How bad is workplace harassment at California Capitol?

These days, sexual harassment and other bad behavior are closely monitored at almost all workplaces.

But what if the office is the state Legislature and the potential offenders are elected officials?

For five years now, there has been a place for staffers and others to take their complaints. And late last week, California’s top two legislative leaders released the most recent — though not very detailed — accounting of misconduct at the Capitol. 

The top lines from the Office of Legislative Counsel:

• 145 complaints in 2023, down from 161 in 2022 and from 171 in 2019 when the Workplace Conduct Unit started. The numbers dipped during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many legislative staffers worked remotely. 

• Of the total 646 complaints received since Feb. 1, 2019, 96% have been resolved, according to the unit. Last year, it hired more investigators and set a 60-day goal for completing inquiries. And in 2022, established a navigator role to help workers through the process.

The two-page summary, however, does not include outcomes of the cases or records on any substantiated complaints — though legislative officials told KCRA that there have been no substantiated allegations of sexual harassment against any lawmaker or high-level staffer since 2020. 

There’s a back story: The MeToo movement made it to the Capitol, and under pressure in 2018, the Legislature released a decade’s worth of records that included 18 cases of alleged sexual harassment and named four then-serving lawmakers.

The workplace conduct unit was created the next year. In December 2022, it said that since February 2019, 91 cases were substantiated and 86 resulted in disciplinary action, including nine dismissals. 

Staffers and advocates want more information, but the Legislature is covered by its own records law that does not require release of misconduct reports. Earlier Thursday, however, the Assembly higher education committee released a “call to action” for university campuses to do better in handling sexual harassment claims. It’s one of the myriad ways the Legislature exempts itself from laws it passes for others. 

In their letter to legislators and staffers releasing the summary, obtained by KCRA, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate leader Toni Atkins said the unit “continues to improve our legislative workplace culture.” 

Atkins, who gives up her post today to Sen. Mike McGuire, said that creating the unit “is among my proudest accomplishments as Senate leader.”

How many bills? A month into the 2024 session, about 400 bills have been introduced, according to veteran lobbyist Chris Micheli. As CalMatters’ Sameea Kamal just reported, in a typical year, about 2,000 are put in the hopper for various reasons, even when the authors know their bills won’t pass. Micheli’s prediction of the final count by the Feb. 16 deadline: 2,225, compared to last year’s 2,632, which was the most in more than a decade.

A barrage of rain pummeled California over the weekend, and is expected to continue at least until Tuesday for parts of the state. The deluge prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency Sunday for eight southern California counties. Meanwhile, local authorities ordered evacuations, school closures and the deployment of emergency response teams.

• Newsom, in a statement: “This is a serious storm with dangerous and potentially life-threatening impacts.”

Exacerbated by warming ocean waters fueled by El Niño and climate change, the storm brought about powerful winds. The National Weather Service issued a rare “hurricane force wind” warning for the state’s central coast (a first for the region), with possible wind gusts up to 92 mph. There were also widespread power outages, avalanche warnings for the Sierra Nevada, and southern California remains on high alert through today for landslides and potentially “life-threatening” flooding.

Describing the storm as “a serious weather event,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass held a press conference Sunday alongside local officials detailing evacuation orders for parts of Los Angeles city and county. Some areas are projected to see nearly 10 inches of rain through Tuesday.

• Bass: “If you are not home already, please get home and stay home.”

Several large public universities in southern California, including Dominguez Hills, Fullerton, Los Angeles, CSU Northridge and Cal Poly Pomona indicated that they would pivot to remote learning for today. And statewide, the governor announced the mobilization of more than 8,300 state agency personnel, including responders from swift water rescue teams, the state’s Office of Emergency Services, Cal Fire, Caltrans and the state national guard.

Last winter, severe storms killed at least 22 people across the state. It flooded parts of the Central Valley, such as the majority-Latino community of Planada where evacuated residents returned to destroyed property and lost paychecks. The fallout prompted the state to pour millions into flood relief and infrastructure, though many were left frustrated with what they saw as the state’s slow response.

For the significant learning loss low-income students experienced during COVID, California schools are expected to spend $2 billion to help the same group of students recover in response to a lawsuit from parents.

As part of a settlement between the state and a group of families in Oakland and Los Angeles, schools will use their remaining funds from the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant to help high-needs students bounce back academically, writes CalMatters K-12 education reporter Carolyn Jones. This can include hiring tutors, adding instructional time or taking other steps to help struggling students. Schools will also be allowed to contract with community groups that use proven methods for extra services, such as after-school or summer programs.

The settlement, announced last week, originated from the early days of the pandemic when shelter-in-place orders required students to attend school virtually from home. During this period, student test scores plummeted, particularly among low-income students and students of color. And while most groups are now starting to rebound, progress has been slow for low-income students. 

Education researchers at UCLA, such as education professor Tyrone Howard, said the settlement will help narrow the racial achievement gap and is an important step in “addressing decades-long disparities.”

• Howard: “Black and Brown students in California and across the nation have long been plagued by deeply unfair and persistent inequities in our system of public education. Adding COVID-19 to the mix was like pouring gasoline on an already dangerous fire, accelerating inequities and damaging student learning.”

The settlement depends on the state passing legislation to amend the requirements of the block grant — something that is anticipated to happen this year. Afterwards, the terms of the settlement are expected to go into effect.

For more on this lawsuit, read Carolyn’s story.

A federal program that helps millions of Californians pay for internet service is in jeopardy of running out of money soon. When is the last chance to apply? Find out from CalMatters’ new tech reporter Khari Johnson.