing the skill set of reading instruction for the entire workforce. The performance data drove the allocation of resources.”"
The Chronicle, TARA DUGGAN: "Whale watchers on a boat off the coast of San Francisco saw an unusual sight last month: 24 orcas just west of the Farallon Islands were frolicking together in what naturalists say appears to be a meetup of several distinct families.
Killer whales usually spend time along the Central California coast this time of year, especially in Monterey Bay, but they don’t usually show up in such large groups near the Farallones. The reason they are here is not so pleasant to contemplate: They’re hunting sea lions and baby gray whales that migrate up the coast alongside their mothers, and the method is “pretty brutal,” said Nancy Black, a marine biologist with the whale watching outfit Monterey Bay Whale Watch and the California Killer Whale Project, which tracks individual orcas.
“They come into this area because they have an advantage when they’re hunting the gray whales,” said Black, who has studied orcas for 35 years. “The gray whales and calves have to cross the Monterey Canyon. That’s the danger zone.”"
Photo: Wolverine in Yosemite is second seen in California since 1920s
BANG*Mercury News, STAFF: "A wolverine seen in the Eastern Sierra last month is only the second confirmed sighting of the animal in California since the 1920s, the state’s wildlife agency said.
The announcement Thursday included an image of a wolverine recorded in Yosemite National Park.
Two other sightings last month — in Inyo National Forest in Inyo and Mono counties — are believed to be of the same animal."
Celebs dodged millions in L.A.’s ‘mansion tax.’ Meet the industry guarding their wealth
LA Times, JACK FLEMMING: "Before Measure ULA took effect in April, some wealthy residents scrambled to avoid paying the new “mansion tax” that would fund affordable housing and homelessness prevention. Even celebrities known for their liberal ideals and humanitarian crusades happened to sell, for whatever reason, right before the tax went into effect.
As the mad dash became public, there was one question on many people’s minds. Why?
Even before voters passed the measure, bringing a 4% transfer tax on all property sales above $5 million and 5.5% on sales above $10 million in the city of L.A., attorneys and real estate agents began devising ways to shirk it. In the waning days of March, luxury homeowners made increasingly desperate attempts to sell their long-held properties before the deadline."
If you call 911 about homelessness in S.F., police might not respond. Here’s who may instead
The Chronicle, MALLORY MOENCH: "If a San Francisco business owner calls the city about a person experiencing homelessness in a tent blocking the sidewalk in front of a door, the call won’t first go to police.
Instead, a dispatcher may send a new team of nonprofit workers to talk to the person to try to resolve the situation, including connecting with city programs and, in limited cases, transportation to services.
The new Homeless Engagement Assistance Response Team, or HEART, is responding to a half dozen kinds of 911 and 311 nonmedical, nonemergency calls for people experiencing homelessness in which crime, violence, threats or mental health crises are not involved. The goal is to get people the help they need and remove armed police from these calls, freeing them to respond to serious crimes."
California is closing its last youth prisons. Will what replaces them be worse?
LA Times, JAMES RAINEY, JAMES QUEALLY: "After a two-year wind-down, California is in the final weeks of closing its notoriously grim youth prison system, a landmark moment that arrives as juvenile crime hovers at near-record lows and state leaders call for a shift in focus from punishment to rehabilitation.
Juvenile justice reformers might otherwise be celebrating the June 30 shutdown of the last two youth prisons in the once-sprawling 10,000-inmate system, except for their deep
anxiety about what comes next.
The 11 lockups the Division of Juvenile Justice once operated will be replaced by an array of programs devised by probation departments in California’s 58 counties — many of which have little experience with the long-term care of young people convicted of serious crimes."
Just days to spare, Senate gives final approval to debt ceiling deal, sending it to Biden
AP, LISA MASCARO, KEVIN FREKING, STEPHEN GROVES, FARNOUSH AMIRI, MARY CLARE JALONICK: "Fending off a U.S. default, the Senate gave final approval late Thursday to a debt ceiling and budget cuts package, grinding into the night to wrap up work on the bipartisan deal and send it to President Joe Biden's desk to become law before the fast-approaching deadline.
The compromise package negotiated between Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy leaves neither Republicans nor Democrats fully pleased with the outcome. But the result, after weeks of hard-fought budget negotiations, shelves the volatile debt ceiling issue that risked upending the U.S. and global economy until 2025 after the next presidential election.
Approval in the Senate on a bipartisan vote, 63-36, somewhat reflected the overwhelming House tally the day before, relying on centrists in both parties to pull the Biden-McCarthy package to passage — though Democrats led the tally in both chambers."