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The testimonies below have been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087236\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087236\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gisselle Ulloa poses with her diploma from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Ulloa, who plans to be a teacher, said she witnessed the impact of AI on her middle-schoolers in the classroom. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Gisselle Ulloa)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Gisselle Ulloa\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> California State Polytechnic University, Pomona\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Liberal Studies\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I plan to be a teacher in the near future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a recent graduate, it is intimidating to apply to jobs and fail to meet the criteria of artificial intelligence. There’ve been occasions where I feel … the employer is not even going to gaze at my resume. Of course, jobs don’t come easily, and you have to earn your position. But it’s really difficult to learn to satisfy an algorithm instead of a person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With my experience tutoring, I saw the effects of AI, social media and electronics in the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I worked with middle schoolers last year. Seeing my students struggle to write paragraphs with a pencil or solve math problems [with] ChatGPT was discouraging. It put into perspective the amount of work needed from teachers and staff to get students to where they need to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers can only do so much. As an aspiring educator, [AI] is a really pivotal tool, and I’m sure it works for bigger things, [like] social media and technology. But I fear it’s going to impact classrooms negatively in the years to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Camalah Saleh\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> California State University, Fresno\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Political Science and Communication\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I go to China at the end of August to earn a master’s in Global Affairs as a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University. My goal is to connect international affairs and global affairs to immigration because I want to be an immigration attorney and work on refugee and asylum cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087227\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087227\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Camalah Saleh smiles after graduating from California State University, Fresno. She said she initially tried to ignore ChatGPT but realized AI is not going anywhere. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Camalah Saleh)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When ChatGPT first came out, everyone was talking about it, and I didn’t know what it was. I ignored it. I’m in a field where you need to critically write and be a critical thinker, and it can’t just do your work for you. Then, I realized [AI] is not going away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve looked at the way it’s going to impact my career. To see lawyers using it is really worrisome because … there’s a lot of ethical concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But I need to pay attention to how it’s going to advance. And people need to be literate in AI so that they can analyze what is and is not made by AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087237\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087237\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Yang poses with her diploma at Oracle Park in San Francisco. She said the threat of AI taking over peoples’ jobs is “pretty scary.” \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Michelle Yang)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Michelle Yang\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> San Francisco State University\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Marketing\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I want to go into event [planning]. Hopefully, within the music industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With most jobs that include administration and planning, AI definitely has or could have the potential to take over certain skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with events, it’s a very in-person, human interaction type of industry. So, that’s not something I’m worried about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Graduating college right now, it’s pretty scary with this threat of AI taking over. We spent so much time in school figuring out what we want to do after college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I can decide not to use AI within my life. But as society progresses, especially in San Francisco, AI [will] become more incorporated into society, [and] there might not be a choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Michelle Yang is a Live Events intern at KQED. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Amelia Zai\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> UCLA (incoming senior)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Mechanical Engineering\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ll probably start applying [for entry-level jobs] in the fall. I already know that even without AI, the job market is really difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087221\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087221\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Amelia_Zai.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Amelia_Zai.jpeg 1280w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Amelia_Zai-160x107.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amelia Zai \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Amelia Zai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you feel about AI?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m the president of the AI Robotics and Ethics Society at the University of California, Los Angeles. A lot of students here are aware of how AI is reshaping the world. They see it in the news; they’re seeing it in their classes; they use AI to help them understand assignments. I do that too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During every discussion, it’s inevitable that the question of whether AI will replace roles in some field comes up. I think it’s less of a competition between AI and people, and more of a competition between people who use AI and people who don’t know how to use AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because I know that AI is such a powerful tool, I’m trying to use that to my advantage and integrate it into my workflow to make myself a more efficient thinker. It’s the responsibility of universities to ensure that their graduates are competitive. And one way to achieve that goal is to integrate AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Aaron Kim\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> UC Berkeley\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Political Science\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Career path: \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor/Union Organizing\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luckily, in terms of my personal career trajectory, it still feels pretty peripheral. I ended up doing a lot of stuff in the union/labor world, so AI affects me less. None of the jobs that I was looking for are AI-exposed as much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of the organizations I’m interested in are concerned with progressive issues and working people. How would you feel if your union rep is ChatGPT and tries to get you to sign union cards? That’s something AI can never take away. Because so much of organizing is based on building trust, human to human.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As college graduates throw off their caps and move on to their next life chapter, one topic is surely on their minds: Has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/artificial-intelligence\">artificial intelligence\u003c/a> made their skills irrelevant? And what does an entry-level job even look like anymore?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past month, graduates across the country have\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/05/20/nx-s1-5822419/ai-colleges-commencement-booing\"> booed and jeered\u003c/a> college commencement speakers at the very mention of AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s no surprise. Recent polling suggests the technology weighs heavily on the minds of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079472/stanford-study-ai-experts-are-optimistic-about-ai-the-rest-of-us-not-so-much\">those already in the job market\u003c/a> and those who seek to \u003ca href=\"https://news.gallup.com/poll/704087/college-students-weigh-impact-majors-careers.aspx\">join it\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several college graduates from around the state spoke with \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/californiareportmagazine\">\u003cem>The California Report Magazine\u003c/em>\u003c/a> about how they’re navigating the unpredictable economy, and how AI factors into their job search. The testimonies below have been edited for brevity and clarity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087236\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087236\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GisselleUlloa-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gisselle Ulloa poses with her diploma from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. Ulloa, who plans to be a teacher, said she witnessed the impact of AI on her middle-schoolers in the classroom. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Gisselle Ulloa)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Gisselle Ulloa\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> California State Polytechnic University, Pomona\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Liberal Studies\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I plan to be a teacher in the near future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a recent graduate, it is intimidating to apply to jobs and fail to meet the criteria of artificial intelligence. There’ve been occasions where I feel … the employer is not even going to gaze at my resume. Of course, jobs don’t come easily, and you have to earn your position. But it’s really difficult to learn to satisfy an algorithm instead of a person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With my experience tutoring, I saw the effects of AI, social media and electronics in the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I worked with middle schoolers last year. Seeing my students struggle to write paragraphs with a pencil or solve math problems [with] ChatGPT was discouraging. It put into perspective the amount of work needed from teachers and staff to get students to where they need to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Teachers can only do so much. As an aspiring educator, [AI] is a really pivotal tool, and I’m sure it works for bigger things, [like] social media and technology. But I fear it’s going to impact classrooms negatively in the years to come.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Camalah Saleh\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> California State University, Fresno\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Political Science and Communication\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I go to China at the end of August to earn a master’s in Global Affairs as a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University. My goal is to connect international affairs and global affairs to immigration because I want to be an immigration attorney and work on refugee and asylum cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087227\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087227\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/CamalahSaleh-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Camalah Saleh smiles after graduating from California State University, Fresno. She said she initially tried to ignore ChatGPT but realized AI is not going anywhere. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Camalah Saleh)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When ChatGPT first came out, everyone was talking about it, and I didn’t know what it was. I ignored it. I’m in a field where you need to critically write and be a critical thinker, and it can’t just do your work for you. Then, I realized [AI] is not going away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve looked at the way it’s going to impact my career. To see lawyers using it is really worrisome because … there’s a lot of ethical concerns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But I need to pay attention to how it’s going to advance. And people need to be literate in AI so that they can analyze what is and is not made by AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087237\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087237\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-scaled.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-160x213.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/MichelleYang-1536x2048.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michelle Yang poses with her diploma at Oracle Park in San Francisco. She said the threat of AI taking over peoples’ jobs is “pretty scary.” \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Michelle Yang)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Michelle Yang\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> San Francisco State University\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Marketing\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I want to go into event [planning]. Hopefully, within the music industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With most jobs that include administration and planning, AI definitely has or could have the potential to take over certain skills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But with events, it’s a very in-person, human interaction type of industry. So, that’s not something I’m worried about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Graduating college right now, it’s pretty scary with this threat of AI taking over. We spent so much time in school figuring out what we want to do after college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I can decide not to use AI within my life. But as society progresses, especially in San Francisco, AI [will] become more incorporated into society, [and] there might not be a choice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Michelle Yang is a Live Events intern at KQED. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Amelia Zai\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> UCLA (incoming senior)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Mechanical Engineering\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What are your plans after graduation?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ll probably start applying [for entry-level jobs] in the fall. I already know that even without AI, the job market is really difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087221\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 1280px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087221\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Amelia_Zai.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1280\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Amelia_Zai.jpeg 1280w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/Amelia_Zai-160x107.jpeg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amelia Zai \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Amelia Zai)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you feel about AI?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m the president of the AI Robotics and Ethics Society at the University of California, Los Angeles. A lot of students here are aware of how AI is reshaping the world. They see it in the news; they’re seeing it in their classes; they use AI to help them understand assignments. I do that too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During every discussion, it’s inevitable that the question of whether AI will replace roles in some field comes up. I think it’s less of a competition between AI and people, and more of a competition between people who use AI and people who don’t know how to use AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because I know that AI is such a powerful tool, I’m trying to use that to my advantage and integrate it into my workflow to make myself a more efficient thinker. It’s the responsibility of universities to ensure that their graduates are competitive. And one way to achieve that goal is to integrate AI.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Aaron Kim\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>School:\u003c/strong> UC Berkeley\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Major:\u003c/strong> Political Science\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Career path: \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Labor/Union Organizing\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How does AI affect you? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luckily, in terms of my personal career trajectory, it still feels pretty peripheral. I ended up doing a lot of stuff in the union/labor world, so AI affects me less. None of the jobs that I was looking for are AI-exposed as much.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A lot of the organizations I’m interested in are concerned with progressive issues and working people. How would you feel if your union rep is ChatGPT and tries to get you to sign union cards? That’s something AI can never take away. Because so much of organizing is based on building trust, human to human.