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"content": "\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose administration is struggling to contain a worsening homelessness crisis despite \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-homeless-crisis-governor-gavin-newsom-political-future/\">record spending\u003c/a>, is trying something bold: tapping federal health care funding to cover rent for unhoused people and those at risk of losing their housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>States are barred from using federal Medicaid dollars to pay directly for rent, but California’s governor is asking the administration of President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, to authorize a new program called “\u003ca href=\"https://ebudget.ca.gov/2023-24/pdf/BudgetSummary/HealthandHumanServices.pdf\">transitional rent (PDF)\u003c/a>,” which would provide up to six months of rent or temporary housing for\u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/californias-massive-medicaid-program-works-for-some-but-fails-many-others/\"> enrollees with \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/californias-massive-medicaid-program-works-for-some-but-fails-many-others/\">lower incomes\u003c/a> who rely on the state’s health care safety net — a new initiative to fight and prevent homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been talking to the president. We cannot do this alone,” Newsom told California Healthline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor is pushing California’s version of Medicaid, called Medi-Cal, to fund experimental housing subsidies for people experiencing homelessness, betting that it’s cheaper for taxpayers to cover rent than to allow people to fall into crisis or costly institutional care in hospitals, nursing homes and jails. Early in his tenure, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/02/19/governor-newsom-delivers-state-of-the-state-address-on-homelessness/\">Newsom proclaimed\u003c/a> that “doctors should be able to write prescriptions for housing the same way they do for insulin or antibiotics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s a risky endeavor in a high-cost state where \u003ca href=\"https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/ca/\">median rent is nearly $3,000 a month\u003c/a>, and even higher in coastal regions, where most of California’s unhoused people reside. Experts expect the Biden administration to scrutinize the plan to use health care money to pay rent, and also question its potential effectiveness in light of the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/10/newsom-california-housing-crisis/\">housing crisis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of the question is whether this is really Medicaid’s job,” said \u003ca href=\"https://counciloncj.org/vikki-wachino/\">Vikki Wachino\u003c/a>, who served as national Medicaid director in the Obama administration. “But there is a recognition that social factors like inadequate housing are driving health outcomes, and I think the federal government is open to developing approaches to try and address that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bruce Alexander, spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, declined to say whether the federal government would approve California’s request. Yet, Biden’s Medicaid officials have approved similar experimental programs in \u003ca href=\"https://www.oregon.gov/oha/HSD/Medicaid-Policy/Pages/Changes.aspx\">Oregon\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/10/14/hhs-approves-arizonas-medicaid-interventions-target-health-related-social-needs.html\">Arizona\u003c/a>, and California is modeling its program after them.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11934623,news_11932895,news_11927968\"]\u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/homeless-populations-are-rising-around-california/#:~:text=As%20of%202022%2C%2030%25%20of,of%20the%20nation's%20homeless%20population\">California is home to an estimated 30% of unhoused people in the U.S.\u003c/a>, despite representing just 12% of the country’s overall population. And Newsom has acknowledged that the numbers are likely far greater than official homelessness tallies show. Top health officials say that, to contain soaring safety-net spending and to help unhoused people get healthy, Medi-Cal has no choice but to combine social services with housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Statewide, 5% of Medi-Cal patients account for a staggering 44% of the program’s spending, according to state data. And many of the costliest patients lack stable housing: Nearly half of patients experiencing homelessness visited the emergency room four times or more in 2019 and were more likely than other adults with lower incomes to be admitted to the hospital, and a large majority of visits were covered by Medi-Cal, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/how-hospital-discharge-data-can-inform-state-homelessness-policy/\">according to the Public Policy Institute of California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we have today doesn’t work,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.chhs.ca.gov/about/#secretary\">Dr. Mark Ghaly\u003c/a>, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, explaining his argument that housing is a critical component of health care. “Why do we have to wait so long for people to be so sick?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government has already approved \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-medicaid-makeover-newsom-california-medi-cal-homeless-public-funds/\">a massive social experiment in California\u003c/a>, known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/calaim\">CalAIM\u003c/a>, which is transforming Medi-Cal. Over five years, the initiative is expected to pour $12 billion into new Medi-Cal services delivered outside of traditional health care. In communities across the state, it is already funding services for some patients with lower income, including paying rental security deposits for unhoused people and those facing eviction; \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-medicaid-medically-tailored-meal-delivery-experiment/\">delivering prepared healthy meals\u003c/a> for people with diabetes; and helping formerly incarcerated people find jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transitional rent program would add another service to \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/Documents/MCQMD/Community-Supports-Elections-by-MCP-and-County.pdf\">those already available (PDF)\u003c/a>, though \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-governor-newsom-pricey-medicaid-reforms-leave-most-patients-behind/\">only a sliver of the 15.4 million Medi-Cal enrollees\u003c/a> actually receive those new and expensive social services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rent payments could begin as soon as 2025 and cost roughly $117 million per year once fully implemented. And while state officials say anyone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless would be eligible, not everyone who qualifies will receive new services due to capacity limits. Among those who stand to benefit are nearly 11,000 people already enrolled in \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/CalAIM/Documents/CalAIM-HHI-a11y.pdf\">Medi-Cal housing services (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ongoing conversation is how do we convince the federal government that housing is a health care issue,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.sellersdorsey.com/team-member/cantwell-mari/\">Mari Cantwell\u003c/a>, who served as Medi-Cal director from 2015 to 2020. “You have to convince them that you’re going to save money because you’re not going to have as many people showing up at the emergency room and in long-term hospitalizations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health care experiments in California and around the country that funded housing supports have demonstrated early success in reducing costs and making people healthier. But while some programs paid for housing security deposits or participants’ first month of rent, none directly covered rent for an extended period.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Vikki Wachino, former national director, Medicaid\"]‘Part of the question is whether this is really Medicaid’s job. But there is a recognition that social factors like inadequate housing are driving health outcomes, and I think the federal government is open to developing approaches to try and address that.’[/pullquote]“Without that foundational support, we are playing in the margins,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State health officials argue that paying for six months of rent will be even more successful at reducing health care costs and improving enrollees’ health, but experts say that, to work, the initiative must have strict accountability and be bundled with an array of social services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a precursor to the state’s current initiative, California experimented with a mix of housing assistance programs and social services through its “\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-health-8e353e5539ce36c9068a78f6ee7baeb7\">Whole Person Care\u003c/a>” pilot program. \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/about/staff/pages/detail.aspx?StaffID=94\">Nadereh Pourat\u003c/a>, of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/publications/search/pages/detail.aspx?PubID=2385\">evaluated the program\u003c/a> for the state concluding that local trials reduced emergency visits and hospitalizations, saving an average of $383 per Medi-Cal beneficiary per year — a meager amount compared with the program’s cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over five years, the state spent \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/publications/Documents/PDF/2023/Final-Evaluation-of-CA-Whole-Person-Care-Report.pdf#page=31\">$3.6 billion (PDF)\u003c/a> serving about 250,000 patients enrolled in \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/Pages/WholePersonCarePilots.aspx\">local experiments\u003c/a>, Pourat said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32976633/\">a randomized control trial\u003c/a> in Santa Clara County that provided supportive housing for unhoused people showed reductions in psychiatric emergency room visits and improvements in care. “Lives stabilized and we saw a huge uptick in substance-use care and mental health care, the things that everybody wants people to use to get healthier,” said \u003ca href=\"https://profiles.ucsf.edu/margot.kushel\">Dr. Margot Kushel\u003c/a>, director of the University of California-San Francisco’s Center for Vulnerable Populations at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, who worked on the study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But insurers implementing the broader Medi-Cal initiative say they are skeptical that spending health care money on housing will save the system money. And health care experts say that, while six months of rent can be a bridge while people wait for permanent housing, there’s a bigger obstacle: California’s affordable-housing shortage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can design incredible Medicaid policies to alleviate homelessness and pay for all the necessary supportive services, but without the adequate housing, frankly, it’s not going to work,” Kushel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom acknowledges that criticism. “The crisis of homelessness will never be solved without first solving the crisis of housing,” he said last week, arguing California should plow more money into housing for homeless people with severe mental health conditions or addiction disorders.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Dr. Margot Kushel, UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations director, ZSFGH\"]‘We can design incredible Medicaid policies to alleviate homelessness and pay for all the necessary supportive services, but without the adequate housing, frankly, it’s not going to work.’[/pullquote]He will ask the legislature to put before voters a \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-19/newsom-mental-health-housing-bond-measure-services-counties-substance-use-treatment\">2024 ballot initiative\u003c/a> that would infuse California’s mental health system with at least 6,000 new treatment beds and supportive housing units for people struggling with mental health and addiction disorders, \u003ca href=\"https://capitolweekly.net/newsom-takes-another-swing-at-getting-mentally-ill-homeless-off-the-streets/\">many of whom are experiencing homelessness\u003c/a>. The proposed bond measure would generate from $3 billion to $5 billion for psychiatric housing and treatment villages aimed at serving more than 10,000 additional people a year. The initiative also would ask voters to set aside at least $1 billion a year for supportive housing from an \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/MH/Pages/MH_Prop63.aspx\">existing tax on California millionaires\u003c/a> that funds local mental health programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People who are struggling with these issues, especially those who are on the streets or in other vulnerable conditions, will have more resources to get the help they need,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For transitional rent, six months of payments would be available for select high-need residents enrolled in Medi-Cal, particularly those who are unhoused or at risk of becoming unhoused — and those transitioning from more costly institutions such as mental health crisis centers, jails and prisons, and foster care. Medi-Cal patients at risk of inpatient hospitalization or who frequent the emergency room would also be eligible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a pretty big challenge; I’m not going to lie,” said \u003ca href=\"https://conference.healthmanagement.com/jacey-cooper/\">Jacey Cooper\u003c/a>, the Medi-Cal director. “But we know that people experiencing homelessness cycle in and out of emergency rooms, so we have a real role to play in both preventing and ending homelessness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public health experts say the \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-homeless-crisis-governor-gavin-newsom-political-future/\">problem will continue to explode\u003c/a> without creative thinking about how to fund housing in health care, but they warn the state must be wary of potential abuses of the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has to be designed carefully because, unfortunately, there are always people looking to game the system,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.calendow.org/leadership/\">Dr. Tony Iton\u003c/a>, a public health expert who is now a senior vice president at the California Endowment. “Decisions must be made by clinicians — not housing organizations just looking for another source of revenue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Stephen Morton, who lives in the Orange County community of Laguna Woods, the journey from homelessness into permanent housing illustrates the amount of public spending it can take for the effort to pay off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944656\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11944656\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A white middle aged man combs his hair in front of a mirror in a bedroom with a lamp, a speaker, a bottle of eau de toilette anfd a box with a card on a dresser in front of the mirror.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephen Morton, who lived in shelters and sometimes in his car for almost 2 years before finding permanent housing, receives weekly deliveries of medically tailored meals as part of a Medi-Cal initiative. Since getting his apartment, Morton says he’s been able to stop taking one diabetes medication and lose weight. \u003ccite>(Heidi de Marco/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Morton, 60, bounced between shelters and his car for nearly two years and racked up extraordinary Medi-Cal costs due to prolonged hospitalizations and repeated emergency room trips to treat chronic heart disease, asthma and diabetes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Medi-Cal covered Morton’s open-heart surgery and hospital stays, which lasted weeks. He landed temporary housing through a state-sponsored program called \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/cdss-programs/housing-programs/project-roomkey\">Project Roomkey\u003c/a> before getting permanent housing through a federal low-income housing voucher — an ongoing benefit that covers all but $50 of his rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since getting his apartment, Morton said, he’s been able to stop taking one diabetes medication and lose weight. He attributes improvements in his blood sugar levels to his housing and the healthy, home-delivered meals he receives via Medi-Cal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s usually scrambled eggs for breakfast and the fish menu for dinner. I’m shocked it’s so good,” Morton said. “Now I have a microwave and I’m indoors. I’m so grateful and so much healthier.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>California Healthline is a service of the California Health Care Foundation produced by Kaiser Health News.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California's bold new 'transitional rent' plan would save costs from frequent ER visits and lengthy hospital stays for Medi-Cal patients, but Newsom needs to convince Biden, saying, 'We cannot do this alone,' and lack of affordable housing across the state remains a concern.",
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"title": "Gov. Newsom's Prescription Housing Plan Would Cover 6 Months' Rent Through Medi-Cal | KQED",
"description": "California's bold new 'transitional rent' plan would save costs from frequent ER visits and lengthy hospital stays for Medi-Cal patients, but Newsom needs to convince Biden, saying, 'We cannot do this alone,' and lack of affordable housing across the state remains a concern.",
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"headline": "Gov. Newsom's Prescription Housing Plan Would Cover 6 Months' Rent Through Medi-Cal",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose administration is struggling to contain a worsening homelessness crisis despite \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-homeless-crisis-governor-gavin-newsom-political-future/\">record spending\u003c/a>, is trying something bold: tapping federal health care funding to cover rent for unhoused people and those at risk of losing their housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>States are barred from using federal Medicaid dollars to pay directly for rent, but California’s governor is asking the administration of President Joe Biden, a fellow Democrat, to authorize a new program called “\u003ca href=\"https://ebudget.ca.gov/2023-24/pdf/BudgetSummary/HealthandHumanServices.pdf\">transitional rent (PDF)\u003c/a>,” which would provide up to six months of rent or temporary housing for\u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/californias-massive-medicaid-program-works-for-some-but-fails-many-others/\"> enrollees with \u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/californias-massive-medicaid-program-works-for-some-but-fails-many-others/\">lower incomes\u003c/a> who rely on the state’s health care safety net — a new initiative to fight and prevent homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been talking to the president. We cannot do this alone,” Newsom told California Healthline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor is pushing California’s version of Medicaid, called Medi-Cal, to fund experimental housing subsidies for people experiencing homelessness, betting that it’s cheaper for taxpayers to cover rent than to allow people to fall into crisis or costly institutional care in hospitals, nursing homes and jails. Early in his tenure, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2020/02/19/governor-newsom-delivers-state-of-the-state-address-on-homelessness/\">Newsom proclaimed\u003c/a> that “doctors should be able to write prescriptions for housing the same way they do for insulin or antibiotics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s a risky endeavor in a high-cost state where \u003ca href=\"https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/ca/\">median rent is nearly $3,000 a month\u003c/a>, and even higher in coastal regions, where most of California’s unhoused people reside. Experts expect the Biden administration to scrutinize the plan to use health care money to pay rent, and also question its potential effectiveness in light of the state’s \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/10/newsom-california-housing-crisis/\">housing crisis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Part of the question is whether this is really Medicaid’s job,” said \u003ca href=\"https://counciloncj.org/vikki-wachino/\">Vikki Wachino\u003c/a>, who served as national Medicaid director in the Obama administration. “But there is a recognition that social factors like inadequate housing are driving health outcomes, and I think the federal government is open to developing approaches to try and address that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bruce Alexander, spokesperson for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, declined to say whether the federal government would approve California’s request. Yet, Biden’s Medicaid officials have approved similar experimental programs in \u003ca href=\"https://www.oregon.gov/oha/HSD/Medicaid-Policy/Pages/Changes.aspx\">Oregon\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/10/14/hhs-approves-arizonas-medicaid-interventions-target-health-related-social-needs.html\">Arizona\u003c/a>, and California is modeling its program after them.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/homeless-populations-are-rising-around-california/#:~:text=As%20of%202022%2C%2030%25%20of,of%20the%20nation's%20homeless%20population\">California is home to an estimated 30% of unhoused people in the U.S.\u003c/a>, despite representing just 12% of the country’s overall population. And Newsom has acknowledged that the numbers are likely far greater than official homelessness tallies show. Top health officials say that, to contain soaring safety-net spending and to help unhoused people get healthy, Medi-Cal has no choice but to combine social services with housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Statewide, 5% of Medi-Cal patients account for a staggering 44% of the program’s spending, according to state data. And many of the costliest patients lack stable housing: Nearly half of patients experiencing homelessness visited the emergency room four times or more in 2019 and were more likely than other adults with lower incomes to be admitted to the hospital, and a large majority of visits were covered by Medi-Cal, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/how-hospital-discharge-data-can-inform-state-homelessness-policy/\">according to the Public Policy Institute of California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What we have today doesn’t work,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.chhs.ca.gov/about/#secretary\">Dr. Mark Ghaly\u003c/a>, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, explaining his argument that housing is a critical component of health care. “Why do we have to wait so long for people to be so sick?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal government has already approved \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-medicaid-makeover-newsom-california-medi-cal-homeless-public-funds/\">a massive social experiment in California\u003c/a>, known as \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/calaim\">CalAIM\u003c/a>, which is transforming Medi-Cal. Over five years, the initiative is expected to pour $12 billion into new Medi-Cal services delivered outside of traditional health care. In communities across the state, it is already funding services for some patients with lower income, including paying rental security deposits for unhoused people and those facing eviction; \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-medicaid-medically-tailored-meal-delivery-experiment/\">delivering prepared healthy meals\u003c/a> for people with diabetes; and helping formerly incarcerated people find jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transitional rent program would add another service to \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/Documents/MCQMD/Community-Supports-Elections-by-MCP-and-County.pdf\">those already available (PDF)\u003c/a>, though \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-governor-newsom-pricey-medicaid-reforms-leave-most-patients-behind/\">only a sliver of the 15.4 million Medi-Cal enrollees\u003c/a> actually receive those new and expensive social services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rent payments could begin as soon as 2025 and cost roughly $117 million per year once fully implemented. And while state officials say anyone who is homeless or at risk of becoming homeless would be eligible, not everyone who qualifies will receive new services due to capacity limits. Among those who stand to benefit are nearly 11,000 people already enrolled in \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/CalAIM/Documents/CalAIM-HHI-a11y.pdf\">Medi-Cal housing services (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The ongoing conversation is how do we convince the federal government that housing is a health care issue,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.sellersdorsey.com/team-member/cantwell-mari/\">Mari Cantwell\u003c/a>, who served as Medi-Cal director from 2015 to 2020. “You have to convince them that you’re going to save money because you’re not going to have as many people showing up at the emergency room and in long-term hospitalizations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Health care experiments in California and around the country that funded housing supports have demonstrated early success in reducing costs and making people healthier. But while some programs paid for housing security deposits or participants’ first month of rent, none directly covered rent for an extended period.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘Part of the question is whether this is really Medicaid’s job. But there is a recognition that social factors like inadequate housing are driving health outcomes, and I think the federal government is open to developing approaches to try and address that.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Without that foundational support, we are playing in the margins,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State health officials argue that paying for six months of rent will be even more successful at reducing health care costs and improving enrollees’ health, but experts say that, to work, the initiative must have strict accountability and be bundled with an array of social services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a precursor to the state’s current initiative, California experimented with a mix of housing assistance programs and social services through its “\u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-health-8e353e5539ce36c9068a78f6ee7baeb7\">Whole Person Care\u003c/a>” pilot program. \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/about/staff/pages/detail.aspx?StaffID=94\">Nadereh Pourat\u003c/a>, of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/publications/search/pages/detail.aspx?PubID=2385\">evaluated the program\u003c/a> for the state concluding that local trials reduced emergency visits and hospitalizations, saving an average of $383 per Medi-Cal beneficiary per year — a meager amount compared with the program’s cost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over five years, the state spent \u003ca href=\"https://healthpolicy.ucla.edu/publications/Documents/PDF/2023/Final-Evaluation-of-CA-Whole-Person-Care-Report.pdf#page=31\">$3.6 billion (PDF)\u003c/a> serving about 250,000 patients enrolled in \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/Pages/WholePersonCarePilots.aspx\">local experiments\u003c/a>, Pourat said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And \u003ca href=\"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32976633/\">a randomized control trial\u003c/a> in Santa Clara County that provided supportive housing for unhoused people showed reductions in psychiatric emergency room visits and improvements in care. “Lives stabilized and we saw a huge uptick in substance-use care and mental health care, the things that everybody wants people to use to get healthier,” said \u003ca href=\"https://profiles.ucsf.edu/margot.kushel\">Dr. Margot Kushel\u003c/a>, director of the University of California-San Francisco’s Center for Vulnerable Populations at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, who worked on the study.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But insurers implementing the broader Medi-Cal initiative say they are skeptical that spending health care money on housing will save the system money. And health care experts say that, while six months of rent can be a bridge while people wait for permanent housing, there’s a bigger obstacle: California’s affordable-housing shortage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can design incredible Medicaid policies to alleviate homelessness and pay for all the necessary supportive services, but without the adequate housing, frankly, it’s not going to work,” Kushel said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom acknowledges that criticism. “The crisis of homelessness will never be solved without first solving the crisis of housing,” he said last week, arguing California should plow more money into housing for homeless people with severe mental health conditions or addiction disorders.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘We can design incredible Medicaid policies to alleviate homelessness and pay for all the necessary supportive services, but without the adequate housing, frankly, it’s not going to work.