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"content": "\u003cp>Across California, hundreds of bar owners have been hanging signs that read, “Don’t get roofied! Drink spiking drug test kits available here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they don’t post the signs — or if they don’t have kits available for patrons to test their drinks to determine if they’ve been drugged — the proprietors run the risk of state fines or having their liquor licenses suspended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.abc.ca.gov/type-48-licenses-new-signage-and-product-requirements-take-effect-july-1-2024/\">The new requirements\u003c/a> for the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-26/drug-testing-kits-to-be-offered-to-patrons-in-california-bars-this-summer\">2,400 bars and nightclubs\u003c/a> take effect on Monday, thanks \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab1013?slug=CA_202320240AB1013\">to a law that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last year\u003c/a>. Its lead author is Long Beach Democratic Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, a former nightclub owner currently a partner in three Southern California restaurants serving alcohol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s not Lowenthal’s only anti-drink spiking legislation. He has three other anti-drink spiking bills pending in the Legislature that would add new requirements for alcohol servers. \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab2375?slug=CA_202320240AB2375\">One would require\u003c/a> bars to provide cups with lids on them at a customer’s request. \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab2402?slug=CA_202320240AB2402\">Another would require \u003c/a>the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to include mandatory training for alcohol servers to spot drink spiking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab2389\">A third bill\u003c/a> is potentially the most controversial. It would require employees, if they believe a customer has been drugged from a spiked drink, to call police, follow the 911 dispatcher’s instructions and “monitor” the customer until law enforcement or an ambulance crew arrives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lowenthal told CalMatters last week that his legislation seeks to address a rise in drink-spiking that has “gotten to crisis proportions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bars need to be involved,” he said during a break from Thursday’s Assembly floor session. “Alcohol companies need to be involved. Patrons need to be involved looking out for each other. We need to be talking about it and creating this level of prevention. Because once somebody’s drink has already been spiked, it’s too late. So what can we do to prevent it from happening?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Firm numbers about the prevalence of drink spiking are hard to come by, and research that’s available is based on surveys and anecdotes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A survey published in \u003ca href=\"https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/608100\">2016 in the American Psychological Association’s journal “Psychology of Violence”\u003c/a> found that 8% of 6,064 students surveyed at three universities believed they’d been slipped drugs. Eighteen percent of more than 45,000 respondents in a 2022 \u003ca href=\"https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com/downloads/2022DrinkSpike.pdf\">global survey from a London-based research firm\u003c/a> reported that they had been drugged. The same survey noted that 92% of the victims didn’t report their suspicions to police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Lowenthal’s office, the Long Beach Police Department receives around \u003ca href=\"https://lbpost.com/news/new-long-beach-program-and-proposed-state-legislation-aim-to-combat-drugged-drinks/\">25 reports of drink spiking a year.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992680\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1475976396.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992680\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1475976396.jpg\" alt='A white man wearing a business suit stands at a podium with a microphone and a banner behind him that reads \"Goods Movement Training Campus.\"' width=\"1024\" height=\"662\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1475976396.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1475976396-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1475976396-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1475976396-160x103.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal speaks at a press conference in Wilmington on Friday, March 24, 2023, announcing the joint workforce training center plan to serve both the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. \u003ccite>(Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lowenthal said the lack of data is due in part to the nature of the drugs. They cause severe short-term memory lapses, and the drugs typically fade from the human body after a few hours. It’s a combination that makes it difficult for a victim to remember what happened and that leaves behind no evidence for investigators to find, \u003ca href=\"https://whickhampractice.nhs.uk/drink-spiking#:~:text=It%20is%20important%20you%20are,body%20within%2012%20%E2%80%93%2072%20hours.\">experts say\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t see them,” Lowenthal said. “You can’t taste them. You can’t smell them, and they leave the body within 24 hours, so you can’t even test that it’s in somebody’s system if they’d been roofied.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(“Roofied” is a slang term used to describe someone whose drink has been spiked with the most notorious date-rape drug, Rohypnol.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year’s bill requiring bars to post notices and provide drink-spiking test kits advanced to Newsom’s desk without a single lawmaker voting “no” and without any formal opposition, including from lobbyists representing bars and restaurants, according to \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/\">the Digital Democracy database\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lowenthal’s other three bills have advanced from the Assembly to the state Senate in the same fashion and without any opponents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That includes the bill requiring employees to monitor someone suspected of being drugged until police or medics arrive. Lowenthal argues it’s important for the employees to keep an eye on a victim so they don’t leave with their would-be rapist who drugged them. His bill, however, wouldn’t penalize a bar employee or liquor license holder if a drugged person leaves before help arrives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democratic Assemblymember Mike Gipson told Lowenthal he was glad to see the measure earlier this spring when the bill was before the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, which handles alcohol and gambling legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gipson, \u003ca href=\"https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/inside-the-issues/2020/10/13/asm--mike-gipson-wants-to-keep-his-seat-in-the-california-state-assembly-\">a former police officer\u003c/a> from Gardena, told the committee his cousin had died after a drug-induced robbery. Gipson told CalMatters that an autopsy found so much Rohypnol and alcohol in his cousin’s body that the coroner believed it had caused him to stop breathing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gibson said he supports “anything that we can do in this space to make it safe.” He added that bar patrons need to be on guard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have to leave a drink, take it with you to the bathroom,” \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/hearings/257795?t=632&f=18585adfc4a13ed42d75d3fcc660f59f\">Gipson said\u003c/a>. “Never leave it unattended, even with people that you think you know and you think you can trust.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, who owns restaurants that serve drinks, has introduced several bills adding requirements for bar owners and drink servers to do more to prevent drink spiking.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Across California, hundreds of bar owners have been hanging signs that read, “Don’t get roofied! Drink spiking drug test kits available here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they don’t post the signs — or if they don’t have kits available for patrons to test their drinks to determine if they’ve been drugged — the proprietors run the risk of state fines or having their liquor licenses suspended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.abc.ca.gov/type-48-licenses-new-signage-and-product-requirements-take-effect-july-1-2024/\">The new requirements\u003c/a> for the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-03-26/drug-testing-kits-to-be-offered-to-patrons-in-california-bars-this-summer\">2,400 bars and nightclubs\u003c/a> take effect on Monday, thanks \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab1013?slug=CA_202320240AB1013\">to a law that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last year\u003c/a>. Its lead author is Long Beach Democratic Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, a former nightclub owner currently a partner in three Southern California restaurants serving alcohol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And it’s not Lowenthal’s only anti-drink spiking legislation. He has three other anti-drink spiking bills pending in the Legislature that would add new requirements for alcohol servers. \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab2375?slug=CA_202320240AB2375\">One would require\u003c/a> bars to provide cups with lids on them at a customer’s request. \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab2402?slug=CA_202320240AB2402\">Another would require \u003c/a>the state’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to include mandatory training for alcohol servers to spot drink spiking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab2389\">A third bill\u003c/a> is potentially the most controversial. It would require employees, if they believe a customer has been drugged from a spiked drink, to call police, follow the 911 dispatcher’s instructions and “monitor” the customer until law enforcement or an ambulance crew arrives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lowenthal told CalMatters last week that his legislation seeks to address a rise in drink-spiking that has “gotten to crisis proportions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The bars need to be involved,” he said during a break from Thursday’s Assembly floor session. “Alcohol companies need to be involved. Patrons need to be involved looking out for each other. We need to be talking about it and creating this level of prevention. Because once somebody’s drink has already been spiked, it’s too late. So what can we do to prevent it from happening?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Firm numbers about the prevalence of drink spiking are hard to come by, and research that’s available is based on surveys and anecdotes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A survey published in \u003ca href=\"https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/608100\">2016 in the American Psychological Association’s journal “Psychology of Violence”\u003c/a> found that 8% of 6,064 students surveyed at three universities believed they’d been slipped drugs. Eighteen percent of more than 45,000 respondents in a 2022 \u003ca href=\"https://www.globaldrugsurvey.com/downloads/2022DrinkSpike.pdf\">global survey from a London-based research firm\u003c/a> reported that they had been drugged. The same survey noted that 92% of the victims didn’t report their suspicions to police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Lowenthal’s office, the Long Beach Police Department receives around \u003ca href=\"https://lbpost.com/news/new-long-beach-program-and-proposed-state-legislation-aim-to-combat-drugged-drinks/\">25 reports of drink spiking a year.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992680\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1024px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1475976396.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992680\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1475976396.jpg\" alt='A white man wearing a business suit stands at a podium with a microphone and a banner behind him that reads \"Goods Movement Training Campus.\"' width=\"1024\" height=\"662\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1475976396.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1475976396-800x517.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1475976396-1020x659.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/07/GettyImages-1475976396-160x103.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal speaks at a press conference in Wilmington on Friday, March 24, 2023, announcing the joint workforce training center plan to serve both the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach. \u003ccite>(Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lowenthal said the lack of data is due in part to the nature of the drugs. They cause severe short-term memory lapses, and the drugs typically fade from the human body after a few hours. It’s a combination that makes it difficult for a victim to remember what happened and that leaves behind no evidence for investigators to find, \u003ca href=\"https://whickhampractice.nhs.uk/drink-spiking#:~:text=It%20is%20important%20you%20are,body%20within%2012%20%E2%80%93%2072%20hours.\">experts say\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t see them,” Lowenthal said. “You can’t taste them. You can’t smell them, and they leave the body within 24 hours, so you can’t even test that it’s in somebody’s system if they’d been roofied.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>(“Roofied” is a slang term used to describe someone whose drink has been spiked with the most notorious date-rape drug, Rohypnol.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year’s bill requiring bars to post notices and provide drink-spiking test kits advanced to Newsom’s desk without a single lawmaker voting “no” and without any formal opposition, including from lobbyists representing bars and restaurants, according to \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/\">the Digital Democracy database\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lowenthal’s other three bills have advanced from the Assembly to the state Senate in the same fashion and without any opponents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That includes the bill requiring employees to monitor someone suspected of being drugged until police or medics arrive. Lowenthal argues it’s important for the employees to keep an eye on a victim so they don’t leave with their would-be rapist who drugged them. His bill, however, wouldn’t penalize a bar employee or liquor license holder if a drugged person leaves before help arrives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democratic Assemblymember Mike Gipson told Lowenthal he was glad to see the measure earlier this spring when the bill was before the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, which handles alcohol and gambling legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gipson, \u003ca href=\"https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/inside-the-issues/2020/10/13/asm--mike-gipson-wants-to-keep-his-seat-in-the-california-state-assembly-\">a former police officer\u003c/a> from Gardena, told the committee his cousin had died after a drug-induced robbery. Gipson told CalMatters that an autopsy found so much Rohypnol and alcohol in his cousin’s body that the coroner believed it had caused him to stop breathing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gibson said he supports “anything that we can do in this space to make it safe.” He added that bar patrons need to be on guard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you have to leave a drink, take it with you to the bathroom,” \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/hearings/257795?t=632&f=18585adfc4a13ed42d75d3fcc660f59f\">Gipson said\u003c/a>. “Never leave it unattended, even with people that you think you know and you think you can trust.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "state-and-aclu-agree-on-more-hands-on-approach-to-tracking-discrimination-in-schools",
"title": "State Authorities Agree to More Hands-On Approach to Tracking Discrimination in California Schools",
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"headTitle": "State Authorities Agree to More Hands-On Approach to Tracking Discrimination in California Schools | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>California will play a more active role in ensuring school districts don’t discriminate against students with disabilities, English learners and Black students, under a legal settlement announced this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/Mark%20S%20Settlement%20Agreement%20with%20CDE_0.pdf\">agreement (PDF)\u003c/a> between the state and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California requires state authorities to visit schools, interview teachers, look at individual students’ records and take more hands-on steps to see if a school has a pattern of discriminating. Specifically, the state will examine whether schools disproportionately suspend Black students or English learners or deny services to students with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Are we happy? Absolutely. For the first time, the state will now be required to strengthen its monitoring of school districts to prevent discrimination,” said Linnea Nelson, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When CalMatters asked for a comment on the settlement, the California Department of Education sent CalMatters another copy of the settlement. But it has already begun implementing some of the requirements in the settlement, and has set up a hotline for families and students to report discrimination, harassment, intimidation or bullying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/di/eo/legaladvisory.asp#:~:text=State%20and%20federal%20law%20generally,religion%2C%20marital%20or%20parental%20status%2C\">Discrimination is illegal\u003c/a> in California schools, but the state has not always taken an aggressive approach to tracking it at individual schools, according to the lawsuit. Instead, reviews focused on broad data such as discipline rates for Black students or other groups, not specific incidents or patterns affecting individual students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now, instead of just looking at the data, we’ll be able to get to the crux of the issue,” said Malhar Shah, an attorney for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, who also worked on the suit. “There’s going to be increased accountability, and practices that went under the radar will now come out in the open.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black students, English learners and students with disabilities all have suspension rates higher than the California average, according to \u003ca href=\"https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/dqCensus/DisSuspRate.aspx?year=2022-23&agglevel=State&cds=00\">state data\u003c/a>. Black students are particularly affected. They had a suspension rate of almost 9% last year, compared to the state average of 3.6%.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>East Bay district at the center of discrimination complaint\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The ACLU settlement stems from a 2021 \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/Final%20Complaint_PittsburgSchools.pdf\">lawsuit (PDF)\u003c/a> against the state and Pittsburg Unified School District in Contra Costa County, centering on the experiences of a Black student who struggled to receive special education services and was repeatedly suspended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The girl was traumatized and suffered academically because of the experiences, said her mother, Jessica Black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After a while, she felt there was something wrong with her. I would have taken her out (of school), but I didn’t have the resources,” said Black, a single mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pittsburg Unified did not respond to an email request for comment. Its portion of the lawsuit is still pending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Problems for Black’s daughter, identified as L.G. in the lawsuit, started almost immediately after she enrolled in the district in third grade, Black said. In one incident, a white student teased L.G. because of her Afro-style hair, leading L.G. to throw an apple at him and get suspended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time L.G. was in fourth grade, the school placed her in a special class for students with emotional challenges, even though she did not have an Individualized Education Plan for special education. The girl felt isolated from her friends and floundered academically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11989248,news_11991798,news_11985234\"]As a result, she was poorly equipped to handle middle school, Black said. The girl was suspended at least 20 times in sixth grade, and at one point, the school had her involuntarily detained (or “5150ed”) due to a perceived psychiatric emergency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By seventh grade, L.G. was enrolled in special education and began receiving services to help with executive functioning skills. In high school, she transferred to another school district, graduated early, and is now thriving, Black said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though L.G. is doing well now, she missed out on years of services Black believes she was entitled to, such as counseling. The ordeal took a toll on the entire family, Black said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a complete strain. I was getting calls nearly every day at work, and I didn’t know what to do,” said Black, who works as a community organizer in Oakland. “Psychologically, spiritually, mentally, it really weighed on me. I was exhausted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Black is pleased with the settlement, she wishes it went further. She’d like to see the complaint process expedited, so families can get responses sooner if they feel their child is being discriminated against; regular reports to school boards on discipline rates; and more involvement by parents whose children are subject to discrimination “so the people most impacted are part of the accountability process and can help devise solutions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She still harbors distrust of the public school system in general, saying it’s too often failed children like her daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The settlement sounds great, but what’s the follow-up?” Black said. “How does the next generation of kids not go through the same thing my daughter went through? Basically, schools need to treat Black students with humanity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"nprByline": "\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/carolyn-jones/\">Carolyn Jones\u003c/a>, CalMatters",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California will play a more active role in ensuring school districts don’t discriminate against students with disabilities, English learners and Black students, under a legal settlement announced this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/Mark%20S%20Settlement%20Agreement%20with%20CDE_0.pdf\">agreement (PDF)\u003c/a> between the state and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California requires state authorities to visit schools, interview teachers, look at individual students’ records and take more hands-on steps to see if a school has a pattern of discriminating. Specifically, the state will examine whether schools disproportionately suspend Black students or English learners or deny services to students with disabilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Are we happy? Absolutely. For the first time, the state will now be required to strengthen its monitoring of school districts to prevent discrimination,” said Linnea Nelson, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When CalMatters asked for a comment on the settlement, the California Department of Education sent CalMatters another copy of the settlement. But it has already begun implementing some of the requirements in the settlement, and has set up a hotline for families and students to report discrimination, harassment, intimidation or bullying.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/di/eo/legaladvisory.asp#:~:text=State%20and%20federal%20law%20generally,religion%2C%20marital%20or%20parental%20status%2C\">Discrimination is illegal\u003c/a> in California schools, but the state has not always taken an aggressive approach to tracking it at individual schools, according to the lawsuit. Instead, reviews focused on broad data such as discipline rates for Black students or other groups, not specific incidents or patterns affecting individual students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now, instead of just looking at the data, we’ll be able to get to the crux of the issue,” said Malhar Shah, an attorney for the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, who also worked on the suit. “There’s going to be increased accountability, and practices that went under the radar will now come out in the open.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black students, English learners and students with disabilities all have suspension rates higher than the California average, according to \u003ca href=\"https://dq.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/dqCensus/DisSuspRate.aspx?year=2022-23&agglevel=State&cds=00\">state data\u003c/a>. Black students are particularly affected. They had a suspension rate of almost 9% last year, compared to the state average of 3.6%.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>East Bay district at the center of discrimination complaint\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The ACLU settlement stems from a 2021 \u003ca href=\"https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/Final%20Complaint_PittsburgSchools.pdf\">lawsuit (PDF)\u003c/a> against the state and Pittsburg Unified School District in Contra Costa County, centering on the experiences of a Black student who struggled to receive special education services and was repeatedly suspended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The girl was traumatized and suffered academically because of the experiences, said her mother, Jessica Black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After a while, she felt there was something wrong with her. I would have taken her out (of school), but I didn’t have the resources,” said Black, a single mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pittsburg Unified did not respond to an email request for comment. Its portion of the lawsuit is still pending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Problems for Black’s daughter, identified as L.G. in the lawsuit, started almost immediately after she enrolled in the district in third grade, Black said. In one incident, a white student teased L.G. because of her Afro-style hair, leading L.G. to throw an apple at him and get suspended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time L.G. was in fourth grade, the school placed her in a special class for students with emotional challenges, even though she did not have an Individualized Education Plan for special education. The girl felt isolated from her friends and floundered academically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>As a result, she was poorly equipped to handle middle school, Black said. The girl was suspended at least 20 times in sixth grade, and at one point, the school had her involuntarily detained (or “5150ed”) due to a perceived psychiatric emergency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By seventh grade, L.G. was enrolled in special education and began receiving services to help with executive functioning skills. In high school, she transferred to another school district, graduated early, and is now thriving, Black said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though L.G. is doing well now, she missed out on years of services Black believes she was entitled to, such as counseling. The ordeal took a toll on the entire family, Black said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was a complete strain. I was getting calls nearly every day at work, and I didn’t know what to do,” said Black, who works as a community organizer in Oakland. “Psychologically, spiritually, mentally, it really weighed on me. I was exhausted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Black is pleased with the settlement, she wishes it went further. She’d like to see the complaint process expedited, so families can get responses sooner if they feel their child is being discriminated against; regular reports to school boards on discipline rates; and more involvement by parents whose children are subject to discrimination “so the people most impacted are part of the accountability process and can help devise solutions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She still harbors distrust of the public school system in general, saying it’s too often failed children like her daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The settlement sounds great, but what’s the follow-up?” Black said. “How does the next generation of kids not go through the same thing my daughter went through? Basically, schools need to treat Black students with humanity.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "total-system-breakdown-california-firefighters-with-ptsd-face-a-workers-comp-nightmare",
"title": "PTSD Is Common Among Firefighters — but Workers’ Comp for Treatment Is Hard to Get",