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Transportation will no longer enforce a bedrock civil rights regulation that prevents federally funded \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/transportation\">transportation\u003c/a> projects from having unintentional disparate impacts on protected classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a rule change \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2026-11790/rescinding-portions-of-title-vi-regulations-to-conform-more-closely-with-the-statutory-text-and-to\">announced \u003c/a>Wednesday — and \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/11/2026-11790/rescinding-portions-of-department-of-transportations-title-vi-regulations-to-conform-more-closely\">published Thursday\u003c/a> without public comment — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy approved eliminating disparate impact liability, a key tenet of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, from the U.S. DOT’s regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The executive summary states the rule did not serve the public interest. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are serious statutory and constitutional concerns with the legality of the department’s Title VI regulations, which go beyond intentional discrimination by prohibiting conduct that has an unintentional disparate impact,” the federal register entry reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives federal funding. The law also requires that policy decisions don’t disproportionately impact people who are protected by the nation’s civil rights laws, regardless of whether the policy explicitly intends that harm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Civil rights advocates have successfully used Title VI to file civil rights complaints in the Bay Area, including against BART, when the agency built an extension in neighborhoods where a majority of residents were people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another \u003ca href=\"https://mavensnotebook.com/2023/08/09/this-just-in-epa-accepts-civil-rights-complaint-against-california-state-water-board/\">complaint\u003c/a>, brought by Native American tribes and environmental advocates, accused the State Water Resources Board of mismanaging water quality along the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary. The law has also had a preventative effect, making disparate impact analyses part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.actransit.org/DI-DB\">policy \u003c/a>\u003cu>planning \u003c/u>at agencies like AC Transit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087116\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087116\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1251\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597-160x101.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597-1536x970.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Passengers board an airport-bound train from the Coliseum BART station on the Oakland Airport Connector line in Oakland, California on Friday, March 18, 2016. \u003ccite>(Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“ This a major rollback of civil rights protections,” said Laurel Paget-Seekins, senior policy advocate at Public Advocates, a San Francisco-based nonprofit law firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule change means the DOT will no longer require transit agencies to weigh equity when considering changes to policies regarding \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067737/clipper-2-0-leaves-ac-transit-cash-riders-behind\">fares\u003c/a>, service frequency and location, or language access, along with the impacts of highway construction and other projects, as long as the action is not explicitly discriminatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has its own Title VI protections that prohibit recipients of state funds from discriminating against protected groups, which remain in place. But Paget-Seekins said that unlike the federal Title VI protections, the state doesn’t require agencies that receive funding to collect data and do preventative analyses. “Whether Bay Area transit agencies will continue to do this analysis voluntarily — and whether California will require them to — is now an important question that deserves public scrutiny,” Paget-Seekins said.[aside postID=news_12084077 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/05112629-BUS_GH_003-KQED.jpg']Public Advocates used Title VI to successfully file a civil rights \u003ca href=\"https://publicadvocates.org/campaigns/bart-oakland-airport-connector/\">complaint\u003c/a> against BART in 2009, after the agency failed to complete an analysis of how its planned Oakland Airport Connector would impact nearby communities. In response, the Federal Transit Administration withdrew $70 million in funds for the project, which was dispersed to other regional transit agencies and projects, and compelled BART to complete a service equity analysis for the \u003ca href=\"https://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/pdfs/research/2503-cs3-oak-airport-connector.pdf\">project\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon has called on the DOT to maintain disparate impact protections in transportation projects since March. Simon, a former BART Board Director, is legally blind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a transit-dependent person, I know how important it is for agencies receiving federal funds to consider disparate impact on the communities they serve,” Simon said in a March press release. “Here, the Trump administration has failed on two fronts — rolling back civil rights protections and preventing the public from providing feedback or sharing concerns. It’s disgraceful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration issued an \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/28/2025-07378/restoring-equality-of-opportunity-and-meritocracy\">executive order\u003c/a> in April 2025 announcing its intention to eliminate disparate impact protections across the government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, the U.S. Department of Justice \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/10/2025-22448/rescinding-portions-of-department-of-justice-title-vi-regulations-to-conform-more-closely-with-the\">rescinded \u003c/a>disparate impact protections in its regulations using a similar rule change mechanism and language. This week, the DOJ issued an \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-concludes-eeoc-disparate-impact-guidelines-violate-constitution\">opinion \u003c/a>stating that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidelines on disparate impact protections were unconstitutional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Correction:\u003c/strong> An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed language from a Federal Register ruling to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Duffy signed the ruling but was not the source of the quoted language.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Transportation will no longer enforce a bedrock civil rights regulation that prevents federally funded \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/transportation\">transportation\u003c/a> projects from having unintentional disparate impacts on protected classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a rule change \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2026-11790/rescinding-portions-of-title-vi-regulations-to-conform-more-closely-with-the-statutory-text-and-to\">announced \u003c/a>Wednesday — and \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/11/2026-11790/rescinding-portions-of-department-of-transportations-title-vi-regulations-to-conform-more-closely\">published Thursday\u003c/a> without public comment — U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy approved eliminating disparate impact liability, a key tenet of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, from the U.S. DOT’s regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The executive summary states the rule did not serve the public interest. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are serious statutory and constitutional concerns with the legality of the department’s Title VI regulations, which go beyond intentional discrimination by prohibiting conduct that has an unintentional disparate impact,” the federal register entry reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives federal funding. The law also requires that policy decisions don’t disproportionately impact people who are protected by the nation’s civil rights laws, regardless of whether the policy explicitly intends that harm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Civil rights advocates have successfully used Title VI to file civil rights complaints in the Bay Area, including against BART, when the agency built an extension in neighborhoods where a majority of residents were people of color.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another \u003ca href=\"https://mavensnotebook.com/2023/08/09/this-just-in-epa-accepts-civil-rights-complaint-against-california-state-water-board/\">complaint\u003c/a>, brought by Native American tribes and environmental advocates, accused the State Water Resources Board of mismanaging water quality along the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary. The law has also had a preventative effect, making disparate impact analyses part of \u003ca href=\"https://www.actransit.org/DI-DB\">policy \u003c/a>\u003cu>planning \u003c/u>at agencies like AC Transit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12087116\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12087116\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1251\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597-160x101.