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>He will ask the legislature to put before voters a \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-19/newsom-mental-health-housing-bond-measure-services-counties-substance-use-treatment\">2024 ballot initiative\u003c/a> that would infuse California’s mental health system with at least 6,000 new treatment beds and supportive housing units for people struggling with mental health and addiction disorders, \u003ca href=\"https://capitolweekly.net/newsom-takes-another-swing-at-getting-mentally-ill-homeless-off-the-streets/\">many of whom are experiencing homelessness\u003c/a>. The proposed bond measure would generate from $3 billion to $5 billion for psychiatric housing and treatment villages aimed at serving more than 10,000 additional people a year. The initiative also would ask voters to set aside at least $1 billion a year for supportive housing from an \u003ca href=\"https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/MH/Pages/MH_Prop63.aspx\">existing tax on California millionaires\u003c/a> that funds local mental health programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People who are struggling with these issues, especially those who are on the streets or in other vulnerable conditions, will have more resources to get the help they need,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For transitional rent, six months of payments would be available for select high-need residents enrolled in Medi-Cal, particularly those who are unhoused or at risk of becoming unhoused — and those transitioning from more costly institutions such as mental health crisis centers, jails and prisons, and foster care. Medi-Cal patients at risk of inpatient hospitalization or who frequent the emergency room would also be eligible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a pretty big challenge; I’m not going to lie,” said \u003ca href=\"https://conference.healthmanagement.com/jacey-cooper/\">Jacey Cooper\u003c/a>, the Medi-Cal director. “But we know that people experiencing homelessness cycle in and out of emergency rooms, so we have a real role to play in both preventing and ending homelessness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Public health experts say the \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-homeless-crisis-governor-gavin-newsom-political-future/\">problem will continue to explode\u003c/a> without creative thinking about how to fund housing in health care, but they warn the state must be wary of potential abuses of the program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has to be designed carefully because, unfortunately, there are always people looking to game the system,” said \u003ca href=\"https://www.calendow.org/leadership/\">Dr. Tony Iton\u003c/a>, a public health expert who is now a senior vice president at the California Endowment. “Decisions must be made by clinicians — not housing organizations just looking for another source of revenue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Stephen Morton, who lives in the Orange County community of Laguna Woods, the journey from homelessness into permanent housing illustrates the amount of public spending it can take for the effort to pay off.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944656\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11944656\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"A white middle aged man combs his hair in front of a mirror in a bedroom with a lamp, a speaker, a bottle of eau de toilette anfd a box with a card on a dresser in front of the mirror.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy-1920x1280.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/stephen_morton-6-resized-copy.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stephen Morton, who lived in shelters and sometimes in his car for almost 2 years before finding permanent housing, receives weekly deliveries of medically tailored meals as part of a Medi-Cal initiative. Since getting his apartment, Morton says he’s been able to stop taking one diabetes medication and lose weight. \u003ccite>(Heidi de Marco/KHN)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Morton, 60, bounced between shelters and his car for nearly two years and racked up extraordinary Medi-Cal costs due to prolonged hospitalizations and repeated emergency room trips to treat chronic heart disease, asthma and diabetes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Medi-Cal covered Morton’s open-heart surgery and hospital stays, which lasted weeks. He landed temporary housing through a state-sponsored program called \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/cdss-programs/housing-programs/project-roomkey\">Project Roomkey\u003c/a> before getting permanent housing through a federal low-income housing voucher — an ongoing benefit that covers all but $50 of his rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since getting his apartment, Morton said, he’s been able to stop taking one diabetes medication and lose weight. He attributes improvements in his blood sugar levels to his housing and the healthy, home-delivered meals he receives via Medi-Cal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s usually scrambled eggs for breakfast and the fish menu for dinner. I’m shocked it’s so good,” Morton said. “Now I have a microwave and I’m indoors. I’m so grateful and so much healthier.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>California Healthline is a service of the California Health Care Foundation produced by Kaiser Health News.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>With the Sierra Nevada smothered in snow, large swaths of the Central Valley flooded and many Californians weary of water, state officials announced today that they are lifting some drought-related provisions on water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our water supply conditions have improved markedly,” said Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state is rescinding its request for voluntary 15% water conservation statewide, which was issued in July 2021 and instead, Crowfoot said, shifting to an approach of making conservation a “way of life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to maintain our vigilance,” he said. “It’s not about going back to normal anymore. It’s really adjusting to a new normal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the state’s emergency provisions were ended and some were left in place. Wasteful uses of water, such as hosing down sidewalks and watering ornamental grass on commercial property, remain banned, according to state officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state, however, is ending its requirement that local water agencies implement \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/press_room/press_releases/2022/pr05242022-conservation-emergency-regulations.pdf#:~:text=Level%202%20water%20shortage%20contingency%20plans%20are%20meant,Level%202%20actions%20often%20include%20things%20such%20as%3A\">Level 2 drought contingency plans\u003c/a>, which are locally written water use regulations — such as limits on watering lawns — that are invoked during water shortages.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Heather Cooley, director of research, Pacific Institute\"]‘The reality is we don’t have water to waste in California. We need to continue investing in water efficiency to prepare for a hotter, drier future and more intense droughts.’[/pullquote]In total, 81 drought-related provisions were enacted since April 2021. Just 33 remain in place, said Gov. Gavin Newsom at a press briefing today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials also announced today a large increase in the amounts of water that local suppliers will get from the State Water Project, increasing from 35% announced last month to 75% of requested supplies. The water is provided to 750,000 acres of farmland and 27 million people, mostly in Southern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcements come as some of the state’s reservoirs near capacity, with some of the state’s largest expected to fill by late spring. And the snowpack of the Sierra Nevada, nearing record levels in the southern portion of the range, continues to grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\">issued his voluntary conservation target\u003c/a> almost two years ago\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/03/newsom-imposes-new-california-water-restrictions-leaves-details-to-locals/\">,\u003c/a> many water experts said he should have made it mandatory, as former Gov. Jerry Brown did during the previous drought. They also criticized him for failing to reduce use by farmers, who consume 80% of the state’s delivered water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials say even though the 15% target was voluntary, it worked. However, the data does not back that up: Californians \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-drought-monitor/\">used 6% less water from July 2021 through December 2022 compared to 2020 \u003c/a>— falling far short of Newsom’s 15% goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heather Cooley, director of research at the Pacific Institute, an Oakland water supply think tank, said California must not relax its ethos of water conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In spite of wet weather, the state’s largest water supply — its groundwater basins — remain depleted.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"science_1981943,news_11931467,news_11929864\"]“Even though reservoirs are recovering, groundwater aquifers remain depleted. The Colorado River — a major water source for Southern California — is also facing a massive deficit,” Cooley said. “The reality is we don’t have water to waste in California. We need to continue investing in water efficiency to prepare for a hotter, drier future and more intense droughts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mike McNutt, spokesperson for the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District in Los Angeles County, said the retraction of the conservation target “sends the wrong message” to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why put out messaging that says something different, that says, ‘You can conserve if you want to, but you don’t need to’?” said McNutt, whose district serving 75,000 people is totally reliant on water from the state aqueduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The next drought is certainly just around the corner,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians did cut their average water use by 600,000 acre-feet in almost two years\u003cem>. \u003c/em>That’s almost two-thirds the volume of Folsom Reservoir and enough water to serve 1.2 million households in a year.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Wade Crowfoot, secretary, California Natural Resources Agency\"]‘We need to maintain our vigilance. It’s not about going back to normal anymore. It’s really adjusting to a new normal.’[/pullquote]Crowfoot stressed that the drought is not over, noting that drought status “is not a completely binary situation.” In some parts of the state, drought conditions have dramatically eased, but not in others. Crowfoot said the Klamath River basin and the region of Southern California that relies on Colorado River water continue to face “acute water shortages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thousands of households lack drinking water due to depleted groundwater basins, which have been overdrafted for decades, and experts agree they \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/02/california-depleted-groundwater-storms/\">will not rebound in a single rainy winter.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, said the hope is that cities “are not just rebounding” to old ways of water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Conservation remains a priority,” Crowfoot agreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Anderson, climatologist with the California Department of Water Resources, said snowpack is at 278% of normal, with another storm system expected to hit the North Coast and move inland and south from there starting Monday. The system, he said, will deliver a relatively cold storm originating in the Gulf of Alaska, unlike some recent blasts of tropical moisture. This means it will drop more snow in the mountains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not massive accumulations, but could be locally heavy,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>With the Sierra Nevada smothered in snow, large swaths of the Central Valley flooded and many Californians weary of water, state officials announced today that they are lifting some drought-related provisions on water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our water supply conditions have improved markedly,” said Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state is rescinding its request for voluntary 15% water conservation statewide, which was issued in July 2021 and instead, Crowfoot said, shifting to an approach of making conservation a “way of life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to maintain our vigilance,” he said. “It’s not about going back to normal anymore. It’s really adjusting to a new normal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of the state’s emergency provisions were ended and some were left in place. Wasteful uses of water, such as hosing down sidewalks and watering ornamental grass on commercial property, remain banned, according to state officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state, however, is ending its requirement that local water agencies implement \u003ca href=\"https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/press_room/press_releases/2022/pr05242022-conservation-emergency-regulations.pdf#:~:text=Level%202%20water%20shortage%20contingency%20plans%20are%20meant,Level%202%20actions%20often%20include%20things%20such%20as%3A\">Level 2 drought contingency plans\u003c/a>, which are locally written water use regulations — such as limits on watering lawns — that are invoked during water shortages.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In total, 81 drought-related provisions were enacted since April 2021. Just 33 remain in place, said Gov. Gavin Newsom at a press briefing today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials also announced today a large increase in the amounts of water that local suppliers will get from the State Water Project, increasing from 35% announced last month to 75% of requested supplies. The water is provided to 750,000 acres of farmland and 27 million people, mostly in Southern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcements come as some of the state’s reservoirs near capacity, with some of the state’s largest expected to fill by late spring. And the snowpack of the Sierra Nevada, nearing record levels in the southern portion of the range, continues to grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2021/07/california-water-use-drought/\">issued his voluntary conservation target\u003c/a> almost two years ago\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/2022/03/newsom-imposes-new-california-water-restrictions-leaves-details-to-locals/\">,\u003c/a> many water experts said he should have made it mandatory, as former Gov. Jerry Brown did during the previous drought. They also criticized him for failing to reduce use by farmers, who consume 80% of the state’s delivered water supply.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State officials say even though the 15% target was voluntary, it worked. However, the data does not back that up: Californians \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-drought-monitor/\">used 6% less water from July 2021 through December 2022 compared to 2020 \u003c/a>— falling far short of Newsom’s 15% goal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heather Cooley, director of research at the Pacific Institute, an Oakland water supply think tank, said California must not relax its ethos of water conservation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In spite of wet weather, the state’s largest water supply — its groundwater basins — remain depleted.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Even though reservoirs are recovering, groundwater aquifers remain depleted. The Colorado River — a major water source for Southern California — is also facing a massive deficit,” Cooley said. “The reality is we don’t have water to waste in California. We need to continue investing in water efficiency to prepare for a hotter, drier future and more intense droughts.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mike McNutt, spokesperson for the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District in Los Angeles County, said the retraction of the conservation target “sends the wrong message” to the public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why put out messaging that says something different, that says, ‘You can conserve if you want to, but you don’t need to’?” said McNutt, whose district serving 75,000 people is totally reliant on water from the state aqueduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The next drought is certainly just around the corner,” he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Californians did cut their average water use by 600,000 acre-feet in almost two years\u003cem>. \u003c/em>That’s almost two-thirds the volume of Folsom Reservoir and enough water to serve 1.2 million households in a year.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Crowfoot stressed that the drought is not over, noting that drought status “is not a completely binary situation.” In some parts of the state, drought conditions have dramatically eased, but not in others. Crowfoot said the Klamath River basin and the region of Southern California that relies on Colorado River water continue to face “acute water shortages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thousands of households lack drinking water due to depleted groundwater basins, which have been overdrafted for decades, and experts agree they \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/environment/water/2023/02/california-depleted-groundwater-storms/\">will not rebound in a single rainy winter.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Joaquin Esquivel, chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, said the hope is that cities “are not just rebounding” to old ways of water use.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Conservation remains a priority,” Crowfoot agreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Michael Anderson, climatologist with the California Department of Water Resources, said snowpack is at 278% of normal, with another storm system expected to hit the North Coast and move inland and south from there starting Monday. The system, he said, will deliver a relatively cold storm originating in the Gulf of Alaska, unlike some recent blasts of tropical moisture. This means it will drop more snow in the mountains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Not massive accumulations, but could be locally heavy,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A first-in-the-nation bill to punish oil companies for profiting from price spikes at the pump breezed through the California Senate on Thursday at the urging of Gov. Gavin Newsom, the first major vote in an effort to pass the law by month’s end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal is in response to sales last summer, when the average price of a gallon of gasoline in California soared to a record high of $6.44. Drivers in some places paid as much as $8 per gallon, prompting widespread outrage in an election year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom, seen as a possible presidential candidate beyond 2024, reacted by attacking the oil industry, specifically the five companies that provide 97% of gasoline in the state. He asked the Democrat-controlled Legislature to pass a new tax on oil company profits, arguing it would protect consumers by preventing price spikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11940489 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/GettyImages-1076622970-1-1020x765.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That idea went nowhere in the Legislature, as lawmakers feared it would create chaos in the petroleum market and cause companies to make less gasoline, thus increasing prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, lawmakers and Newsom settled on a bill that would let the California Energy Commission decide whether to impose civil penalties on oil companies for price gouging. The commission — a five-member panel appointed by the governor with the consent of the Senate — would rely on information from a new state agency that would have the power to monitor the market, including forcing companies to disclose financial information and having the power to subpoena oil executives to testify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a committee hearing on Wednesday, Newsom adviser Lauren Sanchez said California needs to have subpoena power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to make sure that we have better data on inventories, on production levels, on imports and exports of fuel,” she said. “The state doesn’t have a real-time picture of what is driving those supply issues.”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley)\"]‘It is our role to protect our residents from any practices of any business that may harm them.’[/pullquote]The bill requires the state auditor to investigate the program in 10 years to find out whether it is working to reduce gas prices. If it’s not, the auditor can order the program to shut down — but lawmakers will have six months to review that decision and reverse it if they choose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is our role to protect our residents from any practices of any business that may harm them,” said state Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat from Berkeley and author of the bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill highlights the challenges of balancing the competing pressures of protecting consumers at the pump while at the same time pushing policies to end the state’s reliance on fossil fuels. \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-technology-pollution-carbon-neutrality-d89c04fe08f09863eba5342b123c787d\">California’s climate strategy\u003c/a> — which includes \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/technology-california-air-resources-board-climate-and-environment-dc75c11280f85a8ab134cf392497be68\">banning the sale of most new gas-powered cars by 2035\u003c/a> — would reduce demand for gasoline by 94% by 2045.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To sum it all up, it’s our energy policy — our energy policy and our efforts to replace fossil fuel with all electric in a very, very short amount of time,” said state Sen. Kelly Seyarto, a Republican from Murrieta who opposes the bill. “Why can’t we just tell our constituents that? That’s why your gas prices are so high.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944575\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944575\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS54117_003_KQED_GasStationSF_03082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A digital gas station sign at Circle K reads with record high numbers for the price of a gallon of gasoline. Premium Gasoline is listed at 5.99 per gallon.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS54117_003_KQED_GasStationSF_03082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS54117_003_KQED_GasStationSF_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS54117_003_KQED_GasStationSF_03082022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS54117_003_KQED_GasStationSF_03082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS54117_003_KQED_GasStationSF_03082022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign shows prices at $5.69 a gallon for regular gasoline at a Circle K gas station on Potrero Avenue and 17th Street in San Francisco on March 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California’s gasoline prices are already higher than most other states because of taxes, fees and environmental regulations. California’s gas tax is the second-highest in the country, at $0.54 per gallon. And the state requires that oil companies make a special blend of gasoline to sell in California that is better for the environment but more expensive to produce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans on Thursday tried to force a vote on a separate bill that would suspend the state’s gas tax and some gas-related regulations for one year. But Democrats voted not to bring the bill up for debate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point last year, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in California was more than $2.60 higher than the national average — a difference regulators say is too large to be explained by taxes, fees and regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the oil industry’s complaints about the bill have focused on the new, independent state agency lawmakers would create to investigate the market. Oil companies would be required to disclose massive amounts of data to this agency, giving regulators a better sense of what could be driving price spikes. And, crucially, the agency would have subpoena power to compel oil company executives to testify.[aside label='More on California Gas Prices' tag='gas-prices']Kevin Slagle, spokesperson for the Western States Petroleum Association, said oil companies would have to report data on 15,000 transactions per day, what he called “a ridiculous level of reporting” that would drive up costs. He said the real problem with California’s gas prices are state laws and regulations that hinder the supply of fuel. He criticized Newsom and lawmakers for rushing the bill through the Legislature with little input from the oil industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why does the governor want to jam this through? Clearly it’s because the details of this are not good for California consumers,” Slagle said. “They don’t address the problem, but it provides him a political win.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dana Williamson, Newsom’s chief of staff, said she has repeatedly had meetings with representatives from the oil industry to discuss the bill, including meetings with specific companies and two meetings with the WSPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom said the bill would end “the era of oil’s outsized influence” and hold the industry accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting from KQED’s Ted Goldberg.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "California Advances Bill to Punish Oil Companies for Price Gouging at the Pump | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A first-in-the-nation bill to punish oil companies for profiting from price spikes at the pump breezed through the California Senate on Thursday at the urging of Gov. Gavin Newsom, the first major vote in an effort to pass the law by month’s end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal is in response to sales last summer, when the average price of a gallon of gasoline in California soared to a record high of $6.44. Drivers in some places paid as much as $8 per gallon, prompting widespread outrage in an election year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom, seen as a possible presidential candidate beyond 2024, reacted by attacking the oil industry, specifically the five companies that provide 97% of gasoline in the state. He asked the Democrat-controlled Legislature to pass a new tax on oil company profits, arguing it would protect consumers by preventing price spikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That idea went nowhere in the Legislature, as lawmakers feared it would create chaos in the petroleum market and cause companies to make less gasoline, thus increasing prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Instead, lawmakers and Newsom settled on a bill that would let the California Energy Commission decide whether to impose civil penalties on oil companies for price gouging. The commission — a five-member panel appointed by the governor with the consent of the Senate — would rely on information from a new state agency that would have the power to monitor the market, including forcing companies to disclose financial information and having the power to subpoena oil executives to testify.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At a committee hearing on Wednesday, Newsom adviser Lauren Sanchez said California needs to have subpoena power.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We need to make sure that we have better data on inventories, on production levels, on imports and exports of fuel,” she said. “The state doesn’t have a real-time picture of what is driving those supply issues.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The bill requires the state auditor to investigate the program in 10 years to find out whether it is working to reduce gas prices. If it’s not, the auditor can order the program to shut down — but lawmakers will have six months to review that decision and reverse it if they choose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is our role to protect our residents from any practices of any business that may harm them,” said state Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat from Berkeley and author of the bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill highlights the challenges of balancing the competing pressures of protecting consumers at the pump while at the same time pushing policies to end the state’s reliance on fossil fuels. \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/climate-technology-pollution-carbon-neutrality-d89c04fe08f09863eba5342b123c787d\">California’s climate strategy\u003c/a> — which includes \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/technology-california-air-resources-board-climate-and-environment-dc75c11280f85a8ab134cf392497be68\">banning the sale of most new gas-powered cars by 2035\u003c/a> — would reduce demand for gasoline by 94% by 2045.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To sum it all up, it’s our energy policy — our energy policy and our efforts to replace fossil fuel with all electric in a very, very short amount of time,” said state Sen. Kelly Seyarto, a Republican from Murrieta who opposes the bill. “Why can’t we just tell our constituents that? That’s why your gas prices are so high.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944575\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944575\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS54117_003_KQED_GasStationSF_03082022-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A digital gas station sign at Circle K reads with record high numbers for the price of a gallon of gasoline. Premium Gasoline is listed at 5.99 per gallon.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS54117_003_KQED_GasStationSF_03082022-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS54117_003_KQED_GasStationSF_03082022-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS54117_003_KQED_GasStationSF_03082022-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS54117_003_KQED_GasStationSF_03082022-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS54117_003_KQED_GasStationSF_03082022-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A sign shows prices at $5.69 a gallon for regular gasoline at a Circle K gas station on Potrero Avenue and 17th Street in San Francisco on March 8, 2022. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California’s gasoline prices are already higher than most other states because of taxes, fees and environmental regulations. California’s gas tax is the second-highest in the country, at $0.54 per gallon. And the state requires that oil companies make a special blend of gasoline to sell in California that is better for the environment but more expensive to produce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans on Thursday tried to force a vote on a separate bill that would suspend the state’s gas tax and some gas-related regulations for one year. But Democrats voted not to bring the bill up for debate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At one point last year, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in California was more than $2.60 higher than the national average — a difference regulators say is too large to be explained by taxes, fees and regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the oil industry’s complaints about the bill have focused on the new, independent state agency lawmakers would create to investigate the market. Oil companies would be required to disclose massive amounts of data to this agency, giving regulators a better sense of what could be driving price spikes. And, crucially, the agency would have subpoena power to compel oil company executives to testify.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Kevin Slagle, spokesperson for the Western States Petroleum Association, said oil companies would have to report data on 15,000 transactions per day, what he called “a ridiculous level of reporting” that would drive up costs. He said the real problem with California’s gas prices are state laws and regulations that hinder the supply of fuel. He criticized Newsom and lawmakers for rushing the bill through the Legislature with little input from the oil industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why does the governor want to jam this through? Clearly it’s because the details of this are not good for California consumers,” Slagle said. “They don’t address the problem, but it provides him a political win.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dana Williamson, Newsom’s chief of staff, said she has repeatedly had meetings with representatives from the oil industry to discuss the bill, including meetings with specific companies and two meetings with the WSPA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom said the bill would end “the era of oil’s outsized influence” and hold the industry accountable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story includes reporting from KQED’s Ted Goldberg.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "a-deep-systemic-problem-persistent-backlogs-force-state-audit-of-california-labor-commissioners-office",