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"content": "\u003cp>Todd Nelson could feel it coming on. And he began to run. He was going dark again, retreating to a place where he would curl into a fetal position with his thumb in his mouth, watching from behind closed eyes as his personal reel of horror unspooled. Sights and sounds from three decades of firefighting cued up — shrieks from behind an impenetrable wall of flame, limbs severed in car accidents and the eyes of the terrified and the dead he was meant to save.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson was running on the Foresthill Bridge, \u003ca href=\"https://sierranevadageotourism.org/entries/foresthill-bridge/4123fc95-8a25-4827-baba-fca9c8e4485a\">the highest in California\u003c/a>, fleeing cops and firefighters after his wife reported that he was suicidal. He hurdled a concrete barrier and straddled the railing of the bridge in the Sierra Nevada foothills, staring down at a large rock 730 feet below. As the rescuers closed in, Nelson leaned precariously over the chasm. His strategy — making the fatal plunge appear accidental, allowing his family to collect his life insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was not Nelson’s first suicide attempt — the former Cal Fire captain had tried to take his life many times before. But after that 2021 ordeal, which led to an involuntary 72-hour psychiatric hold, something in him shifted. He was ready to admit that he had a problem and seek medical help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The incident began the firefighter’s arduous, years-long journey toward wellness, threaded through a bureaucratic labyrinth strewn with more obstacles than he’d ever encountered on a California wildfire: finding qualified medical help, battling an insurance company to pay for it and navigating the tangled morass of California’s workers’ comp. All without going broke or returning to his dark place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No one tracks how many of Cal Fire’s 12,000 firefighters and other employees suffer from mental health problems, but department leaders say post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/06/california-firefighter-trauma-ptsd/?series=california-firefighters-trauma-wildfires\">have become a silent epidemic\u003c/a>\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>at the agency responsible for fighting \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-wildfire-map-tracker/\">California’s increasingly erratic and destructive wildfires\u003c/a>. In an \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352466544_Wildland_Firefighter_Psychological_and_Behavioral_Health_Preliminary_Data_from_a_National_Sample_of_Current_and_Former_Wildland_Firefighters_in_the_United_States_Conference_session\">online survey\u003c/a> of wildland firefighters nationwide, about a third reported considering suicide and nearly 40% said they had colleagues who had committed suicide; many also reported depression and anxiety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s workers’ comp — which is supposed to help people get medical treatment for workplace illnesses and injuries — can be a nightmare for firefighters and other first responders with PTSD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Claims filed by firefighters and law enforcement officers are more likely to involve PTSD than claims by the average worker in California — and they have been \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RAND-PTSD-REPORT.pdf\">denied more often than claims for other medical conditions (PDF)\u003c/a>, according to the research institute RAND.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From 2008 to 2019 in California, workers’ comp officials denied PTSD claims filed by firefighters and other first responders at more than twice the rate of their other work-related conditions, such as back injuries and pneumonia, RAND reported. About a quarter of firefighters’ 1,000 PTSD claims were denied, a higher rate than for PTSD claims from other California workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a fail-first system. You have to get a broken leg to show you are in need of support. With mental illness, we are constantly having to prove to everybody why we were ill. You have to get to the point of suicide,” said Jessica Cruz, the California chief executive officer of the \u003ca href=\"https://namica.org/\">National Alliance on Mental Illness\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLvG2Yy34QM&t=1s\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jennifer Alexander, Nelson’s therapist, said patients in acute crisis simply don’t have the mental capacity to ride herd on stubborn workers’ comp claims. Alexander said she was once on hold for more than six hours with Cal Fire’s mental health provider attempting to get one of her bills paid, and she has waited years to get paid for treating firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People give up. It’s a battle … They are not fully functional,” said Alexander, who for 21 years has specialized in treating first responders with trauma and PTSD and has spent an estimated 25,000 hours treating them. “You are not talking about healthy individuals who can sit on the phone for hours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire firefighters and other workers also have trouble finding qualified therapists, especially outside major cities in rural areas, where many are based. In 2021, less than \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2023/may/understanding-us-behavioral-health-workforce-shortage\">half of people with a mental illness\u003c/a> in the U.S. were able to access timely care. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2024/06/california-workers-comp-firefighters-therapists/\">Therapists are reluctant to take workers’ comp\u003c/a>, or sometimes any type of insurance, because they often have to wait months or years to be reimbursed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992261\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11992261\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-14-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-14-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-14-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-14-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-14-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-14-copy.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Therapist Jennifer Alexander listens to Nelson during a treatment session. She called workers’ comp a ‘total system breakdown.’ \u003ccite>(Cristian Gonzalez for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Michael Dworsky, a senior economist at the research institute RAND and one of the study’s project leaders, called workers’ comp “challenging and bureaucratic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even if the claim is accepted, there can be disputes about the medical necessity of individual bills. Just because your claim is accepted, doesn’t mean you are done fighting with the insurance company,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A presumption of pain but still a tangled web\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Employers in California must provide workers’ comp insurance that will pay for medical costs when a worker is injured on the job. However, in reality, workers’ comp, which serves 16 million Californians, can be ungainly, confusing and, sometimes, no help at all. The system, administered by the state Department of Industrial Relations, is massive: In 2022, almost \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/CHSWC/Reports/2023/CHSWC_AnnualReport2023.pdf\">750,000 workers’ comp claims (PDF)\u003c/a> were filed statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a firefighter requests coverage for medical treatment, insurance adjusters review the case to determine if it’s medically necessary. If the claim is denied, delayed or modified, a patient may request an independent medical review by so-called “ghost doctors” who review the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Systemwide in California, patients who appeal their denied workers’ comp claims, don’t fare well: Last year 3,238 appeals for mental health claims were filed, but workers’ comp officials rejected three-quarters of them, about the same as the 10-year average, according to data from the Department of Industrial Relations requested by CalMatters. (Agency officials said they could not provide data on claims from first responders.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/9hnJM/4/\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, the California Legislature has wrestled with how to fix workers’ comp — in one year alone, lawmakers proposed nearly two dozen bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020 lawmakers took a major step, adding a \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/hearings/256803?t=1347&f=e8036f39579fee812f324253b5cb224b\">legal \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb623\">shortcut or “presumption”\u003c/a> to the\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>state\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>labor code, stipulating that firefighters and other first responders are considered at high risk for PTSD in the course of doing their job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means first responders no longer carry the burden of proving their illness is work-related. However, a claims adjuster can still question the diagnosis or assert that the trauma was caused by other factors, such as military service or family events. A law enacted last year \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb623\">extended the presumption to 2029\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In practice, experts say that, despite the law, proving a mental health claim is still almost as difficult to overcome as the psychological injury itself. Break an arm while fighting a wildfire, and, backed up by x-rays, claims are approved. But break your mind after decades of exposure to on-the-job trauma? Prepare for battle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before enacting the law, state officials asked RAND researchers to report on the scope of the problem. They analyzed nearly 6 million claims filed between 2008 through 2019 and interviewed dozens of experts, including a representative sample of 13 first responders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers found a consistent and troubling trend among the 13: “Nearly all workers said that they had filed a workers’ compensation claim for their mental health conditions — yet almost none received PTSD care paid for by workers’ compensation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paying out of pocket “caused severe financial strain in some cases. Some were eventually reimbursed by workers’ compensation, but only after litigation and substantial delay. Some who pursued care through workers’ compensation also noted that claim denials led to delays in the start of mental health treatment,” the RAND researchers wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 13 first responders they surveyed stressed “over and over again about self-pay and barriers,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.rand.org/about/people/q/quigley_denise_d.html\">Denise D. Quigley, a RAND senior policy researcher\u003c/a> who was a project leader on the study. “It’s not like we heard it once or twice, we heard it over and over again. It’s highly unlikely that we talked to the (only) people in California that had this happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Firefighters told of borrowing money from family members and taking out home equity loans to pay for care, Quigley said. The litany of their struggle weighed on her team. “It’s difficult to hear people break down crying while talking to us because of all the things they’ve seen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the RAND research, for the 12-year period from 2008 through 2019, before the new law took effect:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Firefighters and other first responders were about twice as likely to file PTSD claims as the general workforce — but the numbers are small, under 1% of all workers’ comp claims.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Firefighters’ PTSD claims were denied more often than claims of other workers: About 24% were denied, compared to about 19% of PTSD claims for all workers, including those in high-stress occupations. About a quarter of firefighter claims for all mental health conditions were denied.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Their PTSD claims were denied at more than twice the rate of their other presumptive medical conditions related to their jobs, such as hernias and back injuries. Even their cancer and heart disease claims were accepted at a higher rate than PTSD.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>These denial rates were calculated using a sample of only 258 PTSD claims filed by firefighters. But researcher Dworsky said the total number of claims is far higher, about 1,000, with about 230 claims denied, during those 12 years. And countless other firefighters who suffer from PTSD didn’t seek care through workers’ comp.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The RAND report was the most detailed look at the inequities between how physical and mental health are treated among firefighters and how first responders’ claims were handled compared to other workers. However, the researchers struggled with incomplete data and difficulty identifying which claims were from firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quigley said she is frustrated that no one since has tracked whether the 4-year-old presumption law — known as the Trauma Treatment Act — has helped patients and improved the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many therapists say they haven’t seen much, if any, improvement. Nelson’s therapist, Alexander, called workers’ comp a “total system breakdown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesman for the Department of Industrial Relations refused to grant interview requests from CalMatters or answer questions or provide data about firefighters’ mental health claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Navigating the system\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>During his 28 years with Cal Fire fighting wildfires in combustible regions, such as the Napa Valley and the Sierra Nevada foothills, and responding to other emergencies, Nelson never reported any mental health issues to anyone. Not once. Even as he would regularly pull his truck off the side of the road during wildfires and weep. Even after responding to the scene of traffic accidents, extricating children from crushed cars as their parents fought to get to them. Even after answering a call to a suicide to find a man hanging from the rafters in his barn. Even after the unbidden images began to intrude with greater frequency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, his mantra became “I’m good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That stoicism, common among first responders, short circuits the insurance system designed to help them — a system that works best with prompt reporting and meticulous documentation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11991959,science_1993253,science_1991079\"]Claims adjusters usually handle clear-cut cases where the date of injury can be pinpointed. More common among PTSD claims, though, is Nelson’s experience with cumulative trauma, with no paper trail of injuries or complaints. He can’t offer a single event as the origin of his trauma and no coherent chronology. Cal Fire folks tend to wait until their dam bursts before asking for the water to be turned off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One Southern California mental health provider told the RAND researchers that firefighters and police officers typically have severe cases of trauma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On the clinical side, as a mental health provider, it is not realistic to expect a firefighter or a police officer to come in and have had a little trauma or some minor stress condition … Most departments have people with a lot of stress and trauma,” the therapist said. “Just because you had something happen recently, the straw that broke the camel’s back, it is really the cumulative stress that is the issue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now retired, Nelson, 54, has been fighting for workers’ compensation for almost three years, since his suicide attempt on the Placer County bridge. He and his wife already have spent more than $10,000 out of pocket for medical care and could face thousands more in legal bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson’s case is unusually severe and complex, requiring two extended stays in a facility that specifically treats firefighters to diagnose his conditions and finally set him on a treatment path of therapy and multiple medications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire Battalion Chief Brad Niven said he has more than a dozen firefighter friends who have had similar experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Talk to anybody that tries to do anything through workers’ comp — it is an absolute nightmare,” he said. “Everybody knows you file your first workers’ comp claim and they will deny it. One guy I worked with went through the works with them. He had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have problems. You have to relive everything you’ve gone through. It does not make for a friendly system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992262\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11992262\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/060822_BRAD_NIVEN_CALFIRE_JH_CM_37-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/060822_BRAD_NIVEN_CALFIRE_JH_CM_37-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/060822_BRAD_NIVEN_CALFIRE_JH_CM_37-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/060822_BRAD_NIVEN_CALFIRE_JH_CM_37-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/060822_BRAD_NIVEN_CALFIRE_JH_CM_37-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/060822_BRAD_NIVEN_CALFIRE_JH_CM_37-copy.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire Battalion Chief Brad Niven, shown at his home in Sonora, said he and more than a dozen firefighter friends have had trouble getting workers’ comp to pay their claims for mental health treatment. \u003ccite>(Julie Hotz for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Niven considered suicide before Cal Fire’s employee support personnel helped him find a therapist, streamlining what had been a hit-and-miss process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They blasted away the stumbling blocks,” he said. But the fire agency does not make the decision to approve or deny a claim or handle the bureaucratic thicket that is workers’ comp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott O’Mara, a \u003ca href=\"https://law1199.com/\">San Diego-based lawyer\u003c/a> whose firm represents first responders, said adjusters’ training is to look for what they can develop to deny the case. “Their goal is to contain and control cost,” he said. “We do a lot of cases where the compensation is nickels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although California law now considers PTSD for first responders a presumption, it is a “disputable presumption.” That means claims administrators can consider other traumatic events in a firefighter’s life that may play a role in a PTSD case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With cumulative trauma, or stress over the course of their entire employment, we need to request more information from the doctor so that we can see it isn’t because they were in the military or they are going through a divorce, etc.,” one claims adjuster told RAND researchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The complexity of the system wears down the resistance of injured workers, who need a jungle guide to find their way at a time of profound pain and disorientation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They can’t navigate this on their own, they really can’t. They’ve got professional litigators opposing them,” said Richard Elder, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.elderandberg.com/attorney/richard-e-elder-jr/\">workers’ comp lawyer\u003c/a> in Concord who regularly represents state firefighters. “The average claims adjuster on the job for more than a month knows more about the system than the average firefighter. They’ve got lawyers on speed dial. The injured worker is adrift. It’s like a do-it-yourself heart transplant.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elder, who has been in practice for 54 years, used to work as an insurance company claims adjuster. The system, he said, has always been adversarial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s against the law for employers to discriminate against a worker who files a psyche claim. But they do discriminate,” said Elder, who said in the past five decades he has pursued about 500 psychiatric claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just filed a psychiatric claim and the response was ‘give us a list of every medical facility that treated the claimant in the last 10 years,’” he said. “The workers’ comp medical treatments system is a stain upon the soul of the politicians and officials of California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Diagnosing PTSD is ‘a complicated process’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One day in March, Nelson sat next to his wife, Leticia, in a quiet room in a Nevada City library near their rental home. He was in the grips of a seizure, brought on by retelling his firefighting nightmares to a CalMatters reporter. His hands were clenched and his torso taut. He stuttered, his eyelids fluttering. The episode lasted a few minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the interview, Nelson was fidgety, his thick fingers constantly worrying about the items he had put on the table in front of him. One was a tiny aluminum cylinder containing medication for his seizures, another was a brass medallion, the iconic firefighter symbols of an ax and firehose nozzle stamped on one side and the serenity prayer on the other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coin was a kind of talisman given to him after graduating from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.iaffrecoverycenter.com/\">specialized rehab clinic \u003c/a>for firefighters, where he was given his daunting medical diagnosi\u003cem>s: \u003c/em>He suffers from complex PTSD, \u003ca href=\"https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24517-psychogenic-nonepileptic-seizure-pnes\">psychogenic non-epileptic seizures\u003c/a> and dissociative identity disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such anxiety-induced seizures are unusual but not rare, his therapist said, and the totality of Nelson’s mental health issues makes his case unusually severe. Weekly therapy sessions and multiple medications have tempered, but not extinguished, his struggle with crippling anxiety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson wears a medical alert wrist bracelet intended to give first responders a bare-bones outline of his conditions and which medications to avoid when he is experiencing an anxiety-induced seizure. In his back pocket, he carries, always, a medical card with his list of red flags, so extensive that it unspools like an accordion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His seizures may occur several times a day. Some last for hours. Nelson’s usually benign aspect changes: His eyes cross, his hands clench into what he calls “spidey fingers.” He stumbles and stutters through sentences and repeats words, often losing his ability to speak at all. At times he drags his head and face along walls. Leticia Nelson describes the seizures as his body undergoing earthquakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992264\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11992264\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-25-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-25-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-25-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-25-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-25-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-25-copy.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The emergency medical ID card that Nelson carries with him. \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992266\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11992266\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-14-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-14-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-14-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-14-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-14-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-14-copy.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nelson alongside his wife, Leticia Nelson, near their Nevada City home. She said it’s been agonizing to see him suffer mental health problems related to his job and have to fight the system to get his treatment paid for. ‘We sacrificed our time with him so that he could help the whole state. And nothing has been there for the family since this happened. Nothing.’ \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nelson’s unusual body movements during a seizure, his inability to respond to questions and his propensity to run away when confronted puts Nelson in a precarious place in airport lines or with law enforcement, where his non-response has been misconstrued as defiance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even doctors can misunderstand. Diagnosing and treating PTSD and acute trauma like Nelson’s is notoriously difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Diagnosing PTSD is a complicated process. Diagnostic criteria are complicated,” said Sidra Goldman-Mellor, a \u003ca href=\"https://publichealth.ucmerced.edu/content/sidra-goldman-mellor\">UC Merced psychiatric epidemiologist\u003c/a> who studies depression and suicidal behavior. “Your average primary care clinician is probably not willing to go down that road.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For patients like Nelson, any number of stress-related disorders present themselves and muddy a specific diagnosis that would satisfy a claims adjuster or a workers’ comp review.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the thing with psychiatric disorders, we don’t have a lot of objective measures for a mental health diagnosis. We don’t have blood tests and we don’t have MRIs,” Goldman-Mellor said. “They (mental health issues) are harder to recognize, harder to test for and easier to ignore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, firefighters cannot move easily through the workers’ comp or medical insurance system if they don’t have a diagnosis. Constantly proving your pain becomes its own trauma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He has to prove his world is falling apart,” Leticia Nelson said. “It’s hard to explain to someone that you are broken. They look at you, they think that you look fine. They can’t see in your brain. They can’t see in your mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It took four years for Nelson to find the right medical care. One physician’s therapeutic approach was to ask the former firefighter to pray with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem was much more fundamental than finding a compatible therapist: He could not \u003cem>find\u003c/em> one to take his case. Many Cal Fire employees are stationed in rural or remote areas of the state, in communities underserved by health care specialists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Living in rural Nevada County, Nelson faces a barren mental health desert where it’s difficult to find a competent therapist who might have worked with other first responders and understands the specific challenges of the high-stress job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s an absolute specialization. There’s not near enough of us,” said Alexander, Nelson’s therapist. (Nelson granted her permission to speak about his case.) “In the larger Sacramento area, there are less than a dozen competent providers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992268\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11992268\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-09-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-09-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-09-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-09-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-09-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-09-copy.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nelson recalls memories of his time as a firefighter during a treatment session. \u003ccite>(Cristian Gonzalez for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire is self-insured and offers medical coverage through private companies. The agency does not manage medical claims or workers’ comp but does have programs to assist employees in finding care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rob Wheatley, staff chief of Cal Fire’s Behavioral Health and Wellness Program, told CalMatters in an email that the agency has expanded support for employees who seek help for mental health issues with peer counseling or referrals for treatment. The agency has a staff of 28 assisting about 12,000 employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Wheatley and other Cal Fire officials refused to grant an interview and did not answer CalMatters’ questions about the problems that their employees face with workers’ comp and mental health issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any denial of a mental health claim is concerning,” Wheatley said in the email.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2> Can the system be repaired?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Nelsons have seen the insurance and workers’ comp system from the inside, been batted around by it and, they would say, abandoned by it. Still, they have few suggestions for fixing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are not alone. Lawyers say that the system is based on how to save money, is too often adversarial and deeply entrenched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even the employers who participate in the workers’ comp system say it’s not working well. In a recent survey, more than half of the respondents said the system performs poorly, while 42% described the system as challenged but adequate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody believes it’s ideal,” said Jerry Azevedo, a spokesman for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.workcompaction.org/\">Workers’ Compensation Action Network,\u003c/a> a coalition of California insurers, employers and agents advocating to improve the system. “Every constituency has complaints.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Azevedo said California’s workers’ comp system, which has been in place since 1913, is plagued by \u003ca href=\"https://information.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2019-106.pdf\">persistent problems\u003c/a>: high costs to operate, huge claim volume, frequent litigation, slow claim resolution and fraud and abusive practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fundamental challenge we all contend with is complexity. California’s system is arguably the most complex in the nation,” Azevedo said. The good news, he said, is that 86% of workers’ comp claims overall are accepted, according to the California Workers’ Compensation Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s easy to get the sense of a general throwing up of hands. The state Commission on Health & Safety & Workers’ Comp dedicates a \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/chswc/WCReformsPage1.htm\">webpage to tracking workers’ comp reforms\u003c/a>, but the last entry was in 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sean Cooper, executive vice president and chief actuary of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wcirb.com/\">Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California\u003c/a>, said the system is groaning under its own weight — there are a lot of people filing claims and a lot of lawyers on all sides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Administrative costs are high in California: The cost to deliver $1 of medical benefit from California’s workers’ comp system is 46 cents, compared to two cents for Medicare, 19 cents for private group health insurance and 25 cents for the national state median for workers’ comp according to the group’s 2023 report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to fix the inequity is to turn the system on its head, said Cruz of the \u003ca href=\"https://namica.org/\">National Alliance on Mental Illness\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a disparity about how we treat, respond and react to behavioral health versus physical health,” she said. “Maybe we need to start talking about that disparity in workers’ comp. When you have (a claims) approval rating that is flipped on its backside, that’s an obvious parity issue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legislators, when they turn their gaze to the massive program, chip away at the edges. The law extending the PTSD presumption will be revisited when the state Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation presents its report on claims and denials to the Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement and the Assembly Committee on Insurance, by the end of this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruz said there is more legislative focus on behavioral health than ever, but there are limits, beginning with which groups carry the most influence. Managed health care companies are powerful advocates of the status quo, she said. “We are David and Goliath when we come up against these folks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So many great people want to do wonderful things and they have big ideas, but it gets chopped down to a Band-Aid once everyone gets what they want,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘A slap in the face to all of us’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Leticia Nelson refers to herself, with only slight exaggeration, as her husband’s “service dog.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s the keeper of the couple’s appointment schedule; she’s the chauffeur; and the manager of the financial spreadsheet. And it falls to Leticia to devote untold hours on the phone with insurers and medical providers, bird-dogging bills, late payments and coverage lapses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She has watched her husband humiliated, scared and angry. Their two adult daughters, also have been treated for PTSD, after witnessing their father’s anxiety and mania, and knowing about his suicide attempts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At times, Leticia Nelson said, “I’m mad at God.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992269\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11992269\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM_21-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM_21-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM_21-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM_21-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM_21-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM_21-copy.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Retired Cal Fire firefighter Todd Nelson walks with his wife in Nevada City. Nelson suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from the trauma experienced during his firefighting career. \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Nelsons, lifelong Californians, want to leave the state and its frightening tableau of wildfires. They sold their house, changed their mind about moving and now are financially shut out of the real estate market, especially because of the high cost of fire insurance in the foothills where they live. They are nomads, shuttling between Airbnbs with two large dogs and three cats in tow and their possessions in storage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Money is tight. Leticia would like to go back to work, but she can’t leave Todd alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson gave up fighting the state over a disability claim after his attorney told him that an appeal would cost $50,000 — and he would lose because he didn’t claim a disability when he retired.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a slap in the face to all of us because we sacrificed as a family,” Leticia Nelson said of Todd’s long career with Cal Fire. “We sacrificed our time with him so that he could help the whole state. And nothing has been there for the family since this happened. Nothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wish that there’s things in place that would guide us that wouldn’t be so hard. But it just seems like we hit every, every obstacle possible. We’re struggling. We need help. We need to be seen. We need to be treated like humans and not criminals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For his part, Nelson is coming to terms with the devastation his career wrought. Yet, years after retirement, he still listens to an emergency scanner and shows up at fires in his area, wearing his T-shirt, shorts and Birkenstocks. The pull to serve remains strong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The crazy thing is I miss my job. I miss it every day. I would do it all over again,” he said wistfully. “I loved the job but I didn’t realize the damage being done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>If you are having suicidal thoughts, you can get help from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 988 or visiting \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/\">\u003cem>https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story also was made possible in part by a grant from the \u003ca href=\"https://amarkfoundation.org/\">A-Mark Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Even when suicidal, California firefighters struggle to find medical help and navigate the workers’ comp morass to pay for it. A 2021 analysis showed their claims were more likely to involve PTSD — and were denied more often.",
