Legislature OKs health insurance mandate
From the AP's ADAM BEAM: "The California Legislature voted Monday to tax people who refuse to buy health insurance, bringing back a key part of former President Barack Obama’s health care law in the country’s most populous state after it was eliminated by Republicans in Congress."
"The tax now heads to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who proposed a similar plan in January — an indication he will likely approve it."
"The federal Affordable Care Act required everyone to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law, ruling the penalty was a tax."
PG&E fire-safety shutdowns: 'We're all freaking out about it'
BANG's ETHAN BARON: "In a large office overlooking the San Francisco Bay Bridge, PG&E’s wildfire-safety analysts keep watch 24/7, monitoring streams of images and data from satellites, weather stations, forest cameras and emergency responders. Sitting in front of dual monitors at work stations, with a wall of giant screens in front of them, they track winds, temperatures, humidity and the dryness of vegetation to calculate wildfire risk across Northern California. Under a new PG&E program to reduce the threat of its power lines sparking fires, these are the people whose work could get your power shut off even if your community is not in danger."
"Under the embattled utility’s new Public Safety Power Shutoff program, when the analysts in this Wildfire Safety Operations Center determine conditions have reached a threshold for fire risk in an area, company officials will activate an emergency center in the basement of a building next door, and begin cutting power to electricity lines. That means that communities that aren’t at risk but get power from the same lines could also be blacked out. Any of the utility’s 5 million customers could be affected for several hours or “multiple days,” according to PG&E."
READ MORE related to Energy & Environment: Butte County looking to extend ordinance change for Camp Fire survivors -- Chico ER's BRODY FERNANDEZ
Does public banking loom in California?
Capitol Weekly's SCOTT SORIANO: "The concept of public banking in California is making a comeback."
"By law, currently California cities and counties typically have one place to deposit the funds they collect from taxes, fees and fines: private commercial banks. Billions of dollars of public money are handled by commercial banks — for a fee."
"Despite having billions of dollars banked, municipalities have no say in how their money is used by commercial banks. Bank management, owners and stockholders set policy."
Should LA mountain lion get protection under California's Endangered Species Act?
LA Times's LOUIS SAHAGUN: "As the mountain lions of Southern California approach what some experts call an “extinction vortex,” environmentalists are demanding that state officials grant the big cats protective status — a move that could potentially ban development on thousands of acres of prime real estate."
"Mountain lions as a species are not threatened in California, but a petition submitted Tuesday to the state Fish and Game Commission argues that six isolated and genetically distinct cougar clans from Santa Cruz to the U.S.-Mexico border comprise a subpopulation that is threatened by extinction."
"The petition, which is co-sponsored by the Center for Biological Diversity and the nonprofit Mountain Lion Foundation, argues that Central and Southern California mountain lions comprise an “evolutionarily significant unit” that should be declared threatened under the state Endangered Species Act."
What time is the Democratic presidential debate? Who gets to be on stage?
LA Times's MARK Z BARABAK/MICHAEL FINNEGAN: "With virtually the entire adult U.S. population seeking the Democratic presidential nomination — or so it seems — the party faces some knotty questions."
"Is anyone left to vote for somebody besides him- or herself? Can all those people squeeze onto a single debate stage? How does that Buttigieg guy pronounce his name, anyway?"
California program to track state worker harassment is a year behind schedule
Sac Bee's WES VENTEICHER: "A $1.5 million project to start tracking sexual harassment and discrimination in California state government is scheduled to be fully functional by January 2020 — a full year later than originally planned."
"Former Gov. Jerry Brown proposed the project as a first step to start addressing allegations of gender-based harassment in state government that were coming out amid the #MeToo movement."
"The state didn’t have a way to track complaints across its 150 departments, so it couldn’t identify problem departments or track employees who moved among departments after settling harassment cases. An investigation The Sacramento Bee published in January 2018 found the state paid more than $25 million over three years to settle sexual harassment claims."