"title": "'A Deep, Systemic Problem': Persistent Backlogs Force State Audit of California Labor Commissioner's Office",
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"headTitle": "‘A Deep, Systemic Problem’: Persistent Backlogs Force State Audit of California Labor Commissioner’s Office | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>California’s independent state auditor will investigate the understaffed California Labor Commissioner’s Office over its persistent backlogs in workers’ wage theft claims, issues\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/series/unpaid-wages-california-workers/\"> highlighted in a series of articles last year by CalMatters\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit would start Sept. 1 — that is, if budget hearings before then don’t address the agency’s problems to the satisfaction of lawmakers who approved the investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Joint Legislative Audit Committee on Wednesday called for the audit over the objections of some of the state’s biggest labor unions, who argued the probe was unnecessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower on Wednesday also pushed back against an audit, testifying that her office already is undertaking multiple reforms to address her agency’s backlogs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='More on California Labor' tag='labor']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner’s Office has struggled for years to address wage claims in a timely manner. Wage theft — the failure of employers to pay the minimum wage, pay overtime premiums, or provide meal and rest breaks — primarily affects low-wage workers, who are often immigrants or people of color, studies show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each worker’s claims by law are supposed to be heard in 120 days and decided 15 days after that. But CalMatters, in its series, uncovered that between 2017 and 2021, the state averaged 505 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After that, back pay can take years to recover, and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2022/09/california-wage-theft-cases/?series=unpaid-wages-california-workers\">many who win their claims are never paid\u003c/a>. The backlog was exacerbated last year, when \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/2023/01/california-budget-cuts-senate/\">new wage theft claims hit a record 38,000\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://esd.dof.ca.gov/Documents/bcp/2324/FY2324_ORG7350_BCP6630.pdf\">wait times climbed past 800 days (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What is it going to take to get to 120 days? Is it additional measures to compel employers to participate, and if that’s the case, in which ways?” asked Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/david-alvarez-1980/\">David Alvarez\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Chula Vista who chairs the legislative audit committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am willing to give an opportunity for those questions to be answered,” he said. “But I’d like to see detailed answers, not just, ‘We’re going to do better when we hire more people.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvarez held out the possibility that the committee could rescind their audit request before September if budget hearings satisfactorily address the issues the audit would target. The Labor Commissioner’s Office is seeking $12 million in the next fiscal year to hire 43 additional employees with the goal of reducing the time to hear a claim to 200 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit came at the request of state Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/steven-glazer-1957/\">Steve Glazer\u003c/a>, a Walnut Creek Democrat, who agreed to the compromise to delay the audit until Sept. 1. The audit request put Glazer, a moderate Democrat, at odds with labor groups and workers’ advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Labor Federation and several unions and worker centers wrote earlier in March that an audit would divert time and attention from an already understaffed agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Chamber of Commerce testified in favor of the audit. Ashley Hoffman, a lobbyist for the chamber, told the committee it is important to the state’s employers that bad actors be held to account and that disputes be resolved expediently, out of court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to wage claims, California workers can also file lawsuits against employers through California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), a 19-year-old law that gives workers the same powers as the state to sue employers and recover civil penalties on behalf of co-workers. If they win, the workers can get a quarter of the penalties while the rest goes to the state for labor enforcement.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Assemblymember David Alvarez\"]‘I am willing to give an opportunity for those questions to be answered. But I’d like to see detailed answers, not just, ‘We’re going to do better when we hire more people.”[/pullquote]In 2022 the Department of Industrial Relations, the agency that houses the Labor Commissioner’s Office, received 5,813 notices of new PAGA suits, according to state data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chamber is among several business groups that succeeded in getting a measure to repeal the private enforcement law on the 2024 ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hoffman told the committee that workers get more of their back wages when they go through the Labor Commissioner’s process instead of filing a lawsuit with a private attorney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her testimony Wednesday, García-Brower said she is working to overhaul her office’s wage claims staff by recruiting recent graduates from the University of California, filling key managerial positions and implementing new pilot initiatives in certain offices, among other measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>García-Brower, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, is the former director of a group that helped the state investigate wage theft in the janitorial industry before she became labor commissioner and is considered an ally of the unions and worker advocates who opposed the audit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944542\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944542\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS53299_59372619533__C9A844C3-E366-4DC4-A1F5-5293FE97A06B-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Dozens of men and women holding signs in front of a Burger King franchise in Oakland, California.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS53299_59372619533__C9A844C3-E366-4DC4-A1F5-5293FE97A06B-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS53299_59372619533__C9A844C3-E366-4DC4-A1F5-5293FE97A06B-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS53299_59372619533__C9A844C3-E366-4DC4-A1F5-5293FE97A06B-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS53299_59372619533__C9A844C3-E366-4DC4-A1F5-5293FE97A06B-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS53299_59372619533__C9A844C3-E366-4DC4-A1F5-5293FE97A06B-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters demand a Burger King franchisee pay wages owed to workers on Oct. 25, 2019. The company operating the restaurant, Golden Gate Restaurant Group, was cited by the state Labor Commissioner’s Office for failing to pay workers minimum wage and other violations. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Trabajadores Unidos Workers United)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The labor and worker groups advocated instead for increased funding for García-Brower’s office, higher penalties for employers who violate labor law and an expedited hiring process for the Department of Industrial Relations. They also argued for boosting the use of criminal charges against problem employers and expanding local officials’ abilities to sue businesses on behalf of workers to relieve pressure on the state.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, chief officer, California Labor Federation\"]‘Everyone knows there’s a problem, including the labor commissioner. I don’t think an audit is going to tell us anything we don’t know already.’[/pullquote]Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, the former Assembly member who heads the California Labor Federation, told CalMatters in an interview before the hearing that an audit would be a distraction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everyone knows there’s a problem, including the labor commissioner,” Gonzalez Fletcher said. “I don’t think an audit is going to tell us anything we don’t know already.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But at the hearing, García-Brower conceded that the issues in her office went beyond a staffing shortage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/jim-wood-1960/\">Jim Wood\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Ukiah and a member of the legislative audit committee, said his office had considered proposing an audit of the labor commissioner’s wage claim issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He told García-Brower that his office struggled to get data on wage claims from her office, and that some of his constituents had faced people who worked for her who “are not always terribly friendly and very dismissive sometimes.” That prompted García-Brower to agree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I sat across six different labor commissioners, and most of them were dismissive,” García-Brower said, referring to her time as a labor activist. “So this is a deep, systemic problem within the culture of this agency, which is why we’re digging down deep to ensure that people understand we are a public-facing agency. We were created to serve the public.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Senator \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/john-laird-1950/\">John Laird\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Salinas who sits on the committee, said García-Brower’s acknowledgement that the office’s problems went beyond staffing issues swayed him in favor of the audit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "It takes California nearly 800 days — four times longer than is legal — to handle wage claims. Lawmakers ordered an audit of the understaffed California Labor Commissioner's Office to start Sept. 1, if agency issues aren't addressed by then.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California’s independent state auditor will investigate the understaffed California Labor Commissioner’s Office over its persistent backlogs in workers’ wage theft claims, issues\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/series/unpaid-wages-california-workers/\"> highlighted in a series of articles last year by CalMatters\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit would start Sept. 1 — that is, if budget hearings before then don’t address the agency’s problems to the satisfaction of lawmakers who approved the investigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Joint Legislative Audit Committee on Wednesday called for the audit over the objections of some of the state’s biggest labor unions, who argued the probe was unnecessary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower on Wednesday also pushed back against an audit, testifying that her office already is undertaking multiple reforms to address her agency’s backlogs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Labor Commissioner’s Office has struggled for years to address wage claims in a timely manner. Wage theft — the failure of employers to pay the minimum wage, pay overtime premiums, or provide meal and rest breaks — primarily affects low-wage workers, who are often immigrants or people of color, studies show.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each worker’s claims by law are supposed to be heard in 120 days and decided 15 days after that. But CalMatters, in its series, uncovered that between 2017 and 2021, the state averaged 505 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After that, back pay can take years to recover, and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2022/09/california-wage-theft-cases/?series=unpaid-wages-california-workers\">many who win their claims are never paid\u003c/a>. The backlog was exacerbated last year, when \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/2023/01/california-budget-cuts-senate/\">new wage theft claims hit a record 38,000\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://esd.dof.ca.gov/Documents/bcp/2324/FY2324_ORG7350_BCP6630.pdf\">wait times climbed past 800 days (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What is it going to take to get to 120 days? Is it additional measures to compel employers to participate, and if that’s the case, in which ways?” asked Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/david-alvarez-1980/\">David Alvarez\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Chula Vista who chairs the legislative audit committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am willing to give an opportunity for those questions to be answered,” he said. “But I’d like to see detailed answers, not just, ‘We’re going to do better when we hire more people.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvarez held out the possibility that the committee could rescind their audit request before September if budget hearings satisfactorily address the issues the audit would target. The Labor Commissioner’s Office is seeking $12 million in the next fiscal year to hire 43 additional employees with the goal of reducing the time to hear a claim to 200 days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The audit came at the request of state Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/steven-glazer-1957/\">Steve Glazer\u003c/a>, a Walnut Creek Democrat, who agreed to the compromise to delay the audit until Sept. 1. The audit request put Glazer, a moderate Democrat, at odds with labor groups and workers’ advocates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Labor Federation and several unions and worker centers wrote earlier in March that an audit would divert time and attention from an already understaffed agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Chamber of Commerce testified in favor of the audit. Ashley Hoffman, a lobbyist for the chamber, told the committee it is important to the state’s employers that bad actors be held to account and that disputes be resolved expediently, out of court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to wage claims, California workers can also file lawsuits against employers through California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), a 19-year-old law that gives workers the same powers as the state to sue employers and recover civil penalties on behalf of co-workers. If they win, the workers can get a quarter of the penalties while the rest goes to the state for labor enforcement.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘I am willing to give an opportunity for those questions to be answered. But I’d like to see detailed answers, not just, ‘We’re going to do better when we hire more people.”",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In 2022 the Department of Industrial Relations, the agency that houses the Labor Commissioner’s Office, received 5,813 notices of new PAGA suits, according to state data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chamber is among several business groups that succeeded in getting a measure to repeal the private enforcement law on the 2024 ballot.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hoffman told the committee that workers get more of their back wages when they go through the Labor Commissioner’s process instead of filing a lawsuit with a private attorney.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her testimony Wednesday, García-Brower said she is working to overhaul her office’s wage claims staff by recruiting recent graduates from the University of California, filling key managerial positions and implementing new pilot initiatives in certain offices, among other measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>García-Brower, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, is the former director of a group that helped the state investigate wage theft in the janitorial industry before she became labor commissioner and is considered an ally of the unions and worker advocates who opposed the audit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944542\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944542\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS53299_59372619533__C9A844C3-E366-4DC4-A1F5-5293FE97A06B-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Dozens of men and women holding signs in front of a Burger King franchise in Oakland, California.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS53299_59372619533__C9A844C3-E366-4DC4-A1F5-5293FE97A06B-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS53299_59372619533__C9A844C3-E366-4DC4-A1F5-5293FE97A06B-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS53299_59372619533__C9A844C3-E366-4DC4-A1F5-5293FE97A06B-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS53299_59372619533__C9A844C3-E366-4DC4-A1F5-5293FE97A06B-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS53299_59372619533__C9A844C3-E366-4DC4-A1F5-5293FE97A06B-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Protesters demand a Burger King franchisee pay wages owed to workers on Oct. 25, 2019. The company operating the restaurant, Golden Gate Restaurant Group, was cited by the state Labor Commissioner’s Office for failing to pay workers minimum wage and other violations. \u003ccite>(Courtesy Trabajadores Unidos Workers United)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The labor and worker groups advocated instead for increased funding for García-Brower’s office, higher penalties for employers who violate labor law and an expedited hiring process for the Department of Industrial Relations. They also argued for boosting the use of criminal charges against problem employers and expanding local officials’ abilities to sue businesses on behalf of workers to relieve pressure on the state.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, the former Assembly member who heads the California Labor Federation, told CalMatters in an interview before the hearing that an audit would be a distraction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Everyone knows there’s a problem, including the labor commissioner,” Gonzalez Fletcher said. “I don’t think an audit is going to tell us anything we don’t know already.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But at the hearing, García-Brower conceded that the issues in her office went beyond a staffing shortage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Assemblymember \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/jim-wood-1960/\">Jim Wood\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Ukiah and a member of the legislative audit committee, said his office had considered proposing an audit of the labor commissioner’s wage claim issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He told García-Brower that his office struggled to get data on wage claims from her office, and that some of his constituents had faced people who worked for her who “are not always terribly friendly and very dismissive sometimes.” That prompted García-Brower to agree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I sat across six different labor commissioners, and most of them were dismissive,” García-Brower said, referring to her time as a labor activist. “So this is a deep, systemic problem within the culture of this agency, which is why we’re digging down deep to ensure that people understand we are a public-facing agency. We were created to serve the public.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Senator \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/john-laird-1950/\">John Laird\u003c/a>, a Democrat from Salinas who sits on the committee, said García-Brower’s acknowledgement that the office’s problems went beyond staffing issues swayed him in favor of the audit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "California Would Become First State to Outlaw Caste Discrimination Under New Bill",
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"content": "\u003cp>California may become the first state in the nation to outlaw caste-based bias, a safeguard people of South Asian descent say is necessary to protect them from discrimination in housing, education and the tech sector, where they hold key roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward), the first Muslim and Afghan American elected to the state Legislature, introduced the bill Wednesday. It adds caste — a division of people related to birth or descent — as a protected category in the state's anti-discrimination laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those at the lowest stratum of the caste system, known as Dalits, have been increasingly calling for such legislation, saying they have faced this kind of discrimination in the United States. But such policies remain divisive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Aisha Wahab, state Senator, (D-Hayward)\"]'People came to this country so they can be free and can pursue their American dream without any disruption to their lives.'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wahab said caste discrimination is \"a social justice and civil rights issue.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People came to this country so they can be free and can pursue their American dream without any disruption to their lives,\" Wahab said, adding that she heard about this form of discrimination growing up in Fremont and living in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some groups such as the Hindu American Foundation and the Coalition of Hindus of North America oppose such policies. They argue these measures will hurt a community that already faces hate and discrimination, and will specifically target Hindus and Indian Americans who are commonly associated with the caste system. The legislation is being backed by other groups such as Hindus for Human Rights.[aside label='More on Civil Rights' tag= 'civil-rights']A United Nations report in 2016 said at least 250 million people worldwide still face caste discrimination in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Pacific regions, as well as in various diaspora communities. Caste systems are found among Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Muslims and Sikhs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wahab said she is \"deeply sensitive to how minority religions and groups are depicted.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Caste goes beyond religion and nationality,\" she said. \"This legislation primarily protects millions who live in silence and have never had such protection because there is little understanding of this issue. This bill is about protecting people who are vulnerable.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, Seattle became the first U.S. city and the first jurisdiction outside South Asia to add caste to its anti-discrimination laws. Several colleges and universities also have enacted similar policies barring caste discrimination on campuses, including UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2020 survey of Indian Americans by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace found caste discrimination was reported by 5% of survey respondents. While 53% of foreign-born Hindu Indian Americans said they affiliate with a caste group, only 34% of U.S.-born Hindu Indian Americans said they do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, a 2016 Equality Labs survey of 1,500 South Asians in the U.S. showed that 67% of Dalits who responded reported being treated unfairly because of their caste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California \"has been ground zero for the caste equity movement,\" said Thenmozhi Soundararajan, founder and executive director of Equality Labs, a Dalit advocacy group based in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This legislation is about clarifying existing protections and making them explicit,\" she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a 2021 report by the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies, Asians, including South Asians, hold 37.8% of technical roles and 25.3% of leadership roles at Silicon Valley's largest tech companies.[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\" Tanuja Gupta, former senior manager at Google\"]'People are afraid to speak up when they are discriminated against because they are afraid to rock the boat and they fear they may lose their job or employment visa.'[/pullquote]In 2020, California regulators sued Cisco Systems, saying a Dalit Indian engineer faced caste discrimination at the company's Silicon Valley headquarters. In another case, Tanuja Gupta quit her senior manager job at Google News last year after blowback over inviting Soundararajan to speak to employees during April, which is Dalit History Month. The talk was canceled and Gupta accused her former employer of retaliation, which Google has denied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gupta said she is backing the bill because those facing caste discrimination have no protection or legal recourse right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This is the form of accountability we need,\" she said. \"People are afraid to speak up when they are discriminated against because they are afraid to rock the boat and they fear they may lose their job or employment visa. It's a hard cycle to break and you can only do it when someone is willing to risk everything.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caste is \"not a religious issue, but a civil rights issue,\" said Gupta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shakeel Syed, executive director of South Asian Network in Artesia, in Los Angeles County, said he sees caste discrimination among workers and has helped in cases where caste played a role in wage theft and housing discrimination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"When hard-working people are not respected or valued simply because of their caste, that is just blatantly wrong,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"description": "California would become the first state in the nation to outlaw caste-based bias — a safeguard that people of South Asian descent say is necessary to protect them from discrimination — under a bill introduced by state Sen. Aisha Wahab.",
"title": "California Would Become First State to Outlaw Caste Discrimination Under New Bill | KQED",
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"headline": "California Would Become First State to Outlaw Caste Discrimination Under New Bill",