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"title": "PTSD Is Common Among Firefighters — but Workers’ Comp for Treatment Is Hard to Get | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Todd Nelson could feel it coming on. And he began to run. He was going dark again, retreating to a place where he would curl into a fetal position with his thumb in his mouth, watching from behind closed eyes as his personal reel of horror unspooled. Sights and sounds from three decades of firefighting cued up — shrieks from behind an impenetrable wall of flame, limbs severed in car accidents and the eyes of the terrified and the dead he was meant to save.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson was running on the Foresthill Bridge, \u003ca href=\"https://sierranevadageotourism.org/entries/foresthill-bridge/4123fc95-8a25-4827-baba-fca9c8e4485a\">the highest in California\u003c/a>, fleeing cops and firefighters after his wife reported that he was suicidal. He hurdled a concrete barrier and straddled the railing of the bridge in the Sierra Nevada foothills, staring down at a large rock 730 feet below. As the rescuers closed in, Nelson leaned precariously over the chasm. His strategy — making the fatal plunge appear accidental, allowing his family to collect his life insurance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was not Nelson’s first suicide attempt — the former Cal Fire captain had tried to take his life many times before. But after that 2021 ordeal, which led to an involuntary 72-hour psychiatric hold, something in him shifted. He was ready to admit that he had a problem and seek medical help.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The incident began the firefighter’s arduous, years-long journey toward wellness, threaded through a bureaucratic labyrinth strewn with more obstacles than he’d ever encountered on a California wildfire: finding qualified medical help, battling an insurance company to pay for it and navigating the tangled morass of California’s workers’ comp. All without going broke or returning to his dark place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No one tracks how many of Cal Fire’s 12,000 firefighters and other employees suffer from mental health problems, but department leaders say post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/06/california-firefighter-trauma-ptsd/?series=california-firefighters-trauma-wildfires\">have become a silent epidemic\u003c/a>\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>at the agency responsible for fighting \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-wildfire-map-tracker/\">California’s increasingly erratic and destructive wildfires\u003c/a>. In an \u003ca href=\"https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352466544_Wildland_Firefighter_Psychological_and_Behavioral_Health_Preliminary_Data_from_a_National_Sample_of_Current_and_Former_Wildland_Firefighters_in_the_United_States_Conference_session\">online survey\u003c/a> of wildland firefighters nationwide, about a third reported considering suicide and nearly 40% said they had colleagues who had committed suicide; many also reported depression and anxiety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s workers’ comp — which is supposed to help people get medical treatment for workplace illnesses and injuries — can be a nightmare for firefighters and other first responders with PTSD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Claims filed by firefighters and law enforcement officers are more likely to involve PTSD than claims by the average worker in California — and they have been \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/RAND-PTSD-REPORT.pdf\">denied more often than claims for other medical conditions (PDF)\u003c/a>, according to the research institute RAND.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From 2008 to 2019 in California, workers’ comp officials denied PTSD claims filed by firefighters and other first responders at more than twice the rate of their other work-related conditions, such as back injuries and pneumonia, RAND reported. About a quarter of firefighters’ 1,000 PTSD claims were denied, a higher rate than for PTSD claims from other California workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a fail-first system. You have to get a broken leg to show you are in need of support. With mental illness, we are constantly having to prove to everybody why we were ill. You have to get to the point of suicide,” said Jessica Cruz, the California chief executive officer of the \u003ca href=\"https://namica.org/\">National Alliance on Mental Illness\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/DLvG2Yy34QM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/DLvG2Yy34QM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Jennifer Alexander, Nelson’s therapist, said patients in acute crisis simply don’t have the mental capacity to ride herd on stubborn workers’ comp claims. Alexander said she was once on hold for more than six hours with Cal Fire’s mental health provider attempting to get one of her bills paid, and she has waited years to get paid for treating firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People give up. It’s a battle … They are not fully functional,” said Alexander, who for 21 years has specialized in treating first responders with trauma and PTSD and has spent an estimated 25,000 hours treating them. “You are not talking about healthy individuals who can sit on the phone for hours.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire firefighters and other workers also have trouble finding qualified therapists, especially outside major cities in rural areas, where many are based. In 2021, less than \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/explainer/2023/may/understanding-us-behavioral-health-workforce-shortage\">half of people with a mental illness\u003c/a> in the U.S. were able to access timely care. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2024/06/california-workers-comp-firefighters-therapists/\">Therapists are reluctant to take workers’ comp\u003c/a>, or sometimes any type of insurance, because they often have to wait months or years to be reimbursed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992261\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11992261\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-14-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-14-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-14-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-14-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-14-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-14-copy.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Therapist Jennifer Alexander listens to Nelson during a treatment session. She called workers’ comp a ‘total system breakdown.’ \u003ccite>(Cristian Gonzalez for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Michael Dworsky, a senior economist at the research institute RAND and one of the study’s project leaders, called workers’ comp “challenging and bureaucratic.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even if the claim is accepted, there can be disputes about the medical necessity of individual bills. Just because your claim is accepted, doesn’t mean you are done fighting with the insurance company,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A presumption of pain but still a tangled web\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Employers in California must provide workers’ comp insurance that will pay for medical costs when a worker is injured on the job. However, in reality, workers’ comp, which serves 16 million Californians, can be ungainly, confusing and, sometimes, no help at all. The system, administered by the state Department of Industrial Relations, is massive: In 2022, almost \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/CHSWC/Reports/2023/CHSWC_AnnualReport2023.pdf\">750,000 workers’ comp claims (PDF)\u003c/a> were filed statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When a firefighter requests coverage for medical treatment, insurance adjusters review the case to determine if it’s medically necessary. If the claim is denied, delayed or modified, a patient may request an independent medical review by so-called “ghost doctors” who review the case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Systemwide in California, patients who appeal their denied workers’ comp claims, don’t fare well: Last year 3,238 appeals for mental health claims were filed, but workers’ comp officials rejected three-quarters of them, about the same as the 10-year average, according to data from the Department of Industrial Relations requested by CalMatters. (Agency officials said they could not provide data on claims from first responders.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/9hnJM/4/\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" class=\"iframe-class\" frameborder=\"0\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For decades, the California Legislature has wrestled with how to fix workers’ comp — in one year alone, lawmakers proposed nearly two dozen bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2020 lawmakers took a major step, adding a \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/hearings/256803?t=1347&f=e8036f39579fee812f324253b5cb224b\">legal \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb623\">shortcut or “presumption”\u003c/a> to the\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>state\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>labor code, stipulating that firefighters and other first responders are considered at high risk for PTSD in the course of doing their job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That means first responders no longer carry the burden of proving their illness is work-related. However, a claims adjuster can still question the diagnosis or assert that the trauma was caused by other factors, such as military service or family events. A law enacted last year \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb623\">extended the presumption to 2029\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In practice, experts say that, despite the law, proving a mental health claim is still almost as difficult to overcome as the psychological injury itself. Break an arm while fighting a wildfire, and, backed up by x-rays, claims are approved. But break your mind after decades of exposure to on-the-job trauma? Prepare for battle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before enacting the law, state officials asked RAND researchers to report on the scope of the problem. They analyzed nearly 6 million claims filed between 2008 through 2019 and interviewed dozens of experts, including a representative sample of 13 first responders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The researchers found a consistent and troubling trend among the 13: “Nearly all workers said that they had filed a workers’ compensation claim for their mental health conditions — yet almost none received PTSD care paid for by workers’ compensation.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Paying out of pocket “caused severe financial strain in some cases. Some were eventually reimbursed by workers’ compensation, but only after litigation and substantial delay. Some who pursued care through workers’ compensation also noted that claim denials led to delays in the start of mental health treatment,” the RAND researchers wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 13 first responders they surveyed stressed “over and over again about self-pay and barriers,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.rand.org/about/people/q/quigley_denise_d.html\">Denise D. Quigley, a RAND senior policy researcher\u003c/a> who was a project leader on the study. “It’s not like we heard it once or twice, we heard it over and over again. It’s highly unlikely that we talked to the (only) people in California that had this happen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Firefighters told of borrowing money from family members and taking out home equity loans to pay for care, Quigley said. The litany of their struggle weighed on her team. “It’s difficult to hear people break down crying while talking to us because of all the things they’ve seen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the RAND research, for the 12-year period from 2008 through 2019, before the new law took effect:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Firefighters and other first responders were about twice as likely to file PTSD claims as the general workforce — but the numbers are small, under 1% of all workers’ comp claims.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Firefighters’ PTSD claims were denied more often than claims of other workers: About 24% were denied, compared to about 19% of PTSD claims for all workers, including those in high-stress occupations. About a quarter of firefighter claims for all mental health conditions were denied.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>Their PTSD claims were denied at more than twice the rate of their other presumptive medical conditions related to their jobs, such as hernias and back injuries. Even their cancer and heart disease claims were accepted at a higher rate than PTSD.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>These denial rates were calculated using a sample of only 258 PTSD claims filed by firefighters. But researcher Dworsky said the total number of claims is far higher, about 1,000, with about 230 claims denied, during those 12 years. And countless other firefighters who suffer from PTSD didn’t seek care through workers’ comp.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>The RAND report was the most detailed look at the inequities between how physical and mental health are treated among firefighters and how first responders’ claims were handled compared to other workers. However, the researchers struggled with incomplete data and difficulty identifying which claims were from firefighters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quigley said she is frustrated that no one since has tracked whether the 4-year-old presumption law — known as the Trauma Treatment Act — has helped patients and improved the system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many therapists say they haven’t seen much, if any, improvement. Nelson’s therapist, Alexander, called workers’ comp a “total system breakdown.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesman for the Department of Industrial Relations refused to grant interview requests from CalMatters or answer questions or provide data about firefighters’ mental health claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Navigating the system\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>During his 28 years with Cal Fire fighting wildfires in combustible regions, such as the Napa Valley and the Sierra Nevada foothills, and responding to other emergencies, Nelson never reported any mental health issues to anyone. Not once. Even as he would regularly pull his truck off the side of the road during wildfires and weep. Even after responding to the scene of traffic accidents, extricating children from crushed cars as their parents fought to get to them. Even after answering a call to a suicide to find a man hanging from the rafters in his barn. Even after the unbidden images began to intrude with greater frequency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, his mantra became “I’m good.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That stoicism, common among first responders, short circuits the insurance system designed to help them — a system that works best with prompt reporting and meticulous documentation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Claims adjusters usually handle clear-cut cases where the date of injury can be pinpointed. More common among PTSD claims, though, is Nelson’s experience with cumulative trauma, with no paper trail of injuries or complaints. He can’t offer a single event as the origin of his trauma and no coherent chronology. Cal Fire folks tend to wait until their dam bursts before asking for the water to be turned off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One Southern California mental health provider told the RAND researchers that firefighters and police officers typically have severe cases of trauma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On the clinical side, as a mental health provider, it is not realistic to expect a firefighter or a police officer to come in and have had a little trauma or some minor stress condition … Most departments have people with a lot of stress and trauma,” the therapist said. “Just because you had something happen recently, the straw that broke the camel’s back, it is really the cumulative stress that is the issue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now retired, Nelson, 54, has been fighting for workers’ compensation for almost three years, since his suicide attempt on the Placer County bridge. He and his wife already have spent more than $10,000 out of pocket for medical care and could face thousands more in legal bills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson’s case is unusually severe and complex, requiring two extended stays in a facility that specifically treats firefighters to diagnose his conditions and finally set him on a treatment path of therapy and multiple medications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire Battalion Chief Brad Niven said he has more than a dozen firefighter friends who have had similar experiences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Talk to anybody that tries to do anything through workers’ comp — it is an absolute nightmare,” he said. “Everybody knows you file your first workers’ comp claim and they will deny it. One guy I worked with went through the works with them. He had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that you have problems. You have to relive everything you’ve gone through. It does not make for a friendly system.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992262\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11992262\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/060822_BRAD_NIVEN_CALFIRE_JH_CM_37-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/060822_BRAD_NIVEN_CALFIRE_JH_CM_37-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/060822_BRAD_NIVEN_CALFIRE_JH_CM_37-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/060822_BRAD_NIVEN_CALFIRE_JH_CM_37-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/060822_BRAD_NIVEN_CALFIRE_JH_CM_37-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/060822_BRAD_NIVEN_CALFIRE_JH_CM_37-copy.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cal Fire Battalion Chief Brad Niven, shown at his home in Sonora, said he and more than a dozen firefighter friends have had trouble getting workers’ comp to pay their claims for mental health treatment. \u003ccite>(Julie Hotz for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Niven considered suicide before Cal Fire’s employee support personnel helped him find a therapist, streamlining what had been a hit-and-miss process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They blasted away the stumbling blocks,” he said. But the fire agency does not make the decision to approve or deny a claim or handle the bureaucratic thicket that is workers’ comp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott O’Mara, a \u003ca href=\"https://law1199.com/\">San Diego-based lawyer\u003c/a> whose firm represents first responders, said adjusters’ training is to look for what they can develop to deny the case. “Their goal is to contain and control cost,” he said. “We do a lot of cases where the compensation is nickels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although California law now considers PTSD for first responders a presumption, it is a “disputable presumption.” That means claims administrators can consider other traumatic events in a firefighter’s life that may play a role in a PTSD case.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With cumulative trauma, or stress over the course of their entire employment, we need to request more information from the doctor so that we can see it isn’t because they were in the military or they are going through a divorce, etc.,” one claims adjuster told RAND researchers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The complexity of the system wears down the resistance of injured workers, who need a jungle guide to find their way at a time of profound pain and disorientation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They can’t navigate this on their own, they really can’t. They’ve got professional litigators opposing them,” said Richard Elder, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.elderandberg.com/attorney/richard-e-elder-jr/\">workers’ comp lawyer\u003c/a> in Concord who regularly represents state firefighters. “The average claims adjuster on the job for more than a month knows more about the system than the average firefighter. They’ve got lawyers on speed dial. The injured worker is adrift. It’s like a do-it-yourself heart transplant.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elder, who has been in practice for 54 years, used to work as an insurance company claims adjuster. The system, he said, has always been adversarial.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s against the law for employers to discriminate against a worker who files a psyche claim. But they do discriminate,” said Elder, who said in the past five decades he has pursued about 500 psychiatric claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just filed a psychiatric claim and the response was ‘give us a list of every medical facility that treated the claimant in the last 10 years,’” he said. “The workers’ comp medical treatments system is a stain upon the soul of the politicians and officials of California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Diagnosing PTSD is ‘a complicated process’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One day in March, Nelson sat next to his wife, Leticia, in a quiet room in a Nevada City library near their rental home. He was in the grips of a seizure, brought on by retelling his firefighting nightmares to a CalMatters reporter. His hands were clenched and his torso taut. He stuttered, his eyelids fluttering. The episode lasted a few minutes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the interview, Nelson was fidgety, his thick fingers constantly worrying about the items he had put on the table in front of him. One was a tiny aluminum cylinder containing medication for his seizures, another was a brass medallion, the iconic firefighter symbols of an ax and firehose nozzle stamped on one side and the serenity prayer on the other.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The coin was a kind of talisman given to him after graduating from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.iaffrecoverycenter.com/\">specialized rehab clinic \u003c/a>for firefighters, where he was given his daunting medical diagnosi\u003cem>s: \u003c/em>He suffers from complex PTSD, \u003ca href=\"https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/24517-psychogenic-nonepileptic-seizure-pnes\">psychogenic non-epileptic seizures\u003c/a> and dissociative identity disorder.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such anxiety-induced seizures are unusual but not rare, his therapist said, and the totality of Nelson’s mental health issues makes his case unusually severe. Weekly therapy sessions and multiple medications have tempered, but not extinguished, his struggle with crippling anxiety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson wears a medical alert wrist bracelet intended to give first responders a bare-bones outline of his conditions and which medications to avoid when he is experiencing an anxiety-induced seizure. In his back pocket, he carries, always, a medical card with his list of red flags, so extensive that it unspools like an accordion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His seizures may occur several times a day. Some last for hours. Nelson’s usually benign aspect changes: His eyes cross, his hands clench into what he calls “spidey fingers.” He stumbles and stutters through sentences and repeats words, often losing his ability to speak at all. At times he drags his head and face along walls. Leticia Nelson describes the seizures as his body undergoing earthquakes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992264\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11992264\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-25-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-25-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-25-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-25-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-25-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-25-copy.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The emergency medical ID card that Nelson carries with him. \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992266\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11992266\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-14-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-14-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-14-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-14-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-14-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM-14-copy.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nelson alongside his wife, Leticia Nelson, near their Nevada City home. She said it’s been agonizing to see him suffer mental health problems related to his job and have to fight the system to get his treatment paid for. ‘We sacrificed our time with him so that he could help the whole state. And nothing has been there for the family since this happened. Nothing.’ \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nelson’s unusual body movements during a seizure, his inability to respond to questions and his propensity to run away when confronted puts Nelson in a precarious place in airport lines or with law enforcement, where his non-response has been misconstrued as defiance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even doctors can misunderstand. Diagnosing and treating PTSD and acute trauma like Nelson’s is notoriously difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Diagnosing PTSD is a complicated process. Diagnostic criteria are complicated,” said Sidra Goldman-Mellor, a \u003ca href=\"https://publichealth.ucmerced.edu/content/sidra-goldman-mellor\">UC Merced psychiatric epidemiologist\u003c/a> who studies depression and suicidal behavior. “Your average primary care clinician is probably not willing to go down that road.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For patients like Nelson, any number of stress-related disorders present themselves and muddy a specific diagnosis that would satisfy a claims adjuster or a workers’ comp review.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the thing with psychiatric disorders, we don’t have a lot of objective measures for a mental health diagnosis. We don’t have blood tests and we don’t have MRIs,” Goldman-Mellor said. “They (mental health issues) are harder to recognize, harder to test for and easier to ignore.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, firefighters cannot move easily through the workers’ comp or medical insurance system if they don’t have a diagnosis. Constantly proving your pain becomes its own trauma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He has to prove his world is falling apart,” Leticia Nelson said. “It’s hard to explain to someone that you are broken. They look at you, they think that you look fine. They can’t see in your brain. They can’t see in your mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It took four years for Nelson to find the right medical care. One physician’s therapeutic approach was to ask the former firefighter to pray with him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The problem was much more fundamental than finding a compatible therapist: He could not \u003cem>find\u003c/em> one to take his case. Many Cal Fire employees are stationed in rural or remote areas of the state, in communities underserved by health care specialists.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Living in rural Nevada County, Nelson faces a barren mental health desert where it’s difficult to find a competent therapist who might have worked with other first responders and understands the specific challenges of the high-stress job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s an absolute specialization. There’s not near enough of us,” said Alexander, Nelson’s therapist. (Nelson granted her permission to speak about his case.) “In the larger Sacramento area, there are less than a dozen competent providers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992268\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11992268\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-09-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-09-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-09-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-09-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-09-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/042424_Therapy_CG-CM-09-copy.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nelson recalls memories of his time as a firefighter during a treatment session. \u003ccite>(Cristian Gonzalez for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cal Fire is self-insured and offers medical coverage through private companies. The agency does not manage medical claims or workers’ comp but does have programs to assist employees in finding care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rob Wheatley, staff chief of Cal Fire’s Behavioral Health and Wellness Program, told CalMatters in an email that the agency has expanded support for employees who seek help for mental health issues with peer counseling or referrals for treatment. The agency has a staff of 28 assisting about 12,000 employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Wheatley and other Cal Fire officials refused to grant an interview and did not answer CalMatters’ questions about the problems that their employees face with workers’ comp and mental health issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Any denial of a mental health claim is concerning,” Wheatley said in the email.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2> Can the system be repaired?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Nelsons have seen the insurance and workers’ comp system from the inside, been batted around by it and, they would say, abandoned by it. Still, they have few suggestions for fixing it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They are not alone. Lawyers say that the system is based on how to save money, is too often adversarial and deeply entrenched.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even the employers who participate in the workers’ comp system say it’s not working well. In a recent survey, more than half of the respondents said the system performs poorly, while 42% described the system as challenged but adequate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nobody believes it’s ideal,” said Jerry Azevedo, a spokesman for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.workcompaction.org/\">Workers’ Compensation Action Network,\u003c/a> a coalition of California insurers, employers and agents advocating to improve the system. “Every constituency has complaints.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Azevedo said California’s workers’ comp system, which has been in place since 1913, is plagued by \u003ca href=\"https://information.auditor.ca.gov/pdfs/reports/2019-106.pdf\">persistent problems\u003c/a>: high costs to operate, huge claim volume, frequent litigation, slow claim resolution and fraud and abusive practices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fundamental challenge we all contend with is complexity. California’s system is arguably the most complex in the nation,” Azevedo said. The good news, he said, is that 86% of workers’ comp claims overall are accepted, according to the California Workers’ Compensation Institute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s easy to get the sense of a general throwing up of hands. The state Commission on Health & Safety & Workers’ Comp dedicates a \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/chswc/WCReformsPage1.htm\">webpage to tracking workers’ comp reforms\u003c/a>, but the last entry was in 2012.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sean Cooper, executive vice president and chief actuary of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wcirb.com/\">Workers’ Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau of California\u003c/a>, said the system is groaning under its own weight — there are a lot of people filing claims and a lot of lawyers on all sides.