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-1408502597-1536x970.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Passengers board an airport-bound train from the Coliseum BART station on the Oakland Airport Connector line in Oakland, California on Friday, March 18, 2016. \u003ccite>(Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“ This a major rollback of civil rights protections,” said Laurel Paget-Seekins, senior policy advocate at Public Advocates, a San Francisco-based nonprofit law firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rule change means the DOT will no longer require transit agencies to weigh equity when considering changes to policies regarding \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067737/clipper-2-0-leaves-ac-transit-cash-riders-behind\">fares\u003c/a>, service frequency and location, or language access, along with the impacts of highway construction and other projects, as long as the action is not explicitly discriminatory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has its own Title VI protections that prohibit recipients of state funds from discriminating against protected groups, which remain in place. But Paget-Seekins said that unlike the federal Title VI protections, the state doesn’t require agencies that receive funding to collect data and do preventative analyses. “Whether Bay Area transit agencies will continue to do this analysis voluntarily — and whether California will require them to — is now an important question that deserves public scrutiny,” Paget-Seekins said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Public Advocates used Title VI to successfully file a civil rights \u003ca href=\"https://publicadvocates.org/campaigns/bart-oakland-airport-connector/\">complaint\u003c/a> against BART in 2009, after the agency failed to complete an analysis of how its planned Oakland Airport Connector would impact nearby communities. In response, the Federal Transit Administration withdrew $70 million in funds for the project, which was dispersed to other regional transit agencies and projects, and compelled BART to complete a service equity analysis for the \u003ca href=\"https://transweb.sjsu.edu/sites/default/files/pdfs/research/2503-cs3-oak-airport-connector.pdf\">project\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. Rep. Lateefah Simon has called on the DOT to maintain disparate impact protections in transportation projects since March. Simon, a former BART Board Director, is legally blind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As a transit-dependent person, I know how important it is for agencies receiving federal funds to consider disparate impact on the communities they serve,” Simon said in a March press release. “Here, the Trump administration has failed on two fronts — rolling back civil rights protections and preventing the public from providing feedback or sharing concerns. It’s disgraceful.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration issued an \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/28/2025-07378/restoring-equality-of-opportunity-and-meritocracy\">executive order\u003c/a> in April 2025 announcing its intention to eliminate disparate impact protections across the government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December, the U.S. Department of Justice \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/12/10/2025-22448/rescinding-portions-of-department-of-justice-title-vi-regulations-to-conform-more-closely-with-the\">rescinded \u003c/a>disparate impact protections in its regulations using a similar rule change mechanism and language. This week, the DOJ issued an \u003ca href=\"https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-concludes-eeoc-disparate-impact-guidelines-violate-constitution\">opinion \u003c/a>stating that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidelines on disparate impact protections were unconstitutional.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Correction:\u003c/strong> An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed language from a Federal Register ruling to U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Duffy signed the ruling but was not the source of the quoted language.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-helped-strike-down-the-100000-h-1b-fee-now-the-fight-moves-to-appeals",
"title": "California Helped Strike Down the $100,000 H-1B Fee. Now, the Fight Moves to Appeals",
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"headTitle": "California Helped Strike Down the $100,000 H-1B Fee. Now, the Fight Moves to Appeals | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Since the H-1B program was introduced in 1990, the visa has been the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058586/silicon-valley-dreams-at-risk-current-h-1bs-sidestep-trumps-100k-fee-for-now\"> primary pathway\u003c/a> for Silicon Valley companies to take advantage of foreign talent. And vice versa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of that is now back in play after a federal judge\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/H1B%20Order.pdf\"> blocked\u003c/a> a $100,000 visa fee this week, which the Trump administration imposed on employers in a September 2025 proclamation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. District Court Judge Leo Sorokin concluded the policy was an unauthorized, “arbitrary and capricious” tax.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Proclamation expresses concern about the share of foreign workers filling jobs in the science and technology fields, specifically focusing on the IT sector,” Sorokin wrote. “However, [it] fails to consider or discuss these policy concerns as they pertain to other human-services sectors, such as education and healthcare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sorokin sided with 20 states in a lawsuit, led by California, which alleged that the executive branch exceeded its authority and violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This tax was an attack on America’s ability to attract and retain the high-skilled talent that strengthens our economy and helps us meet critical workforce needs,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement, adding that California “remains open for business, open to talent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074482\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074482\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/GettyImages-2262729717-scaled-e1773182284895.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1413\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing at the White House on Feb. 20, 2026, in Washington, D.C. \u003ccite>(Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In making their case, the states argued the higher visa costs, which previously ranged from \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-sues-over-trump-administration%E2%80%99s-unlawful-new-100k-fee-h\">$960 to $7,595\u003c/a>, would lead to severe staffing shortages in public school systems, state universities, and public healthcare facilities that rely on foreign workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration argued the visa restrictions were within the executive branch’s authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The H-1B program has been abused for decades, and President Trump finally took action to fix it. A federal judge in Washington already upheld a nearly identical order, and the Administration is confident this order will be reversed on appeal,” White House Spokeswoman Taylor Rogers wrote KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Donald Trump’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/restriction-on-entry-of-certain-nonimmigrant-workers/\">Proclamation 10973\u003c/a> sought to discourage companies from hiring skilled foreign workers over American workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really shooting us in the foot,” immigration attorney Emily Neumann said on KQED shortly afterward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deep-pocketed technology companies are the biggest users, with more than 70% of approvals going to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11707158/indian-entrepreneurs-with-no-green-cards-pursue-silicon-valley-dreams-elsewhere\">workers from India\u003c/a>, but the H-1B visa also helps to fill vacancies for doctors and teachers. Trump’s proposal meant big changes to the longstanding H-1B visa application system, and the many tech companies, big and small, that came to rely on it over the last three decades.