In summary
The gap between the goals of California programs intended to help low-income residents and the reality is evident in key areas.
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The gap between the goals of government programs intended to help low-income and vulnerable Californians and the reality many of those residents experience was made evident Wednesday in a number of key areas:
— Housing
- In Oakland, four brand-new townhomes that will house between eight and 12 homeless people rent-free have been sitting empty for about a year even as thousands of people sleep on the streets — partly due to the city’s complex permitting and code requirements, the Mercury News reports. Requirements for the townhome project include building parking spaces — even though most residents won’t have cars — and painting vents on the roof.
- And in San Francisco, at least 400 homeless people have been waiting more than a year to move into permanent supportive housing units — even though 888 were vacant as of Feb. 22, according to a stunning investigation from ProPublica and the San Francisco Public Press.
— Wages
- California workers trying to recover unpaid wages and benefits from their employers are entitled to a hearing in front of the state Labor Commissioner’s Office within 120 days of filing a complaint. But the statewide average wait time for a hearing last month was 812 days — nearly seven times longer, a KQED investigation found. In San Francisco, the average wait time last year was 968 days; in Oakland, it was 1,160 days.
- María Moreno, lead organizer with the Restaurant Opportunities Center of the Bay: “Our workers are not in a position to wait years for damages. By then they might already be evicted from their home, or moved on from their job.”
— Health care
- Buoyed by federal subsidies, a record 1.8 million Californians are currently enrolled in Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace. But if the subsidies aren’t renewed at the end of the year, more than 150,000 Californians could decide to drop their coverage due to the high cost, 1 million low-income residents would see their premiums more than double and many middle-income people would see annual cost increases in the thousands of dollars, a Covered California analysis found.
However, momentum is building in Sacramento to ease some of the financial burdens shouldered by California’s poorest residents.
- Undocumented workers — who are ineligible for many state and federal safety net programs — could collect unemployment benefits under a pilot program proposed by Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia, a Coachella Democrat.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed slashing the maximum fee for late payments on traffic tickets and other fines from $300 to $150. Those fines are “exorbitant” when compared to other states’, are disproportionately levied on Californians of color and criminalize poverty, according to a new report from Debt Free Justice California.
- State Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Berkeley Democrat, introduced a bill Wednesday to limit California courts’ ability to levy high interest rates in legal judgments involving personal or consumer debt.
- And Republican lawmakers are intensifying calls to suspend California’s gas tax in the face of rising inflation and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “The cost of living is devastating families, students, seniors and our most vulnerable,” said Assemblymember Laurie Davis of Laguna Niguel.
Learn more about legislators mentioned in this story
Nancy Skinner
State Senate, District 9 (Oakland)
State Senate, District 9 (Oakland)
Laurie Davies
State Assembly, District 74 (Oceanside)
State Assembly, District 74 (Oceanside)
Time in office
2020—present
Background
Mayor, City of Laguna Niguel / Businesswoman
Contact
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The coronavirus bottom line: As of Tuesday, California had 8,388,683 confirmed cases (+0.1% from previous day) and 84,928 deaths (+0.3% from previous day), according to state data. CalMatters is also tracking coronavirus hospitalizations by county.
California has administered 71,697,868 vaccine doses, and 73.8% of eligible Californians are fully vaccinated.
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Other stories you should know
1. California to investigate TikTok
California is one of eight states leading a nationwide investigation into TikTok and the social media giant’s strategies to boost engagement among children and young adults, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Wednesday. The news comes about four months after Bonta unveiled a similar investigation into Instagram and follows a bipartisan group of state lawmakers’ introduction of legislation to strengthen children’s online privacy.
- Bonta: “Our children are growing up in the age of social media — and many feel like they need to measure up to the filtered versions of reality that they see on their screens. We know this takes a devastating toll on children’s mental health and well-being. But we don’t know what social media companies knew about these harms and when.”
- Bonta said one aspect of the investigation will focus on determining whether TikTok is violating California’s strict consumer privacy laws.
