California becomes first state to call for a constitutional convention on gun control
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "California on Thursday became the first state to officially call for a convention to add a gun control amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
California lawmakers called for the convention through a resolution that advocates for adding an amendment to raise the age to buy a gun in the U.S. to 21, mandate background checks for firearms buyers, impose a waiting period for gun purchases and ban assault weapons nationwide. Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed calling for a constitutional convention on gun control in June, and worked with lawmakers to pass it through the Legislature."
READ ALSO -- California lawmakers pass Newsom’s call for U.S. constitutional convention on gun control -- LA Times, TARYN LUNA
Newsom in the hot seat after California passes bill to give striking workers unemployment benefits
LA Times, QUEENIE WONG: "Striking workers in California, including writers and actors still picketing Hollywood studios, would be eligible for unemployment benefits under legislation state lawmakers passed on Thursday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom now faces a critical decision on whether to sign the bill into law and help provide financial relief to striking entertainment workers and other union members walking out during an era of rising tensions between labor and employers in California."
CALMatters, ALEJANDRO LAZO: "California lawmakers have reached a deal that would set aside 15% of funds from a billion-dollar climate program to help companies build fueling stations for hydrogen cars and trucks.
After months of debate, Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes, a Democrat from San Bernardino, said legislative leaders and Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed on a compromise for the funding. An estimated $106 million will be spent on new hydrogen fueling stations through July 2030, according to the California Hydrogen Coalition."
California lawmakers pass bill to make it easier to delete online personal data
LA Times, QUEENIE WONG: "Erasing your digital footprint could get a lot easier by 2026.
California lawmakers on Thursday passed a bill known as the Delete Act that would allow consumers, with a single request, to have every data broker delete their personal information. Data brokers include a variety of businesses that gather and sell people’s personal information, such as their address, marital status and spending habits. Those companies include credit reporting agencies, people-search sites and data analytic firms that work with political campaigns."
Which bills will Gavin Newsom sign into new California laws?
CALMatters, STAFF: "It’s California’s most diverse Legislature ever, and one-fourth of lawmakers are new. But some things never change: Legislators wait until the last days of the session to pass a lot of bills.
In recent days, they have sent Gov. Gavin Newsom some significant legislation — to tax guns and ammunition, ban caste discrimination and decriminalize some psychedelic drugs. And before they finished nearly seven months of lawmaking late Thursday, legislators approved many more bills. Of the more than 2,600 introduced, the most in a decade, nearly 220 had been sent to the governor as of Sept. 8. Newsom has already signed some and vetoed a few others."
The Micheli Files: California statutes are being modernized, including gender neutral drafting
Capitol Weekly, CHRIS MICHELI: "Even though the 29 California Codes, in which there are over 155,000 sections, contain guidance on interpreting their provisions, the attorneys in California’s Office of Legislative Counsel (OLC) continue to modernize our state’s statutes. This important work includes the use of gender-neutral drafting of legislation for bills, resolutions, and constitutional amendments.
Modernizing Statutes
Readers will see examples of how OLC attorneys clean-up statutes due to outdated language, and even misspelled words, that are contained in existing California Codes. The following is an example from a bill that was enacted in July 2023."
California lawmakers failed to fix the insurance market. So what comes next?
CALMatters, ALEXEI KOSEFF: "As a string of last-minute deals surfaced this week before tonight’s end of the legislative session, one highly anticipated proposal was not among them — a plan to keep insurance companies in California even as the financial risk from wildfires grows.
A key deadline passed Monday night without a bill, dooming the effort for the year, despite involvement from legislative leaders, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Negotiators struggled to find a balance between loosening regulations on an insurance system that has been pushed to the brink and maintaining protections for homeowners who could face much higher premiums to stabilize the industry, a politically fraught prospect."
California Treasurer Fiona Ma to face trial in sexual harassment lawsuit
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG, BOB EGELKO: "State Treasurer Fiona Ma must stand trial in a lawsuit by a former high-ranking female employee who accuses Ma of sexually harassing her by climbing into bed and exposing herself, then firing her for rejecting the sexual advances, a judge ruled Thursday.
Judith Blackwell has made allegations that, if believed by a jury, would establish that Ma sexually harassed her, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Christopher Krueger said in a ruling denying Ma’s motion to dismiss the case."
Mayor Breed responds to Marc Benioff’s public safety concerns: ‘Things are getting better’ in S.F.
The Chronicle, ROLAND LI, J.D. MORRIS: "Mayor London Breed pushed back Thursday after Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff questioned whether San Francisco’s commitment to public safety and cleanliness extended beyond his company’s massive Dreamforce conference this week.
Breed said the city is making progress and that other conferences were also benefiting and committing to the city."