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Administrative costs are high in California: The cost to deliver $1 of medical benefit from California’s workers’ comp system is 46 cents, compared to two cents for Medicare, 19 cents for private group health insurance and 25 cents for the national state median for workers’ comp according to the group’s 2023 report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One way to fix the inequity is to turn the system on its head, said Cruz of the \u003ca href=\"https://namica.org/\">National Alliance on Mental Illness\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a disparity about how we treat, respond and react to behavioral health versus physical health,” she said. “Maybe we need to start talking about that disparity in workers’ comp. When you have (a claims) approval rating that is flipped on its backside, that’s an obvious parity issue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legislators, when they turn their gaze to the massive program, chip away at the edges. The law extending the PTSD presumption will be revisited when the state Commission on Health and Safety and Workers’ Compensation presents its report on claims and denials to the Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement and the Assembly Committee on Insurance, by the end of this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cruz said there is more legislative focus on behavioral health than ever, but there are limits, beginning with which groups carry the most influence. Managed health care companies are powerful advocates of the status quo, she said. “We are David and Goliath when we come up against these folks.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“So many great people want to do wonderful things and they have big ideas, but it gets chopped down to a Band-Aid once everyone gets what they want,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘A slap in the face to all of us’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Leticia Nelson refers to herself, with only slight exaggeration, as her husband’s “service dog.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’s the keeper of the couple’s appointment schedule; she’s the chauffeur; and the manager of the financial spreadsheet. And it falls to Leticia to devote untold hours on the phone with insurers and medical providers, bird-dogging bills, late payments and coverage lapses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She has watched her husband humiliated, scared and angry. Their two adult daughters, also have been treated for PTSD, after witnessing their father’s anxiety and mania, and knowing about his suicide attempts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At times, Leticia Nelson said, “I’m mad at God.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992269\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11992269\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM_21-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM_21-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM_21-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM_21-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM_21-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/031924_Todd-Nelson_LE_CM_21-copy.jpg 1568w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Retired Cal Fire firefighter Todd Nelson walks with his wife in Nevada City. Nelson suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder resulting from the trauma experienced during his firefighting career. \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Nelsons, lifelong Californians, want to leave the state and its frightening tableau of wildfires. They sold their house, changed their mind about moving and now are financially shut out of the real estate market, especially because of the high cost of fire insurance in the foothills where they live. They are nomads, shuttling between Airbnbs with two large dogs and three cats in tow and their possessions in storage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Money is tight. Leticia would like to go back to work, but she can’t leave Todd alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nelson gave up fighting the state over a disability claim after his attorney told him that an appeal would cost $50,000 — and he would lose because he didn’t claim a disability when he retired.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a slap in the face to all of us because we sacrificed as a family,” Leticia Nelson said of Todd’s long career with Cal Fire. “We sacrificed our time with him so that he could help the whole state. And nothing has been there for the family since this happened. Nothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wish that there’s things in place that would guide us that wouldn’t be so hard. But it just seems like we hit every, every obstacle possible. We’re struggling. We need help. We need to be seen. We need to be treated like humans and not criminals.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For his part, Nelson is coming to terms with the devastation his career wrought. Yet, years after retirement, he still listens to an emergency scanner and shows up at fires in his area, wearing his T-shirt, shorts and Birkenstocks. The pull to serve remains strong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The crazy thing is I miss my job. I miss it every day. I would do it all over again,” he said wistfully. “I loved the job but I didn’t realize the damage being done.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>If you are having suicidal thoughts, you can get help from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by calling 988 or visiting \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/\">\u003cem>https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story also was made possible in part by a grant from the \u003ca href=\"https://amarkfoundation.org/\">A-Mark Foundation\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "california-considers-bill-to-make-doxxing-a-costly-mistake-for-online-offenders",
"title": "California Considers Bill to Make Doxxing a Costly Mistake for Online Offenders",
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"headTitle": "California Considers Bill to Make Doxxing a Costly Mistake for Online Offenders | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>When Kathie Moehlig’s personal information was leaked online five years ago, she didn’t believe she had enough options to fight back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was no recourse that I had to be able to go and have this individual held accountable for the risk at which they put myself and my family,” the founder of TransFamily Support Services said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A bill now before the California Legislature aims to change that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doxxing — when someone shares another’s personal information online with the intent to harm — is a crime. It isn’t often prosecuted, however, because of the high threshold for evidence, such as proving who first posted the information and why. In the last five years, for instance, prosecutors filed 30 cases of doxxing in Orange County — and just one in Sacramento County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab1979\">Assembly Bill 1979\u003c/a> would allow victims to sue those responsible for doxxing in civil court for as much as $30,000, plus attorneys’ fees and court costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We see doxxing as a very extreme form of privacy invasion with a lot of distress and anxiety,” said \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/christopher-ward-35497\">Assemblymember Chris Ward\u003c/a>, a San Diego Democrat and \u003ca href=\"https://a78.asmdc.org/press-releases/20240402-assemblymember-ward-introduces-bill-provide-recourse-doxing-victims\">co-author of the bill\u003c/a>. “Victims are often left to work through a lot of emotional, physical, financial or other damages on their own, and they’re not made whole because there’s no ability to recapture any civil penalty to be able to support them on their journey to recovery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Assembly passed the bill last month, as did the Senate judiciary committee earlier this month. It’s set to go before the appropriations committee on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to TransFamily Support Services, the bill has support from several other LGBTQ+ organizations — including the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus and Equality California — as well as the Anti-Defamation League and the cities of Sacramento and San Diego. No organizations have said they oppose it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six states have similar anti-doxxing laws that provide civil protections, and a few others failed to pass laws this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/cecilia-aguiar-curry-101332\">Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Davis and the bill’s other co-author said she has been a victim of doxxing. Late one night, she got a threatening text from an unknown number with information about her home address and family. Assembly sergeants were able to find the doxxer, who was sentenced to five years probation, Aguiar-Curry told CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was frightening,” she said. “Now people have the availability of personal information online, and the presence of social media everywhere in our lives has made doxxing an even greater threat to all of us. My privacy has been touched. My safety was touched.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Doxxing’s impact on LGBTQ+ community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/2024-06/online-hate-and-harassment-the-american-experience-v2024.pdf\">2024 Anti-Defamation League report\u003c/a>, LBGTQ+ respondents had the highest levels of severe online harassment compared to other demographic groups: 45% of transgender respondents said they had experienced severe online harassment — including doxxing — in the last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there isn’t much data available on doxxing alone, LBGTQ+ organization leaders agree it’s prevalent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992252\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992252\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003.jpg\" alt='A white woman wearing glasses and a t-shirt that says \"Support Trans Youth\" stands in front of a home with a rainbow-colored LGBTQ+ flag.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kathie Moehlig at her home in Rancho Bernardo in San Diego on Aug. 26, 2022. \u003ccite>(Ariana Drehsler/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“So if people are sending out your information and posting on social media where you live, that is going to cause harm, distress and anxiety,” said Jorge Reyes Salinas, communications director at Equality California. “That’s just the mental health component, but of course, that could literally lead to someone going to your home, where you are the most safe and causing harm or even potential death.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moehlig founded TransFamily Support Services 10 years ago, a couple of years after she struggled to find care for her 11-year-old son when he decided to transition. She said that after being doxxed, she didn’t feel safe in her own home and was worried about her son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s that piece of feeling targeted, feeling like you have to look behind your shoulder all the time, and having to be more aware of the risks that are involved in just trying to make the world a safer place for my child and the other people we serve,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moehlig and Reyes Salinas said the \u003ca href=\"https://translegislation.com/learn\">rise of anti-trans legislation\u003c/a> and hate rhetoric throughout the country has increased online harassment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those attacks have definitely caused individuals and their allies to maybe take a pause,” Moehlig said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Doxxing of Gaza war protesters and counterprotesters\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When pro-Israel counterprotesters \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/05/ucla-protests-palestine-photos/\">attacked a UCLA encampment in May\u003c/a>, people online rushed to identify them and post their information publicly — including their faces, license plate numbers and workplaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Information on many pro-Palestinian protesters has been posted on the Canary Mission website, which states that its goal is to “document individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond.” The website contains the faces of hundreds of people who have expressed their support of Palestinians or criticized Israel, sometimes with details on where they live or their social media accounts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To protect themselves, many protesters and counterprotesters have chosen to remain anonymous in interviews with journalists or wear masks or other face coverings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Monday — the day after a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletter/california-ballot-bond-issues/#wm-story-2\">violent protest at an L.A. synagogue\u003c/a> — that she would consider implementing mask bans at protests. Jeffrey Abrams, ADL’s Los Angeles regional director, said at the same press conference that he supports looking into a mask ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview before the press conference, Mark Levine, the Anti-Defamation League’s Central Pacific regional director, said that the group’s support of doxxing victims is a “longstanding position” that is unrelated to current events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11979853,science_1985952\" label=\"Related Stories\"]“Doxxing is doxxing,” Ward said when asked how his bill would apply to Gaza war protests.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-the-legislator-who-voted-no\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The legislator who voted ‘no’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While the bill received near-unanimous support, \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/diane-dixon-165458\">Assemblymember Diane Dixon\u003c/a> cast the sole “no” vote on the Assembly floor. She said in an interview that the bill isn’t needed because it’s already a crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Private right to action brings a lot of unnecessary lawsuits and clogs up our courts for unjustifiable reasons, particularly if there’s already a law against this,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dixon, a Republican from Newport Beach, also argued that doxxing isn’t considered a hate crime in California — referencing a \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/Hate%20Crime%20In%20CA%202022f.pdf\">2022 hate crime report\u003c/a> from California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office — and that the bill raises free speech concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People can be suing one another if they feel offended without being physically threatened,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about freedom of speech, Ward and Levine pointed to the bill language, which specifies that doxxing is done with “the purpose of imminently causing that other person unwanted physical contact, injury or harassment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If people are not acting with a level of the intent to harass an individual — and with the reckless disregard that the information posted will be used to carry out criminal conduct such as death, injury or stalking — anti-doxxing laws should not apply,” Levine said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Moehlig said what happened to her shows the need for the bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having another tool, another piece to help deter this kind of behavior, is really important,” she said. “Having the opportunity as a victim to be able to stand up to it in a civil court helps to bring some power back to people who are victims.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A state bill would allow doxxing victims to sue those responsible in civil court for as much as $30,000, plus attorneys’ fees and court costs. Supporters say it’s needed to stem online harassment against LGBTQ residents and others.",
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"title": "California Considers Bill to Make Doxxing a Costly Mistake for Online Offenders | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When Kathie Moehlig’s personal information was leaked online five years ago, she didn’t believe she had enough options to fight back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was no recourse that I had to be able to go and have this individual held accountable for the risk at which they put myself and my family,” the founder of TransFamily Support Services said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A bill now before the California Legislature aims to change that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doxxing — when someone shares another’s personal information online with the intent to harm — is a crime. It isn’t often prosecuted, however, because of the high threshold for evidence, such as proving who first posted the information and why. In the last five years, for instance, prosecutors filed 30 cases of doxxing in Orange County — and just one in Sacramento County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab1979\">Assembly Bill 1979\u003c/a> would allow victims to sue those responsible for doxxing in civil court for as much as $30,000, plus attorneys’ fees and court costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We see doxxing as a very extreme form of privacy invasion with a lot of distress and anxiety,” said \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/christopher-ward-35497\">Assemblymember Chris Ward\u003c/a>, a San Diego Democrat and \u003ca href=\"https://a78.asmdc.org/press-releases/20240402-assemblymember-ward-introduces-bill-provide-recourse-doxing-victims\">co-author of the bill\u003c/a>. “Victims are often left to work through a lot of emotional, physical, financial or other damages on their own, and they’re not made whole because there’s no ability to recapture any civil penalty to be able to support them on their journey to recovery.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Assembly passed the bill last month, as did the Senate judiciary committee earlier this month. It’s set to go before the appropriations committee on Monday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to TransFamily Support Services, the bill has support from several other LGBTQ+ organizations — including the California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus and Equality California — as well as the Anti-Defamation League and the cities of Sacramento and San Diego. No organizations have said they oppose it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Six states have similar anti-doxxing laws that provide civil protections, and a few others failed to pass laws this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/cecilia-aguiar-curry-101332\">Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Davis and the bill’s other co-author said she has been a victim of doxxing. Late one night, she got a threatening text from an unknown number with information about her home address and family. Assembly sergeants were able to find the doxxer, who was sentenced to five years probation, Aguiar-Curry told CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was frightening,” she said. “Now people have the availability of personal information online, and the presence of social media everywhere in our lives has made doxxing an even greater threat to all of us. My privacy has been touched. My safety was touched.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Doxxing’s impact on LGBTQ+ community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/2024-06/online-hate-and-harassment-the-american-experience-v2024.pdf\">2024 Anti-Defamation League report\u003c/a>, LBGTQ+ respondents had the highest levels of severe online harassment compared to other demographic groups: 45% of transgender respondents said they had experienced severe online harassment — including doxxing — in the last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there isn’t much data available on doxxing alone, LBGTQ+ organization leaders agree it’s prevalent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11992252\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11992252\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003.jpg\" alt='A white woman wearing glasses and a t-shirt that says \"Support Trans Youth\" stands in front of a home with a rainbow-colored LGBTQ+ flag.' width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/082622-Trans-Rights-SB107-Kathie-Moehlig-AD-CM-003-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kathie Moehlig at her home in Rancho Bernardo in San Diego on Aug. 26, 2022. \u003ccite>(Ariana Drehsler/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“So if people are sending out your information and posting on social media where you live, that is going to cause harm, distress and anxiety,” said Jorge Reyes Salinas, communications director at Equality California. “That’s just the mental health component, but of course, that could literally lead to someone going to your home, where you are the most safe and causing harm or even potential death.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moehlig founded TransFamily Support Services 10 years ago, a couple of years after she struggled to find care for her 11-year-old son when he decided to transition. She said that after being doxxed, she didn’t feel safe in her own home and was worried about her son.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s that piece of feeling targeted, feeling like you have to look behind your shoulder all the time, and having to be more aware of the risks that are involved in just trying to make the world a safer place for my child and the other people we serve,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moehlig and Reyes Salinas said the \u003ca href=\"https://translegislation.com/learn\">rise of anti-trans legislation\u003c/a> and hate rhetoric throughout the country has increased online harassment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Those attacks have definitely caused individuals and their allies to maybe take a pause,” Moehlig said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Doxxing of Gaza war protesters and counterprotesters\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When pro-Israel counterprotesters \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/05/ucla-protests-palestine-photos/\">attacked a UCLA encampment in May\u003c/a>, people online rushed to identify them and post their information publicly — including their faces, license plate numbers and workplaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Information on many pro-Palestinian protesters has been posted on the Canary Mission website, which states that its goal is to “document individuals and organizations that promote hatred of the USA, Israel and Jews on North American college campuses and beyond.” The website contains the faces of hundreds of people who have expressed their support of Palestinians or criticized Israel, sometimes with details on where they live or their social media accounts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To protect themselves, many protesters and counterprotesters have chosen to remain anonymous in interviews with journalists or wear masks or other face coverings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced Monday — the day after a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletter/california-ballot-bond-issues/#wm-story-2\">violent protest at an L.A. synagogue\u003c/a> — that she would consider implementing mask bans at protests. Jeffrey Abrams, ADL’s Los Angeles regional director, said at the same press conference that he supports looking into a mask ban.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an interview before the press conference, Mark Levine, the Anti-Defamation League’s Central Pacific regional director, said that the group’s support of doxxing victims is a “longstanding position” that is unrelated to current events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Doxxing is doxxing,” Ward said when asked how his bill would apply to Gaza war protests.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 id=\"h-the-legislator-who-voted-no\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The legislator who voted ‘no’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>While the bill received near-unanimous support, \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/diane-dixon-165458\">Assemblymember Diane Dixon\u003c/a> cast the sole “no” vote on the Assembly floor. She said in an interview that the bill isn’t needed because it’s already a crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Private right to action brings a lot of unnecessary lawsuits and clogs up our courts for unjustifiable reasons, particularly if there’s already a law against this,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dixon, a Republican from Newport Beach, also argued that doxxing isn’t considered a hate crime in California — referencing a \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/Hate%20Crime%20In%20CA%202022f.pdf\">2022 hate crime report\u003c/a> from California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office — and that the bill raises free speech concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People can be suing one another if they feel offended without being physically threatened,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked about freedom of speech, Ward and Levine pointed to the bill language, which specifies that doxxing is done with “the purpose of imminently causing that other person unwanted physical contact, injury or harassment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If people are not acting with a level of the intent to harass an individual — and with the reckless disregard that the information posted will be used to carry out criminal conduct such as death, injury or stalking — anti-doxxing laws should not apply,” Levine said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Moehlig said what happened to her shows the need for the bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having another tool, another piece to help deter this kind of behavior, is really important,” she said. “Having the opportunity as a victim to be able to stand up to it in a civil court helps to bring some power back to people who are victims.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "nearly-1-million-californians-have-no-access-to-safe-drinking-water-with-low-income-communities-most-at-risk",
"title": "Nearly 1 Million Californians Have No Access to Safe Drinking Water, With Communities of Color Most at Risk",
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"headTitle": "Nearly 1 Million Californians Have No Access to Safe Drinking Water, With Communities of Color Most at Risk | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Almost 400 water systems serving nearly a million Californians don’t meet state requirements for safe and reliable drinking water supplies — and fixing them would cost billions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than two-thirds of these failing water systems serve communities of color, and more than half are in places struggling \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-energy/infrastructure/disadvantaged-communities#:~:text=Disadvantaged%20communities%20refers%20to%20the,%2C%20health%2C%20and%20environmental%20burdens.\">with poverty and pollution\u003c/a>, according to an annual assessment released on Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These water systems failed to provide water “which is at all times pure, wholesome, and potable,” as required. Some violated drinking water \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/Chemicalcontaminants.html\">standards for chemicals, bacteria, taste or odor\u003c/a>. Others rely on bottled water or have failed to meet treatment, monitoring or other requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Jan. 1, about 913,000 people were served by water systems that didn’t meet the requirements, dropping to about 771,000 as of today. Even more Californians, around 1.54 million,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>got their drinking water from hundreds of water systems considered at risk of failing, the report said—and it rose to more than 1.8 million as of today.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Nearly 144,000 wells were threatened by encroaching contaminants and shortages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/saferdashboard.html\">Failing water systems span the state\u003c/a> — from tiny Del Norte County on the Oregon state line to San Diego and Imperial counties near the border with Mexico. They cluster densely in the Central Valley and along the Central Coast, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2024/04/california-farmers-groundwater-probation-kings-county/\">where groundwater overuse\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/04/california-floods-contaminate-water-nitrate/\">agricultural chemicals\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/california-water-bills-legislature/\">smaller, struggling water systems collide\u003c/a> — particularly in lower-income communities of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a moral outrage. It’s unconscionable in a state that has so many resources that we can’t ensure that everybody has access to the human right to water,” said Kyle Jones, policy and legal director \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/organizations/-4070\">with the Community Water Center.\u003c/a> “Folks shouldn’t have to suffer health impacts or added cost to have access to something that most of us take for granted and can get daily.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The price tag for ensuring safe, affordable and accessible water supplies for all Californians is staggering — an estimated $16 billion over the next five years — as the state grapples \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/capitol/2024/06/california-budget-deal-4/\">with a multibillion-dollar deficit\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without more state or federal funding, most of the total — around $13.9 billion — may fall on local communities and well owners, according to the report. That means some of the people least able to afford it will end up paying more for water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The number of failing systems — and the cost of fixing them — is likely to climb as water suppliers must meet new state and federal standards for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2024/04/california-water-standard-chromium/\">hexavalent chromium,\u003c/a> the contaminant made infamous by the movie \u003cem>Erin Brockovich\u003c/em>, as well as \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2024/04/drinking-water-forever-chemicals-new-standards/\">pervasive forever chemicals\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The subtext of this report is pretty clear,” said \u003ca href=\"https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/team/gregory-pierce/\">Greg Pierce\u003c/a>, director of UCLA’s Human Right to Water Solutions Lab, who commended the water board’s transparency and extensive analysis. “The state just needs to put its money where its mouth is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s been \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/hr2w/\">12 years since California became the first state in the country\u003c/a> to recognize clean, safe, affordable and accessible drinking water as a human right.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Today, about 98% of Californians are served by water systems that meet state standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet despite California’s reputation as an economic powerhouse and climate leader, the state has long struggled to ensure safe drinking water for all — especially those in rural, disadvantaged communities. Californians relying on household wells, for instance, \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/safer/ssws_dw.html\">are beyond the state’s regulatory reach\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The annual assessment comes from the water board’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/grants_loans/sustainable_water_solutions/safer.html\">Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) drinking water program\u003c/a>, established by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2019/06/california-clean-drinking-water-funding-greenhouse-gas-fund-climate-change/\">state law in 2019\u003c/a>. Nearly a billion dollars has been spent on grants in disadvantaged communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The list of failing water systems typically hovers between 380 and 400, state officials said. And nearly every year, with only a couple of exceptions, more water systems have been added to the “failing” list than removed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, about 283 — or 42% of 715 systems on the list — came off between 2017 through 2023. About 700,000 more people have safe water than in 2019, according to the water board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the pace of ensuring safe drinking water is too slow, the state auditor said in a report \u003ca href=\"https://information.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2021-118/index.html\">lambasting the water board\u003c/a> two years ago.\u003cem> \u003c/em>It “has funding available to help these failing systems improve the quality of their drinking water. Nonetheless, the board has generally demonstrated a lack of urgency in providing this critical assistance,” the auditor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kristyn Abhold, a senior environmental scientist at the water board who led Tuesday’s report, said infrastructure takes time. “It’s not just the funding side, but it’s the planning. It’s the engineering reports, the community engagement, it’s getting the right permits in place,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost estimates have risen about $1.1 billion, or about 26%, since a 2021 assessment for failing and at-risk public water systems, and $3.6 billion for high-risk private, household wells and small water systems that serve only a handful of customers — a 264% increase, said Jackie Carpenter, a water board spokesperson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the increase is due to inflation, Abhold said. Some is because the latest analysis favors long-term, higher-cost fixes, such as merging struggling water systems with more secure ones nearby. Some is because the analysis now includes water systems and household wells at risk for shortages, rather than just ones grappling with poor water quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11982531,news_11981787,news_11986659\"]The water board projects that it can cover about $2 billion of the $15.9 billion estimated cost with grants — leaving $13.9 billion to be shouldered by water suppliers and well owners, including those that are least financially able to weather such a blow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smaller systems already charge about $32 more a month than larger ones, according to the report, and about 13% of community water systems face medium to high affordability burdens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill to establish a program to help lower-income Californians pay for water because \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/california-water-bills-legislature/\">the bill had “no sustainable, ongoing funding identified\u003c/a>,” though another \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1255\">water assistance bill\u003c/a> is now winding its way through the Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials said drinking water programs have largely escaped the major funding cuts in the latest budget deal: While more than $152 million from the general fund from drinking water and wastewater was cut, nearly $225 million from cap and trade proceeds was included. “In sum, we do not anticipate a net reduction in funding available for drinking water projects,” water board spokesperson Dimitri Stanich said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Safe drinking water advocates say that it is still far too little.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The funding gap identified in the report “is huge, particularly given how little the program will receive over the next two years,” said Jennifer Clary, California director of Clean Water Action. Clary advocated for funding for drinking water in a climate bond that is still being negotiated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Drinking water infrastructure isn’t a luxury item. Without these projects, thousands of Californians will continue to lack access to safe and clean drinking water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "According to an annual study by state water authorities, almost 400 suppliers — two-thirds in communities of color — don’t meet safety and reliability standards. Fixing them would cost billions.",