LA County demands journalists' sources while refusing to release records, Times lawyers allege
LA Times's BEN POSTON: "A Los Angeles County judge is expected to hear arguments Tuesday over whether Times reporters should be protected from revealing the identity of sources and other unpublished information in an ongoing lawsuit over the county’s refusal to disclose government records."
"The newspaper alleges in court papers that county attorneys demanded unnecessary evidence from the journalists who had requested records from the Sheriff’s Department and district attorney’s office. The Times argued that unpublished information is protected by California’s Shield Law and should not be disclosed to satisfy the county’s demand for pretrial evidence."
"The county “has sunk to a new low in its efforts to obstruct access to public records,” Times attorneys Jeff Glasser and Kelly Aviles wrote in a court filing. “The county seeks to invade the constitutionally protected rights of journalists with utterly unnecessary discovery demands."
All California DMV offices will shut down for a half a day in July. Here's why
Sac Bee's BRYAN ANDERSON: "California’s Department of Motor Vehicles announced on Monday it will close all of its offices for half a day on July 24 to train workers on the federally mandated Real ID program."
"Government Operations Agency Secretary Marybel Batjer, who is leading Gov. Gavin Newsom’s DMV strike team, called the step “extraordinary” but said it was necessary to ensure workers get consistent information so they accurately process requests."
“It is a complicated transaction and we want customers to be well prepared in order to receive their Real ID efficiently,” Batjer said in a statement."
Stanford commits to $4.7B for housing, transit, public education
The Chronicle's ROLAND LI: "Stanford University is offering $3.4 billion in housing and $1.3 billion for transit and public education benefits as it faces pushback over a proposed 2.3 million-square-foot academic expansion over the next two decades."
"The school said in a letter Monday to Santa Clara County that it would spend $3.4 billion to construct 575 affordable housing units and 1,597 market-rate housing units. All the affordable units and 1,015 of the market-rate units would be built first, before 25% of the academic buildings are constructed over the next 20 years."
"At least 1,115 of the units and an additional 2,600 beds for student housing would be built on Stanford’s land."
California community colleges don't want homeless students sleeping on campus
Sac Bee's ANDREW SHEELER: "Nearly 20 California community colleges and community college districts are opposing a proposed law that would let homeless community college students sleep overnight in campus parking lots."
"Their formal opposition to the bill marks a significant change in tone and strategy for those college districts, which previously did not take a stance on the proposal but raised concerns that it could expose them to tens of millions of dollars new charges for security, maintenance and liability costs."
"Concerns about the bill prompted the Senate Committee on Education to add several amendments to the bill."
Inmates are still being given to ICE despite Sheriff Villanueva kicking agents out of jails
LA TImes's MAYA LAU: "A jailer at a Los Angeles County lockup walked into a cell on a recent Monday morning and removed an inmate wanted by federal immigration agents."
"Dressed in a hunter green uniform with a gold sheriff’s star on his sleeve, Rodolfo Cabrera served the man with a Homeland Security Department form that requested he be transferred to agents upon his release because he was suspected of being in the U.S. illegally."
"Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who promised during his 2018 campaign to end the “pipeline to deportation,” has removed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from the largest local jail system in the nation and limited the criteria that allows inmates to be transferred to federal custody for possible detention or deportation"
Huge Candlestick project going ahead as cleanup scandal keeps Hunters Point Shipyard on hold
The Chronicle's JK DINEEN: "The cleanup scandal at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard site has paralyzed the city’s biggest redevelopment project, putting thousands of housing units on hold as the U.S. Navy prepares to release the long-delayed final plan to retest the Superfund site."
"But the tale of incompetence at the shipyard has had one beneficiary: Candlestick Point."
"As executives from developer FivePoint await news from the Navy on the future of its 420-acre San Francisco Shipyard project, they have turned their full attention to Candlestick Point, the 280-acre property to the west. Unlike the Shipyard project site, which was home to a Cold War-era nuclear warfare research lab, Candlestick Point is not known to have been contaminated with radioactive waste."
