California Legislature kicks off with Gaza protest

The first day of the legislative session is usually brief. Wednesday’s kick-off in the Assembly was even shorter, interrupted then adjourned altogether after a protest by Jewish groups calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

It occurred shortly after the Assembly gaveled in, explain CalMatters reporters Jeanne Kuang and Sameea Kamal. Before emptying the chamber, lawmakers called the action “out of order” and are expected to reconvene today. Outside in the Capitol rotunda, more than 100 protesters chanted and called for California taxpayer money to be put toward state priorities instead of U.S. military aid to Israel. 

In response, Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher of Chico issued a statement calling the protestors “pro-Hamas radicals” who bully “people into silence.”

• Gallagher: “We must stand up to this extremism. People have a right to protest, but they don’t have the right to prevent elected representatives from doing the people’s business.”

The Israel-Hamas war is just one of the many pressing issues lawmakers will have to tackle this session — in addition to the $68 billion state budget deficit that will likely impact everything the Legislature does this year, said Assembly budget chairperson Jesse Gabriel.

This includes legislative solutions to curb retail theft, such as the proposal Assembymember Carlos Villapudua introduced Wednesday. The Stockton Democrat’s referendum aims to fix the “unintended outcomes” of the controversial Proposition 47, and change the $950 threshold for petty theft and shoplifting to be charged as a felony. Legislators on a special committee created by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas to look into retail theft met for the first time in December and are expected to reconvene this year in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Another item expected to be on the Legislature’s to-do list: How to address reparations. Last year, a state task force put together hundreds of recommendations for the Legislature to compensate Black Californians descended from enslaved people. Besides offering financial amends, the task force recommended dozens of policy changes aimed at redressing discrimination against African Americans — policies that lawmakers are now expected to introduce. 

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers have been busy shuffling their leadership, as Gallagher announced Wednesday the new Assembly GOP lineup: Caucus chairperson Tom Lackey of Palmdale, floor leader Heath Flora of Ripon, deputy floor leader Kate Sanchez of Rancho Santa Margarita and caucus policy chair Joe Patterson of Rocklin.

As legislators get to work, here are some upcoming dates to note:

• Wednesday: Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to submit his January budget proposal to the Legislature. 
• Jan. 19: The last day any committee can hear bills introduced in that chamber last year. 
• Jan. 31: The last day to pass bills introduced in that chamber last year. 
• Feb. 16: The last day for new bills to be introduced.

Longtime lobbyist Chris Micheli estimated the number of bills from last year that are realistically still alive: 65 in the Assembly and 60 in the Senate. On Wednesday, 15 bills were introduced and another 40 amended in the Assembly, while 11 were introduced and 31 amended in the Senate, according to Micheli. 

For more on what went down on the Legislature’s first day back, read Jeanne and Sameea’s story.

When you think of the coastal county of Monterey, stunning beaches, fancy restaurants and expansive golf resorts often come to mind. So it may not be surprising that the locale is also home to one of the most expensive health care markets in the state, with some hospitals charging more than three or four times what Medicare does.

But here’s the rub: Take away the tourists and Monterey is a solid blue-collar county, where the average annual salary is less than $58,000, and fishing and agriculture are its largest industries. And when it comes to its health care costs, writes CalMatters’ health reporter Kristen Hwang, many residents can’t afford to receive care from their local hospitals. Some travel for hours to other counties to give birth or have surgeries, while others are saddled with thousands of dollars of debt.

In one analysis by a major farm workers union, Salinas Valley Health charged more than $420,000 to treat a patient’s parasitic infection. But Watsonville Community Hospital, 25 miles to the north in Santa Cruz County, charged around $126,000 for the same treatment. Kristen and Nicole also spoke to one Salinas resident who, if she opted for an insurance plan that includes local Monterey hospitals, would have to pay an extra $18,000 a year in premiums.

Some of the county’s hospital executives blame insurers for the high prices, saying that the rates they charge are the only way to stay in business. But health economists, labor advocates and residents argue that it’s a lack of competition. They’ve taken their complaints to the state’s Office of Health Care Affordability, though the office is limited to looking at future price increases.

• Ivana Krajcinovic, an economist and vice president for a hospitality union health plan: “We’re hoping with bringing this to light the hospitals will take a second look and say 200% of Medicare is enough. Let’s take double what it actually costs to run a hospital — 500% is highway robbery.” 

For more about how much Monterey hospitals charge, read Kristen’s story. 