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"nprByline": "\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/reporterdeepa\">Deepa Bharath\u003c/a>\u003cbr>The Associated Press",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California may become the first state in the nation to outlaw caste-based bias, a safeguard people of South Asian descent say is necessary to protect them from discrimination in housing, education and the tech sector, where they hold key roles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Sen. Aisha Wahab (D-Hayward), the first Muslim and Afghan American elected to the state Legislature, introduced the bill Wednesday. It adds caste — a division of people related to birth or descent — as a protected category in the state's anti-discrimination laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those at the lowest stratum of the caste system, known as Dalits, have been increasingly calling for such legislation, saying they have faced this kind of discrimination in the United States. But such policies remain divisive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "'People came to this country so they can be free and can pursue their American dream without any disruption to their lives.'",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wahab said caste discrimination is \"a social justice and civil rights issue.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"People came to this country so they can be free and can pursue their American dream without any disruption to their lives,\" Wahab said, adding that she heard about this form of discrimination growing up in Fremont and living in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But some groups such as the Hindu American Foundation and the Coalition of Hindus of North America oppose such policies. They argue these measures will hurt a community that already faces hate and discrimination, and will specifically target Hindus and Indian Americans who are commonly associated with the caste system. The legislation is being backed by other groups such as Hindus for Human Rights.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>A United Nations report in 2016 said at least 250 million people worldwide still face caste discrimination in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Pacific regions, as well as in various diaspora communities. Caste systems are found among Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Muslims and Sikhs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wahab said she is \"deeply sensitive to how minority religions and groups are depicted.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"Caste goes beyond religion and nationality,\" she said. \"This legislation primarily protects millions who live in silence and have never had such protection because there is little understanding of this issue. This bill is about protecting people who are vulnerable.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, Seattle became the first U.S. city and the first jurisdiction outside South Asia to add caste to its anti-discrimination laws. Several colleges and universities also have enacted similar policies barring caste discrimination on campuses, including UC Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 2020 survey of Indian Americans by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace found caste discrimination was reported by 5% of survey respondents. While 53% of foreign-born Hindu Indian Americans said they affiliate with a caste group, only 34% of U.S.-born Hindu Indian Americans said they do the same.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, a 2016 Equality Labs survey of 1,500 South Asians in the U.S. showed that 67% of Dalits who responded reported being treated unfairly because of their caste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California \"has been ground zero for the caste equity movement,\" said Thenmozhi Soundararajan, founder and executive director of Equality Labs, a Dalit advocacy group based in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This legislation is about clarifying existing protections and making them explicit,\" she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to a 2021 report by the Silicon Valley Institute for Regional Studies, Asians, including South Asians, hold 37.8% of technical roles and 25.3% of leadership roles at Silicon Valley's largest tech companies.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "'People are afraid to speak up when they are discriminated against because they are afraid to rock the boat and they fear they may lose their job or employment visa.'",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In 2020, California regulators sued Cisco Systems, saying a Dalit Indian engineer faced caste discrimination at the company's Silicon Valley headquarters. In another case, Tanuja Gupta quit her senior manager job at Google News last year after blowback over inviting Soundararajan to speak to employees during April, which is Dalit History Month. The talk was canceled and Gupta accused her former employer of retaliation, which Google has denied.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gupta said she is backing the bill because those facing caste discrimination have no protection or legal recourse right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"This is the form of accountability we need,\" she said. \"People are afraid to speak up when they are discriminated against because they are afraid to rock the boat and they fear they may lose their job or employment visa. It's a hard cycle to break and you can only do it when someone is willing to risk everything.\"\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Caste is \"not a religious issue, but a civil rights issue,\" said Gupta.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shakeel Syed, executive director of South Asian Network in Artesia, in Los Angeles County, said he sees caste discrimination among workers and has helped in cases where caste played a role in wage theft and housing discrimination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\"When hard-working people are not respected or valued simply because of their caste, that is just blatantly wrong,\" he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "'No Reward for Loyalty': Gig Companies Winning Fight to Classify Drivers as Independent",
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"content": "\u003cp>After a California appeals court \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/13/california-court-lets-gig-companies-keep-treating-workers-as-contractors-00086898\">upheld most of Proposition 22\u003c/a> last week, it’s widely expected the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will appeal to the state Supreme Court. That’s even though the union says it’s still considering its options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"More California Coverage\" tag=\"california\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California, wrote in an email to KQED, “Drivers have always led this movement, and we will follow their lead as we consider all options — whether that’s seeking review from the California Supreme Court — to ensure that rideshare drivers and delivery workers have access to the same rights and protections afforded to other workers in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2020/general/pdf/topl-prop22.pdf\">Prop. 22 (PDF)\u003c/a> is widely perceived as a major carve-out of California labor law, allowing Uber, Lyft and similar businesses to classify their drivers as independent contractors, rather than employees. A lower court ruling \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketwatch.com/story/judge-shoots-down-landmark-law-that-kept-uber-and-lyft-drivers-from-being-employees-11629513964\">found the law unconstitutional\u003c/a>. But the \u003ca href=\"https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/A163655.PDF\">two-judge majority on the state appeals panel disagreed (PDF)\u003c/a>, arguing state law has never provided generous labor protections to “all potentially eligible wage workers” in California. There are, for instance, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11939848/a-legacy-of-slavery-for-domestic-workers-californias-new-safety-guidelines-are-long-overdue-say-advocates\">long-standing carve-outs for domestic and agricultural workers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rideshare industry reaction exultant\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a statement following the release of the decision, \u003ca href=\"https://www.lyft.com/blog/posts/lyft-statement-on-california-court-of-appeal-prop-22-decision\">Lyft officials wrote in a blog post\u003c/a>, “We are pleased that the court upheld the democratic will of the voters … We are excited to continue operating our service with no changes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944379\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944379\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A closeup shot of a black vehicle with a pink Lyft sticker and a black and white Uber sticker on the left side of its windshield. The vehicle sits idle waiting to pick up a customer.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Proposition 22 allows gig companies such as Uber and Lyft to classify their drivers as independent contractors, rather than employees. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Uber’s chief legal officer, Tony West, wrote in an email to KQED, “Across the state, drivers and couriers have said they are happy with Prop 22, which affords them new benefits while preserving the unique flexibility of app-based work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco did invalidate Prop. 22’s most \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/post-it/2020/10/california-amendment-threshold-proposition-22/\">controversial provision\u003c/a>, one that required a close-to-impossible seven-eighths’ vote of the Legislature to pass any bills that modify Prop. 22. But experts don’t expect Uber or Lyft to appeal, lest they risk the possibility the California Supreme Court agrees with the lower court ruling, and/or strike down all of Prop. 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford labor law professor William Gould, who served as chair of the National Labor Relations Board from 1994 to 1998, wrote in an email to KQED that he thinks it’s “more than likely that the California Supreme Court will reverse. Should it not do so, the Biden administration’s new wage and hour rule on who is an employee preempts state law and, if drawn inconsistently with Proposition 22, will trump it constitutionally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate but related decision, a unanimous 9th Circuit panel \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/legal/ubers-challenge-calif-contractor-law-revived-by-us-appeals-court-2023-03-17/\">reinstated Uber and Postmates’ constitutional claim\u003c/a> against California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ab5\">Assembly Bill 5\u003c/a> on Friday. The San Francisco-based appeals panel said the state must face claims that the law is unconstitutional because it singles out app-based transportation businesses while exempting many other industries from the need to justify why they classify some workers as contractors rather than employees.[aside label=\"More on Assembly Bill 5\" tag=\"ab5\"]Already, the success of Prop. 22 with California voters at the ballot box in 2020 has inspired a similar measure on the 2024 ballot, one that would \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ccrov/2023/january/23012jh.pdf\">overturn a new law (PDF)\u003c/a> designed to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/ca-divide-workplace/2022/08/fast-food-workers/\">improve wages and working conditions in fast food\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No question there are a lot of minimum labor law standards in California, and I understand why employers find them onerous to comply with, not to mention expensive,” said UC Berkeley law professor Catherine Fisk, who wrote a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of a group of California labor and employment law professors opposed to Prop. 22. She added that she’s “disappointed” by the appeals court decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think it’s really in the public’s best interest to have such a large group of workers who are carved out of the minimum protections of state law. That exists not only to benefit the workers and their families, but the communities that are affected by abject poverty,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Happy to be independent, unhappy about the pay\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Scott from LA County,” who drives for Uber, says he didn’t even vote in 2020 when the measure was on the ballot. KQED is not sharing Scott’s last name because because he fears the company might retaliate against him for speaking to KQED; he is unaffiliated with either the SEIU or the industry-backed \u003ca href=\"https://protectdriversandservices.com/about/our-coalition/\">Protect App-Based Drivers and Services coalition\u003c/a> (PADS).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was a little nonchalant about Prop. 22 because I was just getting started, and things were surprisingly good back then,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott admitted his opinion changed after Prop. 22 took effect the following January, and he watched the measure’s promised 120% of minimum wage become a ceiling for him, rather than a floor. In other words, he makes about $18.60 an hour these days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944396\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944396\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg\" alt='A man stands with his back to the camera wearing a black T-shirt with yellow writing that reads \"Drivers Union Now.\" In the background, two people hold a large white sign that reads, \"Gig Workers Are Essential.\"' width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gig workers, including rideshare and delivery drivers, with We Drive Progress and Gig Workers Rising demonstrate outside DoorDash headquarters in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2021, demanding fair pay and employee rights. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“But that’s not what independent contractors got into Uber for, to make 120% of minimum wage,” he said. “In the past, I was making $30, $40, $50 an hour.”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Scott, rideshare driver\"]‘There’s no reward for loyalty. You just kind of always feel like you’re replaceable.’[/pullquote]That said, Scott still loves choosing his own hours, 20 to 25 a week, and he’s not really bothered by the fact that independent contractors, as defined by Prop. 22, don’t have the same protections as employees under California law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said what bothers him most, aside from making less money, is his sense that the company is driving out gig workers like him — who remember the days before Prop. 22 and can see the work is becoming less profitable — and relying on high turnover to pull in new people who can’t remember when drivers made more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no reward for loyalty. You just kind of always feel like you’re replaceable,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Side hustle or livelihood?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The percentage of rideshare drivers who are full time versus part time has been a point of contention between union-friendly Democratic lawmakers in California and the rideshare companies. A report published last year by UC Riverside’s Center for Economic Forecasting and Development for the industry-backed drivers’ coalition found “\u003ca href=\"https://protectdriversandservices.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/UCR_CEFD_CA_AppDrivers_Analysis_2_17_2022-41.pdf\">only 23% of drivers report working with platforms on what would conventionally be considered a full-time basis\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944401\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1704\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A demonstrator holds a sign that says ‘Prop 22 Is Unconstitutional’ during a protest outside DoorDash headquarters in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a recent talk before The Economic Club of Chicago, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2131&v=HFKrv9Ub9WI&feature=youtu.be\">Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the weakening economy is bringing more drivers — he calls them “earners” — online\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“About 70% of our earners are saying inflation is actually one of the reasons why they’re coming on to the platform, because they can earn flexibly. And they can, you know, earn another $500 a week for groceries or whatever else they need to live,” Khosrowshahi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If drivers are only making a little extra money with the platforms versus relying on the driving for their livelihoods, labor lawyers say, it’s easier for gig companies to argue they aren’t exploiting the drivers by refusing to provide them the benefits employees would receive — or exploiting taxpayers by socializing the costs drivers can’t afford to cover on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw this during the pandemic, right after Proposition 22 was enacted,” said Fisk, of UC Berkeley. “Every other employer had paid into the unemployment system. So when their workers became unemployed, they could file a claim for unemployment and be compensated. Uber and Lyft exempted themselves from the unemployment system. Their drivers were left penniless. So what did the companies say? ‘Congress has created a system for independent contractors. You should apply to that.’ Who was paying for that? \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11812496/uber-and-lyft-arent-paying-for-drivers-unemployment-you-are-confirms-newsom\">The taxpayers\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>After a California appeals court \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/13/california-court-lets-gig-companies-keep-treating-workers-as-contractors-00086898\">upheld most of Proposition 22\u003c/a> last week, it’s widely expected the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) will appeal to the state Supreme Court. That’s even though the union says it’s still considering its options.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tia Orr, executive director of SEIU California, wrote in an email to KQED, “Drivers have always led this movement, and we will follow their lead as we consider all options — whether that’s seeking review from the California Supreme Court — to ensure that rideshare drivers and delivery workers have access to the same rights and protections afforded to other workers in California.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2020/general/pdf/topl-prop22.pdf\">Prop. 22 (PDF)\u003c/a> is widely perceived as a major carve-out of California labor law, allowing Uber, Lyft and similar businesses to classify their drivers as independent contractors, rather than employees. A lower court ruling \u003ca href=\"https://www.marketwatch.com/story/judge-shoots-down-landmark-law-that-kept-uber-and-lyft-drivers-from-being-employees-11629513964\">found the law unconstitutional\u003c/a>. But the \u003ca href=\"https://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/A163655.PDF\">two-judge majority on the state appeals panel disagreed (PDF)\u003c/a>, arguing state law has never provided generous labor protections to “all potentially eligible wage workers” in California. There are, for instance, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11939848/a-legacy-of-slavery-for-domestic-workers-californias-new-safety-guidelines-are-long-overdue-say-advocates\">long-standing carve-outs for domestic and agricultural workers\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rideshare industry reaction exultant\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a statement following the release of the decision, \u003ca href=\"https://www.lyft.com/blog/posts/lyft-statement-on-california-court-of-appeal-prop-22-decision\">Lyft officials wrote in a blog post\u003c/a>, “We are pleased that the court upheld the democratic will of the voters … We are excited to continue operating our service with no changes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944379\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944379\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A closeup shot of a black vehicle with a pink Lyft sticker and a black and white Uber sticker on the left side of its windshield. The vehicle sits idle waiting to pick up a customer.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS16535_IMG_0443.JPG-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Proposition 22 allows gig companies such as Uber and Lyft to classify their drivers as independent contractors, rather than employees. \u003ccite>(Ericka Cruz Guevarra/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Uber’s chief legal officer, Tony West, wrote in an email to KQED, “Across the state, drivers and couriers have said they are happy with Prop 22, which affords them new benefits while preserving the unique flexibility of app-based work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco did invalidate Prop. 22’s most \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/post-it/2020/10/california-amendment-threshold-proposition-22/\">controversial provision\u003c/a>, one that required a close-to-impossible seven-eighths’ vote of the Legislature to pass any bills that modify Prop. 22. But experts don’t expect Uber or Lyft to appeal, lest they risk the possibility the California Supreme Court agrees with the lower court ruling, and/or strike down all of Prop. 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stanford labor law professor William Gould, who served as chair of the National Labor Relations Board from 1994 to 1998, wrote in an email to KQED that he thinks it’s “more than likely that the California Supreme Court will reverse. Should it not do so, the Biden administration’s new wage and hour rule on who is an employee preempts state law and, if drawn inconsistently with Proposition 22, will trump it constitutionally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a separate but related decision, a unanimous 9th Circuit panel \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/legal/ubers-challenge-calif-contractor-law-revived-by-us-appeals-court-2023-03-17/\">reinstated Uber and Postmates’ constitutional claim\u003c/a> against California’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/ab5\">Assembly Bill 5\u003c/a> on Friday. The San Francisco-based appeals panel said the state must face claims that the law is unconstitutional because it singles out app-based transportation businesses while exempting many other industries from the need to justify why they classify some workers as contractors rather than employees.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Already, the success of Prop. 22 with California voters at the ballot box in 2020 has inspired a similar measure on the 2024 ballot, one that would \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ccrov/2023/january/23012jh.pdf\">overturn a new law (PDF)\u003c/a> designed to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/ca-divide-workplace/2022/08/fast-food-workers/\">improve wages and working conditions in fast food\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No question there are a lot of minimum labor law standards in California, and I understand why employers find them onerous to comply with, not to mention expensive,” said UC Berkeley law professor Catherine Fisk, who wrote a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of a group of California labor and employment law professors opposed to Prop. 22. She added that she’s “disappointed” by the appeals court decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t think it’s really in the public’s best interest to have such a large group of workers who are carved out of the minimum protections of state law. That exists not only to benefit the workers and their families, but the communities that are affected by abject poverty,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Happy to be independent, unhappy about the pay\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“Scott from LA County,” who drives for Uber, says he didn’t even vote in 2020 when the measure was on the ballot. KQED is not sharing Scott’s last name because because he fears the company might retaliate against him for speaking to KQED; he is unaffiliated with either the SEIU or the industry-backed \u003ca href=\"https://protectdriversandservices.com/about/our-coalition/\">Protect App-Based Drivers and Services coalition\u003c/a> (PADS).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was a little nonchalant about Prop. 22 because I was just getting started, and things were surprisingly good back then,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scott admitted his opinion changed after Prop. 22 took effect the following January, and he watched the measure’s promised 120% of minimum wage become a ceiling for him, rather than a floor. In other words, he makes about $18.60 an hour these days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944396\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944396\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg\" alt='A man stands with his back to the camera wearing a black T-shirt with yellow writing that reads \"Drivers Union Now.\" In the background, two people hold a large white sign that reads, \"Gig Workers Are Essential.\"' width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52363_004_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gig workers, including rideshare and delivery drivers, with We Drive Progress and Gig Workers Rising demonstrate outside DoorDash headquarters in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2021, demanding fair pay and employee rights. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“But that’s not what independent contractors got into Uber for, to make 120% of minimum wage,” he said. “In the past, I was making $30, $40, $50 an hour.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That said, Scott still loves choosing his own hours, 20 to 25 a week, and he’s not really bothered by the fact that independent contractors, as defined by Prop. 22, don’t have the same protections as employees under California law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said what bothers him most, aside from making less money, is his sense that the company is driving out gig workers like him — who remember the days before Prop. 22 and can see the work is becoming less profitable — and relying on high turnover to pull in new people who can’t remember when drivers made more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no reward for loyalty. You just kind of always feel like you’re replaceable,” Scott said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Side hustle or livelihood?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The percentage of rideshare drivers who are full time versus part time has been a point of contention between union-friendly Democratic lawmakers in California and the rideshare companies. A report published last year by UC Riverside’s Center for Economic Forecasting and Development for the industry-backed drivers’ coalition found “\u003ca href=\"https://protectdriversandservices.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/UCR_CEFD_CA_AppDrivers_Analysis_2_17_2022-41.pdf\">only 23% of drivers report working with platforms on what would conventionally be considered a full-time basis\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944401\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944401\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1704\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS52369_011_SanFrancisco_GigWorkerProtest_11032021-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A demonstrator holds a sign that says ‘Prop 22 Is Unconstitutional’ during a protest outside DoorDash headquarters in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a recent talk before The Economic Club of Chicago, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=2131&v=HFKrv9Ub9WI&feature=youtu.be\">Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the weakening economy is bringing more drivers — he calls them “earners” — online\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“About 70% of our earners are saying inflation is actually one of the reasons why they’re coming on to the platform, because they can earn flexibly. And they can, you know, earn another $500 a week for groceries or whatever else they need to live,” Khosrowshahi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If drivers are only making a little extra money with the platforms versus relying on the driving for their livelihoods, labor lawyers say, it’s easier for gig companies to argue they aren’t exploiting the drivers by refusing to provide them the benefits employees would receive — or exploiting taxpayers by socializing the costs drivers can’t afford to cover on their own.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We saw this during the pandemic, right after Proposition 22 was enacted,” said Fisk, of UC Berkeley. “Every other employer had paid into the unemployment system. So when their workers became unemployed, they could file a claim for unemployment and be compensated. Uber and Lyft exempted themselves from the unemployment system. Their drivers were left penniless. So what did the companies say? ‘Congress has created a system for independent contractors. You should apply to that.’ Who was paying for that? \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11812496/uber-and-lyft-arent-paying-for-drivers-unemployment-you-are-confirms-newsom\">The taxpayers\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Silicon Valley Bank Failure Could Have Outsize Consequences for Start-Ups Led by People of Color",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the hours after some of Silicon Valley Bank’s biggest customers started pulling out their money, a WhatsApp group of start-up founders who are immigrants of color ballooned to more than 1,000 members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Questions flowed as the bank’s financial status worsened. Some desperately sought advice: Could they open an account at a larger bank without a Social Security number? Others questioned whether they had to physically be at a bank to open an account, because they were visiting parents overseas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=news_11943901 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS60216_004_KQED_Biotechnology_11172022-1020x680.