They won the housing lottery, but still can't find an apartment in the Bay Area. This bill could help
BANG's MARISA KENDALL: "In the Bay Area’s hyper-competitive rental market, scoring a Section 8 housing voucher — often after spending years on a waitlist — can seem like winning the lottery. That is, until you try to use that voucher."
"Landlords in the Bay Area and around the state often are hesitant to accept those subsidized rent vouchers, making it difficult for the vouchers’ low-income holders to put them to use. But a bill making its way through the state legislature would change that. Senate Bill 329, scheduled for a hearing Tuesday before the Assembly Judiciary Committee, would prohibit landlords from rejecting a prospective tenant just because he or she is getting government assistance to pay the rent. At the same time, San Jose officials have proposed a similar ordinance to address the issue within the city."
"Supporters say the measures are necessary to keep low-income tenants who qualify for assistance from becoming homeless or getting priced out of the communities where they grew up, an issue of particular concern in the pricey Bay Area."
California lawmaker under fire for alleged sexual harassment
Sac Bee's BRYAN ANDERSON: "As Orange County Republicans considered a 2020 endorsement last week for Assemblyman Bill Brough, R-Dana Point, one local official made a surprising public declaration."
"County Supervisor Lisa Bartlett accused Brough of making unwanted sexual advances during their time together on the Dana Point City Council. She claims the incident took place at a local restaurant during a retirement party between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. in March 2011."
"Having parked closer toward the side of Olamendi’s Mexican Restaurant, Bartlett said she walked toward the back of the restaurant to the nearest exit and looked for her keys while standing inside. That’s when she claims Brough drunkenly approached her from behind, grabbed her tightly and put his arms around her shoulder."
Violent crime on BART more than doubles in four years
The Chronicle's RACHEL SWAN: "Violent crime on BART more than doubled since 2014, driven in part by a fare-evasion epidemic that is three times worse than the agency’s official estimates, according to a new grand jury report.
"The report released Monday by the Alameda County Civil Grand Jury found the number of robberies on the transit system increased by 128%, from 153 in 2014 to 349 last year. Aggravated assaults soared by 83%, from 71 to 130 over the same time period."
"Robberies and aggravated assaults combined jumped nearly 16% from 2017 to 2018 alone, according to the report, with robberies spiking 20% and aggravated assaults rising 7%."
City of Hope to invest $1B in new Irvine cancer hospital
LA Times's ROGER VINCENT./JAMES B. CUTCHIN: "City of Hope will invest $1 billion in a new hospital and research center on the site of a former air base in Irvine that will enhance the way cancer care is delivered in the region."
"The large-scale facility will primarily serve Orange County, where nearly 20% of cancer patients leave the area for advanced care, City of Hope said. Many of them travel as long as two hours to City of Hope’s headquarters in Duarte, a city east of Pasadena."
"City of Hope said last year that it would build a $200-million cancer treatment facility in Great Park Neighborhoods, but the project announced Tuesday reflects an expansion to include a hospital and a research facility conducting clinical trials of new drugs and devices."
30 horses died in 6 months of racing at Santa Anita. Why still remains unknown
Chico ER's ART WILSON: "Santa Anita on Sunday wrapped up a nightmarish six months of racing, which included 30 fatalities and the ouster of a Hall of Fame trainer, while leaving a trail of unanswered questions to ponder as the local thoroughbred racing circuit now moves to Los Alamitos for a 10-day meet beginning Saturday."
"Tim Ritvo, COO of Santa Anita’s parent company, the Stronach Group, pulled a no-show and did not appear in the press box after the final race of the meet to address what surely would have been a number of questions from the media."
"Many of the queries undoubtedly would have been connected to Jerry Hollendorfer, who was told Saturday he’s not welcome at any of Stronach’s tracks after a 4-year-old gelding he trained, American Currency, broke down during a Saturday morning workout on the training track and had to be euthanized. It was Hollendorfer’s fourth catastrophic injury since Dec. 26. He also had two at Golden Gate Fields this year."
