Kalra: “Especially with four Democratic vacancies in the Assembly , the votes were not there today, but we will not give up. Health care is a human right and CalCare has made clear the just path as an alternative to the inequitable system we have in place today.”
Speaker Anthony Rendon — perhaps trying to avoid blame for the bill’s death after blocking a vote on a similar proposal in 2017 — said he was “deeply disappointed” in Kalra’s decision and “fully intended to vote yes on this bill.” For more on what led to the demise of single payer — again — check out this report from CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff .
Shanti Singh, communications and legislative director at Tenants Together: “The fact that they couldn’t even make their positions public on two major progressive priorities today, I consider that an insult to the public, honestly.”
One that would launch a state-appointed council to negotiate wages, hours and work conditions for the entire fast food industry .One to tighten state oversight of nursing homes .One to limit accidental shootings by police officers .And one to force police agencies to deny applicants or remove peace officers who as adults were involved in hate groups in the past seven years.
Other stories you should know
Under the Newsom administration’s statewide mask mandate, which is set to last through at least Feb. 15 ,all attendees of outdoor mega-events must wear masks regardless of vaccination status , and SoFi Stadium requires people to wear face coverings except when actively eating or drinking .At a Monday press conference in Los Angeles to promote his administration’s expansion of mental health housing ,Newsom said he took his mask off for a “brief second” because he “was trying to be gracious” when Johnson was “kind enough — generous enough — to ask me for a photograph.” Footage from the Los Angeles Rams’ FanCam shows Newsom sitting with a mask dangling from his ear at another point in the game, though other snapshots show him wearing a face covering. Newsom critics seized on the photos: “Quite the message for Gavin Newsom to send to California parents, that they still must send their children to school in masks while he ignores his rules and gets to watch some football mask free,” tweeted California Republican Party chairperson Jessica Millan Patterson .
Newsom: “The voters upheld the death penalty,” but “I don’t think many understood … when they affirmed the death penalty, they also affirmed a responsibility for (the state prison system) to actually move that population out of Death Row and to get them working.” Nina Salarno, president of Crime Victims United of California :Newsom is “pouring more salt on the wounds of victims.”
Yoseph Ghazal, UC Irvine undergraduate student body president :“We’re paying thousands of dollars in tuition and housing, so we should have the right to say how we want to be educated.”
Today, CalMatters’ Erica Yee and Hannah Getahun bring you an in-depth data breakdown of the numbers behind the polluted air in Los Angeles County’s port communities. One particularly jaw-dropping statistic: In Wilmington, 664 people are at risk of contracting cancer out of every million people exposed to toxic pollutants. But federal standards say risks exceeding 100 in a million are considered unacceptable. And do not miss this gorgeous, moving, evocative photo essay from CalMatters’ Pablo Unzueta , whose portraits of daily life in Wilmington illuminate residents’ diverse experiences in one of the most polluted parts of the state, where refineries, freeways, port facilities, and smokestacks are never out of sight.
