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With California lawmakers debating the fate of some 1,200-plus bills ahead of the end of the legislative session this month, let’s check in on some existing programs’ effectiveness.
Today, an in-depth assessment of California’s unemployment insurance program is set to be released by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, which advises lawmakers on fiscal issues. As CalMatters economy reporter Grace Gedye notes, the study comes at a crucial time: Not only is California confronting a possible recession and ongoing layoffs in the tech industry, but the Employment Development Department is also working to resolve issues that saw it pay out at least $20 billion worth of fraudulent claims amid the pandemic and scramble to answer jobless residents’ calls for help.
Tuesday, state lawmakers are scheduled to hold a hearing to assess California’s response so far to the COVID-19 pandemic — which has killed more than 93,000 residents — and explore how the state can prepare for the next public health emergency. Ironically, the newly formed Senate Select Committee on Monkeypox will meet at the exact same time to discuss the state’s response to the virus, which Gov. Gavin Newsom officially declared an emergency last week.
Speaking of public health, a little more than a year after California launched a program to provide hearing aids for an estimated 2,300 children annually who lack health insurance, it has provided devices to only 39 children, according to this eye-popping report from CalMatters’ Elizabeth Aguilera.
On the housing front, however, there may be some promising news. During the pandemic, the federal government unveiled revamped, emergency Section 8 vouchers, which help cover rent and utilities for low-income households. Local and federal officials say bonuses for landlords and other new features seem to be helping vulnerable tenants find apartments, even as landlords’ reluctance to accept vouchers in some of California’s tightest rental markets — and potential housing discrimination — remain sizable hurdles, CalMatters’ Manuela Tobias and Jeanne Kuang report.
The coronavirus bottom line: As of Thursday, California had 10,024,326 confirmed cases (+0.4% from previous day) and 93,056 deaths (+0.2% from previous day), according to state data now updated just twice a week on Tuesdays and Fridays. CalMatters is also tracking coronavirus hospitalizations by county.
California has administered 78,998,017 vaccine doses, and 71.8% of eligible Californians are fully vaccinated.
How quickly summer vacation passes: Today, thousands of California students — including those in Oakland Unified School District — are set to return to campus for the start of the new school year, with San Francisco Unified and Los Angeles Unified recommencing next week. But, even as some pandemic constraints fall away — many testing programs have been significantly rolled back, face masks are now optional on most campuses and the state won’t require students to get vaccinated against COVID until July 1, 2023 at the earliest — some of schools’ most pressing challenges remain. Among them:
Should bars and nightclubs be allowed to sell alcohol until 4 a.m. instead of the current 2 a.m. cutoff? That’s the question California lawmakers are set to answer this week as part of the suspense file, an opaque, twice-annual procedure in which they rattle through a list of hundreds of bills at breakneck speed, passing or killing them without a word of explanation. One of the proposals on Thursday’s suspense file — authored by San Francisco Democratic Assemblymember Matt Haney and state Sen. Scott Wiener — would launch a pilot program allowing qualifying bars, taverns, nightclubs and restaurants in Cathedral City, Coachella, Fresno, Oakland, Palm Springs, West Hollywood and the city and county of San Francisco to sell liquor until 4 a.m.
The measure is supported by West Hollywood and the city and county of San Francisco, among others. “Many bars and venues are still facing mountains of debt as a result of the last few years,” Wiener said in a late June statement. “We need to give them every possible tool to help them survive — including allowing them to stay open until 4 a.m. Nightlife is a core part of who we are as a state, and our world-class bars and nightclubs deserve a fighting chance.”
But opposition to the bill has steadily been mounting. The Los Angeles County Democratic Party in late June voted to oppose the measure. Last week, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer withdrew his city from the pilot program, citing “recent anxiety on a local level” about increased drunk driving and deaths. And on Friday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to oppose the bill, arguing it wasn’t an improvement over a 2018 version vetoed by then-Gov. Jerry Brown that would have included Los Angeles among its pilot cities.
The sweeping climate, health and tax package passed by the U.S. Senate on Sunday — following a tiebreaker vote from Vice President Kamala Harris — will deliver tens of billions of dollars to California if approved by the U.S. House of Representatives in a vote expected later this week. The legislation would extend federal pandemic health care subsidies for another three years; lower the cost of prescription drugs for the 6.5 million Californians enrolled in Medicare; funnel nearly $13 billion into drought resiliency, wildfire prevention, ecosystem restoration and land conservation programs; reduce pollution at ports and airports; and pour tens of billions of dollars into tax credits, including for Californians to buy used zero-emission cars, for households to electrify home appliances, and for manufacturers to accelerate production of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries and other clean technologies, according to a fact sheet from California U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla’s office.
The vote comes as California grapples with a slew of environmental phenomena:
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: An old conflict plagues Newsom’s proposal to bore a tunnel to carry water under the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
California can protect kids from social media’s immoral ploys: If Assembly Bill 2408 becomes law, it will hold accountable the largest social media giants that have played a leading role in the most acute and widespread youth mental health crisis experts have ever seen, argue state Sen. Henry Stern, a Calabasas Democrat, and Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media.
Drought demands better oversight of well drilling: Lawmakers should pass Assembly Bill 2201 to ensure that new wells can be permitted only after proving they won’t harm drinking water or otherwise obstruct sustainable groundwater management, write Ruth Martinez of the Ducor Water Board and Roger Dickinson, an author of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.
Water wars in a drying California: New money vs. old power in San Joaquin Valley. // Mercury News
As drought grips Catalina, desalination keeps crisis at bay. // Los Angeles Times
Tainted groundwater from old Rocketdyne site has inched toward homes and L.A. River. // Daily News
‘No time for inaction’: How a California refinery disaster created a generation of activists. // The Guardian
Stay or go? Some ignore evacuation orders — and die in California’s worsening wildfires. // Sacramento Bee
Appeals court halts construction at Berkeley’s People’s Park. // Associated Press
L.A. voters to decide whether hotels must rent vacant rooms to homeless people. // Los Angeles Times
Tahoe ski resorts desperate for worker housing are turning to brutal campsites. // San Francisco Chronicle
Abortions are widely available in California, but not for these women. // Los Angeles Times
San Clemente city council backs off abortion ban following public backlash. // Voice of OC
California is giving kids free money for college. Here’s what families need to know. // San Francisco Chronicle
Government tax-raising workaround is legal, but awkward. // San Diego Union-Tribune
California DMV accuses Tesla of false advertising. // CNBC
Penalties for violating rights of the disabled don’t apply to public schools, state Supreme Court rules. // San Francisco Chronicle
Hope and hard lessons as California youth try to lower voting age for school board. // EdSource
California ‘the state everyone can’t wait to leave behind,’ Kevin Kiley tells CPAC audience. // Sacramento Bee
Conservatives at CPAC conference believe Gavin Newsom will be Democratic nominee in 2024. // Daily Mail
Outspoken prosecutor who clashed with D.A. Gascón now target of internal investigation. // Los Angeles Times
‘What exactly are they doing?’: S.F. traffic cops issue just 10 citations a day. // San Francisco Chronicle
Residents decry placing another sexually violent predator in Borrego Springs. // San Diego Union-Tribune
Arrest made in assault that broke 70-year-old city commissioner’s arm. // San Francisco Standard
Latest victim to settle with San Jose State over trainer sex abuse exposes another scandal. // Mercury News
After an alleged rape near SDSU, one investigation ends and another begins. Too little, too late? // San Diego Union-Tribune
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