[aside postID=news_12084655 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GavinNewsomAP.jpg']Until the Trump administration clarified that current visa holders weren’t affected, the proposal prompted much of corporate America to push out\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101911349/trump-dropped-a-100000-fee-on-h-1b-visas-and-sent-silicon-valley-spinning\"> emergency advisories\u003c/a> to all employees on H-1B visas, asking them not to leave the U.S. if they were here, or come back immediately within 24 hours if they were abroad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce also sued the administration in federal court over the fee hike, and it has appealed a denial of a summary judgment in December. That ruling left the higher fee in effect, at least until September 2026, when it is scheduled to expire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco in October by nurses, schools, religious groups and labor organizations, setting up the possibility of divided rulings in three appellate court circuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has a tremendous effect for employers and for people’s lives, and so I think it’s something that the Supreme Court’s gonna take up, and perhaps even relatively soon,” Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chemerinsky said that, in\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/02/27/nx-s1-5722909/learning-resources-ceo-talks-about-scotus-decision-on-trumps-tariffs\"> Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump\u003c/a> earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the administration in a way that bodes well for Silicon Valley and other industries keen to restore the H1-B.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The states have a good shot of winning their case, and I say that based on the tariffs decision from Feb. 20,” Chemerinsky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue has stoked infighting among the Trump administration’s top advisers, and not for the first time, as the President targeted the H1-B and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11707255/what-silicon-valley-could-lose-if-trump-revokes-h-1b-spousal-work-visas\"> similar visas\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825766/trump-suspends-work-visas-and-silicon-valley-isnt-happy\"> during his first term\u003c/a> in the White House.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Trump’s tech advisers, including White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks, former Andreessen Horowitz partner Sriram Krishnan, who resigned from the White House two days ago, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12023367/what-big-tech-sees-in-donald-trump\">Elon Musk\u003c/a>, himself a former H-1B holder, came down lopsidedly for the program. This put them at odds with the nativist wing of the administration, which has helped drive Trump’s crackdown on immigration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The White House said it will appeal a federal court decision striking down Trump's $100,000 H-1B fee as an unlawful tax. With a different court already upholding the fee and a third case pending in San Francisco, the fight is headed toward a likely Supreme Court showdown.",
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"headline": "California Helped Strike Down the $100,000 H-1B Fee. Now, the Fight Moves to Appeals",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Since the H-1B program was introduced in 1990, the visa has been the\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058586/silicon-valley-dreams-at-risk-current-h-1bs-sidestep-trumps-100k-fee-for-now\"> primary pathway\u003c/a> for Silicon Valley companies to take advantage of foreign talent. And vice versa.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All of that is now back in play after a federal judge\u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/attachments/press-docs/H1B%20Order.pdf\"> blocked\u003c/a> a $100,000 visa fee this week, which the Trump administration imposed on employers in a September 2025 proclamation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>U.S. District Court Judge Leo Sorokin concluded the policy was an unauthorized, “arbitrary and capricious” tax.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Proclamation expresses concern about the share of foreign workers filling jobs in the science and technology fields, specifically focusing on the IT sector,” Sorokin wrote. “However, [it] fails to consider or discuss these policy concerns as they pertain to other human-services sectors, such as education and healthcare.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sorokin sided with 20 states in a lawsuit, led by California, which alleged that the executive branch exceeded its authority and violated the Administrative Procedure Act, which governs how federal agencies develop and issue regulations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This tax was an attack on America’s ability to attract and retain the high-skilled talent that strengthens our economy and helps us meet critical workforce needs,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement, adding that California “remains open for business, open to talent.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074482\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074482\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/GettyImages-2262729717-scaled-e1773182284895.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1413\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing at the White House on Feb. 20, 2026, in Washington, D.C. \u003ccite>(Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In making their case, the states argued the higher visa costs, which previously ranged from \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-sues-over-trump-administration%E2%80%99s-unlawful-new-100k-fee-h\">$960 to $7,595\u003c/a>, would lead to severe staffing shortages in public school systems, state universities, and public healthcare facilities that rely on foreign workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Trump administration argued the visa restrictions were within the executive branch’s authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The H-1B program has been abused for decades, and President Trump finally took action to fix it. A federal judge in Washington already upheld a nearly identical order, and the Administration is confident this order will be reversed on appeal,” White House Spokeswoman Taylor Rogers wrote KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Donald Trump’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/restriction-on-entry-of-certain-nonimmigrant-workers/\">Proclamation 10973\u003c/a> sought to discourage companies from hiring skilled foreign workers over American workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really shooting us in the foot,” immigration attorney Emily Neumann said on KQED shortly afterward.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Deep-pocketed technology companies are the biggest users, with more than 70% of approvals going to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11707158/indian-entrepreneurs-with-no-green-cards-pursue-silicon-valley-dreams-elsewhere\">workers from India\u003c/a>, but the H-1B visa also helps to fill vacancies for doctors and teachers. Trump’s proposal meant big changes to the longstanding H-1B visa application system, and the many tech companies, big and small, that came to rely on it over the last three decades.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Until the Trump administration clarified that current visa holders weren’t affected, the proposal prompted much of corporate America to push out\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101911349/trump-dropped-a-100000-fee-on-h-1b-visas-and-sent-silicon-valley-spinning\"> emergency advisories\u003c/a> to all employees on H-1B visas, asking them not to leave the U.S. if they were here, or come back immediately within 24 hours if they were abroad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In October, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce also sued the administration in federal court over the fee hike, and it has appealed a denial of a summary judgment in December. That ruling left the higher fee in effect, at least until September 2026, when it is scheduled to expire.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another lawsuit was filed in federal court in San Francisco in October by nurses, schools, religious groups and labor organizations, setting up the possibility of divided rulings in three appellate court circuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This has a tremendous effect for employers and for people’s lives, and so I think it’s something that the Supreme Court’s gonna take up, and perhaps even relatively soon,” Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chemerinsky said that, in\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/02/27/nx-s1-5722909/learning-resources-ceo-talks-about-scotus-decision-on-trumps-tariffs\"> Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump\u003c/a> earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against the administration in a way that bodes well for Silicon Valley and other industries keen to restore the H1-B.