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One clear theme emerged: a deep concern about the broader impact on start-ups led by people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Wall Street struggles to contain the banking crisis after the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/svb-fed-bonds-rates-banks-inflation-a24b28b3caeede91c76cd120aa9b7966\">swift demise of SVB\u003c/a> — the nation’s 16th-largest bank and the biggest to fail since the 2008 financial meltdown — industry experts predict it could become even harder for people of color to secure funding or a financial home supporting their start-ups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silicon Valley Bank committed to spending \u003ca href=\"https://www.svb.com/news/company-news/svb-financial-group-announces-%24112.2-billion-community-benefits-plan\">$11 billion on things like affordable housing and small-business loans\u003c/a> in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.svb.com/news/company-news/svb-financial-group-completes-acquisition-of-boston-private2\">merger two years ago\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s a fair assessment to say that the bank was doing a good job, and maybe a better job, than other banks in providing support to affordable housing, to communities of color, to low-income communities, both small-business support as well as housing support,” said Paulina Gonzalez-Brito, CEO of the California Reinvestment Coalition. “And I think that’s primarily because of this community benefits agreement that we negotiated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SVB had opened its doors to such entrepreneurs, offering opportunities to form crucial relationships in the technology and financial communities that had been out of reach within larger financial institutions. But smaller players have fewer means of surviving a collapse, reflecting the perilous journey minority entrepreneurs face while attempting to navigate industries historically rife with racism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All these folks that have very special circumstances based on their identity, it’s not something that they can just change about themselves, and that makes them unbankable by the top four [large banks],” said Asya Bradley, board member of numerous start-ups who has watched the WhatsApp group grapple with SVB’s demise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bradley said some investors have implored start-ups to switch to larger financial institutions to stymie future financial risks, but that’s not an easy transition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason why we’re going to regional and community banks is because these [large] banks don’t want our business,” Bradley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Banking expert Aaron Klein, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, said SVB’s collapse could exacerbate racial disparities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s going to be more challenging for people who don’t fit the traditional credit box, including minorities,” Klein said. “A financial system that prefers the existing holders of wealth will perpetuate the legacy of past discrimination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Asya Bradley, board member of numerous start-ups\"]‘The reason why we’re going to regional and community banks is because these [large] banks don’t want our business.’[/pullquote]Tiffany Dufu was gutted when she couldn’t access her SVB account and, in turn, could not pay her employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dufu raised $5 million as CEO of The Cru, a New York-based career coaching platform and community for women. It was a rare feat for businesses founded by Black women, which get less than 1% of the billions of dollars in venture capital funding doled out yearly to start-ups. She banked with SVB because it was known for its close ties to the tech community and investors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to have raised that money, I pitched nearly 200 investors over the past few years,” said Dufu, who has since regained access to her funds and moved to Bank of America. “It’s very hard to put yourself out there and time after time — you get told this isn’t a good fit. So, the money in the bank account was very precious.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A February Crunchbase News analysis determined \u003ca href=\"https://news.crunchbase.com/diversity/venture-funding-black-startups-2022/\">funding for Black-founded start-ups slowed by more than 50% last year after they received a record $5.1 billion in venture capital in 2021\u003c/a>. Overall venture funding dropped from about $337 billion to roughly $214 billion, while Black founders were hit disproportionately hard, dropping to just $2.3 billion, or 1.1% of the total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Entrepreneur Amy Hilliard, professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, knows how difficult it is to secure financing. It took three years to secure a loan for her cake-manufacturing company, and she had to sell her home to get it started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Banking is based on relationships, and when a bank like SVB goes under, “those relationships go away, too,” said Hilliard, who is African American.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some conservative critics asserted SVB’s commitment to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/silicon-valley-bank-fdic-svb-california-d84764deb458371667ac7f850f430f22\">diversity, equity and inclusion\u003c/a> were to blame, but banking experts say those claims were false. The bank slid into insolvency because its larger customers pulled deposits rather than borrow at higher interest rates and the bank’s balance sheets were overexposed, forcing it to sell bonds at a loss to cover the withdrawals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we’re focused on climate or communities of color or racial equity, that has nothing to do with what happened with Silicon Valley Bank,” said Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, co-founder of Known Holdings, a Black, Indigenous, Asian American-founded investment banking platform focused on the sustainable growth of minority-managed funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Red-Horse Mohl — who has raised, structured and managed over $3 billion in capital for tribal nations — said most larger banks are led by white men and majority-white boards, and “even when they do DEI programs, it’s not a really deep sort of shifting of capital.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smaller financial institutions, however, have worked to build relationships with people of color. “We cannot lose our regional and community banks,” she said. “It would be a travesty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historically, smaller and minority-owned banks have addressed funding gaps that larger banks ignored or even created, following exclusionary laws and policies as they turned away customers because of the color of their skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the ripple effects from SVB’s collapse are being felt among these banks as well, said Nicole Elam, president and CEO of the National Bankers Association, a 96-year-old trade association representing more than 175 minority-owned banks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some have seen customers withdraw funds and move to larger banks out of fear, even though most minority-owned banks have a more traditional customer base, with secured loans and minimal risky investments, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Nicole Elam, president and CEO, National Bankers Association\"]‘In response to this national conversation around racial equity, people are really seeing minority banks are key to wealth creation and key to helping to close the wealth gap.’[/pullquote]“You’re seeing customer flight of folks that we’ve been serving for a long time,” Elam said. “How many people may not come to us for a mortgage or small-business loan or to do their banking business because they now have in their mind that they need to bank with a bank that is too big to fail? That’s the first impact of eroding public trust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black-owned banks have been hit the hardest as the industry consolidates. Most don’t have as much capital to withstand economic downturns. At its peak, there were 134. Today, there are only 21.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But change is on the way. Within the last three years, the federal government, private sector and philanthropic community have invested heavily in minority-run depository institutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In response to this national conversation around racial equity, people are really seeing minority banks are key to wealth creation and key to helping to close the wealth gap,” Elam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bradley, the board member of many start-ups, also is an angel investor, providing seed money for multiple entrepreneurs, and is seeing new opportunities as people network in the WhatsApp group to help each other remain afloat and grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m really so hopeful,” Bradley said. “Even in the downfall of SVB, it has managed to form this incredible community of folks that are trying to help each other to succeed. They’re saying, ‘SVB was here for us. Now we’re going to be here for each other.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">KQED’s Rachael Myrow contributed reporting to this story.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the hours after some of Silicon Valley Bank’s biggest customers started pulling out their money, a WhatsApp group of start-up founders who are immigrants of color ballooned to more than 1,000 members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Questions flowed as the bank’s financial status worsened. Some desperately sought advice: Could they open an account at a larger bank without a Social Security number? Others questioned whether they had to physically be at a bank to open an account, because they were visiting parents overseas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One clear theme emerged: a deep concern about the broader impact on start-ups led by people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Wall Street struggles to contain the banking crisis after the \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/svb-fed-bonds-rates-banks-inflation-a24b28b3caeede91c76cd120aa9b7966\">swift demise of SVB\u003c/a> — the nation’s 16th-largest bank and the biggest to fail since the 2008 financial meltdown — industry experts predict it could become even harder for people of color to secure funding or a financial home supporting their start-ups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silicon Valley Bank committed to spending \u003ca href=\"https://www.svb.com/news/company-news/svb-financial-group-announces-%24112.2-billion-community-benefits-plan\">$11 billion on things like affordable housing and small-business loans\u003c/a> in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.svb.com/news/company-news/svb-financial-group-completes-acquisition-of-boston-private2\">merger two years ago\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think it’s a fair assessment to say that the bank was doing a good job, and maybe a better job, than other banks in providing support to affordable housing, to communities of color, to low-income communities, both small-business support as well as housing support,” said Paulina Gonzalez-Brito, CEO of the California Reinvestment Coalition. “And I think that’s primarily because of this community benefits agreement that we negotiated.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SVB had opened its doors to such entrepreneurs, offering opportunities to form crucial relationships in the technology and financial communities that had been out of reach within larger financial institutions. But smaller players have fewer means of surviving a collapse, reflecting the perilous journey minority entrepreneurs face while attempting to navigate industries historically rife with racism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All these folks that have very special circumstances based on their identity, it’s not something that they can just change about themselves, and that makes them unbankable by the top four [large banks],” said Asya Bradley, board member of numerous start-ups who has watched the WhatsApp group grapple with SVB’s demise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bradley said some investors have implored start-ups to switch to larger financial institutions to stymie future financial risks, but that’s not an easy transition.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reason why we’re going to regional and community banks is because these [large] banks don’t want our business,” Bradley said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Banking expert Aaron Klein, senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, said SVB’s collapse could exacerbate racial disparities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s going to be more challenging for people who don’t fit the traditional credit box, including minorities,” Klein said. “A financial system that prefers the existing holders of wealth will perpetuate the legacy of past discrimination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Tiffany Dufu was gutted when she couldn’t access her SVB account and, in turn, could not pay her employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dufu raised $5 million as CEO of The Cru, a New York-based career coaching platform and community for women. It was a rare feat for businesses founded by Black women, which get less than 1% of the billions of dollars in venture capital funding doled out yearly to start-ups. She banked with SVB because it was known for its close ties to the tech community and investors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In order to have raised that money, I pitched nearly 200 investors over the past few years,” said Dufu, who has since regained access to her funds and moved to Bank of America. “It’s very hard to put yourself out there and time after time — you get told this isn’t a good fit. So, the money in the bank account was very precious.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A February Crunchbase News analysis determined \u003ca href=\"https://news.crunchbase.com/diversity/venture-funding-black-startups-2022/\">funding for Black-founded start-ups slowed by more than 50% last year after they received a record $5.1 billion in venture capital in 2021\u003c/a>. Overall venture funding dropped from about $337 billion to roughly $214 billion, while Black founders were hit disproportionately hard, dropping to just $2.3 billion, or 1.1% of the total.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Entrepreneur Amy Hilliard, professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, knows how difficult it is to secure financing. It took three years to secure a loan for her cake-manufacturing company, and she had to sell her home to get it started.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Banking is based on relationships, and when a bank like SVB goes under, “those relationships go away, too,” said Hilliard, who is African American.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some conservative critics asserted SVB’s commitment to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/silicon-valley-bank-fdic-svb-california-d84764deb458371667ac7f850f430f22\">diversity, equity and inclusion\u003c/a> were to blame, but banking experts say those claims were false. The bank slid into insolvency because its larger customers pulled deposits rather than borrow at higher interest rates and the bank’s balance sheets were overexposed, forcing it to sell bonds at a loss to cover the withdrawals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we’re focused on climate or communities of color or racial equity, that has nothing to do with what happened with Silicon Valley Bank,” said Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, co-founder of Known Holdings, a Black, Indigenous, Asian American-founded investment banking platform focused on the sustainable growth of minority-managed funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Red-Horse Mohl — who has raised, structured and managed over $3 billion in capital for tribal nations — said most larger banks are led by white men and majority-white boards, and “even when they do DEI programs, it’s not a really deep sort of shifting of capital.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smaller financial institutions, however, have worked to build relationships with people of color. “We cannot lose our regional and community banks,” she said. “It would be a travesty.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Historically, smaller and minority-owned banks have addressed funding gaps that larger banks ignored or even created, following exclusionary laws and policies as they turned away customers because of the color of their skin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the ripple effects from SVB’s collapse are being felt among these banks as well, said Nicole Elam, president and CEO of the National Bankers Association, a 96-year-old trade association representing more than 175 minority-owned banks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some have seen customers withdraw funds and move to larger banks out of fear, even though most minority-owned banks have a more traditional customer base, with secured loans and minimal risky investments, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“You’re seeing customer flight of folks that we’ve been serving for a long time,” Elam said. “How many people may not come to us for a mortgage or small-business loan or to do their banking business because they now have in their mind that they need to bank with a bank that is too big to fail? That’s the first impact of eroding public trust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black-owned banks have been hit the hardest as the industry consolidates. Most don’t have as much capital to withstand economic downturns. At its peak, there were 134. Today, there are only 21.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But change is on the way. Within the last three years, the federal government, private sector and philanthropic community have invested heavily in minority-run depository institutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In response to this national conversation around racial equity, people are really seeing minority banks are key to wealth creation and key to helping to close the wealth gap,” Elam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bradley, the board member of many start-ups, also is an angel investor, providing seed money for multiple entrepreneurs, and is seeing new opportunities as people network in the WhatsApp group to help each other remain afloat and grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m really so hopeful,” Bradley said. “Even in the downfall of SVB, it has managed to form this incredible community of folks that are trying to help each other to succeed. They’re saying, ‘SVB was here for us. Now we’re going to be here for each other.'”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">KQED’s Rachael Myrow contributed reporting to this story.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "'We Own This Moment': Homelessness, Rehabilitation and Health Care Took Center Stage in Newsom's State Tour",
"headTitle": "CALmatters | KQED News",
"content": "\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom likes to talk about “the California way.” And as he barnstormed the state with sweeping plans to transform its approach to homelessness, criminal justice and health care, he laid out his ideas for what that “way” means — and his legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout his State of the State tour, the governor was often joking and jovial. But on Sunday, the fourth and final day, he took on a more somber tone, standing behind the lectern of a makeshift event space that was once a nine-bed emergency room to talk about improving mental health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"More on Gov. Gavin Newsom\" tag=\"gavin-newsom\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He emphasized the far-reaching consequences of inadequate care and shared his own experiences, losing someone he’d attended his high school prom with, as well as his grandfather, a veteran, to suicide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We own this. We own this moment,” he said. “But we have now the tools and the capacity to turn this ship around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As he dives into his second term, Newsom chose the tour \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/03/newsom-walgreens-abortion-medicine/\">in place of the traditional speech\u003c/a> to a joint session of the Legislature. In many ways, the events echoed the priorities that he was focused on at this same point in his first term four years ago — before unexpected crises, a recall effort and a seemingly inescapable pandemic scrambled his agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his first act as governor, shortly after he took the oath of office in January 2019, Newsom signed an executive order aimed at lowering prescription drug costs by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2019/01/lower-california-prescription-drug-costs/\">directing state agencies to negotiate collectively\u003c/a> with pharmaceutical companies for better prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Saturday, he finally announced that California \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-generic-insulin-contract-civica-rx-newsom/\">will partner with Utah-based generic drug company Civica\u003c/a> to manufacture its own insulin, available for $30 a vial. The $50 million deal is the first major development in a plan Newsom has pursued for the past three years to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2022/04/insulin-costs-california/\">create a generic label\u003c/a> that can challenge an industry he has criticized for charging far too much for life-saving medications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Gov. Gavin Newsom\"]'We own this. We own this moment. But we have now the tools and the capacity to turn this ship around.'[/pullquote]Two months into his first term, in March 2019, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2019/03/gavin-newsom-halts-executions-california/\">enacted a moratorium on executions\u003c/a> and dismantled the lethal injection chamber at San Quentin State Prison. His decision stunned the political world by quickly reversing a campaign pledge to respect the will of California voters who have repeatedly upheld capital punishment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Friday, nearly four years to the day after that order, the governor was back at San Quentin, touting his vision to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2023/03/san-quentin-prison-gavin-newsom/\">transform California’s oldest correctional facility\u003c/a> from the home of condemned men to a center for rehabilitation and training before those incarcerated there are released back into society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/ppic-statewide-survey-californians-and-their-government-february-2023/\">public poll after public poll\u003c/a>, these issues are not what Californians identify as the most pressing problems in the state. Yet by regularly resurfacing them, steadily chipping away at breakthroughs on his own terms, Newsom suggests that’s what they represent to him — the issues most fundamental to his platform, those with which he seeks to build his legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Governors don’t always get to define their own legacies, however.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing public anger over California’s ever more visible homelessness crisis has made this seemingly intractable problem the inescapable force of Newsom’s tenure. He recognized it back in 2020, devoting \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2020/02/newsom-trump-homelessness-state-of-state-proposals-california-crisis/\">his entire State of the State speech\u003c/a> to the topic, and COVID aside, no other issue has consumed more of his time and political capital since, a stark departure from his predecessor. For opponents — from \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2021/07/newsom-recall-republicans-homelessness/\">those who unsuccessfully sought to recall him\u003c/a> from office in 2021 to those already seeking to stop any \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/election-2022/2022/10/gavin-newsom-campaign-president/\">presidential ambitions he may possess\u003c/a> — it is perhaps his greatest liability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was reflected in the central role that homelessness played in Newsom’s statewide tour, underlying his major announcements on two separate days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The kick-off event, in Sacramento on Thursday, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/03/san-quentin-newsom/\">touted the governor’s successful push\u003c/a> to get local officials to adopt more aggressive targets for reducing the number of people living on the streets in their communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The final stop, in San Diego on Sunday, launched a campaign to ask California voters to \u003ca href=\"https://capitolweekly.net/newsom-takes-another-swing-at-getting-mentally-ill-homeless-off-the-streets/\">approve a $3 billion bond measure in 2024 for mental health housing and treatment beds\u003c/a>. It builds on Newsom’s signature policy achievement from last year: A new court system aimed at \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/09/california-lawmakers-approved-care-court-what-comes-next/\">compelling people with several mental illnesses\u003c/a>, who often languish on the streets, into housing and treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wrapping up the tour, Newsom noted that the issues he discussed were connected, but especially housing and homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think those two issues truly do represent the twin challenges of this state — our fate and future,” he said Sunday in answer to a CalMatters question. “They’re connected to more of our challenges than any other two issues, and that’s really the thrust of this multiday effort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To achieve all his goals on homelessness and other issues, Newsom needs the buy-in of state lawmakers, local officials and frontline workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, by orchestrating four days of events across the state instead of delivering a single speech in Sacramento, the governor did succeed on one score: He drew a torrent of media coverage, though reporters were often held a distance away from him at each stop. Newsom’s messaging was \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/AssemblyDems/status/1637254095177420800?s=20\">amplified by friendly Democratic allies\u003c/a> at every event, and he called out key legislators whose help he needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trying to compete, Republicans in the Legislature posted \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/AsmRepublicans/status/1636485199948316672?s=20\">social media videos warning\u003c/a> that California is in crisis — on cost of living, crime, homelessness, schools, water and wildfires — and asserting that they have solutions in what they call \u003ca href=\"https://asmrc.org/california-promise/\">the California Promise\u003c/a>. “Californians want solutions to their everyday problems,” \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/J_GallagherAD3/status/1637186799868211200?s=20\">tweeted\u003c/a> Assembly GOP leader \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/james-gallagher-1981/\">James Gallagher\u003c/a> of Chico. “The Governor’s shiny object routine is tired.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On each day, and at each event, Newsom was being Newsom — prone to sweeping pronouncements, but less clear on some of the details. At times, he was repackaging or rebranding programs already underway. At others, he urged Californians to imagine a vision for something that doesn’t exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are some key takeaways and impressions from four days on the road with the governor:\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944150\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944150\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/NewsomTinyHomeCMIngest.jpg\" alt=\"Gov. Gavin Newsom wearing a blue suit and white-collared shirt observes a tiny home site.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/NewsomTinyHomeCMIngest.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/NewsomTinyHomeCMIngest-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/NewsomTinyHomeCMIngest-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/NewsomTinyHomeCMIngest-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom tours a 'tiny home' after announcing the state's plan to address homelessness at Cal Expo in Sacramento, on March 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Day 1: Homelessness in Sacramento\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One area where California does lead the way is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/californias-homelessness-crisis-explained/\">homelessness\u003c/a> — but on the sheer numbers as much as on innovative policies. About \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/homeless-populations-are-rising-around-california/#:~:text=As%20of%202022%2C%2030%25%20of,of%20the%20nation's%20homeless%20population.\">30% of people who are unhoused in the U.S. were in California\u003c/a> in 2022, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it makes sense that Newsom’s first stop was Cal Expo, home of the California State Fair, and one site where the state plans to \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/03/16/governor-newsom-announces-1-billion-in-homelessness-funding-launches-states-largest-mobilization-of-small-homes/\">establish a community of “tiny homes” for unhoused individuals\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following his remarks, Newsom ducked into each of the “tiny home” models set up, on green turf with picnic tables off to the side, as the event’s backdrop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor was flanked by industry officials and, as was the case throughout the tour, by state lawmakers and local elected leaders, including San José Mayor Matt Mahan, who spoke about a \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-housed-more-than-2500-people-but-still-falls-short/\">so-far successful pilot program\u003c/a> in his Bay Area city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But how much Newsom reduces homelessness will be a hallmark of his tenure — regardless of how much, or how little, it’s under his control. He acknowledged some limitations: substance use disorders, mental health and wealth inequality. Success of the tiny homes, he said, depends on local governments ensuring the quality of the services in the long term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The entire homeless strategy in California is not the state of California,” he said. “Homeless strategy is realized not just locally but also begins locally and percolates up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"More on Housing\" tag=\"housing\"]The state’s willingness to fund local efforts came after “some tough conversations,” the governor noted. Just a few months ago, he threatened to withhold funding based on \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homeless/2022/11/california-homeless-newsom-funding-reversal/\">plans cities and counties submitted\u003c/a>. With cities and counties pledging to get more people off the streets, he announced that his administration plans to free up $1 billion in state money to help them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom also highlighted programs that he launched during the pandemic: Project Roomkey, which places individuals in motel and hotel rooms as a short-term solution, and Project Homekey, where the state buys properties that can be converted into homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “tiny home” program is not “‘it.’ This is a component of a larger strategy,” he said, pointing to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2023-01-10/california-budget-more-for-homelessness-less-for-climate\">$3.4 billion he put in his proposed budget\u003c/a> to address homelessness, despite what he projected as a $22.5 billion deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some, Newsom’s ambitious plan wasn’t enough. Senate Republican Leader \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/brian-jones-1968/\">Brian Jones\u003c/a> of El Cajon \u003ca href=\"https://republicans.senate.ca.gov/content/newsom-slaps-another-band-aid-homeless-crisis\">called it another “Band-Aid on a crisis\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944147\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944147\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Teal and orange tiny houses are in a neat row with colorfully painted wine barrels out front of each one with white flowers sprouting.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1656\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-800x518.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-1020x660.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-160x104.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-1536x994.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-2048x1325.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-1920x1242.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During Gov. Gavin Newsom's statewide tour, he stopped at Cal Expo in Sacramento, where he visited a site of tiny homes similar to these pictured at the Tiny House Empowerment Village in Oakland. \u003ccite>(MJ Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For others, Newsom’s \u003cem>proposals\u003c/em> didn’t go far enough. Just before the governor’s event, the California State Association of Counties \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CSAC_Counties/status/1636451132980752384?s=20\">urged state lawmakers to set up a new system\u003c/a> for routing state homelessness funding through regional plans with clear responsibilities assigned to local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1,200 “tiny homes” will go to Los Angeles, San Diego County, San José and Sacramento — places Newsom said showed “enthusiasm.” But at least for now, the program excludes \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/public-health/homelessness/newsoms-homeless-plan-leaves-out-major-cities-hardest-hit-by-the-crisis/?utm_source=The+San+Francisco+Standard&utm_campaign=6dde48bdf3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_06_21_02_54_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f81e82e2a3-6dde48bdf3-527994129\">San Francisco and other cities mired in crisis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Day 2: Criminal justice at San Quentin\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>San Quentin State Prison is already considered a model for rehabilitation in California — attested to by incarcerated people made available to the press. Programs such as a news service and a coding course have been transformational and, at a minimum, offer people incarcerated there a place outside their cells to breathe. Those incarcerated at other state prisons request transfers to San Quentin for the opportunities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So at Friday’s event, when the governor \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/03/17/san-quentin-transformation/\">spoke in sweeping terms about a plan to “transform”\u003c/a> the prison into a “national model” for rehabilitation, questions prevailed: How long will it take? How much of the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2023/03/san-quentin-prison-gavin-newsom/\">Scandinavian model will it emulate\u003c/a>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Gov. Gavin Newsom\"]'I'm for people that are committed, not passively interested, in changing themselves, and in turn helping us keep our communities safe and changing our communities as a consequence.'[/pullquote]But the big question came from \u003ca href=\"https://sanquentinnews.com/steve-brooks-wins-prestigious-spj-award-sqnews-staff-writer-recognized-for-excellence-in-commentary/\">Steve Brooks, editor of the San Quentin News\u003c/a>: How will this model help incarcerated people with overcrowding and poor living conditions? And would the Scandinavian model mean violent offenders wouldn’t get to take part in the rehabilitation programs?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No, quite the contrary,” Newsom replied, speaking inside a warehouse that is to be converted into a training center. “And I don’t refer to it as the Scandinavian model. This is the California model, the California way. ... I’m for people that are committed, not passively interested, in changing themselves, and in turn helping us keep our communities safe and changing our communities as a consequence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new facility will be designed by an advisory committee that includes crime victims, formerly incarcerated people and academics, the governor’s office said. Newsom is also asking the Legislature for $20 million for the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked whether he plans to ask voters to make permanent his \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2022/02/california-death-penalty-end/\">moratorium on the death penalty\u003c/a>, Newsom didn’t commit to a ballot measure. As of March 8, there were \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/condemned-inmate-list-secure-request/\">668 people sentenced to death in California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944151\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944151\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/SQPhotogCMIngest.jpg\" alt=\"Prisoners of San Quentin, wearing light blue shirts and navy pants, sit on chairs in rows observing a speech by Gov. Gavin Newsom. One man in the foreground holds a digital camera as he looks onward.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/SQPhotogCMIngest.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/SQPhotogCMIngest-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/SQPhotogCMIngest-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/SQPhotogCMIngest-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gregory Eskridge (right) and other incarcerated men who report for the San Quentin News attend Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press event at San Quentin State Prison announcing the transformation of the facility to focus on training and rehabilitation, on March 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Quentin currently houses 3,906 people, with security levels ranging from medium to maximum security. One person housed there is Angelo Mecchi. Newsom said that on a visit several weeks ago, Mecchi saw him and flagged that they’d played in the same Little League in Marin County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That spoke to me on a different level,” Newsom said. “We are many journeys, many parts — but one body. When one part suffers, we all suffer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Day 3: Health care costs in Downey\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Three days into the tour, Newsom seemed particularly upbeat about Saturday’s announcement: \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/03/18/governor-newsom-announces-30-insulin-through-calrx/\">securing a contractor to produce insulin\u003c/a>, bringing the costs for patients with diabetes down to $30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What this does is a game changer,” he said. “This fundamentally lowers the cost, period, full stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just really proud of this,” he added later, standing in front of a row of refrigerators that contained insulin medications at a Kaiser Permanente warehouse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocacy groups were just as excited. “California’s investment to directly manufacture prescription drugs is a game-changer with national impact,” Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California said in a statement. “Even a modest decrease in the cost of key drugs could save hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If manufacturing begins as planned later this year, the state would then seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration and start distributing early next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor said the long-term plan is to have Civica make the insulin in California. “The future happens here first. We are America’s coming attraction,” he said during what turned out to be the shortest of the four stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And he doesn’t plan to stop with insulin. Newsom disclosed that the state’s Medi-Cal Rx is exploring making its own naloxone (better known by its brand name Narcan) to treat opioid overdoses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also said this push to lower health care costs builds on California’s record of universal health care regardless of preexisting conditions or immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we are arguably now the fourth-largest economy on planet Earth, we’ve got to start acting like it,” he said, adding one of his common boasts: “Only in California. Eat your heart out, the rest of the United States.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944160\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944160\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/CMIngestInsulin.jpg\" alt=\"A close up shot of a little girl's arm with an insulin patch. She's wearing a pink and purple floral dress.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/CMIngestInsulin.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/CMIngestInsulin-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/CMIngestInsulin-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/CMIngestInsulin-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A girl shows off her insulin pod that continuously gives her insulin throughout the day to help manage her Type 1 diabetes. \u003ccite>(Anne Wernikoff/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Day 4: Mental health in San Diego\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Unlike the CalExpo and San Quentin stops, the settings over the weekend were less directly tied to the topics at hand. And in between the official tour events, Newsom made other stops, including at the City of Refuge social service nonprofit in Sacramento, at the Los Angeles River with Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, and at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, on the final day of the tour, Newsom seemed a little less energized before his turn to speak at Alvarado Hospital Medical Center \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/03/19/governor-newsom-proposes-modernization-of-californias-behavioral-health-system-and-more-mental-health-housing/\">about his mental health initiative\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, who accompanied Newsom on both Saturday and Sunday, took on some of the more detailed policy questions, such as how many beds are needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides the $3 billion bond issue to build new treatment centers to treat 10,000 more people a year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-19/newsom-mental-health-housing-bond-measure-services-counties-substance-use-treatment\">Newsom wants to redirect another $1 billion\u003c/a> from an income tax on millionaires — approved by voters in 2004 — to operate them. That concerns county officials, who say any loss of state behavioral health money could also cost them federal matching funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor’s packed schedule meant zipping off quickly to the next event, and his team declined an interview request for Newsom to discuss the tour as a whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while details of the tour stops were closely guarded, protestors managed to get word of his Sunday appearance. About 10 people stood outside the hospital with signs asking Newsom to speak out against the construction of a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/01/monterey-park-shooting-gun-safety/#wm-story-3\">controversial barrier at Friendship Park\u003c/a>, which straddles the border of California and Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The governor of California should understand this is not a sideline issue,” said John Fanestil, a member of the Friends of Friendship Park community group, who was at the protest. “It should be his central issue on a visit to San Diego.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom hasn’t made an official statement, but told reporters at the border Sunday that he was trying to understand the Biden administration’s support for the barrier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But back on message, he also \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/WendyFry_/status/1637581231406850048?s=20\">announced $30 million to beef up the California National Guard’s efforts\u003c/a> to stop drug trafficking, especially fentanyl — and to shore up his legacy, this time on the opioid crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Gov. Gavin Newsom started defining his legacy on a four-day statewide tour that focuses on priorities interrupted by crisis and the COVID pandemic, including homelessness, criminal justice and health care.",
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"nprByline": " \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/sameea-kamal/\">Sameea Kamal\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/author/alexei-koseff/\">Alexei Koseff\u003c/a>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom likes to talk about “the California way.” And as he barnstormed the state with sweeping plans to transform its approach to homelessness, criminal justice and health care, he laid out his ideas for what that “way” means — and his legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout his State of the State tour, the governor was often joking and jovial. But on Sunday, the fourth and final day, he took on a more somber tone, standing behind the lectern of a makeshift event space that was once a nine-bed emergency room to talk about improving mental health care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He emphasized the far-reaching consequences of inadequate care and shared his own experiences, losing someone he’d attended his high school prom with, as well as his grandfather, a veteran, to suicide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We own this. We own this moment,” he said. “But we have now the tools and the capacity to turn this ship around.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As he dives into his second term, Newsom chose the tour \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/03/newsom-walgreens-abortion-medicine/\">in place of the traditional speech\u003c/a> to a joint session of the Legislature. In many ways, the events echoed the priorities that he was focused on at this same point in his first term four years ago — before unexpected crises, a recall effort and a seemingly inescapable pandemic scrambled his agenda.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In his first act as governor, shortly after he took the oath of office in January 2019, Newsom signed an executive order aimed at lowering prescription drug costs by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2019/01/lower-california-prescription-drug-costs/\">directing state agencies to negotiate collectively\u003c/a> with pharmaceutical companies for better prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Saturday, he finally announced that California \u003ca href=\"https://khn.org/news/article/california-generic-insulin-contract-civica-rx-newsom/\">will partner with Utah-based generic drug company Civica\u003c/a> to manufacture its own insulin, available for $30 a vial. The $50 million deal is the first major development in a plan Newsom has pursued for the past three years to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/health/2022/04/insulin-costs-california/\">create a generic label\u003c/a> that can challenge an industry he has criticized for charging far too much for life-saving medications.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Two months into his first term, in March 2019, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2019/03/gavin-newsom-halts-executions-california/\">enacted a moratorium on executions\u003c/a> and dismantled the lethal injection chamber at San Quentin State Prison. His decision stunned the political world by quickly reversing a campaign pledge to respect the will of California voters who have repeatedly upheld capital punishment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Friday, nearly four years to the day after that order, the governor was back at San Quentin, touting his vision to \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2023/03/san-quentin-prison-gavin-newsom/\">transform California’s oldest correctional facility\u003c/a> from the home of condemned men to a center for rehabilitation and training before those incarcerated there are released back into society.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/ppic-statewide-survey-californians-and-their-government-february-2023/\">public poll after public poll\u003c/a>, these issues are not what Californians identify as the most pressing problems in the state. Yet by regularly resurfacing them, steadily chipping away at breakthroughs on his own terms, Newsom suggests that’s what they represent to him — the issues most fundamental to his platform, those with which he seeks to build his legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Governors don’t always get to define their own legacies, however.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing public anger over California’s ever more visible homelessness crisis has made this seemingly intractable problem the inescapable force of Newsom’s tenure. He recognized it back in 2020, devoting \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2020/02/newsom-trump-homelessness-state-of-state-proposals-california-crisis/\">his entire State of the State speech\u003c/a> to the topic, and COVID aside, no other issue has consumed more of his time and political capital since, a stark departure from his predecessor. For opponents — from \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2021/07/newsom-recall-republicans-homelessness/\">those who unsuccessfully sought to recall him\u003c/a> from office in 2021 to those already seeking to stop any \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/election-2022/2022/10/gavin-newsom-campaign-president/\">presidential ambitions he may possess\u003c/a> — it is perhaps his greatest liability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That was reflected in the central role that homelessness played in Newsom’s statewide tour, underlying his major announcements on two separate days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The kick-off event, in Sacramento on Thursday, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/03/san-quentin-newsom/\">touted the governor’s successful push\u003c/a> to get local officials to adopt more aggressive targets for reducing the number of people living on the streets in their communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The final stop, in San Diego on Sunday, launched a campaign to ask California voters to \u003ca href=\"https://capitolweekly.net/newsom-takes-another-swing-at-getting-mentally-ill-homeless-off-the-streets/\">approve a $3 billion bond measure in 2024 for mental health housing and treatment beds\u003c/a>. It builds on Newsom’s signature policy achievement from last year: A new court system aimed at \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/09/california-lawmakers-approved-care-court-what-comes-next/\">compelling people with several mental illnesses\u003c/a>, who often languish on the streets, into housing and treatment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wrapping up the tour, Newsom noted that the issues he discussed were connected, but especially housing and homelessness.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think those two issues truly do represent the twin challenges of this state — our fate and future,” he said Sunday in answer to a CalMatters question. “They’re connected to more of our challenges than any other two issues, and that’s really the thrust of this multiday effort.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To achieve all his goals on homelessness and other issues, Newsom needs the buy-in of state lawmakers, local officials and frontline workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, by orchestrating four days of events across the state instead of delivering a single speech in Sacramento, the governor did succeed on one score: He drew a torrent of media coverage, though reporters were often held a distance away from him at each stop. Newsom’s messaging was \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/AssemblyDems/status/1637254095177420800?s=20\">amplified by friendly Democratic allies\u003c/a> at every event, and he called out key legislators whose help he needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trying to compete, Republicans in the Legislature posted \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/AsmRepublicans/status/1636485199948316672?s=20\">social media videos warning\u003c/a> that California is in crisis — on cost of living, crime, homelessness, schools, water and wildfires — and asserting that they have solutions in what they call \u003ca href=\"https://asmrc.org/california-promise/\">the California Promise\u003c/a>. “Californians want solutions to their everyday problems,” \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/J_GallagherAD3/status/1637186799868211200?s=20\">tweeted\u003c/a> Assembly GOP leader \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/james-gallagher-1981/\">James Gallagher\u003c/a> of Chico. “The Governor’s shiny object routine is tired.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On each day, and at each event, Newsom was being Newsom — prone to sweeping pronouncements, but less clear on some of the details. At times, he was repackaging or rebranding programs already underway. At others, he urged Californians to imagine a vision for something that doesn’t exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are some key takeaways and impressions from four days on the road with the governor:\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944150\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944150\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/NewsomTinyHomeCMIngest.jpg\" alt=\"Gov. Gavin Newsom wearing a blue suit and white-collared shirt observes a tiny home site.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/NewsomTinyHomeCMIngest.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/NewsomTinyHomeCMIngest-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/NewsomTinyHomeCMIngest-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/NewsomTinyHomeCMIngest-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom tours a 'tiny home' after announcing the state's plan to address homelessness at Cal Expo in Sacramento, on March 16, 2023. \u003ccite>(Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Day 1: Homelessness in Sacramento\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One area where California does lead the way is \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/explainers/californias-homelessness-crisis-explained/\">homelessness\u003c/a> — but on the sheer numbers as much as on innovative policies. About \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/blog/homeless-populations-are-rising-around-california/#:~:text=As%20of%202022%2C%2030%25%20of,of%20the%20nation's%20homeless%20population.\">30% of people who are unhoused in the U.S. were in California\u003c/a> in 2022, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it makes sense that Newsom’s first stop was Cal Expo, home of the California State Fair, and one site where the state plans to \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/03/16/governor-newsom-announces-1-billion-in-homelessness-funding-launches-states-largest-mobilization-of-small-homes/\">establish a community of “tiny homes” for unhoused individuals\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following his remarks, Newsom ducked into each of the “tiny home” models set up, on green turf with picnic tables off to the side, as the event’s backdrop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor was flanked by industry officials and, as was the case throughout the tour, by state lawmakers and local elected leaders, including San José Mayor Matt Mahan, who spoke about a \u003ca href=\"https://sanjosespotlight.com/san-jose-housed-more-than-2500-people-but-still-falls-short/\">so-far successful pilot program\u003c/a> in his Bay Area city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But how much Newsom reduces homelessness will be a hallmark of his tenure — regardless of how much, or how little, it’s under his control. He acknowledged some limitations: substance use disorders, mental health and wealth inequality. Success of the tiny homes, he said, depends on local governments ensuring the quality of the services in the long term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The entire homeless strategy in California is not the state of California,” he said. “Homeless strategy is realized not just locally but also begins locally and percolates up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The state’s willingness to fund local efforts came after “some tough conversations,” the governor noted. Just a few months ago, he threatened to withhold funding based on \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/homeless/2022/11/california-homeless-newsom-funding-reversal/\">plans cities and counties submitted\u003c/a>. With cities and counties pledging to get more people off the streets, he announced that his administration plans to free up $1 billion in state money to help them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom also highlighted programs that he launched during the pandemic: Project Roomkey, which places individuals in motel and hotel rooms as a short-term solution, and Project Homekey, where the state buys properties that can be converted into homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The “tiny home” program is not “‘it.’ This is a component of a larger strategy,” he said, pointing to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/california/articles/2023-01-10/california-budget-more-for-homelessness-less-for-climate\">$3.4 billion he put in his proposed budget\u003c/a> to address homelessness, despite what he projected as a $22.5 billion deficit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For some, Newsom’s ambitious plan wasn’t enough. Senate Republican Leader \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/legislator-tracker/brian-jones-1968/\">Brian Jones\u003c/a> of El Cajon \u003ca href=\"https://republicans.senate.ca.gov/content/newsom-slaps-another-band-aid-homeless-crisis\">called it another “Band-Aid on a crisis\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944147\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944147\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Teal and orange tiny houses are in a neat row with colorfully painted wine barrels out front of each one with white flowers sprouting.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1656\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-800x518.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-1020x660.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-160x104.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-1536x994.jpg 1536w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-2048x1325.jpg 2048w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS47374_Johnson_IMG_7568-1920x1242.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">During Gov. Gavin Newsom's statewide tour, he stopped at Cal Expo in Sacramento, where he visited a site of tiny homes similar to these pictured at the Tiny House Empowerment Village in Oakland. \u003ccite>(MJ Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For others, Newsom’s \u003cem>proposals\u003c/em> didn’t go far enough. Just before the governor’s event, the California State Association of Counties \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CSAC_Counties/status/1636451132980752384?s=20\">urged state lawmakers to set up a new system\u003c/a> for routing state homelessness funding through regional plans with clear responsibilities assigned to local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1,200 “tiny homes” will go to Los Angeles, San Diego County, San José and Sacramento — places Newsom said showed “enthusiasm.” But at least for now, the program excludes \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/public-health/homelessness/newsoms-homeless-plan-leaves-out-major-cities-hardest-hit-by-the-crisis/?utm_source=The+San+Francisco+Standard&utm_campaign=6dde48bdf3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_06_21_02_54_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f81e82e2a3-6dde48bdf3-527994129\">San Francisco and other cities mired in crisis\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Day 2: Criminal justice at San Quentin\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>San Quentin State Prison is already considered a model for rehabilitation in California — attested to by incarcerated people made available to the press. Programs such as a news service and a coding course have been transformational and, at a minimum, offer people incarcerated there a place outside their cells to breathe. Those incarcerated at other state prisons request transfers to San Quentin for the opportunities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So at Friday’s event, when the governor \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/03/17/san-quentin-transformation/\">spoke in sweeping terms about a plan to “transform”\u003c/a> the prison into a “national model” for rehabilitation, questions prevailed: How long will it take? How much of the \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/justice/2023/03/san-quentin-prison-gavin-newsom/\">Scandinavian model will it emulate\u003c/a>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But the big question came from \u003ca href=\"https://sanquentinnews.com/steve-brooks-wins-prestigious-spj-award-sqnews-staff-writer-recognized-for-excellence-in-commentary/\">Steve Brooks, editor of the San Quentin News\u003c/a>: How will this model help incarcerated people with overcrowding and poor living conditions? And would the Scandinavian model mean violent offenders wouldn’t get to take part in the rehabilitation programs?