Research shows that one way schools can help close racial achievement gaps, particularly between white students and students of color, is to have a more diverse staff. From students in K-12 schools all the way through college, minority students are more likely to pass a class when they have teachers who look like them.

But for California’s 116 community colleges, where many students of color obtain their higher education, a February 2023 state audit found that overall progress to increase faculty diversity remains slow, writes CalMatters’ community college reporter Adam Echelman. The largest discrepancy is among Latino faculty. Though Latino students represent nearly half of community college students, less than 20% of tenured or tenure-track faculty are Latino. 

Some college districts say so few people in their communities have the necessary graduate degrees to be qualified professors — and those who are qualified often opt to teach at better-paying schools. State lawmakers and the Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office have introduced hiring initiatives and an estimated $90 million into reforms in the last 20 years to in response — though half that money has come in the last three years.

For more on the lack of faculty diversity at California community colleges, read Adam’s story.

In other higher education news: CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn reports that retail’s loss is California’s gain: An empty shopping mall is being converted into a state-funded research center focusing on immunology and quantum computing — two disciplines that represent the future of science and technology. 

Buttressed by a $500 million commitment from the state in 2022 and philanthropic gifts from billionaires since, UCLA is purchasing the Westside Pavilion to house the research initiatives. Google, which leased part of the space for the past few years, helped with the sale. The centers, which Gov. Newsom said UCLA will finish building in 2027 and be fully operational by 2029, will provide research space and a focus on turning academic findings into commercial products.

• Owen Witte, a UCLA medical researcher and professor: “I cannot think of a single disorder that wouldn’t be better treated if we had a greater insight into the immune system. Diseases as distinct as diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, neurodegenerative disorders, atherosclerosis and many more have immune dysregulation as a part of their pathology.”

Wednesday’s press event, inside the former mall, a gutted space with exposed metal and concrete, also drew Gov. Newsom, UC leaders and Sens. Ben Allen of El Segundo and Anthony Portantino of Glendale — both Democrats — and wealthy philanthropists, including Gary K. Michelson. A source said the group of six philanthropists plans to contribute a gift of at least $200 million to the research efforts. Acquiring the mall is costing UCLA $700 million, Bloomberg reported.

The governor touted the UCLA centers as a case of prioritizing science and higher learning in California, which he contrasted with states governed by conservatives.

• Newsom: “The vandalism that’s been done politically by the other party in a lot of these red states is not only worrisome, (but) will have profound consequences on the state of this nation, and our competitiveness around the rest of the globe.”

It’s campaign season, so there are some developments worth following:

U.S. Senate race: CalMatters politics reporter Yu Stella Yue notes that the United Farm Workers of America — the nation’s largest agricultural workers union representing nearly 5,000 in California — endorsed U.S. Rep Adam Schiff of Burbank for U.S. Senate at a Wednesday night event in Salinas. 

Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the union, has endorsed Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland for the seat but has not been an active leader of the union since 1999. Schiff has received more than a dozen statewide labor union endorsements, the most among all the U.S. Senate candidates. 

• Teresa Romero, union president: “As thousands of UFW members go to work in California’s vineyards, farms, and fields, farm workers deserve a relentless advocate in the U.S. Senate who will fight for farm workers’ right to organize, strong heat safety protections, and a just immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship for the workers who feed our nation.”

Mental health: Also Wednesday, Gov. Newsom and supporters held a kick-off event in Los Angeles for Proposition 1, the only measure on the March 5 primary ballot. It would allow the state to borrow $6.4 billion to add 10,000 treatment and supportive housing beds and also reallocate money from a “millionaire’s tax” to build behavioral health housing.

Supporters said Prop. 1 will help address homelessness because many of those on the street have mental illness, and will correct mistakes after mental institutions were shuttered. 

• Newsom: “We can finally fulfill the vision that was set forth a half century ago.”

More ballot measures? The Secretary of State’s office has cleared three initiatives to start collecting signatures. Two would allow online and in-person sports betting in California, though Native American tribes are opposed and similar measures failed spectacularly in 2022. Because they would change the state constitution, they need at least 874,641 valid signatures by July 1 to make it on the ballot. 

The third measure would decriminalize psychedelics for personal use, and medical treatment and research. It requires at least 546,651 signatures by July 1. The Legislature passed a similar bill, but Gov. Newsom vetoed it last October. 

If they qualify, the November ballot would get even more crowded.