Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, the college professor-turned-politician who was driven from office by multiple sexual harassment allegations, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and battery.
From the U-T's Greg Moran: "Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner’s professional and personal collapse continued on Tuesday as he pleaded guilty to three criminal charges that he grabbed and fondled women during his first and last spring at City Hall."
"Filner, 71, pleaded guilty to one felony charge of false imprisonment and two misdemeanor charges of battery at a hearing in San Diego Superior Court."
"The former 10-term congressman’s pleas came just one day before a criminal grand jury was set to hear evidence against him. As part of the plea deal with the state Attorney General’s Office, Filner will not face any jail or prison time."
Another round of the debate over public-pension costs looms next year, with a proposal to put a sweeping measure before voters that would allow cutting the benefits of current employees.
From Reuters' Jim Christie: "The mayor of California's third largest city offered a plan on Tuesday to help the state rein in spending on public pensions, drawing rebukes from a group representing public employees as well as the state's pension fund for public-sector workers."
"San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said his measure, which he hopes to qualify for the November 2014 ballot, would urge voters to amend California's constitution to allow local governments to reduce pension expenses associated with their current employees."
"Local governments in the most populous U.S. state may reduce pension benefits for their future workers to lower retirement-related spending but they face legal roadblocks in doing the same for current employees."
Faced with federal court orders to reduce the state's prison inmate population, the governor appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court on Tuesday declined to consider the case.
From the LAT's Chris Megerian: "The decision means Brown may have to reduce that population by thousands of inmates by the end of January, the deadline set by a panel of three federal judges."
"If that's the case, the governor and lawmakers plan to rely heavily on housing inmates in private prisons, and a new contract was announced on Tuesday."
"However, Brown administration officials are entering negotiations with lawyers for inmates to extend the deadline by three years, saying they could use the extra time to lower the prison population by expanding rehabilitation programs and reduce the number of former inmates returning to prison for new crimes."
From California Health Report's Daniel Weintraub:"Now all of that is changing. A new state agency, Covered California, was established by the federal health reform and has negotiated coverage options for individuals with 13 separate insurance companies, three or four of which are typically available in each region of the state with plans at various price points. Low- and middle-income workers are eligible for tax credits to make coverage more affordable, and no one can be denied insurance or charged more if they have been sick."
"Some think the very creation of this viable alternative for workers who don’t get coverage on the job might have unintended consequences: It could actually be an incentive for employers to drop insurance, or to never provide it in the first place. Their workers, after all, won’t be left bare. They will have Obamacare."
"Consider the decision facing an employer with 49 full-time workers who does not provide coverage. If that company hires a 50th employee, it will be subject to the health law’s mandate. If the firm does not provide coverage, it will face a fine of $2,000 for every full-time worker in excess of 30, once the law is fully implemented in 2015. That means hiring that 50th employee would cost the company $40,000 in federal fines, in addition to the worker’s own salary, benefits and payroll taxes."
Students fromt two-year community may have better chances to get to a four-year school, under new legislation signed by the governor.
From EdSource's Kathryn Baron: "Community college students will have more opportunities to transfer into California State University with a degree that’s guaranteed to help them graduate faster under a controversial bill signed by Gov. Jerry Brown days before the deadline to take action on this session’s legislation."
"Senate Bill 440, by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima, puts more teeth and more choices into a bill he sponsored three years ago, SB 1440, which created the Associate Degree for Transfer Program. Yet faculty leaders at both community colleges and Cal State take issue with the latest bill, which they say adds more complexity to the difficult and lengthy process of creating transferrable course units and represents a legislative intrusion into academic policy."
"The earlier legislation required community colleges and the university to agree on courses and associate degrees in about two dozen majors that, once completed at the community college level, would be accepted for full credit by Cal State. Students who complete the lower-division transfer degrees are guaranteed a spot at one of the CSU campuses as juniors. In all but a handful of majors, they’ll only need to earn another 60 credits, the equivalent of about two years as full-time students, to graduate with a bachelor’s degree."