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“No, quite the contrary,” Newsom replied, speaking inside a warehouse that is to be converted into a training center. “And I don’t refer to it as the Scandinavian model. This is the California model, the California way. ... I’m for people that are committed, not passively interested, in changing themselves, and in turn helping us keep our communities safe and changing our communities as a consequence.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new facility will be designed by an advisory committee that includes crime victims, formerly incarcerated people and academics, the governor’s office said. Newsom is also asking the Legislature for $20 million for the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Asked whether he plans to ask voters to make permanent his \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2022/02/california-death-penalty-end/\">moratorium on the death penalty\u003c/a>, Newsom didn’t commit to a ballot measure. As of March 8, there were \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/capital-punishment/condemned-inmate-list-secure-request/\">668 people sentenced to death in California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944151\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944151\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/SQPhotogCMIngest.jpg\" alt=\"Prisoners of San Quentin, wearing light blue shirts and navy pants, sit on chairs in rows observing a speech by Gov. Gavin Newsom. One man in the foreground holds a digital camera as he looks onward.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/SQPhotogCMIngest.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/SQPhotogCMIngest-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/SQPhotogCMIngest-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/SQPhotogCMIngest-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gregory Eskridge (right) and other incarcerated men who report for the San Quentin News attend Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press event at San Quentin State Prison announcing the transformation of the facility to focus on training and rehabilitation, on March 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>San Quentin currently houses 3,906 people, with security levels ranging from medium to maximum security. One person housed there is Angelo Mecchi. Newsom said that on a visit several weeks ago, Mecchi saw him and flagged that they’d played in the same Little League in Marin County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That spoke to me on a different level,” Newsom said. “We are many journeys, many parts — but one body. When one part suffers, we all suffer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Day 3: Health care costs in Downey\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Three days into the tour, Newsom seemed particularly upbeat about Saturday’s announcement: \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/03/18/governor-newsom-announces-30-insulin-through-calrx/\">securing a contractor to produce insulin\u003c/a>, bringing the costs for patients with diabetes down to $30.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What this does is a game changer,” he said. “This fundamentally lowers the cost, period, full stop.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just really proud of this,” he added later, standing in front of a row of refrigerators that contained insulin medications at a Kaiser Permanente warehouse.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocacy groups were just as excited. “California’s investment to directly manufacture prescription drugs is a game-changer with national impact,” Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California said in a statement. “Even a modest decrease in the cost of key drugs could save hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If manufacturing begins as planned later this year, the state would then seek approval from the Food and Drug Administration and start distributing early next year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor said the long-term plan is to have Civica make the insulin in California. “The future happens here first. We are America’s coming attraction,” he said during what turned out to be the shortest of the four stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And he doesn’t plan to stop with insulin. Newsom disclosed that the state’s Medi-Cal Rx is exploring making its own naloxone (better known by its brand name Narcan) to treat opioid overdoses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also said this push to lower health care costs builds on California’s record of universal health care regardless of preexisting conditions or immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we are arguably now the fourth-largest economy on planet Earth, we’ve got to start acting like it,” he said, adding one of his common boasts: “Only in California. Eat your heart out, the rest of the United States.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944160\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1200px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944160\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/CMIngestInsulin.jpg\" alt=\"A close up shot of a little girl's arm with an insulin patch. She's wearing a pink and purple floral dress.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/CMIngestInsulin.jpg 1200w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/CMIngestInsulin-800x533.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/CMIngestInsulin-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/CMIngestInsulin-160x107.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A girl shows off her insulin pod that continuously gives her insulin throughout the day to help manage her Type 1 diabetes. \u003ccite>(Anne Wernikoff/CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Day 4: Mental health in San Diego\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Unlike the CalExpo and San Quentin stops, the settings over the weekend were less directly tied to the topics at hand. And in between the official tour events, Newsom made other stops, including at the City of Refuge social service nonprofit in Sacramento, at the Los Angeles River with Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, and at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, on the final day of the tour, Newsom seemed a little less energized before his turn to speak at Alvarado Hospital Medical Center \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/03/19/governor-newsom-proposes-modernization-of-californias-behavioral-health-system-and-more-mental-health-housing/\">about his mental health initiative\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mark Ghaly, secretary of the California Health and Human Services Agency, who accompanied Newsom on both Saturday and Sunday, took on some of the more detailed policy questions, such as how many beds are needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Besides the $3 billion bond issue to build new treatment centers to treat 10,000 more people a year, \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-19/newsom-mental-health-housing-bond-measure-services-counties-substance-use-treatment\">Newsom wants to redirect another $1 billion\u003c/a> from an income tax on millionaires — approved by voters in 2004 — to operate them. That concerns county officials, who say any loss of state behavioral health money could also cost them federal matching funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor’s packed schedule meant zipping off quickly to the next event, and his team declined an interview request for Newsom to discuss the tour as a whole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And while details of the tour stops were closely guarded, protestors managed to get word of his Sunday appearance. About 10 people stood outside the hospital with signs asking Newsom to speak out against the construction of a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2023/01/monterey-park-shooting-gun-safety/#wm-story-3\">controversial barrier at Friendship Park\u003c/a>, which straddles the border of California and Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The governor of California should understand this is not a sideline issue,” said John Fanestil, a member of the Friends of Friendship Park community group, who was at the protest. “It should be his central issue on a visit to San Diego.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom hasn’t made an official statement, but told reporters at the border Sunday that he was trying to understand the Biden administration’s support for the barrier.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But back on message, he also \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/WendyFry_/status/1637581231406850048?s=20\">announced $30 million to beef up the California National Guard’s efforts\u003c/a> to stop drug trafficking, especially fentanyl — and to shore up his legacy, this time on the opioid crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated Sunday at 2 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state of California and a generic drug manufacturer announced a 10-year partnership Saturday to produce affordable, state-branded insulin that they hope will rival longtime producers and push down prices for a medication used by millions of Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The product is not expected on store shelves until at least next year, and it was difficult to predict what effect it would have on a market already shaken by change. Earlier this week another major insulin maker promised steep price cuts as pressure builds on drugmakers and insurers to slash the cost of the drug.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those who have been fighting for insulin access, it is a welcome win. “I am elated. I was getting texts all yesterday and the day before,” said Kevin Wren, a patient advocate and volunteer with California \u003ca href=\"https://www.t1international.com/CA/\">#Insulin4All\u003c/a>. “This is huge for everyone with diabetes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wren said the price of insulin has risen exponentially since he was diagnosed with diabetes in 2001. “I survived when many have not,” Wren said. He added that something like this on the state level is a win for everyone, especially for those with insulin-dependent diabetes in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re getting another, other major win in the fight for insulin access,” he said. Back in 2009, he rationed his own insulin because he didn’t have enough money to afford the cost of rent and groceries in addition to insulin — “making one vial last twice as long by having smaller doses or using less and just letting my blood sugar run high, which makes you feel terrible,” Wren said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>#Insulin4All is trying to work at the federal level to advocate for a price cap on insulin nationwide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://twitter.com/KQEDnews/status/1637163217398173696\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said he hoped California’s emergence as an insulin-maker would prompt prices to collapse. Research has shown that \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/health-prices-diabetes-congress-a2f9986b7bf3500b81d1ec80a01e5abb\">prices for the drug have more than tripled\u003c/a> in the past couple of decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are intent to make this about market disruption,” Newsom said at a ceremony announcing the pact at a pharmaceutical warehouse near Los Angeles. He called it “a game changer” for 8 million Americans who use insulin to treat diabetes.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11937977,news_11920898\"]Many questions remain. The state and its partner, the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://civicarx.org/\">Civica\u003c/a>, have yet to locate a California-based manufacturing facility. Regulatory approvals will be needed. Newsom said a 10-milliliter vial of the state-branded insulin would sell for $30, but it’s possible competitors could slash their prices and undercut the state product.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is this perfect? We don’t know yet,” Newsom acknowledged at one point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just days ago, President Joe Biden said his administration is focused “intensely” on lowering health care costs, including pressuring pharmaceutical companies to lower the costs of insulin. Legislation enacted last year capped co-payments for insulin at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries. Biden has proposed extending that cap to all Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Novo Nordisk said Tuesday that \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/novo-insulin-price-cuts-8c9eed1f35ad81a29653b6061702ef8d\">it will slash some of its U.S. insulin prices up to 75% starting next year\u003c/a>. The announcement comes less than two weeks after rival Eli Lilly said it will drop some of its prices by 70% or more later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a statewide consumer health care advocacy group, welcomed Newsom’s announcement, saying efforts by California and others to develop a competing generic are likely a factor in getting insulin manufacturers to cut their prices.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Gov. Gavin Newsom\"]‘We are intent to make this about market disruption.’[/pullquote]Still, there are obstacles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The work to develop a generic, get FDA approval and set up manufacturing will take real time,” Wright said in an email. “There may even be more time in the effort to get doctors to prescribe the drug, insurers and [pharmacy benefit managers] to include it on their formularies and patients and the public to accept and ask for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There could be other risks. State analysts have warned that \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4560\">California’s entry into the market could prompt other manufacturers to reduce the availability\u003c/a> of their drugs, a potential unintended consequence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers approved \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/health-california-diabetes-government-and-politics-f846c58d4cb327578d1c7b3a9495d496\">$100 million for the project\u003c/a> last year, with $50 million dedicated to developing three types of insulin and the rest set aside to invest in a manufacturing facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944052\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11944052\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2030/03/GettyImages-1248563230-800x536.jpg\" alt=\"A middle aged woman in a white dress with a face mask talks with a white middle aged man as he smiles with onlookers behind them.\" width=\"800\" height=\"536\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2030/03/GettyImages-1248563230-800x536.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2030/03/GettyImages-1248563230-1020x683.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2030/03/GettyImages-1248563230-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2030/03/GettyImages-1248563230.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Tanya Spirtos, president-elect of the California Medical Association (left), speaks briefly with Gov. Newsom (center) following a press conference. \u003ccite>(Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even with the challenges of entering a competitive, established market, Newsom said taxpayers would have “very ample protections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If for whatever reason the deal didn’t work out to the state’s benefit, “there’s all kinds of provisions that would allow us to … pull out,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to state documents, the proposed program could save many patients between $2,000 and $4,000 a year. In addition, lower costs could result in substantial savings because the state buys the product every year for the millions of people on its publicly funded health plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state also is exploring the possibility of bringing other drugs to market, including the overdose medication \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/naloxone-narcan-overdose-availability-ec12f62eef12ebc67de77afdbb6f11b9\">naloxone\u003c/a>. The drug, available as a nasal spray and in an injectable form, is considered a key tool in the battle against a nationwide overdose crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not stopping here,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This post includes additional reporting from \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/lsarah\">KQED’s Lakshmi Sarah\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>Updated Sunday at 2 p.m.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state of California and a generic drug manufacturer announced a 10-year partnership Saturday to produce affordable, state-branded insulin that they hope will rival longtime producers and push down prices for a medication used by millions of Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The product is not expected on store shelves until at least next year, and it was difficult to predict what effect it would have on a market already shaken by change. Earlier this week another major insulin maker promised steep price cuts as pressure builds on drugmakers and insurers to slash the cost of the drug.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For those who have been fighting for insulin access, it is a welcome win. “I am elated. I was getting texts all yesterday and the day before,” said Kevin Wren, a patient advocate and volunteer with California \u003ca href=\"https://www.t1international.com/CA/\">#Insulin4All\u003c/a>. “This is huge for everyone with diabetes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wren said the price of insulin has risen exponentially since he was diagnosed with diabetes in 2001. “I survived when many have not,” Wren said. He added that something like this on the state level is a win for everyone, especially for those with insulin-dependent diabetes in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re getting another, other major win in the fight for insulin access,” he said. Back in 2009, he rationed his own insulin because he didn’t have enough money to afford the cost of rent and groceries in addition to insulin — “making one vial last twice as long by having smaller doses or using less and just letting my blood sugar run high, which makes you feel terrible,” Wren said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>#Insulin4All is trying to work at the federal level to advocate for a price cap on insulin nationwide.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said he hoped California’s emergence as an insulin-maker would prompt prices to collapse. Research has shown that \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/health-prices-diabetes-congress-a2f9986b7bf3500b81d1ec80a01e5abb\">prices for the drug have more than tripled\u003c/a> in the past couple of decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are intent to make this about market disruption,” Newsom said at a ceremony announcing the pact at a pharmaceutical warehouse near Los Angeles. He called it “a game changer” for 8 million Americans who use insulin to treat diabetes.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Many questions remain. The state and its partner, the nonprofit \u003ca href=\"https://civicarx.org/\">Civica\u003c/a>, have yet to locate a California-based manufacturing facility. Regulatory approvals will be needed. Newsom said a 10-milliliter vial of the state-branded insulin would sell for $30, but it’s possible competitors could slash their prices and undercut the state product.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Is this perfect? We don’t know yet,” Newsom acknowledged at one point.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just days ago, President Joe Biden said his administration is focused “intensely” on lowering health care costs, including pressuring pharmaceutical companies to lower the costs of insulin. Legislation enacted last year capped co-payments for insulin at $35 per month for Medicare beneficiaries. Biden has proposed extending that cap to all Americans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Novo Nordisk said Tuesday that \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/novo-insulin-price-cuts-8c9eed1f35ad81a29653b6061702ef8d\">it will slash some of its U.S. insulin prices up to 75% starting next year\u003c/a>. The announcement comes less than two weeks after rival Eli Lilly said it will drop some of its prices by 70% or more later this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a statewide consumer health care advocacy group, welcomed Newsom’s announcement, saying efforts by California and others to develop a competing generic are likely a factor in getting insulin manufacturers to cut their prices.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Still, there are obstacles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The work to develop a generic, get FDA approval and set up manufacturing will take real time,” Wright said in an email. “There may even be more time in the effort to get doctors to prescribe the drug, insurers and [pharmacy benefit managers] to include it on their formularies and patients and the public to accept and ask for it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There could be other risks. State analysts have warned that \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4560\">California’s entry into the market could prompt other manufacturers to reduce the availability\u003c/a> of their drugs, a potential unintended consequence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State lawmakers approved \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/health-california-diabetes-government-and-politics-f846c58d4cb327578d1c7b3a9495d496\">$100 million for the project\u003c/a> last year, with $50 million dedicated to developing three types of insulin and the rest set aside to invest in a manufacturing facility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944052\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11944052\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2030/03/GettyImages-1248563230-800x536.jpg\" alt=\"A middle aged woman in a white dress with a face mask talks with a white middle aged man as he smiles with onlookers behind them.\" width=\"800\" height=\"536\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2030/03/GettyImages-1248563230-800x536.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2030/03/GettyImages-1248563230-1020x683.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2030/03/GettyImages-1248563230-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2030/03/GettyImages-1248563230.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Tanya Spirtos, president-elect of the California Medical Association (left), speaks briefly with Gov. Newsom (center) following a press conference. \u003ccite>(Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Even with the challenges of entering a competitive, established market, Newsom said taxpayers would have “very ample protections.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If for whatever reason the deal didn’t work out to the state’s benefit, “there’s all kinds of provisions that would allow us to … pull out,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to state documents, the proposed program could save many patients between $2,000 and $4,000 a year. In addition, lower costs could result in substantial savings because the state buys the product every year for the millions of people on its publicly funded health plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state also is exploring the possibility of bringing other drugs to market, including the overdose medication \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/naloxone-narcan-overdose-availability-ec12f62eef12ebc67de77afdbb6f11b9\">naloxone\u003c/a>. The drug, available as a nasal spray and in an injectable form, is considered a key tool in the battle against a nationwide overdose crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are not stopping here,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/next-storm-atmospheric-river-california-impacts-17843272.php\">another atmospheric river storm approaches California\u003c/a>, thousands of farmworkers could be left with no income for months after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11943316/pajaro-river-levee-breached-where-to-find-evacuation-shelters\">a disastrous flood\u003c/a> submerged an “alarming” acreage of agricultural land in California’s Central Coast, according to Monterey County officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The community of Pajaro, where many farmworkers live, became \u003ca href=\"https://www.co.monterey.ca.us/government/departments-a-h/administrative-office/office-of-emergency-services/incidents/2023-pineapple-express\">the emergency\u003c/a>’s ground zero after a nearby river levee broke last week and residents were forced to evacuate their homes. Emergency crews have since patched up the Pajaro River levee breach, allowing floodwaters to recede from streets, homes and businesses. But all \u003ca href=\"https://censusreporter.org/profiles/16000US0655044-pajaro-ca/\">3,000 residents\u003c/a> continue to be displaced and are under evacuation orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have nothing. No money. No home,” said Juana Juarez, a longtime farmworker and single mother of three, in Spanish, as tears streamed down her face. “I feel like I’ve reached rock bottom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juarez, 41, worried about how to pay for rent and food for her kids. She planned to start working this month, the usual start to harvesting season for strawberries — the county’s top crop. But now an overwhelming economic and housing uncertainty keeps her up at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944019\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11944019\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63697_IMG_7224-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Two Latina women packing clothes in a park.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63697_IMG_7224-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63697_IMG_7224-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63697_IMG_7224-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63697_IMG_7224-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63697_IMG_7224-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Farmworker Juana Juarez (left) packs donated clothes for her family in Watsonville, on March 15, 2023. Juarez, a single mother of three, said she worries about the prospect of no work due to flooding damage. \u003ccite>(Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The devastation in the mostly lower-income Latino community was clear earlier this week. Trucks sat partly inundated in parking lots, while tires, metal pots and other debris littered the deserted roads. A blue beauty salon on Main Street was missing part of its front wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sister Rosa Dolores Rodriguez returned to her nonprofit, \u003ca href=\"https://www.casadelaculturacenter.org/\">Casa de la Cultura Center\u003c/a>, to find that water had left a mark on the brick walls more than 2 feet up from the ground. She carefully opened the building’s front door to find a thick, shiny layer of mud covering the ground floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m OK. I’m OK,” she slowly assured herself. And then, “That’s going to require a lot of help to clean out the mud,” she said, as she began considering the impacts. The piano and some electronics would be damaged, she said. Mold might be growing in the walls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just outside the town, expansive farmlands looked like shimmering lakes. County officials have started the long process of assessing losses to the local agricultural industry, with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.co.monterey.ca.us/home/showpublisheddocument/113214/637970560105830000\">production gross value of $4.1 billion\u003c/a> in 2021.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11943316,news_11943845,news_11943590\"]Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner Juan Hidalgo said the current flood damage will be more extensive than the havoc wreaked during a series of storms last January, when roughly \u003ca href=\"https://www.ksbw.com/article/monterey-county-agriculture-storm-losses/43068481\">15,000 acres of farmland were affected\u003c/a>, at an estimated cost of $336 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of the damages that we are seeing are quite alarming,” particularly for strawberry and raspberry fields that had already been planted, Hidalgo told reporters earlier this week. “From experience in previous flooding, we’re looking at anywhere from 30% to 50% yield losses” for those crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of food safety requirements, submerged farmlands will likely stay fallow for at least 60 days, he said. Regrowing harvests could take even longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the region’s agricultural workforce, the economic impact could be devastating, particularly for Pajaro residents who are also facing additional losses due to flooded homes, said Luis Alejo, who chairs the Monterey County Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have so little but have lost so much,” said Alejo. “We need to get resources for those who don’t have any other means to pay the rent, put food on the table, provide for their families.”[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Luis Alejo, chair, Monterey County Board of Supervisors\"]‘They have so little but have lost so much. We need to get resources for those who don’t have any other means to pay the rent, put food on the table, provide for their families.’