- In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, President Joe Biden also called for stronger online protections for kids: “It’s time to strengthen privacy protections, ban targeted advertising to children, demand tech companies stop collecting personal data on our children,” he said. (Newsom is scheduled to give his annual State of the State speech on March 8, his office said Wednesday.)
2. CHP short on body cameras
To help build trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve, many California agencies are turning to officer-worn body cameras: San Diego County jails on Tuesday started outfitting some deputies with body cameras, a move that comes about a month after a state audit slammed the county jail system for inadequate safety policies that contributed to 185 inmates dying from 2006 to 2020. And under a new policy that went into effect Tuesday, Los Angeles police must record on body cameras their reasons for stopping people for minor traffic violations on the pretext of investigating more serious crimes.
Yet the California Highway Patrol — one of the state’s largest police forces that makes about two million stops a year and is charged with tasks ranging from managing Capitol protests to protecting the governor to responding to deadly shootings — only has body cameras for 3% of its 7,600 budgeted uniformed officers despite a $2.8 billion budget, CalMatters’ Byrhonda Lyons reports.
- Carrie Lane, chief executive for the California Association of Highway Patrolmen: Members “recognize body-worn cameras can be a benefit to the public by providing greater transparency that helps engender trust. The challenge of body-worn cameras is, and always has been, cost.”
CalMatters commentary
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: Newsom’s performance as manager of California’s pandemic has been, to say the least, erratic, even as he claims to have been decisive and effective.
California’s misguided approach to housing: It’s crazy that we need a law to protect building owners who want to exit the rental market in rent-controlled cities, argues Thomas K. Bannon, CEO of the California Apartment Association.
California needs significant public health investments: The state is facing a plethora of public health issues other than COVID, including more than 480,000 tobacco-related deaths, rising rates of chronic conditions, an all-time high of sexually transmitted infections, and disparities in birth outcomes and maternal and child health, writes David Souleles, director of UC Irvine’s COVID-19 Response Team.
Other things worth your time
Firefighters battle blaze in Southern California forest. // Associated Press
California’s diverse judiciary is getting even more diverse under Newsom. // San Francisco Chronicle
CSU trustees order independent investigation into sexual harassment allegations at Fresno State. // EdSource
Disability rights case against Los Angeles Community College District could go to Supreme Court. // Los Angeles Times
Who is actually going to UC schools amid record application numbers? // San Francisco Chronicle
School board approves layoff plan and bonuses for teachers, but defies state fiscal expert on aides. // San Francisco Chronicle
New LAUSD superintendent on enrollment declines, school choice and COVID. // EdSource
California’s largest public pension fund still underfunded. // Sacramento Bee
San Jose drops public venue booster mandate. // East Bay Times
More than 750 San Jose employees face unpaid suspension for not following booster mandate. // Mercury News
Santa Clara: No city manager, interim city manager leaves city hanging in the balance. // Mercury News
De León narrowly trails Bass in new Los Angeles mayoral poll. // Los Angeles Times
Six years later, Oakland developer still hasn’t built promised housing. City Council pulls plug in frustration. // San Francisco Chronicle
78% of Southern California neighborhoods don’t allow apartments, study finds. // Orange County Register
There’s a new coalition trying to reduce homelessness. Can it work? // San Francisco Chronicle
San Diego approves street vendor crackdown in 8-1 vote. // San Diego Union-Tribune
Californians going back to the office soon? Investors don’t think so. // Mercury News
Google will require Bay Area office workers to return in April after repeated delays. // San Francisco Chronicle
Trapped in Silicon Valley’s hidden caste system. // Wired
How two of the House’s biggest opponents of military intervention are contemplating the crisis in Ukraine. // San Francisco Chronicle
Long Beach closes beaches after sewage spill. // Los Angeles Times
California’s search for the ultimate wild fig heats up. // Smithsonian Magazine
See you tomorrow.
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