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The states have a good shot of winning their case, and I say that based on the tariffs decision from Feb. 20,” Chemerinsky said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The issue has stoked infighting among the Trump administration’s top advisers, and not for the first time, as the President targeted the H1-B and\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11707255/what-silicon-valley-could-lose-if-trump-revokes-h-1b-spousal-work-visas\"> similar visas\u003c/a>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11825766/trump-suspends-work-visas-and-silicon-valley-isnt-happy\"> during his first term\u003c/a> in the White House.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Trump’s tech advisers, including White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks, former Andreessen Horowitz partner Sriram Krishnan, who resigned from the White House two days ago, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12023367/what-big-tech-sees-in-donald-trump\">Elon Musk\u003c/a>, himself a former H-1B holder, came down lopsidedly for the program. This put them at odds with the nativist wing of the administration, which has helped drive Trump’s crackdown on immigration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>California occupational safety officials have issued a $142,700 fine against the University of California, San Francisco, after documenting multiple “serious” safety violations surrounding the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066248/stabbing-at-san-francisco-general-hospital-leaves-social-worker-in-critical-condition\">fatal stabbing of a social worker\u003c/a> in December, along with a record fine of $130,500 against the city’s primary public hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reports from California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health arrive nearly six months after a patient allegedly stabbed and killed Alberto Rangel, a 51-year-old social worker at San Francisco General Hospital’s HIV clinic, Ward 86. The incident has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101912297/fatal-ucsf-stabbing-heightens-concerns-about-health-worker-safety\">sparked tough conversations\u003c/a> between staff and leadership at the Department of Public Health and the University of California, San Francisco, which both oversee SF General, about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075387/hospital-security-debate-swirls-after-san-francisco-social-worker-stabbing\">healthcare worker safety and security\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also comes on the heels of a city investigation into the incident, which found that another social worker at the clinic pulled the attacker off Rangel, contradicting claims from local law enforcement that a sheriff’s deputy was the first to intervene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSF faces eight citations, with seven marked “serious.” Citations in the 38-page report say that the institution failed to immediately report the incident to Cal/OSHA and failed to provide records of workplace safety inspections and maintain violent incident logs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Since December, UCSF and the San Francisco Department of Public Health have implemented meaningful improvements to security and response protocols, and we continue evaluating ways to further reduce risk across all settings where our employees provide care,” UCSF said in a statement. “Alberto Rangel’s death was a profound loss, and we remain focused on strengthening workplace safety in ways that are thoughtful, collaborative, responsive and enduring.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cal/OSHA report against SF General included seven citations, six of which were marked as “serious.” Those included that the hospital failed to develop a safety plan after the patient made threats of violence, no photo or physical description of the perpetrator was shared with clinical staff and the hospital did not notify staff about the threats of violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also pointed out that the clinic did not have security cameras or weapons screening at the building, and failed to provide security guards at all entrances to the building after threats were made. The suspect, Wilfredo Tortolero Arriechi, 35, was arrested at the hospital and has been charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068510\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068510\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251230-SFSocialWorker-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251230-SFSocialWorker-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251230-SFSocialWorker-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251230-SFSocialWorker-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alex Alvarez, a clinical social worker, stands on a parking garage at UCSF Parnassus campus in San Francisco on Dec. 30, 2025. He said the view from the gym helps him recover, reflect and think following the fatal stabbing of his colleague Alberto Rangel at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital on Dec. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Alejandro Alvarez, the social worker who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068599/salt-to-a-wound-social-workers-still-reeling-in-aftermath-of-ward-86-stabbing\">pulled the attacker off Rangel\u003c/a> the day of the stabbing, said the Cal/OSHA report findings were validating but unsurprising.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty upsetting to hear our security cameras weren’t working right in the hallway of the clinic,” Alvarez said. “The work is demanding, but at the same time, we still deserve to be working in a safe space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvarez added that the $130,500 fine against SF General, the largest so far from Cal/OSHA against the hospital, is “not accountability. It is a beginning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials at San Francisco’s Department of Public Health have responded to the incident with a number of safety changes at Ward 86. Those changes have so far included hiring more security staff, launching a threat management team to triage reported threats and installing metal detectors at entrances.[aside postID=news_12080895 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/006_KQED_SanFrancisco_GeneralHospital_03102020_6321_qed.jpg']“The safety for our staff, our patients and our community is not negotiable, and we will continue to keep staff and patients safe with a strengthened and modernized approach to safety and security,” a spokesperson for the department said. “Countless additional security measures have been initiated or expedited to strengthen workplace safety, including enhanced physical security measures, expanded security staffing, increased crisis prevention and response training, and a fundamental change in security structure governance to better connect leadership to frontline staff and their concerns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials have also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080895/san-francisco-directs-15-million-to-health-department-security-after-fatal-stabbing\">committed $15 million annually\u003c/a> and $7.5 million in one-time infrastructure improvements for healthcare worker safety throughout the Department of Public Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rangel’s husband, Stuart Moulder, meanwhile, plans to sue the city for his wrongful death and for failing to take necessary steps to protect workers after multiple reports of the alleged attacker’s violent behavior were reported to hospital management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nick Casper, the attorney representing Moulder, said the findings in the latest Cal/OSHA report dovetail with the allegations in their complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The findings really paint a picture of two specific-but-related failures,” Casper said. “There were longstanding systemic deficiencies involving security, training, coordination and workplace violence prevention. And there were specific failures about appropriately responding to a known and escalating threat posed by this patient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Casper pointed to previous workplace safety violations and resulting fines from Cal/OSHA at SF General, and a lack of proper recourse from the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066544\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066544\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-SFGENERALMEMORIAL-01-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-SFGENERALMEMORIAL-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-SFGENERALMEMORIAL-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-SFGENERALMEMORIAL-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A memorial for social worker Alberto Rangel, who was fatally stabbed on Dec. 4 at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, outside the hospital on Dec. 