California legislators consider bills on concert tickets and work calls

As California legislators got back to work Monday, some are pushing ambitious bills on contentious topics. 

Some interesting ones that will be debated in the next few weeks:

• Concert tickets: Following Ticketmaster’s fiasco over its sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets last year, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks introduced a bill to make it easier to resell tickets. The measure would also “allow fans more choice” when buying tickets, reports Politico. The Oakland Democrat said on social media that accessing entertainment shouldn’t be limited to the “wealthy, connected or privileged.” The bill is before the Assembly’s committee for arts and entertainment.

• Calls from the boss: In response to high burnout rates, Assemblymember Matt Haney is proposing a bill that would require employers to allow workers the right to ignore calls from their bosses’ during non-work hours. The Democrat from San Francisco told The New York Times the blurred lines between work and personal life “is not a positive thing for people’s happiness.” The measure is before the labor committee.

• Traffic safety: On April 15, the Assembly’s transportation committee will consider a bill to lower the speed limit around schools to 20 mph or less, and at specific times of day (weekdays at 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., with some local flexibility) instead of the “when children are present” policy that now appears on school zone signs.

• Sex discrimination: Following the release of a 30-page report three years in the making, Assemblymember Mike Fong and other Democratic legislators unveiled a 12-bill package addressing sexual discrimination and harassment at California colleges. The series includes bills to establish standalone Title IX offices, require audits and annual reports, additional training on drug-assisted sexual assault prevention and more.

• Medical aid in dying: Sen. Catherine Blakespear’s proposal to make it easier for Californians and out-of-state residents to seek end of life support will be heard by the Senate Health Committee on April 17. The Encinitas Democrat’s proposal will allow individuals with a “grievous and irremediable medical condition,” to request and self-administer drugs that will aid in dying. According to Politico, the bill will likely face opposition from religious and disability rights groups.

Fast food wage hike: Attention also focused on a law the Legislature passed last year that took effect Monday — a $20 an hour minimum wage for thousands of fast food workers.

It’s still up in the air which restaurants will have to pay the higher wage. But that didn’t stop Republicans opposed to the law from using the opportunity to bash Democrats from Gov. Gavin Newsom on down and to warn of dire consequences, which may or may not happen.

• Senate GOP leader Brian Jones, in a statement: “Get ready for $20 burgers and fries served up by robots. Governor Newsom, Democrat lawmakers, and special interests are completely responsible for the mass layoffs of fast food workers and collapsing businesses in California.”

On the other side, labor groups and their supporters celebrated the higher wage as “real relief” to working families struggling with California’s cost of living. The law is expected to have more impact on business persons who own a handful of franchises than on multinational chains of hundreds of restaurants. 

• The California Alliance of Family Owned Businesses, in a statement: “California lawmakers have singled out family-owned fast food franchise operators to target with wage and regulatory requirements not imposed upon other businesses…. The minimum wage for one should be the same for all.”

Three years after the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office required its campuses to submit monthly reports of fraud, the total is in: More than $5 million in federal Pell grant money went to scammers, writes CalMatters community college reporter Adam Echelman.

What’s more, since fall 2021, community colleges have also given nearly $1.5 million in state and local aid to scammers. 

During the pandemic, the federal government loosened some financial aid restrictions, making it easier for students to prove eligibility. Though widespread fraud from scammers and bots posing as students was expected to subside once these rules tightened again, a CalMatters analysis found that between September 2021 and January 2024, the colleges received about 900,000 fraudulent admissions applications.

The number of applications spiked for more than 50 out of California’s 116 community colleges — a potential indicator for fraud. Other signs of potential fraud include: sudden high enrollments in online classes with historically low enrollments; an influx of college applications from Russia, China, and India; students using Social Security numbers of retirees; and uncommon email domains, such as AOL.com.

Though the amount of financial aid given to fraudulent applicants represented less than 1% of the total awarded to community college students, school faculty and administrators try to remain vigilant. To catch bots attending online classes, some professors are expected to test their students in the first weeks, or make them send other proof they are human. And the state’s community college application portal is expected to offer more cybersecurity.

But overcorrecting against fraud can also have its drawbacks. More than 20% of eligible community college students in California don’t receive Pell grants. And at East Los Angeles College, 20-year-old Martin Romero was dropped from an American history class after failing to respond to an anti-bot prompt. Needing that class to graduate, Romero had to sign up for the in-person version of the class, which met twice a week at 7:10 a.m. 

“It was torture,” said Romero.

Read more about financial aid fraud in Adam’s story.

In reevaluating how to fund foster care, the state’s department of social services is proposing to give foster children money for music lessons and soccer practice, writes CalMatters’ Ana B. Ibarra.

By law, California must adopt updated foster care pay rates by Jan. 1, 2025. Last month, the department proposed giving foster care kids a stipend starting at $500 a month for various extracurricular activities. High-needs children and their caregivers may also be eligible for money for various support services such as therapy and mentoring, which could amount to $1,000 to $4,100 a month.

The change is part of a proposed restructuring to provide funds based on a child’s assessed level of need. If passed, the state would spend more than $1 billion a year on foster care pay, starting in 2028-29 (for comparison, California spent $459 million in 2023-24).

But foster care service providers, including the nonprofit Foster Family Agencies, say the state should also prioritize paying them adequate rates, which they argue have remained stagnant for almost 20 years. Under the department’s current proposal, the state would pay these agencies $1,610 a month for most children and as much as $7,213 for kids with the greatest needs. But the agencies say the rates should be between $2,245 to $10,650.

If the Legislature does approve the proposal, it would still need sign off from the governor. Last year, Newsom vetoed a bill that would have barred county child welfare agencies from reimbursing themselves with money meant for foster youths. He cited the $30 billion budget deficit at the time in his veto message; the state now faces an estimated shortfall between $38 billion to $73 billion.

For more on foster care pay, read Ana’s story.