[/pullquote]About \u003ca href=\"https://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/blog/post/?id=2770\">half of the farmworkers in California are undocumented\u003c/a>, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That means they are ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits, but \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Portals/13/DisasterAssistanceGuideforImmigrantCaliforniansFinal.pdf\">households with U.S. citizens or legal residents may apply (PDF)\u003c/a> for Federal Emergency Management Agency aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After touring the disaster area earlier this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters that he recognized the vulnerability of Pajaro and other disaster-stricken communities in the region. During his tenure, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/10/19/medi-cal-expansion-provided-286000-undocumented-californians-with-comprehensive-health-care/#:~:text=The%20next%20step%20in%20California's,%2C%20effective%20January%201%2C%202024.\">Newsom has expanded the public health insurance program Medi-Cal\u003c/a> to cover hundreds of thousands of undocumented Californians. But the governor also \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Gov-Newsom-vetoed-a-program-to-offer-17478927.php\">vetoed\u003c/a> a bill last year that would have set up temporary unemployment benefits for undocumented workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s not a state in America, not one state, that does more for farmworkers than the state of California. And we don’t do enough,” said Newsom, standing by flooded farmlands outside Pajaro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor touted a $42 million grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the nonprofit United Way to provide financial assistance for farmworkers hit with flood losses, regardless of immigration status. People could readily start applying for the aid, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after, United Ways of California representatives \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11943845/gov-newsom-touts-42-million-in-aid-for-flooded-farmworkers-turns-out-its-months-old-covid-funding\">clarified\u003c/a> that only $300,000 of those funds — which were actually awarded months ago to the organization for \u003ca href=\"https://www.unitedwaysca.org/press-releases/610-usda-farmerworker-grant\">COVID relief\u003c/a> — will be distributed in Monterey County, including to storm victims. Applications for the $600 one-time cash cards are not open yet, said Katy Castagna, president of United Way Monterey County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944020\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11944020\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63695_IMG_7203-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"An older Latina woman with white hair stands outside a building.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63695_IMG_7203-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63695_IMG_7203-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63695_IMG_7203-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63695_IMG_7203-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63695_IMG_7203-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sister Rosa Dolores Rodriguez surveys the damage at her nonprofit, Casa de la Cultura, in Pajaro on March 15, 2023. The floodwaters left a mark on the walls more than 2 feet from the ground. \u003ccite>(Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For farmworker Juana Juarez, that cash amount won’t be nearly enough to cover the cost of replacing belongings she lost in the flooding, which she believes include her car, furniture, electronics and clothes. She didn’t know the total amount of her losses, as most Pajaro residents have not been allowed into town yet to survey their homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just too little … the governor should try to help us with more money,” said Juarez, who has been staying with her children at a relatives’ crowded home in the adjacent town of Watsonville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for Newsom’s office said the administration is pursuing “additional support” for storm-affected residents who are ineligible for FEMA assistance due to immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An additional $300,000 in flood relief has been raised by local foundations and nonprofits for affected residents in the Pajaro Valley, said MaríaElena De La Garza, who directs the \u003ca href=\"https://cabinc.org/\">Community Action Board\u003c/a> of Santa Cruz County, one of the organizations tasked with distributing those funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a critical situation,” De La Garza said. “We are working in collaboration to get out economic relief to families not only at the shelters, but anybody who’s been displaced.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before residents can return to their homes, Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto said several agencies must first check the safety of buildings, running water and other infrastructure — a process that could take weeks. \u003ca href=\"https://www.co.monterey.ca.us/government/departments-a-h/administrative-office/office-o%5B%E2%80%A6%5Dnts/2023-pineapple-express/2023-pineapple-express-recovery\">Cal Fire damage assessment teams have already started working\u003c/a> in Pajaro and other affected areas, according to a county spokesperson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944021\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11944021 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63692_IMG_1243-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A white semi facing the camera drives along a partially flooded road with completely submerged fields to both sides, alongside electric lines. In the background is a ranch-style house and thick tree cover.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63692_IMG_1243-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63692_IMG_1243-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63692_IMG_1243-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63692_IMG_1243-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63692_IMG_1243-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A truck drives on a flooded road between agricultural fields near Pajaro on March 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Farmworkers from Watsonville whose homes were not flooded also are responding to the crisis. A group of volunteers raised donations through social media and dropped off bags of clothes and food to displaced residents near one of the blocked street entrances to Pajaro this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yessica Ortiz, a strawberry picker who fears she won’t have work either, said she paid out of her own pocket for chicken and rice, pizza boxes and cookies that she offered to families with young children on the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to try to help people in whatever way we can,” Ortiz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>To give money:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cfmco.org/impact/montereycountystormrelieffund/\">Community Foundation for Monterey County: Storm Relief Fund\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cfscc.org/funds/disaster-fund\">Community Foundation Santa Cruz County: Santa Cruz County Disaster Fund\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/allinmonterey\">ALL IN in Monterey County: Donation distribution center at Monterey Fairgrounds\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>To volunteer:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://allinmonterey.org/2023-pineapple-express-storm-relief\">Monterey County is seeking volunteers to sort donated items.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.redcross.org/local/california/northern-california-coastal/volunteer.html\">The Red Cross is accepting volunteer applications.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Additional organizations:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.unitedwaysc.org/\">United Way of Santa Cruz County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.unitedwaymcca.org/\">United Way of Monterey County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://cabinc.org/\">Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Displaced residents of Pajaro face severe economic losses after their homes were flooded, along with nearby agricultural farmlands where they work. Many are undocumented farmworkers who don't qualify for unemployment and other benefits because of their immigration status.",
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"title": "'We Have Nothing': Pajaro Farmworkers Face the Prospect of No Income at Start of Harvesting Season | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/weather/article/next-storm-atmospheric-river-california-impacts-17843272.php\">another atmospheric river storm approaches California\u003c/a>, thousands of farmworkers could be left with no income for months after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11943316/pajaro-river-levee-breached-where-to-find-evacuation-shelters\">a disastrous flood\u003c/a> submerged an “alarming” acreage of agricultural land in California’s Central Coast, according to Monterey County officials.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The community of Pajaro, where many farmworkers live, became \u003ca href=\"https://www.co.monterey.ca.us/government/departments-a-h/administrative-office/office-of-emergency-services/incidents/2023-pineapple-express\">the emergency\u003c/a>’s ground zero after a nearby river levee broke last week and residents were forced to evacuate their homes. Emergency crews have since patched up the Pajaro River levee breach, allowing floodwaters to recede from streets, homes and businesses. But all \u003ca href=\"https://censusreporter.org/profiles/16000US0655044-pajaro-ca/\">3,000 residents\u003c/a> continue to be displaced and are under evacuation orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have nothing. No money. No home,” said Juana Juarez, a longtime farmworker and single mother of three, in Spanish, as tears streamed down her face. “I feel like I’ve reached rock bottom.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Juarez, 41, worried about how to pay for rent and food for her kids. She planned to start working this month, the usual start to harvesting season for strawberries — the county’s top crop. But now an overwhelming economic and housing uncertainty keeps her up at night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944019\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11944019\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63697_IMG_7224-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"Two Latina women packing clothes in a park.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63697_IMG_7224-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63697_IMG_7224-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63697_IMG_7224-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63697_IMG_7224-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63697_IMG_7224-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Farmworker Juana Juarez (left) packs donated clothes for her family in Watsonville, on March 15, 2023. Juarez, a single mother of three, said she worries about the prospect of no work due to flooding damage. \u003ccite>(Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The devastation in the mostly lower-income Latino community was clear earlier this week. Trucks sat partly inundated in parking lots, while tires, metal pots and other debris littered the deserted roads. A blue beauty salon on Main Street was missing part of its front wall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sister Rosa Dolores Rodriguez returned to her nonprofit, \u003ca href=\"https://www.casadelaculturacenter.org/\">Casa de la Cultura Center\u003c/a>, to find that water had left a mark on the brick walls more than 2 feet up from the ground. She carefully opened the building’s front door to find a thick, shiny layer of mud covering the ground floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m OK. I’m OK,” she slowly assured herself. And then, “That’s going to require a lot of help to clean out the mud,” she said, as she began considering the impacts. The piano and some electronics would be damaged, she said. Mold might be growing in the walls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just outside the town, expansive farmlands looked like shimmering lakes. County officials have started the long process of assessing losses to the local agricultural industry, with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.co.monterey.ca.us/home/showpublisheddocument/113214/637970560105830000\">production gross value of $4.1 billion\u003c/a> in 2021.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner Juan Hidalgo said the current flood damage will be more extensive than the havoc wreaked during a series of storms last January, when roughly \u003ca href=\"https://www.ksbw.com/article/monterey-county-agriculture-storm-losses/43068481\">15,000 acres of farmland were affected\u003c/a>, at an estimated cost of $336 million.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of the damages that we are seeing are quite alarming,” particularly for strawberry and raspberry fields that had already been planted, Hidalgo told reporters earlier this week. “From experience in previous flooding, we’re looking at anywhere from 30% to 50% yield losses” for those crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because of food safety requirements, submerged farmlands will likely stay fallow for at least 60 days, he said. Regrowing harvests could take even longer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the region’s agricultural workforce, the economic impact could be devastating, particularly for Pajaro residents who are also facing additional losses due to flooded homes, said Luis Alejo, who chairs the Monterey County Board of Supervisors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They have so little but have lost so much,” said Alejo. “We need to get resources for those who don’t have any other means to pay the rent, put food on the table, provide for their families.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘They have so little but have lost so much. We need to get resources for those who don’t have any other means to pay the rent, put food on the table, provide for their families.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>About \u003ca href=\"https://migration.ucdavis.edu/rmn/blog/post/?id=2770\">half of the farmworkers in California are undocumented\u003c/a>, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That means they are ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits, but \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Portals/13/DisasterAssistanceGuideforImmigrantCaliforniansFinal.pdf\">households with U.S. citizens or legal residents may apply (PDF)\u003c/a> for Federal Emergency Management Agency aid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After touring the disaster area earlier this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters that he recognized the vulnerability of Pajaro and other disaster-stricken communities in the region. During his tenure, \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/2022/10/19/medi-cal-expansion-provided-286000-undocumented-californians-with-comprehensive-health-care/#:~:text=The%20next%20step%20in%20California's,%2C%20effective%20January%201%2C%202024.\">Newsom has expanded the public health insurance program Medi-Cal\u003c/a> to cover hundreds of thousands of undocumented Californians. But the governor also \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Gov-Newsom-vetoed-a-program-to-offer-17478927.php\">vetoed\u003c/a> a bill last year that would have set up temporary unemployment benefits for undocumented workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s not a state in America, not one state, that does more for farmworkers than the state of California. And we don’t do enough,” said Newsom, standing by flooded farmlands outside Pajaro.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The governor touted a $42 million grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the nonprofit United Way to provide financial assistance for farmworkers hit with flood losses, regardless of immigration status. People could readily start applying for the aid, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after, United Ways of California representatives \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11943845/gov-newsom-touts-42-million-in-aid-for-flooded-farmworkers-turns-out-its-months-old-covid-funding\">clarified\u003c/a> that only $300,000 of those funds — which were actually awarded months ago to the organization for \u003ca href=\"https://www.unitedwaysca.org/press-releases/610-usda-farmerworker-grant\">COVID relief\u003c/a> — will be distributed in Monterey County, including to storm victims. Applications for the $600 one-time cash cards are not open yet, said Katy Castagna, president of United Way Monterey County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944020\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11944020\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63695_IMG_7203-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"An older Latina woman with white hair stands outside a building.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63695_IMG_7203-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63695_IMG_7203-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63695_IMG_7203-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63695_IMG_7203-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63695_IMG_7203-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sister Rosa Dolores Rodriguez surveys the damage at her nonprofit, Casa de la Cultura, in Pajaro on March 15, 2023. The floodwaters left a mark on the walls more than 2 feet from the ground. \u003ccite>(Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For farmworker Juana Juarez, that cash amount won’t be nearly enough to cover the cost of replacing belongings she lost in the flooding, which she believes include her car, furniture, electronics and clothes. She didn’t know the total amount of her losses, as most Pajaro residents have not been allowed into town yet to survey their homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s just too little … the governor should try to help us with more money,” said Juarez, who has been staying with her children at a relatives’ crowded home in the adjacent town of Watsonville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for Newsom’s office said the administration is pursuing “additional support” for storm-affected residents who are ineligible for FEMA assistance due to immigration status.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An additional $300,000 in flood relief has been raised by local foundations and nonprofits for affected residents in the Pajaro Valley, said MaríaElena De La Garza, who directs the \u003ca href=\"https://cabinc.org/\">Community Action Board\u003c/a> of Santa Cruz County, one of the organizations tasked with distributing those funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a critical situation,” De La Garza said. “We are working in collaboration to get out economic relief to families not only at the shelters, but anybody who’s been displaced.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before residents can return to their homes, Monterey County Sheriff Tina Nieto said several agencies must first check the safety of buildings, running water and other infrastructure — a process that could take weeks. \u003ca href=\"https://www.co.monterey.ca.us/government/departments-a-h/administrative-office/office-o%5B%E2%80%A6%5Dnts/2023-pineapple-express/2023-pineapple-express-recovery\">Cal Fire damage assessment teams have already started working\u003c/a> in Pajaro and other affected areas, according to a county spokesperson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944021\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11944021 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63692_IMG_1243-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A white semi facing the camera drives along a partially flooded road with completely submerged fields to both sides, alongside electric lines. In the background is a ranch-style house and thick tree cover.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63692_IMG_1243-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63692_IMG_1243-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63692_IMG_1243-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63692_IMG_1243-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63692_IMG_1243-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A truck drives on a flooded road between agricultural fields near Pajaro on March 15, 2023. \u003ccite>(Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Farmworkers from Watsonville whose homes were not flooded also are responding to the crisis. A group of volunteers raised donations through social media and dropped off bags of clothes and food to displaced residents near one of the blocked street entrances to Pajaro this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yessica Ortiz, a strawberry picker who fears she won’t have work either, said she paid out of her own pocket for chicken and rice, pizza boxes and cookies that she offered to families with young children on the street.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to try to help people in whatever way we can,” Ortiz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>To give money:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cfmco.org/impact/montereycountystormrelieffund/\">Community Foundation for Monterey County: Storm Relief Fund\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cfscc.org/funds/disaster-fund\">Community Foundation Santa Cruz County: Santa Cruz County Disaster Fund\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/allinmonterey\">ALL IN in Monterey County: Donation distribution center at Monterey Fairgrounds\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>To volunteer:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://allinmonterey.org/2023-pineapple-express-storm-relief\">Monterey County is seeking volunteers to sort donated items.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.redcross.org/local/california/northern-california-coastal/volunteer.html\">The Red Cross is accepting volunteer applications.\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Additional organizations:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.unitedwaysc.org/\">United Way of Santa Cruz County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.unitedwaymcca.org/\">United Way of Monterey County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://cabinc.org/\">Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Nkarta Therapeutics, among a throng of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11933882/beyond-vaccines-biotech-is-booming-in-the-bay-area-despite-a-cooling-economy\">biotech companies in South San Francisco\u003c/a>, had $350 million in deposits and assets in Silicon Valley Bank.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But last Friday, after the bank failed, it suddenly had no access to those funds, said Paul Hastings, the company’s CEO.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"More California Coverage\" tag=\"silicon-valley\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oh, my goodness. It was like a hurricane of thoughts about what’s going to happen here,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hastings said another bank that works with SVB was able to wire him money on Monday, just in time for Nkarta to make payroll the next day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly half of the country’s biotech and climate-technology companies, many of them headquartered in the Bay Area, banked with Silicon Valley Bank. Last year, SVB committed to investing at least $5 billion in the clean-tech industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But even as the FDIC quickly stepped in to guarantee deposits following the bank’s collapse, many companies have been scrambling to find new banks, open accounts and reorganize payroll systems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although Rob Chess, chair of Nektar, was deeply relieved the government stepped in, he pointed to another big problem many former SVB clients will undoubtedly face.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Who are we going to negotiate with? Silicon Valley was both the most sophisticated and, frankly, the easiest to deal with, and they were the leaders of the field. So it removes a capital source for many companies,” Chess said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To his point, SVB was widely known for incubating ambitious climate and biotech start-ups, and was a valuable resource for new companies looking for a bank willing to invest in innovative and somewhat risky ventures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Rob Chess, chair, Nektar Therapeutics\"]‘Who are we going to negotiate with? Silicon Valley was both the most sophisticated and, frankly, the easiest to deal with, and they were the leaders of the field.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peter Reinhardt, CEO of Charm Industrial, a carbon-removal company, said his company had millions of dollars in cash deposits at SVB, in addition to checking, savings and other accounts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reinhardt noted that although most SVB clients with remaining deposits in the bank were essentially “made whole by the FDIC,” it’s still unclear how SVB plans to address companies with large lines of debt offered by the bank in an effort to help start-ups build their assets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there’s some concern that it could have a ripple effect for any companies that are really reliant on these more complicated products than just deposits,” Reinhardt said. “I do think it’s probably more likely to affect hardware and climate-tech companies than software companies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that about 60% of community solar projects across the U.S. banked with SVB, and it remains unclear how those projects will be affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Ryan Panchadsaram, an advisor at Kleiner Perkins, a major Silicon Valley venture capital fund that invests in climate-tech companies, SVB’s collapse means existing banks will have to fill the void when it comes to funding early stage companies that have unique ideas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Will [banks] help finance them? How do you give them a bit of venture debt to do the risky thing?” he said. “I think that’s what we’re all going to have to see together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Peter Reinhardt, CEO of Charm Industrial, a carbon-removal company, said his company had millions of dollars in cash deposits at SVB, in addition to checking, savings and other accounts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reinhardt noted that although most SVB clients with remaining deposits in the bank were essentially “made whole by the FDIC,” it’s still unclear how SVB plans to address companies with large lines of debt offered by the bank in an effort to help start-ups build their assets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think there’s some concern that it could have a ripple effect for any companies that are really reliant on these more complicated products than just deposits,” Reinhardt said. “I do think it’s probably more likely to affect hardware and climate-tech companies than software companies.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added that about 60% of community solar projects across the U.S. banked with SVB, and it remains unclear how those projects will be affected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Ryan Panchadsaram, an advisor at Kleiner Perkins, a major Silicon Valley venture capital fund that invests in climate-tech companies, SVB’s collapse means existing banks will have to fill the void when it comes to funding early stage companies that have unique ideas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Will [banks] help finance them? How do you give them a bit of venture debt to do the risky thing?” he said. “I think that’s what we’re all going to have to see together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/news/series/baycurious",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 3
},
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious",
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}
},
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"id": "bbc-world-service",
"title": "BBC World Service",
"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "BBC World Service"
},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"id": "californiareportmagazine",
"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
"title": "City Arts & Lectures",
"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 1
},
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"id": "code-switch-life-kit",
"title": "Code Switch / Life Kit",
"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
"link": "/forum",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
"title": "Freakonomics Radio",
"info": "Freakonomics Radio is a one-hour award-winning podcast and public-radio project hosted by Stephen Dubner, with co-author Steve Levitt as a regular guest. It is produced in partnership with WNYC.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"info": "Hosted by Terry Gross, \u003cem>Fresh Air from WHYY\u003c/em> is the Peabody Award-winning weekday magazine of contemporary arts and issues. One of public radio's most popular programs, Fresh Air features intimate conversations with today's biggest luminaries.",
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"link": "/radio/program/fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
"title": "Hidden Brain",
"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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},
"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/howIBuiltThis.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"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. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"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. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
"meta": {
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"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.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Masters-of-Scale-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"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>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
"subscribe": {
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/0MxSpNYZKNprFLCl7eEtyx"
}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"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.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
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