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2020, the hospital was fined more than $26,000 after a nurse was attacked and staff faced retaliation for complaining about a dangerous work environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For years, there have been prior Cal/OSHA investigations and citations from violent attacks on their frontline healthcare workers. And many of the same deficiencies that were cited in this same report relating to Alberto Rangel were also cited in those citations,” Casper said. “There were all these years of notice to the city, and they failed to act until one of their frontline healthcare workers was killed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The institution’s failure to act on known deficiencies in the hospital’s safety response has haunted Alvarez, who remains on leave from his position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their own leadership had already identified these exact deficiencies for Ward 86. Four years before Alberto was killed, someone inside that institution put it in writing. And nothing happened,” he said. I do not know how to sit with that. I am still trying.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California occupational safety officials have issued a $142,700 fine against the University of California, San Francisco, after documenting multiple “serious” safety violations surrounding the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066248/stabbing-at-san-francisco-general-hospital-leaves-social-worker-in-critical-condition\">fatal stabbing of a social worker\u003c/a> in December, along with a record fine of $130,500 against the city’s primary public hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reports from California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health arrive nearly six months after a patient allegedly stabbed and killed Alberto Rangel, a 51-year-old social worker at San Francisco General Hospital’s HIV clinic, Ward 86. The incident has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101912297/fatal-ucsf-stabbing-heightens-concerns-about-health-worker-safety\">sparked tough conversations\u003c/a> between staff and leadership at the Department of Public Health and the University of California, San Francisco, which both oversee SF General, about \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075387/hospital-security-debate-swirls-after-san-francisco-social-worker-stabbing\">healthcare worker safety and security\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also comes on the heels of a city investigation into the incident, which found that another social worker at the clinic pulled the attacker off Rangel, contradicting claims from local law enforcement that a sheriff’s deputy was the first to intervene.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UCSF faces eight citations, with seven marked “serious.” Citations in the 38-page report say that the institution failed to immediately report the incident to Cal/OSHA and failed to provide records of workplace safety inspections and maintain violent incident logs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Since December, UCSF and the San Francisco Department of Public Health have implemented meaningful improvements to security and response protocols, and we continue evaluating ways to further reduce risk across all settings where our employees provide care,” UCSF said in a statement. “Alberto Rangel’s death was a profound loss, and we remain focused on strengthening workplace safety in ways that are thoughtful, collaborative, responsive and enduring.”\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cal/OSHA report against SF General included seven citations, six of which were marked as “serious.” Those included that the hospital failed to develop a safety plan after the patient made threats of violence, no photo or physical description of the perpetrator was shared with clinical staff and the hospital did not notify staff about the threats of violence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report also pointed out that the clinic did not have security cameras or weapons screening at the building, and failed to provide security guards at all entrances to the building after threats were made. The suspect, Wilfredo Tortolero Arriechi, 35, was arrested at the hospital and has been charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068510\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068510\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251230-SFSocialWorker-11-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251230-SFSocialWorker-11-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251230-SFSocialWorker-11-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251230-SFSocialWorker-11-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alex Alvarez, a clinical social worker, stands on a parking garage at UCSF Parnassus campus in San Francisco on Dec. 30, 2025. He said the view from the gym helps him recover, reflect and think following the fatal stabbing of his colleague Alberto Rangel at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital on Dec. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Alejandro Alvarez, the social worker who \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068599/salt-to-a-wound-social-workers-still-reeling-in-aftermath-of-ward-86-stabbing\">pulled the attacker off Rangel\u003c/a> the day of the stabbing, said the Cal/OSHA report findings were validating but unsurprising.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s pretty upsetting to hear our security cameras weren’t working right in the hallway of the clinic,” Alvarez said. “The work is demanding, but at the same time, we still deserve to be working in a safe space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alvarez added that the $130,500 fine against SF General, the largest so far from Cal/OSHA against the hospital, is “not accountability. It is a beginning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials at San Francisco’s Department of Public Health have responded to the incident with a number of safety changes at Ward 86. Those changes have so far included hiring more security staff, launching a threat management team to triage reported threats and installing metal detectors at entrances.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“The safety for our staff, our patients and our community is not negotiable, and we will continue to keep staff and patients safe with a strengthened and modernized approach to safety and security,” a spokesperson for the department said. “Countless additional security measures have been initiated or expedited to strengthen workplace safety, including enhanced physical security measures, expanded security staffing, increased crisis prevention and response training, and a fundamental change in security structure governance to better connect leadership to frontline staff and their concerns.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City officials have also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080895/san-francisco-directs-15-million-to-health-department-security-after-fatal-stabbing\">committed $15 million annually\u003c/a> and $7.5 million in one-time infrastructure improvements for healthcare worker safety throughout the Department of Public Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rangel’s husband, Stuart Moulder, meanwhile, plans to sue the city for his wrongful death and for failing to take necessary steps to protect workers after multiple reports of the alleged attacker’s violent behavior were reported to hospital management.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nick Casper, the attorney representing Moulder, said the findings in the latest Cal/OSHA report dovetail with the allegations in their complaint.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The findings really paint a picture of two specific-but-related failures,” Casper said. “There were longstanding systemic deficiencies involving security, training, coordination and workplace violence prevention. And there were specific failures about appropriately responding to a known and escalating threat posed by this patient.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Casper pointed to previous workplace safety violations and resulting fines from Cal/OSHA at SF General, and a lack of proper recourse from the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066544\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066544\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-SFGENERALMEMORIAL-01-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-SFGENERALMEMORIAL-01-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-SFGENERALMEMORIAL-01-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-SFGENERALMEMORIAL-01-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A memorial for social worker Alberto Rangel, who was fatally stabbed on Dec. 4 at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, outside the hospital on Dec. 9, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 2020, the hospital was fined more than $26,000 after a nurse was attacked and staff faced retaliation for complaining about a dangerous work environment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For years, there have been prior Cal/OSHA investigations and citations from violent attacks on their frontline healthcare workers. And many of the same deficiencies that were cited in this same report relating to Alberto Rangel were also cited in those citations,” Casper said. “There were all these years of notice to the city, and they failed to act until one of their frontline healthcare workers was killed.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The institution’s failure to act on known deficiencies in the hospital’s safety response has haunted Alvarez, who remains on leave from his position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Their own leadership had already identified these exact deficiencies for Ward 86. Four years before Alberto was killed, someone inside that institution put it in writing. And nothing happened,” he said. I do not know how to sit with that. I am still trying.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "a-california-housing-bill-would-raise-wages-to-28-why-do-some-unions-hate-it",
