Drug manufacturers are poised to shoot down a ballot initiative that would force them to sell prescription medication to California at a fraction of the cost.
Rebecca Plevin reports in KPCC: "The California Drug Price Relief Act would require the state to pay no more than the lowest price the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is charged for a particular prescription."
"The VA typically buys drugs at about 40 percent below the prices charged to states, according to the measure's proponent, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation."
"The measure would apply to any program in which the state is the ultimate payer for a drug, including Medi-Cal fee-for-service plans and CalPERS, which provides health benefits to current and retired state employees. Adding in prison inmates and people receiving AIDS drugs from the government, the initiative would affect drug prices for programs serving some 5 million people, according to its backers."
It also appears that high speed rail is getting some directional changes in Southern California.
Dana Bartholomew in the LA Daily News: "The bullet train was to either barrel through Santa Clarita and San Fernando, disrupting homes, schools and businesses, or soar over and under San Fernando Valley horse country, disrupting equestrians."
"But now the proposed California High-Speed Rail run from Burbank to Palmdale may be changing course, the Daily News learned late Tuesday. A surface train that might have severely impacted Santa Clarita, Sylmar, San Fernando and Pacoima would now bypass them underground."
"I think this is absolutely phenomenal,” said San Fernando Mayor Joel Fajardo, who’d just learned of the switch. “The revised SR-14 alignment is an extraordinary development for the city of San Fernando, Pacoima and other neighboring communities. This is a step in the right direction, but there is still more work to be done to address the concerns of other valley neighborhoods."
Meanwhile, police policy changes are launched amid an increase in the use of lethal force during white-knuckle situations.
LAT's Kate Mather reports: "In a significant new reform plan, Los Angeles police officials are launching an effort to reduce officers’ use of deadly force by reviewing whether they could have done more to avoid the violent encounters."
"Under a plan unanimously approved Tuesday by the Police Commission, the Los Angeles Police Department will begin evaluating whether officers did all they could to defuse tense situations before they used force and rewrite policies to emphasize this behavior. This review will occur along with the usual determination about whether officers were justified in the use of force."
"In doing so, the LAPD will be turning “de-escalation” — a policing concept that dates back decades — into a policy with potential consequences for its 10,000 officers."
Speaking of policy, higher education bills had their own day in court this past week.
CPR's Ben Adler writes: "A push to limit nonresident enrollment at each University of California campus has failed its first vote at the state Capitol."
"Asm. Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) argued his bill is necessary to ensure California students can attend the UC."
"The notion that nonresident students help increase access for California students – the math just doesn’t add up,” McCarty told the Assembly Higher Education Committee on Tuesday."
San Francisco is in the process of an economic upturn, yet homelessness plagues the city worse than ever.
Emily Green reports with The Chronicle: "Despite a booming economy, more than half of San Franciscans believe the city is going in the wrong direction, a significant uptick from last year, according to a new poll from the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce."
"Concerns over homelessness are fueling that dissatisfaction, with 51 percent of respondents calling it a major issue facing the city, compared with 35 percent last year and 29 percent in 2014. Homelessness has overtaken affordability as the No. 1 concern among San Francisco residents."
"Homelessness has always been a big issue, but never like this,” said Jim Lazarus, senior vice president of the business-oriented organization."
Companies boycotting Israel may find it hard to do business in California if a proposed anti-any-company-that's-anti-Israel bill goes through.
From the Bee's Jeremy B. White: "Inserting themselves into a bitter dispute about Israeli policy, a group of California lawmakers wants to bar the state from contracting with companies that refuse to do business with Israel."
"Assembly Bill 1552 responds to the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, an effort to protest Israeli policies toward Palestinians by refusing foreign support for Israeli businesses. The tactic finds inspiration in boycotts like those pushed during the American civil rights movement or the battle against apartheid in South Africa."
"To Assemblyman Travis Allen, R-Huntington Beach, the effort equates to discrimination. His bill would prohibit firms that boycott any member state of the World Trade Organization from holding California state contracts."