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"title": "Nearly 1 Million Californians Have No Access to Safe Drinking Water, With Communities of Color Most at Risk | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Almost 400 water systems serving nearly a million Californians don’t meet state requirements for safe and reliable drinking water supplies — and fixing them would cost billions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than two-thirds of these failing water systems serve communities of color, and more than half are in places struggling \u003ca href=\"https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/industries-and-topics/electrical-energy/infrastructure/disadvantaged-communities#:~:text=Disadvantaged%20communities%20refers%20to%20the,%2C%20health%2C%20and%20environmental%20burdens.\">with poverty and pollution\u003c/a>, according to an annual assessment released on Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These water systems failed to provide water “which is at all times pure, wholesome, and potable,” as required. Some violated drinking water \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/Chemicalcontaminants.html\">standards for chemicals, bacteria, taste or odor\u003c/a>. Others rely on bottled water or have failed to meet treatment, monitoring or other requirements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As of Jan. 1, about 913,000 people were served by water systems that didn’t meet the requirements, dropping to about 771,000 as of today. Even more Californians, around 1.54 million,\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>got their drinking water from hundreds of water systems considered at risk of failing, the report said—and it rose to more than 1.8 million as of today.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Nearly 144,000 wells were threatened by encroaching contaminants and shortages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/drinking_water/certlic/drinkingwater/saferdashboard.html\">Failing water systems span the state\u003c/a> — from tiny Del Norte County on the Oregon state line to San Diego and Imperial counties near the border with Mexico. They cluster densely in the Central Valley and along the Central Coast, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2024/04/california-farmers-groundwater-probation-kings-county/\">where groundwater overuse\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2023/04/california-floods-contaminate-water-nitrate/\">agricultural chemicals\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/california-water-bills-legislature/\">smaller, struggling water systems collide\u003c/a> — particularly in lower-income communities of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a moral outrage. It’s unconscionable in a state that has so many resources that we can’t ensure that everybody has access to the human right to water,” said Kyle Jones, policy and legal director \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/organizations/-4070\">with the Community Water Center.\u003c/a> “Folks shouldn’t have to suffer health impacts or added cost to have access to something that most of us take for granted and can get daily.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The price tag for ensuring safe, affordable and accessible water supplies for all Californians is staggering — an estimated $16 billion over the next five years — as the state grapples \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/capitol/2024/06/california-budget-deal-4/\">with a multibillion-dollar deficit\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Without more state or federal funding, most of the total — around $13.9 billion — may fall on local communities and well owners, according to the report. That means some of the people least able to afford it will end up paying more for water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The number of failing systems — and the cost of fixing them — is likely to climb as water suppliers must meet new state and federal standards for \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2024/04/california-water-standard-chromium/\">hexavalent chromium,\u003c/a> the contaminant made infamous by the movie \u003cem>Erin Brockovich\u003c/em>, as well as \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2024/04/drinking-water-forever-chemicals-new-standards/\">pervasive forever chemicals\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The subtext of this report is pretty clear,” said \u003ca href=\"https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/team/gregory-pierce/\">Greg Pierce\u003c/a>, director of UCLA’s Human Right to Water Solutions Lab, who commended the water board’s transparency and extensive analysis. “The state just needs to put its money where its mouth is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s been \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/hr2w/\">12 years since California became the first state in the country\u003c/a> to recognize clean, safe, affordable and accessible drinking water as a human right.\u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>Today, about 98% of Californians are served by water systems that meet state standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet despite California’s reputation as an economic powerhouse and climate leader, the state has long struggled to ensure safe drinking water for all — especially those in rural, disadvantaged communities. Californians relying on household wells, for instance, \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/safer/ssws_dw.html\">are beyond the state’s regulatory reach\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The annual assessment comes from the water board’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/grants_loans/sustainable_water_solutions/safer.html\">Safe and Affordable Funding for Equity and Resilience (SAFER) drinking water program\u003c/a>, established by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2019/06/california-clean-drinking-water-funding-greenhouse-gas-fund-climate-change/\">state law in 2019\u003c/a>. Nearly a billion dollars has been spent on grants in disadvantaged communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The list of failing water systems typically hovers between 380 and 400, state officials said. And nearly every year, with only a couple of exceptions, more water systems have been added to the “failing” list than removed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, about 283 — or 42% of 715 systems on the list — came off between 2017 through 2023. About 700,000 more people have safe water than in 2019, according to the water board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the pace of ensuring safe drinking water is too slow, the state auditor said in a report \u003ca href=\"https://information.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2021-118/index.html\">lambasting the water board\u003c/a> two years ago.\u003cem> \u003c/em>It “has funding available to help these failing systems improve the quality of their drinking water. Nonetheless, the board has generally demonstrated a lack of urgency in providing this critical assistance,” the auditor said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kristyn Abhold, a senior environmental scientist at the water board who led Tuesday’s report, said infrastructure takes time. “It’s not just the funding side, but it’s the planning. It’s the engineering reports, the community engagement, it’s getting the right permits in place,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cost estimates have risen about $1.1 billion, or about 26%, since a 2021 assessment for failing and at-risk public water systems, and $3.6 billion for high-risk private, household wells and small water systems that serve only a handful of customers — a 264% increase, said Jackie Carpenter, a water board spokesperson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Part of the increase is due to inflation, Abhold said. Some is because the latest analysis favors long-term, higher-cost fixes, such as merging struggling water systems with more secure ones nearby. Some is because the analysis now includes water systems and household wells at risk for shortages, rather than just ones grappling with poor water quality.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The water board projects that it can cover about $2 billion of the $15.9 billion estimated cost with grants — leaving $13.9 billion to be shouldered by water suppliers and well owners, including those that are least financially able to weather such a blow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smaller systems already charge about $32 more a month than larger ones, according to the report, and about 13% of community water systems face medium to high affordability burdens.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Two years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill to establish a program to help lower-income Californians pay for water because \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/08/california-water-bills-legislature/\">the bill had “no sustainable, ongoing funding identified\u003c/a>,” though another \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billStatusClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB1255\">water assistance bill\u003c/a> is now winding its way through the Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials said drinking water programs have largely escaped the major funding cuts in the latest budget deal: While more than $152 million from the general fund from drinking water and wastewater was cut, nearly $225 million from cap and trade proceeds was included. “In sum, we do not anticipate a net reduction in funding available for drinking water projects,” water board spokesperson Dimitri Stanich said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Safe drinking water advocates say that it is still far too little.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The funding gap identified in the report “is huge, particularly given how little the program will receive over the next two years,” said Jennifer Clary, California director of Clean Water Action. Clary advocated for funding for drinking water in a climate bond that is still being negotiated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Drinking water infrastructure isn’t a luxury item. Without these projects, thousands of Californians will continue to lack access to safe and clean drinking water.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "bay-area-prison-jobs-for-disabled-workers-in-jeopardy-amid-union-dispute",
"title": "Bay Area Prison Jobs for Disabled Workers in Jeopardy Amid Union Dispute",
"publishDate": 1719342026,
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"headTitle": "Bay Area Prison Jobs for Disabled Workers in Jeopardy Amid Union Dispute | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>A long-simmering dispute between California’s largest state employee union and a nonprofit organization that hires disabled workers is coming to a head this summer, and dozens of people could lose their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.seiu1000.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SEIU Local 1000\u003c/a>, for several years, has been trying to push the state’s correctional health care system to terminate its contracts with nonprofit PRIDE Industries at two state prisons where it employs dozens of disabled workers and others who are recovering from addictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union contends that those contracts violate protections against outsourcing in civil service and that the state has not made a good-faith effort to fill the positions with state employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Time is running out on PRIDE’s contract for the California Medical Facility in Vacaville and its 74 custodial workers. Last year, the state agency that enforces contracts and personnel decisions found that the prison system had not given a compelling reason to outsource the jobs to PRIDE, setting in motion the dissolution of the nonprofit’s work at that site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The evidence submitted by the parties show that the contracted work is essentially janitorial and custodial services in a medical environment that are and can be capably performed by civil service custodians,” wrote Suzanne Ambrose, executive officer of the board, in the May 2023 ruling. She gave the facility six months to terminate the contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That deadline has since been extended twice until November 2024. As it approaches, many PRIDE workers will have to compete for about 45 positions to replace the PRIDE workers next year. The prisons also could hire inmate workers, a plan that PRIDE argues won’t guarantee the facility remains at necessary hygienic standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PRIDE, for nine years, has held onto its contracts providing janitorial services at state prisons in Stockton and Vacaville despite pressure from Local 1000. It won the work through \u003ca href=\"https://cchcs.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">California Correctional Health Care Services\u003c/a>, which oversees prison health care. The agency argued it could not fill custodial jobs on its own, and it relied on PRIDE to do the work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason our contract is being challenged by the union is to put pressure on (state prisons) to hire and retain civil service workers,” PRIDE spokeswoman Kat Maudru wrote in a statement to CalMatters. Prison officials “should first be required to focus on maintaining services for the positions that are already allocated to civil service, contracted disabled workforce should not be forced into losing their jobs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit brought workers to the Legislature in 2018, when they shared their success stories and helped persuade lawmakers from both parties to allow the company to continue doing business. That secured them a reprieve when the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article213059444.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stockton contract was on the line\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company repeated that strategy earlier this year in an appeal to lawmakers for the Vacaville contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California prison jobs changed lives\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.prideindustries.com/our-stories/services-for-people-with-disabilities-launch-a-leader\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chelsea Davis\u003c/a>, a PRIDE operations manager, told lawmakers she struggled for years with her mental health — and she never expected to find a steady job. That changed when she joined PRIDE in an entry-level position at the Stockton facility that allowed her to keep her doctor’s appointments and treatment plan for addiction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They trained me, they guided me, they gave me hope,” Davis, who’s coming up on her fifth year with PRIDE, told a budget subcommittee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11794850,news_11986871,news_11987204\" label=\"Related Stories\"]Stories like Davis’ appeared to resonate with two Assembly members, Democrat \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/james-ramos-149649\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">James Ramos \u003c/a>of San Bernardino and Republican \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/tom-lackey-10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tom Lackey\u003c/a> of Palmdale, who grilled state prison officials on their handling of the dispute. They questioned why PRIDE employees could not be directly hired as civil servants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two lawmakers later wrote to the State Personnel Board on April 26 in an attempt to protect the PRIDE workers, resulting in the November 2024 extension. The lawmakers asked for an even longer extension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“PRIDE employees have demonstrated their ability to provide a high level of service to support a critical need for the state,” they wrote to Ambrose, asking for an extension on the PRIDE contract through November 2025 so that “interested stakeholders” could reach a “viable, long-term long-term solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Anti-nepotism rules in California government\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>State government has strict personnel rules that are intended to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article247870500.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prevent nepotism and favoritism\u003c/a> from influencing hiring decisions, particularly in rank-and-file jobs. That’s why the prisons can’t simply hire the PRIDE workers into state jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are doing everything possible to ensure that there are town halls organized so that we can support PRIDE employees,” Vinay Behl, deputy director of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation fiscal services department, said at the April \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/people/183228\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subcommittee hearing\u003c/a>. “We value the partnership, and we will do an outreach to ensure that the pride employees get all the information necessary for employment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Duane Reeder, deputy director of the state’s prison health care system, told lawmakers he had no concerns about filling the positions given “the amount of interest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both PRIDE and Local 1000 supporters say the jobs would be valuable for their workers. The Pride positions are designed to aid those who are reentering the workforce after significant life setbacks. Those workers might need help holding a job or getting one in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Custodians represented by Local 1000 are paid 15% more than the market average in total compensation, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhr.ca.gov/state-hr-professionals/Pages/2021-California-State-Employee-Total-Compensation-Report.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2021 state salary survey\u003c/a>. They accrue pensions and benefits through the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. They tend to enjoy better job security than their counterparts in the private sector. Recent job postings show the state expects to pay salaries of about $48,000 to $60,000 a year for custodial positions at the Vacaville prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a written statement, a leader from Local 1000 said the union has long supported bringing the Pride workers into civil service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve continued to encourage the State to make the necessary workplace accessibility improvements to be able to hire the PRIDE Industries workers directly so that they, too, can have access to a career in state service,” said Eric Murray, a bargaining chairperson for the union. “Despite our ongoing efforts since 2016, the state has not taken the necessary actions. This needless reliance on outsourcing must end.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A long-simmering dispute between California’s largest state employee union and a nonprofit organization that hires disabled workers is coming to a head this summer, and dozens of people could lose their jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.seiu1000.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">SEIU Local 1000\u003c/a>, for several years, has been trying to push the state’s correctional health care system to terminate its contracts with nonprofit PRIDE Industries at two state prisons where it employs dozens of disabled workers and others who are recovering from addictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union contends that those contracts violate protections against outsourcing in civil service and that the state has not made a good-faith effort to fill the positions with state employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Time is running out on PRIDE’s contract for the California Medical Facility in Vacaville and its 74 custodial workers. Last year, the state agency that enforces contracts and personnel decisions found that the prison system had not given a compelling reason to outsource the jobs to PRIDE, setting in motion the dissolution of the nonprofit’s work at that site.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The evidence submitted by the parties show that the contracted work is essentially janitorial and custodial services in a medical environment that are and can be capably performed by civil service custodians,” wrote Suzanne Ambrose, executive officer of the board, in the May 2023 ruling. She gave the facility six months to terminate the contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That deadline has since been extended twice until November 2024. As it approaches, many PRIDE workers will have to compete for about 45 positions to replace the PRIDE workers next year. The prisons also could hire inmate workers, a plan that PRIDE argues won’t guarantee the facility remains at necessary hygienic standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>PRIDE, for nine years, has held onto its contracts providing janitorial services at state prisons in Stockton and Vacaville despite pressure from Local 1000. It won the work through \u003ca href=\"https://cchcs.ca.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">California Correctional Health Care Services\u003c/a>, which oversees prison health care. The agency argued it could not fill custodial jobs on its own, and it relied on PRIDE to do the work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason our contract is being challenged by the union is to put pressure on (state prisons) to hire and retain civil service workers,” PRIDE spokeswoman Kat Maudru wrote in a statement to CalMatters. Prison officials “should first be required to focus on maintaining services for the positions that are already allocated to civil service, contracted disabled workforce should not be forced into losing their jobs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit brought workers to the Legislature in 2018, when they shared their success stories and helped persuade lawmakers from both parties to allow the company to continue doing business. That secured them a reprieve when the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article213059444.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Stockton contract was on the line\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company repeated that strategy earlier this year in an appeal to lawmakers for the Vacaville contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>California prison jobs changed lives\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.prideindustries.com/our-stories/services-for-people-with-disabilities-launch-a-leader\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chelsea Davis\u003c/a>, a PRIDE operations manager, told lawmakers she struggled for years with her mental health — and she never expected to find a steady job. That changed when she joined PRIDE in an entry-level position at the Stockton facility that allowed her to keep her doctor’s appointments and treatment plan for addiction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They trained me, they guided me, they gave me hope,” Davis, who’s coming up on her fifth year with PRIDE, told a budget subcommittee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Stories like Davis’ appeared to resonate with two Assembly members, Democrat \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/james-ramos-149649\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">James Ramos \u003c/a>of San Bernardino and Republican \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/tom-lackey-10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tom Lackey\u003c/a> of Palmdale, who grilled state prison officials on their handling of the dispute. They questioned why PRIDE employees could not be directly hired as civil servants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two lawmakers later wrote to the State Personnel Board on April 26 in an attempt to protect the PRIDE workers, resulting in the November 2024 extension. The lawmakers asked for an even longer extension.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“PRIDE employees have demonstrated their ability to provide a high level of service to support a critical need for the state,” they wrote to Ambrose, asking for an extension on the PRIDE contract through November 2025 so that “interested stakeholders” could reach a “viable, long-term long-term solution.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Anti-nepotism rules in California government\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>State government has strict personnel rules that are intended to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/the-state-worker/article247870500.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">prevent nepotism and favoritism\u003c/a> from influencing hiring decisions, particularly in rank-and-file jobs. That’s why the prisons can’t simply hire the PRIDE workers into state jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are doing everything possible to ensure that there are town halls organized so that we can support PRIDE employees,” Vinay Behl, deputy director of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation fiscal services department, said at the April \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/people/183228\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subcommittee hearing\u003c/a>. “We value the partnership, and we will do an outreach to ensure that the pride employees get all the information necessary for employment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Duane Reeder, deputy director of the state’s prison health care system, told lawmakers he had no concerns about filling the positions given “the amount of interest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both PRIDE and Local 1000 supporters say the jobs would be valuable for their workers. The Pride positions are designed to aid those who are reentering the workforce after significant life setbacks. Those workers might need help holding a job or getting one in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Custodians represented by Local 1000 are paid 15% more than the market average in total compensation, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.calhr.ca.gov/state-hr-professionals/Pages/2021-California-State-Employee-Total-Compensation-Report.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2021 state salary survey\u003c/a>. They accrue pensions and benefits through the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. They tend to enjoy better job security than their counterparts in the private sector. Recent job postings show the state expects to pay salaries of about $48,000 to $60,000 a year for custodial positions at the Vacaville prison.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a written statement, a leader from Local 1000 said the union has long supported bringing the Pride workers into civil service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve continued to encourage the State to make the necessary workplace accessibility improvements to be able to hire the PRIDE Industries workers directly so that they, too, can have access to a career in state service,” said Eric Murray, a bargaining chairperson for the union. “Despite our ongoing efforts since 2016, the state has not taken the necessary actions. This needless reliance on outsourcing must end.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Here's What You Should Know About California's Budget Deal",