How Democrats in rural Northern California, deep in MAGA country, are growing stronger
Sacramento Bee, JENAVIEVE HATCH: "Alice Rogers admitted that identifying as a Democrat in Siskiyou County felt a bit “like coming out.”
She stood under a canopy of tall trees in Weed’s Carrick Park on a warm June afternoon along with about 100 other local Democrats at the county party’s annual fundraising dinner."
El Niño just ramped up. What does it mean for California weather?
The Chronicle, ANTHONY EDWARDS: "El Niño just ramped up.
On Thursday, the Climate Prediction Center extended its El Niño advisory for a fourth straight month. The agency forecasts greater than 95% odds that El Niño conditions continue through March and a 71% chance of a “strong” El Niño."
‘We are horrified’: Late changes to Newsom’s $6 billion mental health bond surprise advocates
CALMatters, KRISTEN HWANG: "A last-minute change to one of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature mental health proposals this week shocked advocates for disabled Californians, who called the move a “bait and switch” that could open the door to the involuntary institutionalization of people with mental health illnesses.
The dispute centers on a more than $6 billion bond that would be used to build treatment facilities and supportive housing for people suffering from mental illness or addiction disorders. It’s a companion to a separate proposal likely heading to the ballot that would adjust California’s 20-year-old Mental Health Services Act in a way that would compel local governments to spend more money on housing for homeless people with mental illnesses."
The Chronicle, SOPHIA BOLLAG: "California voters will likely be asked to approve billions of dollars in funding to house people with severe mental illness who are languishing on the streets, a key priority of Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Lawmakers on Thursday advanced two bills to place a measure on California primary ballots in March."
58,000 California health care workers vote to authorize strike against Kaiser Permanente
Sacramento Bee, CATHIE ANDERSON: "Members of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, representing roughly 40% of the Oakland-based health care giant’s workforce, are poised to authorize the use of a strike if bargaining breaks down with their employer.
While balloting continues, the coalition’s largest unit of workers — 58,000 Californians represented by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West — gave their blessing to a strike by a margin of 98% to 2%, the local announced Thursday."
Training high school and community college students to be nurses and other health workers
Capitol Weekly, SETH SANDRONSKY: "There are too few nurses and other health workers in California now, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. What is in progress to recruit more high school and community college students into training programs?
Leticia Bucio is the principal of the Arthur A. Benjamin Health Professions High School (AABHPHS) in the Sacramento City Unified School District. Her school’s curriculum includes chemistry, English, math and physics."
Fresno Unified's plan for keeping schools open if teachers strike: Pay subs $500 a day
EdSource, LASHERICA THORNTON: "Back in May, the union representing over 4,000 educators in Fresno Unified gave the school district an ultimatum: Agree on a new contract, which expired the following month in June, or face a strike of thousands of teachers by October.
Since November 2022, the Fresno Teachers Association and Fresno Unified School District have negotiated contract terms without avail, even going before the Public Employment Relations Board and declaring an impasse on issues."
S.F. to get $17 million in state money to combat retail theft
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN: "San Francisco is poised to receive $17.3 million in state funds to combat organized retail theft, a crime that has led stores to close and become a raw topic for business owners, some of whom criticized city leaders for abandoning them.
The majority of the award from California’s organized retail theft grant program, $15.3 million, would go to the city’s Police Department for more patrols, crime analysts and prevention efforts, while the district attorney would secure $2 million to prosecute alleged perpetrators. Both departments vowed to tackle the crime wave at its origin points — the crews that drive in and strike at shopping areas, as well as the resellers who fuel a market for stolen merchandise."
LAPD assistant chief is investigated over allegations he stalked a subordinate
LA Times, LIBOR JANY, RICHARD WINTON: "A high-ranking Los Angeles Police Department official is under internal investigation after an LAPD officer with whom he was romantically involved accused him of using at least one Apple AirTag to track her movements, sources say.
The official, Assistant Chief Al Labrada, had his city phone confiscated shortly after the woman filed a police report in Ontario within the past week, according to the sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing probe publicly."
Traffic citations in San Francisco declined by 97% in eight years. Here’s why
The Chronicle, ALDO TOLEDO: "The San Francisco Police Department reported a 97% decline in traffic citations over the past eight years as the city continued to struggle with fatalities and injuries on its roads, Supervisor Rafael Mandelman said Tuesday.
Mandelman sent a letter of inquiry in May asking SFPD to describe the barriers and challenges it faces in restoring traffic enforcement to 2014 levels, the same year the city adopted its Vision Zero policy, which aims to eliminate all traffic deaths in the city by 2024. The letter also asked for the department to create a plan to boost citations for Focus on the Five violations, the five most common causes of traffic collisions and injuries."