Three years in, Newsom’s CARE Court leaves many disappointed

In 2022 Gov. Gavin Newsom floated a new concept to get seriously mentally ill individuals the help they need, and get them off the street. Many Californians, especially family members of people that need extra help, felt buoyed by this promise. 

Newsom’s idea became CARE Court, and it rolled out to a few counties at first, and the whole state by the end of 2024. CalMatters reporters Marisa Kendall, Jocelyn Wiener, Yue Stella Yu and Erica Yee spent much of the past year investigating how the program has done. 

While CARE Court has helped some people, many of the families and individuals interviewed for these four stories expressed frustration at the limits of the program versus what they felt was promised. 

• Ronda Deplazes, a mother who is fighting for her son to be released from CARE Court: “We get so pumped up with hope. I think the frustration and disappointment is more than a person can bear. That’s the truth of it. That is the bottom line.”

For a detailed and nuanced look at the experience of using CARE Court by Jocelyn, click here. 

To find out the political story of how CARE Court came into being, by Stella and Erica, click here. 

Could raising Los Angeles County’s sales tax help residents avoid the next great wildfire?

Two nonprofits are pushing that idea in a report released today detailing what policymakers, public agencies and other stakeholders could do to lessen wildfire risks and help communities still struggling after January’s L.A.-area wildfires.

One suggestion from Climate Resolve and Resilient Cities Catalyst is raising L.A. County’s 9.75% sales tax to create a “Los Angeles County Resilience District,” which would fund projects related to protecting residents from wildfires, earthquakes and other natural disasters. 

• The report: “Preparedness saves money. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce reports that every dollar invested in disaster prevention saves $13 in avoided damages, cleanup, and lost economic activity. … A quarter-cent sales tax in Los Angeles County would yield $600 million per year, funding important mitigation measures.”

But raising taxes and creating the district would be a tall order, requiring approval from the state Legislature and voters through a 2028 ballot measure — an effort the nonprofits anticipate would cost about $5 million to carry out.

On Wednesday members of the state Assembly’s human services committee and a select Assembly committee on CalFresh and nutrition, convened in Alameda to discuss food insecurity and how recent federal action has affected food programs.

During the hearing, Tess Thorman, a researcher at the Public Policy Institute of California, gave testimony detailing the prevalence of food insecurity in the state and some of the challenges facing CalFresh, the state’s version of the federal SNAP food benefit program.

Using data from the annual U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food insecurity survey, PPIC determined that 23% of California households in 2023 experienced some type of food insecurity. Households with children, as well as Latino and Black households, were more likely to experience food insecurity.

Federal policy changes under President Donald Trump are also anticipated to worsen the situation: New work requirements for CalFresh enrollees could mean as many as 620,000 Californians losing benefits, according to Thorman. In September the USDA also said it would stop conducting the food insecurity survey, after a 30-year run, which would make it more difficult for policymakers to understand and combat hunger.

California passed a new law making it easier for birth centers to operate outside hospitals. CalMatters’ Kristen Hwang and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on how the measure could help slow maternity ward closures and expand access to midwives as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.