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"content": "\u003cp>California will make widespread cuts to state government operations, prisons, housing programs and health care workforce development in order to maintain its social safety net as it moves to close a multibillion-dollar budget deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-Budget-Agreement-.pdf\">$297.9 billion spending plan\u003c/a>, announced on Saturday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate President Pro Tem \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/mike-mcguire-93\">Mike McGuire\u003c/a> and Assembly Speaker \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/robert-rivas-165041\">Robert Rivas\u003c/a>, also relies on reserves and pauses some business tax credits to address a remaining revenue gap estimated at $56 billion over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This agreement sets the state on a path for long-term fiscal stability — addressing the current shortfall and strengthening budget resilience down the road,” Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/06/22/california-leaders-announce-2024-state-budget-agreement/\">said in a statement\u003c/a>. “We’re making sure to preserve programs that serve millions of Californians, including key funding for education, health care, expanded behavioral health services, and combatting homelessness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Legislature \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/capitol/2024/06/california-budget-deficit-legislature-newsom/\">passed a budget more than a week ago\u003c/a> to meet a statutory deadline, but it did not represent a final deal with Newsom as they continued to negotiate over whether to repurpose billions of dollars \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2024/05/medi-cal-health-care-budget/\">earmarked to increase payments\u003c/a> for health care providers who treat low-income patients and whether to further delay \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2024/05/minimum-wage-health-care-deadline/\">minimum wage increases for health care workers\u003c/a>, among other issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-Budget-Agreement-.pdf\">Their agreement\u003c/a> — which the Democratic-controlled Legislature is expected to vote on \u003ca href=\"https://jasonsisney.substack.com/p/governor-and-legislative-leaders-588\">through a series of bills this week\u003c/a> ahead of the July 1 start of the new fiscal year — does claw back the funding intended for Medi-Cal provider rates. It pushes back the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2024/06/health-care-minimum-wage/\">health care wage hikes\u003c/a> until at least October and potentially until next year, depending on the strength of revenue collections in the coming months. Despite heavy opposition from labor unions, the move could save California hundreds of millions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan makes $16 billion in cuts, including a blanket 7.95% reduction in funding for nearly all state departments and the elimination of thousands of vacant positions, which are collectively expected to save nearly $3.7 billion. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will take an additional $385 million cut at the urging of progressive lawmakers, far higher than what Newsom had originally sought \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2024/05/californa-prison-closures-deficit/\">for the shrinking prison system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other major reductions include $1.1 billion from various affordable housing programs, $746 million for health care workforce development and $500 million to build student housing. A scholarship program for middle-class college students will lose $110 million annually, about a fifth of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/06/financial-aid-california-budget/\">what the governor had originally sought to cut\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than $3 billion in previously promised funding to expand food benefits to undocumented immigrants, increase pay for providers who care for people with developmental disabilities, add new subsidized child care slots and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2024/05/california-broadband-funding/\">build out broadband internet\u003c/a> will be delayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11986893,news_11990465,news_11985798\" label=\"Related Stories\"]This will allow the state to protect what Newsom and legislative leaders touted in their announcement as “core programs,” including an expansion of Medi-Cal, California’s health care program for the poor, to all adults regardless of their immigration status, as well as increased funding for behavioral health, welfare grants and supplemental income for seniors. Local governments will receive another \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2022/11/california-homeless-newsom-funding-reversal/\">$1 billion to address homelessness\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget deal shrinks a proposed cut to school funding following a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletter/california-budget-schools-funding/\">tense negotiation with education groups\u003c/a> during which teachers unions ran a television advertising campaign criticizing Newsom. About $5.5 billion will be delayed until future years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/2024-06/floor-report-of-the-2024-25-budget-june-22-2024.pdf\">The Assembly\u003c/a> fought hard to protect the public services that matter most to Californians, and we are delivering a budget that prioritizes affordability and long-term stability,” Rivas, a Salinas Democrat, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of their agreement, Newsom and the Legislature will pursue several additional measures to address the circumstances that led to California’s steep deficit. While the state experienced a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-budget-whiplash/\">historic surplus just two years ago\u003c/a>, a delay in tax collections last year caused by winter storms shielded the extent of California’s weakening fiscal condition until after the governor and lawmakers had already committed to too much new spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget deal proposes legislation, to be taken up in August, that will require the state to set aside a portion of future projected surpluses so that it cannot be spent until the money is collected. It also suggests putting a constitutional amendment before voters in 2026 to grow California’s main reserve account.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, the state plans to dip into that rainy day fund, pulling out more than $12 billion over the next two years to address the fiscal shortfall. It will also suspend the net operating loss for companies with more than $1 million in taxable income and limit business tax credits to $5 million annually — strategies that it previously employed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic — to raise an estimated nearly $15 billion in new revenue over the next three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Make no mistake: This is a tough budget year, but it also isn’t the budget situation we were originally fearing,” McGuire, a Healdsburg Democrat, said in a statement. “\u003ca href=\"https://sbud.senate.ca.gov/system/files/2024-06/budget-act-of-2024-key-highlights.pdf\">This balanced budget\u003c/a> helps tackle some of our toughest challenges with resources to combat the homelessness crisis, investments in housing, and funding to fight wildfires and retail theft.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California will make widespread cuts to state government operations, prisons, housing programs and health care workforce development in order to maintain its social safety net as it moves to close a multibillion-dollar budget deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-Budget-Agreement-.pdf\">$297.9 billion spending plan\u003c/a>, announced on Saturday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate President Pro Tem \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/mike-mcguire-93\">Mike McGuire\u003c/a> and Assembly Speaker \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/robert-rivas-165041\">Robert Rivas\u003c/a>, also relies on reserves and pauses some business tax credits to address a remaining revenue gap estimated at $56 billion over the next two years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This agreement sets the state on a path for long-term fiscal stability — addressing the current shortfall and strengthening budget resilience down the road,” Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2024/06/22/california-leaders-announce-2024-state-budget-agreement/\">said in a statement\u003c/a>. “We’re making sure to preserve programs that serve millions of Californians, including key funding for education, health care, expanded behavioral health services, and combatting homelessness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Legislature \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/capitol/2024/06/california-budget-deficit-legislature-newsom/\">passed a budget more than a week ago\u003c/a> to meet a statutory deadline, but it did not represent a final deal with Newsom as they continued to negotiate over whether to repurpose billions of dollars \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2024/05/medi-cal-health-care-budget/\">earmarked to increase payments\u003c/a> for health care providers who treat low-income patients and whether to further delay \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2024/05/minimum-wage-health-care-deadline/\">minimum wage increases for health care workers\u003c/a>, among other issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-Budget-Agreement-.pdf\">Their agreement\u003c/a> — which the Democratic-controlled Legislature is expected to vote on \u003ca href=\"https://jasonsisney.substack.com/p/governor-and-legislative-leaders-588\">through a series of bills this week\u003c/a> ahead of the July 1 start of the new fiscal year — does claw back the funding intended for Medi-Cal provider rates. It pushes back the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2024/06/health-care-minimum-wage/\">health care wage hikes\u003c/a> until at least October and potentially until next year, depending on the strength of revenue collections in the coming months. Despite heavy opposition from labor unions, the move could save California hundreds of millions of dollars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plan makes $16 billion in cuts, including a blanket 7.95% reduction in funding for nearly all state departments and the elimination of thousands of vacant positions, which are collectively expected to save nearly $3.7 billion. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation will take an additional $385 million cut at the urging of progressive lawmakers, far higher than what Newsom had originally sought \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2024/05/californa-prison-closures-deficit/\">for the shrinking prison system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other major reductions include $1.1 billion from various affordable housing programs, $746 million for health care workforce development and $500 million to build student housing. A scholarship program for middle-class college students will lose $110 million annually, about a fifth of \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/2024/06/financial-aid-california-budget/\">what the governor had originally sought to cut\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than $3 billion in previously promised funding to expand food benefits to undocumented immigrants, increase pay for providers who care for people with developmental disabilities, add new subsidized child care slots and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2024/05/california-broadband-funding/\">build out broadband internet\u003c/a> will be delayed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>This will allow the state to protect what Newsom and legislative leaders touted in their announcement as “core programs,” including an expansion of Medi-Cal, California’s health care program for the poor, to all adults regardless of their immigration status, as well as increased funding for behavioral health, welfare grants and supplemental income for seniors. Local governments will receive another \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2022/11/california-homeless-newsom-funding-reversal/\">$1 billion to address homelessness\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget deal shrinks a proposed cut to school funding following a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletter/california-budget-schools-funding/\">tense negotiation with education groups\u003c/a> during which teachers unions ran a television advertising campaign criticizing Newsom. About $5.5 billion will be delayed until future years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“\u003ca href=\"https://abgt.assembly.ca.gov/system/files/2024-06/floor-report-of-the-2024-25-budget-june-22-2024.pdf\">The Assembly\u003c/a> fought hard to protect the public services that matter most to Californians, and we are delivering a budget that prioritizes affordability and long-term stability,” Rivas, a Salinas Democrat, said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of their agreement, Newsom and the Legislature will pursue several additional measures to address the circumstances that led to California’s steep deficit. While the state experienced a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/california-budget-whiplash/\">historic surplus just two years ago\u003c/a>, a delay in tax collections last year caused by winter storms shielded the extent of California’s weakening fiscal condition until after the governor and lawmakers had already committed to too much new spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The budget deal proposes legislation, to be taken up in August, that will require the state to set aside a portion of future projected surpluses so that it cannot be spent until the money is collected. It also suggests putting a constitutional amendment before voters in 2026 to grow California’s main reserve account.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, the state plans to dip into that rainy day fund, pulling out more than $12 billion over the next two years to address the fiscal shortfall. It will also suspend the net operating loss for companies with more than $1 million in taxable income and limit business tax credits to $5 million annually — strategies that it previously employed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic — to raise an estimated nearly $15 billion in new revenue over the next three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Make no mistake: This is a tough budget year, but it also isn’t the budget situation we were originally fearing,” McGuire, a Healdsburg Democrat, said in a statement. “\u003ca href=\"https://sbud.senate.ca.gov/system/files/2024-06/budget-act-of-2024-key-highlights.pdf\">This balanced budget\u003c/a> helps tackle some of our toughest challenges with resources to combat the homelessness crisis, investments in housing, and funding to fight wildfires and retail theft.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "‘If It Happened to Me, It’s Happening to Other People’: A California Woman Says CVS Refused to Fill Her Abortion Pill Prescription",
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"headTitle": "‘If It Happened to Me, It’s Happening to Other People’: A California Woman Says CVS Refused to Fill Her Abortion Pill Prescription | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>After months of trying, Angela Costales eagerly watched her at-home pregnancy test turn positive. She and her husband were so excited that they filmed a video at 3 a.m. to document the moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the joy they felt didn’t last.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Costales’ first ultrasound, in December, showed placental abnormalities and no fetal heartbeat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Losing the pregnancy was devastating, she said. What happened after made her feel even worse: The CVS Pharmacy in her San Diego neighborhood, she said, refused to fill the prescription given to her to manage her miscarriage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The drug Costales needed was misoprostol, a pill commonly used to help with miscarriages that is also used in \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/tag/abortion/\">abortions\u003c/a>. Three separate pharmacy employees refused to help her acquire the medication while she stood in the store bleeding and in pain, according to Costales and her lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I couldn’t believe what was happening,” Costales said. “I really felt like I was in danger, and [CVS] … denied my care without my well-being in mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Costales and the nonprofit National Women’s Law Center assert that the retail pharmacy chain broke federal and state laws when it turned her away. In a \u003ca href=\"https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024.6.6-CVS-Demand-Letter.pdf\">public letter\u003c/a> to CVS earlier this month, they demanded that the company improve its policies and employee training nationwide to prevent similar occurrences and that every pharmacy post notices detailing “patients’ rights to obtain their prescribed medication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Costales has not filed a lawsuit against CVS but is not ruling one out, her attorney said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it happened to me, it’s happening to other people,” Costales said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company is investigating Costales’ claims, CVS Pharmacy spokesperson Amy Thibault said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thibault said any pharmacist with personal objections to providing certain medications must notify the company in advance so that arrangements can be made to fill the prescription.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"more abortion coverage\" tag=\"abortion\"]“Our highest priority is ensuring safe and timely access to medications for our patients, and we understand the important role pharmacies serve in support of women’s health care. We have policies in place to ensure no patient is ever denied access to medication prescribed by a physician based on a pharmacist’s individual religious or moral beliefs,” Thibault said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More broadly, reproductive rights advocates say the alleged incident is a jarring reminder of how the national fight over abortion can spill over into \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/abortion-in-california-laws/\">deeply blue California\u003c/a>, affecting patient care. In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated federal abortion protections, California lawmakers have gone to great lengths to expand and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/abortion-in-california-laws/\">protect reproductive health rights\u003c/a>, and voters in 2022 \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-health-california-89310197d2b3bd3e3ba806620dd2bdbb\">amended the state constitution\u003c/a> to include the right to an abortion. But enforcing the laws on the ground can be difficult, experts say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legal scholars, doctors and abortion rights advocates also contend ongoing court battles and laws criminalizing abortion in other states can affect reproductive health access everywhere — even when abortion is not involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This prescription was to manage continued miscarriage, and yet employees at CVS, their stigma against anything that looks like abortion or sounds like abortion, interfered with their legal obligation to provide (Costales) with her medication,” said Clara Spera, senior counsel for the National Women’s Law Center, and Costales’ attorney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California law requires pharmacies to dispense legally prescribed medications to patients and make accommodations for both the patient and employee if an individual employee registers a sincerely held objection to providing the medication. Costales’ attorney said CVS violated that law — as well as the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2017/12/DFEH_UnruhFactSheet.pdf\">Unruh Civil Rights Act\u003c/a> prohibiting discrimination based on sex or pregnancy-related conditions — when it denied her misoprostol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CVS and its national competitor Walgreens have previously faced scrutiny from federal regulators over similar complaints from patients around the country. Last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights \u003ca href=\"https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-providers/compliance-enforcement/agreements/cvs-walgreens/index.html\">published an agreement the companies made\u003c/a> after numerous discrimination complaints of medication denial from women experiencing miscarriages and people with disabilities. The companies agreed to train pharmacy staff on reproductive health rights and monitor medication denials to ensure patients receive prescriptions in a timely manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thibault did not answer questions about when the last time employees at Costales’ local pharmacy had been trained on reproductive health rights or what specific company policies are in place to ensure patients get medications in a timely manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A rare pregnancy complication\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Costales’ said her ultrasound and other tests led doctors to suspect she might have a \u003ca href=\"https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/molar-pregnancy/symptoms-causes/syc-20375175\">molar pregnancy\u003c/a>, a rare complication that can form cancer if untreated, and recommended surgery to find out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Surgery is the only way to remove the tissue and confirm a molar pregnancy diagnosis, said Dr. Aparna Sridhar, an obstetrician and associate clinical professor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. Sridhar was not involved in Costales’ care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the procedure, Costales said she felt fine until a week later when she woke up bleeding heavily and in severe pain. In the emergency room, a doctor recommended misoprostol to help her body finish expelling any remaining pregnancy tissue or uterine lining.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to get my medication as soon as I could. And I wanted to get home and administer it so that we could feel at ease and at peace with, you know, the rest of our care plan,” Costales said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most \u003ca href=\"https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-bulletin/articles/2018/11/early-pregnancy-loss\">miscarriages and early pregnancy loss\u003c/a>, Sridhar said the three management options are surgical intervention, medication and waiting to see if the body successfully empties the uterus by itself. Determining the course of treatment should be a joint decision between the patient and doctor, and all three options have been shown to be safe, Sridhar said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But at her CVS pharmacy, the first employee told Costales there was no prescription for her on file, the National Women’s Law Center letter alleges. The second employee told her, “I don’t know if we can fill this,” according to the letter. And after asking to speak with the pharmacist for an explanation, Costales alleges in the letter that the pharmacist said, “It doesn’t matter if I have it, I am not comfortable dispensing it to you,” and walked away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The experience was humiliating, Costales said, adding that the shame and anger have lasted for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The hardest part is I feel like CVS robbed me of my ability to mourn my pregnancy loss,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Abortion challenges continue\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The CVS employees did not tell Costales why they objected to providing her with the medication prescribed to her, she said. Nonetheless, California health experts say that since the U.S. Supreme Court \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf\">overturned Roe v. Wade\u003c/a> two years ago, ending the constitutional right to an abortion, there has been confusion among providers about what is required under the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2024/06/supreme-court-abortion-pill/\">Supreme Court rejected the latest bid by anti-abortion groups\u003c/a> to overturn federal Food and Drug Administration regulations that expanded access to another medication, mifepristone, used both for abortion and miscarriage management. The plaintiffs were doctors opposed to abortion who argued that they could be required to treat someone in the emergency room with a complication related to abortion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that ruling, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that federal law guarantees “broad and comprehensive conscience protections” for doctors who object to abortion and that the plaintiffs had no examples of being forced to treat a patient who had an abortion. The anti-abortion legal group leading the case against the FDA has already pledged to continue its legal battle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say religious and moral objections have been protected for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the status quo. We have decided that we are going to allow people to opt out of care that they don’t want to perform,” said Cathren Cohen, a staff attorney with the UCLA Center on Reproductive Health, Law and Policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite laws protecting a patient’s right to medical care, individuals can struggle to defend or advocate for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This flip-flopping of changing of laws from day to day does have a detrimental and chilling effect on care people are getting,” Cohen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in California, the constantly changing landscape causes uncertainty, said Dr. Josie Urbina, an obstetrician at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Doctors like herself have difficulty keeping up with the ripple effects of national decision-making, and patients find it especially hard to know what is available to them and what they have a right to, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It still causes confusion; it still causes people to think, ‘This may affect me,’” Urbina said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Costales said she wants Californians who identify with her story to know that they have legal protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the reasons why I live in California is to make sure I will be protected, and I don’t have to worry about planning for my family,” Costales said. “How many other people are being impacted by this and are getting their rights neglected or just stomped on?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that\u003c/em> \u003cem>people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://www.chcf.org/\">\u003cem>www.chcf.org\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> to learn more.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After months of trying, Angela Costales eagerly watched her at-home pregnancy test turn positive. She and her husband were so excited that they filmed a video at 3 a.m. to document the moment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the joy they felt didn’t last.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Costales’ first ultrasound, in December, showed placental abnormalities and no fetal heartbeat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Losing the pregnancy was devastating, she said. What happened after made her feel even worse: The CVS Pharmacy in her San Diego neighborhood, she said, refused to fill the prescription given to her to manage her miscarriage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The drug Costales needed was misoprostol, a pill commonly used to help with miscarriages that is also used in \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/tag/abortion/\">abortions\u003c/a>. Three separate pharmacy employees refused to help her acquire the medication while she stood in the store bleeding and in pain, according to Costales and her lawyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I couldn’t believe what was happening,” Costales said. “I really felt like I was in danger, and [CVS] … denied my care without my well-being in mind.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Costales and the nonprofit National Women’s Law Center assert that the retail pharmacy chain broke federal and state laws when it turned her away. In a \u003ca href=\"https://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024.6.6-CVS-Demand-Letter.pdf\">public letter\u003c/a> to CVS earlier this month, they demanded that the company improve its policies and employee training nationwide to prevent similar occurrences and that every pharmacy post notices detailing “patients’ rights to obtain their prescribed medication.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Costales has not filed a lawsuit against CVS but is not ruling one out, her attorney said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If it happened to me, it’s happening to other people,” Costales said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company is investigating Costales’ claims, CVS Pharmacy spokesperson Amy Thibault said in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thibault said any pharmacist with personal objections to providing certain medications must notify the company in advance so that arrangements can be made to fill the prescription.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Our highest priority is ensuring safe and timely access to medications for our patients, and we understand the important role pharmacies serve in support of women’s health care. We have policies in place to ensure no patient is ever denied access to medication prescribed by a physician based on a pharmacist’s individual religious or moral beliefs,” Thibault said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More broadly, reproductive rights advocates say the alleged incident is a jarring reminder of how the national fight over abortion can spill over into \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/abortion-in-california-laws/\">deeply blue California\u003c/a>, affecting patient care. In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated federal abortion protections, California lawmakers have gone to great lengths to expand and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/abortion-in-california-laws/\">protect reproductive health rights\u003c/a>, and voters in 2022 \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/abortion-us-supreme-court-health-california-89310197d2b3bd3e3ba806620dd2bdbb\">amended the state constitution\u003c/a> to include the right to an abortion. But enforcing the laws on the ground can be difficult, experts say.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legal scholars, doctors and abortion rights advocates also contend ongoing court battles and laws criminalizing abortion in other states can affect reproductive health access everywhere — even when abortion is not involved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This prescription was to manage continued miscarriage, and yet employees at CVS, their stigma against anything that looks like abortion or sounds like abortion, interfered with their legal obligation to provide (Costales) with her medication,” said Clara Spera, senior counsel for the National Women’s Law Center, and Costales’ attorney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California law requires pharmacies to dispense legally prescribed medications to patients and make accommodations for both the patient and employee if an individual employee registers a sincerely held objection to providing the medication. Costales’ attorney said CVS violated that law — as well as the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2017/12/DFEH_UnruhFactSheet.pdf\">Unruh Civil Rights Act\u003c/a> prohibiting discrimination based on sex or pregnancy-related conditions — when it denied her misoprostol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CVS and its national competitor Walgreens have previously faced scrutiny from federal regulators over similar complaints from patients around the country. Last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights \u003ca href=\"https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-providers/compliance-enforcement/agreements/cvs-walgreens/index.html\">published an agreement the companies made\u003c/a> after numerous discrimination complaints of medication denial from women experiencing miscarriages and people with disabilities. The companies agreed to train pharmacy staff on reproductive health rights and monitor medication denials to ensure patients receive prescriptions in a timely manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thibault did not answer questions about when the last time employees at Costales’ local pharmacy had been trained on reproductive health rights or what specific company policies are in place to ensure patients get medications in a timely manner.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A rare pregnancy complication\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Costales’ said her ultrasound and other tests led doctors to suspect she might have a \u003ca href=\"https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/molar-pregnancy/symptoms-causes/syc-20375175\">molar pregnancy\u003c/a>, a rare complication that can form cancer if untreated, and recommended surgery to find out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Surgery is the only way to remove the tissue and confirm a molar pregnancy diagnosis, said Dr. Aparna Sridhar, an obstetrician and associate clinical professor at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. Sridhar was not involved in Costales’ care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the procedure, Costales said she felt fine until a week later when she woke up bleeding heavily and in severe pain. In the emergency room, a doctor recommended misoprostol to help her body finish expelling any remaining pregnancy tissue or uterine lining.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I wanted to get my medication as soon as I could. And I wanted to get home and administer it so that we could feel at ease and at peace with, you know, the rest of our care plan,” Costales said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For most \u003ca href=\"https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/practice-bulletin/articles/2018/11/early-pregnancy-loss\">miscarriages and early pregnancy loss\u003c/a>, Sridhar said the three management options are surgical intervention, medication and waiting to see if the body successfully empties the uterus by itself. Determining the course of treatment should be a joint decision between the patient and doctor, and all three options have been shown to be safe, Sridhar said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But at her CVS pharmacy, the first employee told Costales there was no prescription for her on file, the National Women’s Law Center letter alleges. The second employee told her, “I don’t know if we can fill this,” according to the letter. And after asking to speak with the pharmacist for an explanation, Costales alleges in the letter that the pharmacist said, “It doesn’t matter if I have it, I am not comfortable dispensing it to you,” and walked away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The experience was humiliating, Costales said, adding that the shame and anger have lasted for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The hardest part is I feel like CVS robbed me of my ability to mourn my pregnancy loss,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Abortion challenges continue\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The CVS employees did not tell Costales why they objected to providing her with the medication prescribed to her, she said. Nonetheless, California health experts say that since the U.S. Supreme Court \u003ca href=\"https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf\">overturned Roe v. Wade\u003c/a> two years ago, ending the constitutional right to an abortion, there has been confusion among providers about what is required under the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last week, the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2024/06/supreme-court-abortion-pill/\">Supreme Court rejected the latest bid by anti-abortion groups\u003c/a> to overturn federal Food and Drug Administration regulations that expanded access to another medication, mifepristone, used both for abortion and miscarriage management. The plaintiffs were doctors opposed to abortion who argued that they could be required to treat someone in the emergency room with a complication related to abortion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In that ruling, Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote that federal law guarantees “broad and comprehensive conscience protections” for doctors who object to abortion and that the plaintiffs had no examples of being forced to treat a patient who had an abortion. The anti-abortion legal group leading the case against the FDA has already pledged to continue its legal battle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Experts say religious and moral objections have been protected for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s the status quo. We have decided that we are going to allow people to opt out of care that they don’t want to perform,” said Cathren Cohen, a staff attorney with the UCLA Center on Reproductive Health, Law and Policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Despite laws protecting a patient’s right to medical care, individuals can struggle to defend or advocate for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This flip-flopping of changing of laws from day to day does have a detrimental and chilling effect on care people are getting,” Cohen said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even in California, the constantly changing landscape causes uncertainty, said Dr. Josie Urbina, an obstetrician at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Doctors like herself have difficulty keeping up with the ripple effects of national decision-making, and patients find it especially hard to know what is available to them and what they have a right to, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It still causes confusion; it still causes people to think, ‘This may affect me,’” Urbina said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Costales said she wants Californians who identify with her story to know that they have legal protections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the reasons why I live in California is to make sure I will be protected, and I don’t have to worry about planning for my family,” Costales said. “How many other people are being impacted by this and are getting their rights neglected or just stomped on?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A November ballot measure to make it easier for local governments to borrow money for new infrastructure and affordable housing will likely include a big exception, preventing that money from being used to buy single-family homes. That’s thanks to a last-minute deal hammered out between a top legislative Democrat and the state real estate lobby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next Thursday is the deadline for state lawmakers to get their preferred initiatives finalized for the Nov. 5 ballot. That makes these final weeks of June peak sausage-making season in the state Capitol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The affordable housing measure is a prime example of legislative bratwurst.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Davis Democratic Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/cecilia-aguiar-curry-101332\">Cecilia Aguiar-Curry\u003c/a> pushed through the \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ballot-measures/pdf/aca-1.pdf\">proposed amendment to the state constitution (PDF)\u003c/a> that would lower the electoral bar that local infrastructure and housing bonds need to clear. Currently, that threshold sits at a heightened two-thirds majority of voters. Aguiar-Curry’s proposal, which had failed to get out of the Legislature three times until last session, would bring that figure down to a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2023/08/housing-bonds/\">more attainable 55%\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the amendment passed last year, it left some implementation questions unanswered. Two bills — \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240aca10\">ACA 10\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab2813\">AB 2813\u003c/a> — were introduced to do that tweaking. That set off a fresh months-long round of negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After winning an exemption for single-family home, duplex, triplex and fourplex purchases, the California Association of Realtors announced that it would no longer oppose the legislation — and by implication, the Nov. 5 ballot measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the course of several months, the author, her staff and stakeholders were able to reach an agreement that satisfies the concerns C.A.R. raised. C.A.R. would like to thank the author for her leadership and steadfast commitment to ensuring that homeownership can become a reality for generations of Californians,” the organization’s lobbyist Vanessa Chavez said in a letter obtained by CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The association did not respond to a request for comment late today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ballot measure would still allow local bond issues to provide funds for the construction of smaller affordable units. The ban applies to purchasing existing homes — notably, one of the ways that Realtors make money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neutrality of the Realtors — regularly \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2020/10/california-lawmakers-big-donors-special-interest-independent-expenditures/\">among the biggest campaign spenders in California\u003c/a> — is a political win for backers of the initiative. (It is still opposed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/Susan_Shelley/status/1804585518723940378\">issued a statement\u003c/a> saying it will fight it “with all our strength.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many of the supporters of the constitutional amendment aren’t pleased about the last-minute agreement. Earlier this week, a coalition of tenant rights groups, “Yes in My Backyard” advocates and legal aid associations penned a letter urging Aguiar-Curry not to accept the Realtors deal, saying that it would “enshrine a discriminatory housing policy in state law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"forum_2010101905160,news_11980019,news_11985468\"]Exempting single-family homes from a statewide affordable housing policy is also symbolically hard to swallow, said Francisco Dueñas, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy organization Housing Now!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The single family map that we have now comes from a lot of redlining, from racist systems that we’ve had in the past,” he said. “If we are again saying that those areas are off the table for these solutions, are we then further enshrining the legacy of these racist policies?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dueñas also said the new restrictions on bond funds would prohibit local governments from pursuing novel approaches to housing affordability, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/08/realestate/community-land-trusts-gentrification.html\">community land trusts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the Realtors won a key exemption, there are exceptions to that exemption. Local governments could still use the funds to purchase homes and reserve them for “survivors of domestic violence, refugees, or people with developmental disabilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Making it easier to pass housing bonds is a top priority for affordable housing advocates this year. That’s especially true for those in the San Francisco Bay Area, where a first-of-its-kind regional housing finance authority plans to \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/20/could-a-20-billion-bond-measure-help-solve-the-bay-areas-affordable-housing-crisis/\">float an IOU of as much as $20 billion\u003c/a> to fund housing projects across the region, if voters approve in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The California Association of Realtors agrees not to oppose a constitutional amendment to reduce the voter approval threshold for housing bonds. In exchange, the measure will not apply to single-family homes. Some housing advocates are angry about the carve-out.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A November ballot measure to make it easier for local governments to borrow money for new infrastructure and affordable housing will likely include a big exception, preventing that money from being used to buy single-family homes. That’s thanks to a last-minute deal hammered out between a top legislative Democrat and the state real estate lobby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Next Thursday is the deadline for state lawmakers to get their preferred initiatives finalized for the Nov. 5 ballot. That makes these final weeks of June peak sausage-making season in the state Capitol.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The affordable housing measure is a prime example of legislative bratwurst.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Davis Democratic Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/cecilia-aguiar-curry-101332\">Cecilia Aguiar-Curry\u003c/a> pushed through the \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ballot-measures/pdf/aca-1.pdf\">proposed amendment to the state constitution (PDF)\u003c/a> that would lower the electoral bar that local infrastructure and housing bonds need to clear. Currently, that threshold sits at a heightened two-thirds majority of voters. Aguiar-Curry’s proposal, which had failed to get out of the Legislature three times until last session, would bring that figure down to a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2023/08/housing-bonds/\">more attainable 55%\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the amendment passed last year, it left some implementation questions unanswered. Two bills — \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240aca10\">ACA 10\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240ab2813\">AB 2813\u003c/a> — were introduced to do that tweaking. That set off a fresh months-long round of negotiations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After winning an exemption for single-family home, duplex, triplex and fourplex purchases, the California Association of Realtors announced that it would no longer oppose the legislation — and by implication, the Nov. 5 ballot measure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Over the course of several months, the author, her staff and stakeholders were able to reach an agreement that satisfies the concerns C.A.R. raised. C.A.R. would like to thank the author for her leadership and steadfast commitment to ensuring that homeownership can become a reality for generations of Californians,” the organization’s lobbyist Vanessa Chavez said in a letter obtained by CalMatters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The association did not respond to a request for comment late today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The ballot measure would still allow local bond issues to provide funds for the construction of smaller affordable units. The ban applies to purchasing existing homes — notably, one of the ways that Realtors make money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neutrality of the Realtors — regularly \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2020/10/california-lawmakers-big-donors-special-interest-independent-expenditures/\">among the biggest campaign spenders in California\u003c/a> — is a political win for backers of the initiative. (It is still opposed by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/Susan_Shelley/status/1804585518723940378\">issued a statement\u003c/a> saying it will fight it “with all our strength.”)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But many of the supporters of the constitutional amendment aren’t pleased about the last-minute agreement. Earlier this week, a coalition of tenant rights groups, “Yes in My Backyard” advocates and legal aid associations penned a letter urging Aguiar-Curry not to accept the Realtors deal, saying that it would “enshrine a discriminatory housing policy in state law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Exempting single-family homes from a statewide affordable housing policy is also symbolically hard to swallow, said Francisco Dueñas, executive director of the nonprofit advocacy organization Housing Now!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The single family map that we have now comes from a lot of redlining, from racist systems that we’ve had in the past,” he said. “If we are again saying that those areas are off the table for these solutions, are we then further enshrining the legacy of these racist policies?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dueñas also said the new restrictions on bond funds would prohibit local governments from pursuing novel approaches to housing affordability, including \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/08/realestate/community-land-trusts-gentrification.html\">community land trusts\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though the Realtors won a key exemption, there are exceptions to that exemption. Local governments could still use the funds to purchase homes and reserve them for “survivors of domestic violence, refugees, or people with developmental disabilities.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Making it easier to pass housing bonds is a top priority for affordable housing advocates this year. That’s especially true for those in the San Francisco Bay Area, where a first-of-its-kind regional housing finance authority plans to \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/06/20/could-a-20-billion-bond-measure-help-solve-the-bay-areas-affordable-housing-crisis/\">float an IOU of as much as $20 billion\u003c/a> to fund housing projects across the region, if voters approve in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Could AI Reject Your Resume? California Takes Action to Protect Job Applicants",
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"headTitle": "Could AI Reject Your Resume? California Takes Action to Protect Job Applicants | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>California regulators are moving to restrict how employers can use artificial intelligence to screen workers and job applicants — warning that using AI to measure tone of voice, facial expressions and reaction times may run afoul of the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The draft regulations say that if companies use automated systems to limit or prioritize applicants based on pregnancy, national origin, religion or criminal history, that’s discrimination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the public have until July 18 to comment on the \u003ca href=\"https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2024/05/Automated-Decision-System-Regulations-Proposed-Text.pdf\">proposed rules\u003c/a>. After that, regulators in the California Civil Rights Department may amend and will eventually approve them, subject to final review by an administrative law judge, capping off a process that began three years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rules govern so-called “automated decision systems” — artificial intelligence and other computerized processes, including quizzes, games, resume screening, and even advertising placement. The regulations say using such systems to analyze physical characteristics or reaction times may constitute illegal discrimination. The systems may not be used at all, the new rules say, if they have an “adverse impact” on candidates based on certain protected characteristics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The draft rules also require companies that sell predictive services to employers to keep records for four years in order to respond to discrimination claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A crackdown is necessary in part because while businesses want to automate parts of the hiring process, “this new technology can obscure responsibility and make it harder to discern who’s responsible when a person is subjected to discriminatory decision-making,” said Ken Wang, a policy associate with the California Employment Lawyers Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The draft regulations make it clear that third-party service providers are agents of the employer and hold employers responsible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Civil Rights Department started exploring how algorithms, a type of automated decision system, can impact job opportunities and automate discrimination in the workplace \u003ca href=\"https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/2021/05/06/dfeh-holds-civil-rights-hearing-on-algorithms-and-bias/\">in April 2021\u003c/a>. Back then, \u003ca href=\"https://autismandrace.com/\">Autistic People of Color Fund\u003c/a> founder Lydia X. Z. Brown warned the agency about the harm that hiring algorithms can inflict on people with disabilities. Brown told CalMatters that whether the new draft rules offer meaningful protection depends on how they’re implemented and enforced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers, advocates and journalists have amassed a body of evidence that AI models can automate discrimination, including in the workplace. Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that resume screening software made by the company \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-30/aclu-says-in-ftc-complaint-that-aon-s-ai-tools-discriminatory\">Aon discriminates against people based on race and disability \u003c/a>despite the company’s claim that its AI is “bias-free.” An evaluation of leading artificial intelligence firm OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 technology found that the large language model \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-openai-gpt-hiring-racial-discrimination\">can exhibit racial bias when used to automatically sift through the resumes of job applicants\u003c/a>. Though the company uses filters to prevent the language model from producing toxic language, \u003ca href=\"https://venturebeat.com/ai/openai-debuts-gigantic-gpt-3-language-model-with-175-billion-parameters/\">internal tests of GPT-3\u003c/a> also surfaced race, gender, and religious bias.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11988031,news_11987803,news_11976097\" label=\"Related Stories\"]Protecting people from automated bias understandably attracts a lot of attention, but sometimes hiring software that’s marketed as smart makes dumb decisions. Wearing glasses or a headscarf or having a bookshelf in the background of a video job interview can \u003ca href=\"https://interaktiv.br.de/ki-bewerbung/en/\">skew personality predictions\u003c/a>, according to an investigative report by German public broadcast station Bayerischer Rundfunk. So can \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/story/movement-hold-ai-accountable-gains-steam/\">the font a job applicant chooses\u003c/a> when submitting a resume, according to researchers at New York University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s proposed regulations are the latest in a series of initiatives to protect workers from businesses using harmful forms of AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, New York City lawmakers passed a law to protect job applicants from algorithmic discrimination in hiring, although researchers from Cornell University and Consumer Reports recently concluded that the law \u003ca href=\"https://innovation.consumerreports.org/new-research-nyc-algorithmic-transparency-law-is-falling-short-of-its-goals/\">has been ineffective\u003c/a>. And in 2022, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Justice Department clarified that employers \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/story/ai-hiring-bias-doj-eecc-guidance/\">must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act when using automation during hiring\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Privacy Protection Agency, meanwhile, is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2024/03/california-ai-rules-business/\">considering draft rules\u003c/a> that, among other things, define what information employers can collect on contractors, job applicants, and workers, allowing them to see what data employers collect and to opt out from such collection or request human review.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pending legislation would further empower the source of the draft revisions, the California Civil Rights Department. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2024/05/ca-eu-ai-regulation/\">Assembly Bill 2930\u003c/a> would allow the department to demand impact assessments from businesses and state agencies that use AI in order to protect against automated discrimination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside of government, union leaders now increasingly argue that rank-and-file workers should be able to weigh in on the effectiveness and harms of AI in order to protect the public. Labor representatives have had conversations with California officials about specific projects as they \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2024/02/cdtfa-generative-ai/\">experiment with how to use AI\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California regulators are moving to restrict how employers can use artificial intelligence to screen workers and job applicants — warning that using AI to measure tone of voice, facial expressions and reaction times may run afoul of the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The draft regulations say that if companies use automated systems to limit or prioritize applicants based on pregnancy, national origin, religion or criminal history, that’s discrimination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Members of the public have until July 18 to comment on the \u003ca href=\"https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2024/05/Automated-Decision-System-Regulations-Proposed-Text.pdf\">proposed rules\u003c/a>. After that, regulators in the California Civil Rights Department may amend and will eventually approve them, subject to final review by an administrative law judge, capping off a process that began three years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rules govern so-called “automated decision systems” — artificial intelligence and other computerized processes, including quizzes, games, resume screening, and even advertising placement. The regulations say using such systems to analyze physical characteristics or reaction times may constitute illegal discrimination. The systems may not be used at all, the new rules say, if they have an “adverse impact” on candidates based on certain protected characteristics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The draft rules also require companies that sell predictive services to employers to keep records for four years in order to respond to discrimination claims.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A crackdown is necessary in part because while businesses want to automate parts of the hiring process, “this new technology can obscure responsibility and make it harder to discern who’s responsible when a person is subjected to discriminatory decision-making,” said Ken Wang, a policy associate with the California Employment Lawyers Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The draft regulations make it clear that third-party service providers are agents of the employer and hold employers responsible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Civil Rights Department started exploring how algorithms, a type of automated decision system, can impact job opportunities and automate discrimination in the workplace \u003ca href=\"https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/2021/05/06/dfeh-holds-civil-rights-hearing-on-algorithms-and-bias/\">in April 2021\u003c/a>. Back then, \u003ca href=\"https://autismandrace.com/\">Autistic People of Color Fund\u003c/a> founder Lydia X. Z. Brown warned the agency about the harm that hiring algorithms can inflict on people with disabilities. Brown told CalMatters that whether the new draft rules offer meaningful protection depends on how they’re implemented and enforced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Researchers, advocates and journalists have amassed a body of evidence that AI models can automate discrimination, including in the workplace. Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission alleging that resume screening software made by the company \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-05-30/aclu-says-in-ftc-complaint-that-aon-s-ai-tools-discriminatory\">Aon discriminates against people based on race and disability \u003c/a>despite the company’s claim that its AI is “bias-free.” An evaluation of leading artificial intelligence firm OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 technology found that the large language model \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-openai-gpt-hiring-racial-discrimination\">can exhibit racial bias when used to automatically sift through the resumes of job applicants\u003c/a>. Though the company uses filters to prevent the language model from producing toxic language, \u003ca href=\"https://venturebeat.com/ai/openai-debuts-gigantic-gpt-3-language-model-with-175-billion-parameters/\">internal tests of GPT-3\u003c/a> also surfaced race, gender, and religious bias.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Protecting people from automated bias understandably attracts a lot of attention, but sometimes hiring software that’s marketed as smart makes dumb decisions. Wearing glasses or a headscarf or having a bookshelf in the background of a video job interview can \u003ca href=\"https://interaktiv.br.de/ki-bewerbung/en/\">skew personality predictions\u003c/a>, according to an investigative report by German public broadcast station Bayerischer Rundfunk. So can \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/story/movement-hold-ai-accountable-gains-steam/\">the font a job applicant chooses\u003c/a> when submitting a resume, according to researchers at New York University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s proposed regulations are the latest in a series of initiatives to protect workers from businesses using harmful forms of AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, New York City lawmakers passed a law to protect job applicants from algorithmic discrimination in hiring, although researchers from Cornell University and Consumer Reports recently concluded that the law \u003ca href=\"https://innovation.consumerreports.org/new-research-nyc-algorithmic-transparency-law-is-falling-short-of-its-goals/\">has been ineffective\u003c/a>. And in 2022, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Justice Department clarified that employers \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/story/ai-hiring-bias-doj-eecc-guidance/\">must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act when using automation during hiring\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Privacy Protection Agency, meanwhile, is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2024/03/california-ai-rules-business/\">considering draft rules\u003c/a> that, among other things, define what information employers can collect on contractors, job applicants, and workers, allowing them to see what data employers collect and to opt out from such collection or request human review.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pending legislation would further empower the source of the draft revisions, the California Civil Rights Department. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2024/05/ca-eu-ai-regulation/\">Assembly Bill 2930\u003c/a> would allow the department to demand impact assessments from businesses and state agencies that use AI in order to protect against automated discrimination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside of government, union leaders now increasingly argue that rank-and-file workers should be able to weigh in on the effectiveness and harms of AI in order to protect the public. Labor representatives have had conversations with California officials about specific projects as they \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/economy/technology/2024/02/cdtfa-generative-ai/\">experiment with how to use AI\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "81-Year-Old Californian Who Lost Her Life Savings to Scammers Wants the State to Slow Bank Transfers",
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"content": "\u003cp>Alice Lin’s husband died, and she found herself alone and caring for a disabled son. Then two years ago, the 81-year-old Alhambra woman said she started getting texts from a stranger on a messaging app.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the course of a series of friendly chats, he convinced her to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/local-senior-sues-bank-after-losing-over-700k-to-bank-fraud/\">wire $720,000 — her entire life savings — to a cryptocurrency app\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So she did — in seven separate in-person transactions at her local bank over three weeks. Her life savings disappeared, along with the man who scammed her. For a time, she said she contemplated suicide. But then she got angry — at her bank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Despite many red, red flags, my bank failed to consider that I might be a victim of elder fraud,” \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/hearings/258022?t=311&f=7dc9917caa4e7bb92ead627b08f6354b\">Lin told the California Assembly’s Banking and Finance Committee\u003c/a> this week. “And they did not even contact my daughter, who is the joint account holder on the account.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the months since, Lin started working with Consumer Attorneys of California to sponsor \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb278\">Senate Bill 278\u003c/a>, a measure aimed at preventing elder fraud scams like the one that drained Lin’s investment accounts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill, by Napa Democratic \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/bill-dodd-71\">Sen. Bill Dodd\u003c/a>, would require that financial institutions delay transactions of more than $5,000 by at least three days if they “reasonably” suspect an elderly person is a victim of fraud. Banks would be required to train their employees to spot red flags, such as an unusually large and sudden transaction. Banks would also have to take steps to inform an elderly customer’s designated “emergency financial contact” or joint account holder — someone like Lin’s daughter — of a suspected fraudulent transaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Elder financial abuse is everywhere,” \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/hearings/258022?t=121&f=7dc9917caa4e7bb92ead627b08f6354b\">Dodd told the banking committee\u003c/a>. “Losses exceed $23 billion annually. Once a senior falls prey to financial fraud, they may never recover.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd’s bill passed the Senate this spring with support from every prominent senior advocacy group in California, including the AARP. The measure originally faced intense opposition from the state’s banking and business lobbies, though they’ve since softened their stance after the bill was recently amended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The financial institutions cite worries that they’d be forced into defacto conservatorships that would give them too much control over an elderly customer’s finances. The restrictions would also limit how quickly customers get their cash for legitimate expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a concern shared by Roseville Republican Sen. Roger Niello who cast the lone “no” vote when the bill was before the Senate’s judiciary committee last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the bill exists now, it seems to me we run the risk of more conflict between seniors and their financial institutions than we do limiting elder abuse,” \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/hearings/256703?t=1687&f=180fc26c33895f6e7f583c68bb5bac6c\">said Niello\u003c/a>, who used the opportunity to give Dodd, 68, a good-natured ribbing about his age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want you to know you don’t look a day over 90,” said Niello, who is 76 and the third-oldest member of the Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd told the Assembly committee that the bill has been amended to limit the liability banks could face “when they do the right thing to protect elderly people, their customers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991146\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11991146\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/010324_CA-Senate_FG_CM_01-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/010324_CA-Senate_FG_CM_01-copy.jpg 1568w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/010324_CA-Senate_FG_CM_01-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/010324_CA-Senate_FG_CM_01-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/010324_CA-Senate_FG_CM_01-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/010324_CA-Senate_FG_CM_01-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State Sen. Bill Dodd speaks during the first day of session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Jan. 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Fred Greaves for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That eased some of the concerns from the 13 financial and business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, that are listed as opponents to Dodd’s bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think what’s in front of us right now, while it’s going to be a heavy lift for credit unions, the good outweighs the work that’s going to go in there,” Robert Wilson, a lobbyist with the California Credit Union League, \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/hearings/258022?t=879&f=7dc9917caa4e7bb92ead627b08f6354b\">told the banking committee\u003c/a> this week. “This is going to protect seniors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson and other bankers remain leery of how Dodd’s measure would be enforced — a matter that Dodd says will get cleared up by the time the bill reaches the Assembly Judiciary Committee next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Alice Lin’s husband died, and she found herself alone and caring for a disabled son. Then two years ago, the 81-year-old Alhambra woman said she started getting texts from a stranger on a messaging app.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the course of a series of friendly chats, he convinced her to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/local-senior-sues-bank-after-losing-over-700k-to-bank-fraud/\">wire $720,000 — her entire life savings — to a cryptocurrency app\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So she did — in seven separate in-person transactions at her local bank over three weeks. Her life savings disappeared, along with the man who scammed her. For a time, she said she contemplated suicide. But then she got angry — at her bank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Despite many red, red flags, my bank failed to consider that I might be a victim of elder fraud,” \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/hearings/258022?t=311&f=7dc9917caa4e7bb92ead627b08f6354b\">Lin told the California Assembly’s Banking and Finance Committee\u003c/a> this week. “And they did not even contact my daughter, who is the joint account holder on the account.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the months since, Lin started working with Consumer Attorneys of California to sponsor \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb278\">Senate Bill 278\u003c/a>, a measure aimed at preventing elder fraud scams like the one that drained Lin’s investment accounts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill, by Napa Democratic \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/legislators/bill-dodd-71\">Sen. Bill Dodd\u003c/a>, would require that financial institutions delay transactions of more than $5,000 by at least three days if they “reasonably” suspect an elderly person is a victim of fraud. Banks would be required to train their employees to spot red flags, such as an unusually large and sudden transaction. Banks would also have to take steps to inform an elderly customer’s designated “emergency financial contact” or joint account holder — someone like Lin’s daughter — of a suspected fraudulent transaction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Elder financial abuse is everywhere,” \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/hearings/258022?t=121&f=7dc9917caa4e7bb92ead627b08f6354b\">Dodd told the banking committee\u003c/a>. “Losses exceed $23 billion annually. Once a senior falls prey to financial fraud, they may never recover.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd’s bill passed the Senate this spring with support from every prominent senior advocacy group in California, including the AARP. The measure originally faced intense opposition from the state’s banking and business lobbies, though they’ve since softened their stance after the bill was recently amended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The financial institutions cite worries that they’d be forced into defacto conservatorships that would give them too much control over an elderly customer’s finances. The restrictions would also limit how quickly customers get their cash for legitimate expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a concern shared by Roseville Republican Sen. Roger Niello who cast the lone “no” vote when the bill was before the Senate’s judiciary committee last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As the bill exists now, it seems to me we run the risk of more conflict between seniors and their financial institutions than we do limiting elder abuse,” \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/hearings/256703?t=1687&f=180fc26c33895f6e7f583c68bb5bac6c\">said Niello\u003c/a>, who used the opportunity to give Dodd, 68, a good-natured ribbing about his age.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want you to know you don’t look a day over 90,” said Niello, who is 76 and the third-oldest member of the Legislature.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodd told the Assembly committee that the bill has been amended to limit the liability banks could face “when they do the right thing to protect elderly people, their customers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11991146\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1568px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11991146\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/010324_CA-Senate_FG_CM_01-copy.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1568\" height=\"1045\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/010324_CA-Senate_FG_CM_01-copy.jpg 1568w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/010324_CA-Senate_FG_CM_01-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/010324_CA-Senate_FG_CM_01-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/010324_CA-Senate_FG_CM_01-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/010324_CA-Senate_FG_CM_01-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1568px) 100vw, 1568px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State Sen. Bill Dodd speaks during the first day of session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Jan. 3, 2024. \u003ccite>(Fred Greaves for CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That eased some of the concerns from the 13 financial and business groups, including the California Chamber of Commerce, that are listed as opponents to Dodd’s bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We think what’s in front of us right now, while it’s going to be a heavy lift for credit unions, the good outweighs the work that’s going to go in there,” Robert Wilson, a lobbyist with the California Credit Union League, \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/hearings/258022?t=879&f=7dc9917caa4e7bb92ead627b08f6354b\">told the banking committee\u003c/a> this week. “This is going to protect seniors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wilson and other bankers remain leery of how Dodd’s measure would be enforced — a matter that Dodd says will get cleared up by the time the bill reaches the Assembly Judiciary Committee next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>When a judge ruled recently that a controversial state housing law did not apply to a handful of southern California cities, Julie Testa saw it as an invitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/E100038299.pdf\">late April opinion\u003c/a> from Los Angeles County Judge Curtis Kin held that a 2021 \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB9\">state law \u003c/a>letting homeowners \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2021/08/california-housing-crisis-zoning-bill/\">split up their houses into as many as four separate units regardless of local zoning restrictions\u003c/a> had no effect in Redondo Beach, Carson, Torrance, Whittier or Del Mar. The reason: The five SoCal jurisdictions are “charter cities” — jurisdictions with their own municipal constitutions that grant them extra independence from state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Testa, the vice mayor of Pleasanton, wanted what Redondo Beach was having. She wanted to turn her bedroom community east of San Francisco Bay into a charter city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state Legislature has declared war on our cities,” Testa said. “We think that this is a turning of that tide.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since first winning local office in 2020, Testa has spent much of her short political career chafing against the \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/blog/california-housing-laws/\">spate of new state housing laws\u003c/a> that force local governments to automatically approve \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb423\">apartment buildings\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/04/duplex-housing-resistance/\">duplexes\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2023/11/adu-san-diego/\">backyard cottages\u003c/a>. She cobbled together a loose group of like-minded politicians under the banner of the California Alliance of Local Electeds. A few days after Kin’s ruling, the group’s weekly Zoom meeting saw near-record turnout, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Pleasanton is one of at least three California cities, all San Francisco Bay Area suburbs, that have taken the first step toward adopting a charter since the April ruling. Testa and three of her four city council colleagues \u003ca href=\"https://www.independentnews.com/news/pleasanton_news/city-to-pursue-the-protection-of-local-housing-control/article_9f31e6c8-136c-11ef-8552-db5b391922eb.html\">instructed city staff to look into making the transition\u003c/a> in mid-May. City councils in \u003ca href=\"https://contracosta.news/2024/06/12/brentwood-agrees-to-look-into-becoming-a-charter-city/amp/\">nearby Brentwood\u003c/a> and the hyper-affluent Silicon Valley \u003ca href=\"https://www.almanacnews.com/atherton/2024/06/07/atherton-considers-becoming-a-charter-city-to-restore-local-control/\">suburb of Atherton\u003c/a> followed suit this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Becoming a charter city — as roughly 120 of California’s 482 cities have done over the course of the state’s history — requires local voter approval. Before that, city officials have to actually write a charter, a comprehensive, technical governing document that covers everything from local election procedure to the dos and don’ts of municipal debt management. The three cities are probably kicking off that lengthy process too late for this November’s election, meaning that voters in the three cities won’t weigh in until at least 2026 — if at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will see a lot of irreversible consequences in that period of time, so I am disappointed, but I do believe that we must do what we can do to defend our constitutional right to local control,” Testa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jovita Mendoza, the Brentwood council member who is pushing the charter effort in her city, said housing policy isn’t her sole motivation. Charter cities have more flexibility over contracting and purchasing policies, election procedures and taxation. However, the recent ruling out of Los Angeles “definitely helped” provide fresh inspiration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brentwood’s council voted unanimously to begin the process last Tuesday. At a late evening hearing on the subject, Planning Commissioner Rod Flohr endorsed the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the public is still kind of unaware of how restricted we’ve become, almost to the point where it feels sometimes like the planning commission and city council can’t really do anything anymore,” he said. “This may be our only avenue to…keep working to make Brentwood the jewel of east county.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has ordered local governments to plan for an \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/03/03/state-plan-calls-for-2-5-million-new-homes-by-2030/\">additional 2.5 million new homes\u003c/a> through the end of the decade in an effort to bring down prices and rents. That’s part of a broader political shift in Sacramento as the governor, the attorney general and the Legislature have more aggressively promoted more housing, even over the objections of local elected officials and residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mendoza in Brentwood was one of the chief proponents of a proposed statewide ballot initiative that would have \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletter/california-legislature-session-representation/#wm-story-3\">allowed local governments to override state land use laws\u003c/a>. The measure failed to gather enough signatures for this year’s election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The April ruling opened up a new potential strategy. “If the charter cities win on appeal, I think you’re going to see it happening more and more,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On housing, the tie often goes to the state\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many legal experts are skeptical that the ruling will hold — and if it does, whether that would be the death blow to state land use authority that many local control advocates hope it will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=\"news_11984016,news_11981595,news_11970993\" label=\"Related Stories\"]“If I were looking to become a charter city in order to avoid (the state’s duplex law), I would not waste my time,” UC Davis law professor Darien Shanske said. “This decision will be overturned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the 1880s, California cities have come in two distinct flavors: “General law” cities, which have to govern themselves under rules set forth by the state Legislature, and charter cities, which the state constitution grants autonomy regarding “municipal affairs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unhelpfully, the constitution doesn’t actually specify what those “municipal affairs” are. That makes the precise scope of a charter city’s political autonomy from the state an uncertain and moving target that courts have had to address on a case-by-case basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990863\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990863\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26.jpg\" alt=\"A home under construction.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">New homes under construction in Pleasanton on June 16, 2024. The city of Pleasanton has voted to explore the possibility of becoming a charter city. \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As state lawmakers have unleashed a raft of pro-construction bills over the last decade, the courts have typically allowed them to apply to charter and general law cities alike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The courts generally have not been very receptive to charter city arguments given the housing crisis,” said Barbara Kautz, a land use attorney who regularly represents cities and counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kautz’s law firm, Goldfarb & Lipman, has represented Pleasanton, Brentwood and Atherton but is not doing so in their current quests to become charter cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The April ruling is a notable exception to the trend. But it’s also an exceedingly narrow one and not something on which to hang a legal revolution in land use policy, Kautz said. “As a long-term strategy to avoid (state housing law), I just don’t know if it would have any effect,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What the ruling does — and doesn’t — say\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California courts have generally let the Legislature steamroll local authorities, even in charter cities, if state lawmakers can prove that they are addressing a matter of “statewide concern” and that the bill they’re passing is narrowly tailored to address that concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2021 law itself specifies that the “statewide concern” in question is to ensure “access to affordable housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately for the state, “affordable housing” has multiple definitions. Affordable housing might refer to units that are legally required to be reserved for people making under a certain income with regulated rents or prices, sometimes called “deed-restricted affordable housing.” Or the term can simply refer to housing that’s cheap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his ruling, Kin concluded that the Legislature, in laying out its “statewide concern,” must have meant “affordable” in the first, deed-restricted sense. Because letting homeowners split their houses into duplexes “has, at best, an attenuated connection to affordable housing,” he wrote, the law wasn’t written narrowly enough to advance its stated goal and, therefore, doesn’t have the authority to trample over the rights of charter cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In short, the ruling dings the state duplex law because it didn’t justify its intent with the right term. UC Davis’ Shanske referred to the ruling jokingly as a “Simon didn’t say” legal test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kin has yet to submit a final judgment, which will clarify whether the ruling applies to just the five cities that sued or to every one of the \u003ca href=\"https://my.calcities.org/Directories/City-Directory?lawtype=2\">more than 100 charter cities\u003c/a> across California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What the ruling doesn’t say is that charter cities are exempt from the duplex law because the state fundamentally lacks the authority to regulate how homes can be divided up. Nor does it say that charter cities are exempt from state housing requirements in general, which would have been at odds with a slew of recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.ocregister.com/2023/03/30/huntington-beach-is-1-for-7-in-charter-city-fights/\">court\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/11/27/san-jose-other-charter-cities-cant-flout-state-housing-law-appellate-court-finds/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=tw-EastBayTimes&utm_source=twitter.com\">rulings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chris Elmendorf, one of Shanske’s colleagues at UC Davis School of Law who regularly \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/CSElmendorf/status/1783307005094224082\">opines on housing policy on social media\u003c/a>, called Kin’s conclusion “a weird, narrow decision that turns on a lawyerly sleight of hand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990862\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990862\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19.jpg\" alt=\"A residential street with cars parked in front of homes.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A residential street in Pleasanton on June 16, 2024. The city of Pleasanton has voted to explore the possibility of becoming a charter city. \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even some of those who welcomed the ruling as a victory for local control were \u003ca href=\"https://marinpost.org/blog/2024/4/26/a-win-is-win-but-keeping-it-in-perspective-is-important\">tempered in their enthusiasm\u003c/a>, if only because the ruling seemed to invite the Legislature to simply fix its wording with another bill. San Diego Democratic Sen. Toni Atkins, who authored the four-unit housing law, is working on a bill this year, \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb450?slug=CA_202320240SB450\">Senate Bill 450,\u003c/a> which aims to make it harder for local governments to obstruct the earlier duplex law by delaying approvals or imposing costly or unworkable \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/research-and-policy/state-law-local-interpretation-senate-bill-9/\">size, design and setback requirements\u003c/a>. An analysis last year by the UC Berkeley Terner Center found that the duplex law had \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-01-18/new-california-duplex-law-housing-sb9-homeowners\">resulted in precious little new housing\u003c/a>, partially due to such restrictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked whether Atkins plans to respond to Kin’s ruling with a legislative fix, the senator’s spokesperson, Meredith McNamee, said in a statement that the senator believes “some legislative clean-up” would improve the implementation of the law she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Justice Department, which represented the state in the Redondo Beach case, has already filed a notice of appeal.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "A recent court ruling exempted five charter cities from a controversial housing law. That’s given anti-density advocates across California an idea, while legal experts are skeptical that the ruling will hold. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>When a judge ruled recently that a controversial state housing law did not apply to a handful of southern California cities, Julie Testa saw it as an invitation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/E100038299.pdf\">late April opinion\u003c/a> from Los Angeles County Judge Curtis Kin held that a 2021 \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB9\">state law \u003c/a>letting homeowners \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2021/08/california-housing-crisis-zoning-bill/\">split up their houses into as many as four separate units regardless of local zoning restrictions\u003c/a> had no effect in Redondo Beach, Carson, Torrance, Whittier or Del Mar. The reason: The five SoCal jurisdictions are “charter cities” — jurisdictions with their own municipal constitutions that grant them extra independence from state law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Testa, the vice mayor of Pleasanton, wanted what Redondo Beach was having. She wanted to turn her bedroom community east of San Francisco Bay into a charter city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state Legislature has declared war on our cities,” Testa said. “We think that this is a turning of that tide.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since first winning local office in 2020, Testa has spent much of her short political career chafing against the \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/blog/california-housing-laws/\">spate of new state housing laws\u003c/a> that force local governments to automatically approve \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb423\">apartment buildings\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/04/duplex-housing-resistance/\">duplexes\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2023/11/adu-san-diego/\">backyard cottages\u003c/a>. She cobbled together a loose group of like-minded politicians under the banner of the California Alliance of Local Electeds. A few days after Kin’s ruling, the group’s weekly Zoom meeting saw near-record turnout, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now Pleasanton is one of at least three California cities, all San Francisco Bay Area suburbs, that have taken the first step toward adopting a charter since the April ruling. Testa and three of her four city council colleagues \u003ca href=\"https://www.independentnews.com/news/pleasanton_news/city-to-pursue-the-protection-of-local-housing-control/article_9f31e6c8-136c-11ef-8552-db5b391922eb.html\">instructed city staff to look into making the transition\u003c/a> in mid-May. City councils in \u003ca href=\"https://contracosta.news/2024/06/12/brentwood-agrees-to-look-into-becoming-a-charter-city/amp/\">nearby Brentwood\u003c/a> and the hyper-affluent Silicon Valley \u003ca href=\"https://www.almanacnews.com/atherton/2024/06/07/atherton-considers-becoming-a-charter-city-to-restore-local-control/\">suburb of Atherton\u003c/a> followed suit this month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Becoming a charter city — as roughly 120 of California’s 482 cities have done over the course of the state’s history — requires local voter approval. Before that, city officials have to actually write a charter, a comprehensive, technical governing document that covers everything from local election procedure to the dos and don’ts of municipal debt management. The three cities are probably kicking off that lengthy process too late for this November’s election, meaning that voters in the three cities won’t weigh in until at least 2026 — if at all.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will see a lot of irreversible consequences in that period of time, so I am disappointed, but I do believe that we must do what we can do to defend our constitutional right to local control,” Testa said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jovita Mendoza, the Brentwood council member who is pushing the charter effort in her city, said housing policy isn’t her sole motivation. Charter cities have more flexibility over contracting and purchasing policies, election procedures and taxation. However, the recent ruling out of Los Angeles “definitely helped” provide fresh inspiration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brentwood’s council voted unanimously to begin the process last Tuesday. At a late evening hearing on the subject, Planning Commissioner Rod Flohr endorsed the idea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most of the public is still kind of unaware of how restricted we’ve become, almost to the point where it feels sometimes like the planning commission and city council can’t really do anything anymore,” he said. “This may be our only avenue to…keep working to make Brentwood the jewel of east county.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration has ordered local governments to plan for an \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/03/03/state-plan-calls-for-2-5-million-new-homes-by-2030/\">additional 2.5 million new homes\u003c/a> through the end of the decade in an effort to bring down prices and rents. That’s part of a broader political shift in Sacramento as the governor, the attorney general and the Legislature have more aggressively promoted more housing, even over the objections of local elected officials and residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mendoza in Brentwood was one of the chief proponents of a proposed statewide ballot initiative that would have \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletter/california-legislature-session-representation/#wm-story-3\">allowed local governments to override state land use laws\u003c/a>. The measure failed to gather enough signatures for this year’s election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The April ruling opened up a new potential strategy. “If the charter cities win on appeal, I think you’re going to see it happening more and more,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On housing, the tie often goes to the state\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Many legal experts are skeptical that the ruling will hold — and if it does, whether that would be the death blow to state land use authority that many local control advocates hope it will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“If I were looking to become a charter city in order to avoid (the state’s duplex law), I would not waste my time,” UC Davis law professor Darien Shanske said. “This decision will be overturned.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since the 1880s, California cities have come in two distinct flavors: “General law” cities, which have to govern themselves under rules set forth by the state Legislature, and charter cities, which the state constitution grants autonomy regarding “municipal affairs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unhelpfully, the constitution doesn’t actually specify what those “municipal affairs” are. That makes the precise scope of a charter city’s political autonomy from the state an uncertain and moving target that courts have had to address on a case-by-case basis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990863\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990863\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26.jpg\" alt=\"A home under construction.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_26-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">New homes under construction in Pleasanton on June 16, 2024. The city of Pleasanton has voted to explore the possibility of becoming a charter city. \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As state lawmakers have unleashed a raft of pro-construction bills over the last decade, the courts have typically allowed them to apply to charter and general law cities alike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The courts generally have not been very receptive to charter city arguments given the housing crisis,” said Barbara Kautz, a land use attorney who regularly represents cities and counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kautz’s law firm, Goldfarb & Lipman, has represented Pleasanton, Brentwood and Atherton but is not doing so in their current quests to become charter cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The April ruling is a notable exception to the trend. But it’s also an exceedingly narrow one and not something on which to hang a legal revolution in land use policy, Kautz said. “As a long-term strategy to avoid (state housing law), I just don’t know if it would have any effect,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What the ruling does — and doesn’t — say\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California courts have generally let the Legislature steamroll local authorities, even in charter cities, if state lawmakers can prove that they are addressing a matter of “statewide concern” and that the bill they’re passing is narrowly tailored to address that concern.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 2021 law itself specifies that the “statewide concern” in question is to ensure “access to affordable housing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unfortunately for the state, “affordable housing” has multiple definitions. Affordable housing might refer to units that are legally required to be reserved for people making under a certain income with regulated rents or prices, sometimes called “deed-restricted affordable housing.” Or the term can simply refer to housing that’s cheap.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his ruling, Kin concluded that the Legislature, in laying out its “statewide concern,” must have meant “affordable” in the first, deed-restricted sense. Because letting homeowners split their houses into duplexes “has, at best, an attenuated connection to affordable housing,” he wrote, the law wasn’t written narrowly enough to advance its stated goal and, therefore, doesn’t have the authority to trample over the rights of charter cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In short, the ruling dings the state duplex law because it didn’t justify its intent with the right term. UC Davis’ Shanske referred to the ruling jokingly as a “Simon didn’t say” legal test.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kin has yet to submit a final judgment, which will clarify whether the ruling applies to just the five cities that sued or to every one of the \u003ca href=\"https://my.calcities.org/Directories/City-Directory?lawtype=2\">more than 100 charter cities\u003c/a> across California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What the ruling doesn’t say is that charter cities are exempt from the duplex law because the state fundamentally lacks the authority to regulate how homes can be divided up. Nor does it say that charter cities are exempt from state housing requirements in general, which would have been at odds with a slew of recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.ocregister.com/2023/03/30/huntington-beach-is-1-for-7-in-charter-city-fights/\">court\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2019/11/27/san-jose-other-charter-cities-cant-flout-state-housing-law-appellate-court-finds/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=tw-EastBayTimes&utm_source=twitter.com\">rulings\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chris Elmendorf, one of Shanske’s colleagues at UC Davis School of Law who regularly \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/CSElmendorf/status/1783307005094224082\">opines on housing policy on social media\u003c/a>, called Kin’s conclusion “a weird, narrow decision that turns on a lawyerly sleight of hand.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11990862\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11990862\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19.jpg\" alt=\"A residential street with cars parked in front of homes.\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/06/061624_Pleasanton_LE_CM_19-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A residential street in Pleasanton on June 16, 2024. The city of Pleasanton has voted to explore the possibility of becoming a charter city. \u003ccite>(Loren Elliott/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even some of those who welcomed the ruling as a victory for local control were \u003ca href=\"https://marinpost.org/blog/2024/4/26/a-win-is-win-but-keeping-it-in-perspective-is-important\">tempered in their enthusiasm\u003c/a>, if only because the ruling seemed to invite the Legislature to simply fix its wording with another bill. San Diego Democratic Sen. Toni Atkins, who authored the four-unit housing law, is working on a bill this year, \u003ca href=\"https://digitaldemocracy.calmatters.org/bills/ca_202320240sb450?slug=CA_202320240SB450\">Senate Bill 450,\u003c/a> which aims to make it harder for local governments to obstruct the earlier duplex law by delaying approvals or imposing costly or unworkable \u003ca href=\"https://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/research-and-policy/state-law-local-interpretation-senate-bill-9/\">size, design and setback requirements\u003c/a>. An analysis last year by the UC Berkeley Terner Center found that the duplex law had \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-01-18/new-california-duplex-law-housing-sb9-homeowners\">resulted in precious little new housing\u003c/a>, partially due to such restrictions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked whether Atkins plans to respond to Kin’s ruling with a legislative fix, the senator’s spokesperson, Meredith McNamee, said in a statement that the senator believes “some legislative clean-up” would improve the implementation of the law she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Justice Department, which represented the state in the Redondo Beach case, has already filed a notice of appeal.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"perspectives": {
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"planet-money": {
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
"airtime": "SUN 12am-1am, SAT 2pm-3pm",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 16
},
"link": "/podcasts/rightnowish",
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