"title": "A California Housing Bill Would Raise Wages to $28. Why Do Some Unions Hate It?",
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"headTitle": "A California Housing Bill Would Raise Wages to $28. Why Do Some Unions Hate It? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When is a minimum \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/wages\">wage hike\u003c/a> of more than $11 per hour actually a pay cut?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That question has dominated the debate over a current \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1751\">California housing bill\u003c/a> that has riven the state’s two most powerful construction worker unions and many state legislative Democrats reluctant to get on the wrong side of either group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1751\">Assembly Bill 1751\u003c/a>, authored by Fullerton Democrat Sharon Quirk-Silva, would kick aside regulatory barriers to building townhouses — tightly clustered, multistory homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In exchange for this fast-tracked approval process, townhouse developers would be required to pay their workers at least $28 per hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a significant pay bump over the statewide minimum wage of $16.90.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the fiercest opposition to the bill has come from what might seem like an unexpected source: The State Building and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella organization that represents electricians, plumbers, sheet metal workers and other skilled construction trade unions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers continue building units at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The interim housing site is expected to house up to 200 people. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The trades — as the council is colloquially known — argue that the new wage floor could have the paradoxical side-effect of driving down the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-construction-workers-housing-20170512-htmlstory.html\">prevailing wages\u003c/a>” enjoyed by many of their members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prevailing wages are mandatory minimum pay rates for publicly-funded or supported construction projects, which include many affordable housing developments and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2023/04/california-housing-law-union-dispute-2/\">other projects\u003c/a> propelled forward by recent state law in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and federal regulators set prevailing rates based on surveys of the most common wages in each field and geographic area. Because union pay scales can cover hundreds of similarly employed workers, those union-level wages often set the prevailing wage.[aside postID=news_12086113 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty.jpg']In a testy debate on the Assembly floor earlier this month, Quirk-Silva stressed — repeatedly — that the bill would in no way affect the state-set wage rates. “It does not replace prevailing wage,” she said. “It does not undercut prevailing wage. This bill leaves prevailing wage exactly where it stands in current law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades aren’t buying it, noting that the federal government sets its own rates for federally-supported projects. But the group’s bigger beef may boil down to precedent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, the building trades have battled any legislation aimed at easing regulations on the construction of new housing unless it also included pro-union guarantees. Those are either union-level prevailing wage pay requirements or, in more recent years, even more restrictive “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2021/06/california-affordable-housing-unions/\">skilled and trained\u003c/a>” rules that require developers to hire apprenticeship program graduates, the vast majority of whom are union members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quirk-Silva’s townhouse streamlining bill introduces a new standard: a minimum wage far lower than what most trades members already make.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Making a meager minimum wage hike the new bone that pro-housing bills throw to construction workers would “signify the new norm,” said Chris Hannan, president of the Trades Council. “When you start a trend of doing a minimum wage, then that becomes the new go-to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The trades and carpenters, at it again\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Standing on the other side of the debate, supporting the new wage standard, are California’s unionized carpenters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades battling the carpenters is a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/07/california-construction-unions-housing/\">familiar face-off in Sacramento\u003c/a>. This isn’t even the first time the groups have publicly locked horns over this specific wage proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/05/california-housing-crisis-unions/\">longtime ally\u003c/a> of the carpenters, inserted residential construction worker minimum wage of between $28 and $40 per hour \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/prevailing-wage-construction-california-ab130/\">into a budget bill\u003c/a> in the final hours of the fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044982\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044982\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Aside from high-rise construction developments where the use of steel and concrete tend to draw more specialized workers, unions represent relatively few laborers who build California homes, the carpenters argued at the time. The new wage standard would be a modest corrective for those non-union laborers whose current wage floor is the state minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, carpenters union leaders have argued that improving working standards for low-wage workers presents an “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2023/04/california-housing-law-union-dispute-2/\">organizing opportunity\u003c/a>” for the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades were apoplectic. Dozens of union members crowded in the budget bill hearing to decry what they saw as an anti-union reversal of state labor policy. One representative likened the measure to \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/25/california-democrats-stage-intraparty-war-over-last-minute-push-to-build-more-housing-00425196\">“Jim Crow” laws\u003c/a>. Many labor-friendly Democrats on the committee recoiled; the proposal was shelved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the idea has been given a bit more time for debate, though the trades and some lawmakers have still complained of a process they see as rushed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Quirk-Silva’s bill was introduced in early February, it focused solely on townhouse regulations. The wage language was added only in time for its second committee hearing in late April. (Quirk-Silva’s staff declined to make her available for an interview to explain that delay or discuss the bill in general, citing personal family matters. On the Assembly floor, she explained the late addition in part by noting “severe health issues” among staff and family members.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then the entirety of the legislative debate has been focused on the wage issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076525\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at the Friendship House Association of American Indians in San Francisco on Jan. 16, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That itself is a notable development: The bill exempts the construction of townhomes from both environmental review and the jurisdiction of elected local city councils and planning boards. Just a few years ago, such a proposal would have made for a capitol-shaking, headline-grabbing fight. But a year after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/ceqa-urban-development-infill-budget/\">exempting most urban housing\u003c/a> developments from environmental litigation, the land-use implications appear to be an afterthought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At an Assembly floor vote last month, San Diego Assemblymember Chris Ward referred to the minimum wage issue as the “900 pound gorilla.” He, like many Democrats who spoke on the bill, said that he supported the legislation in general, but that he remained wary of the “unresolved” questions about how the new wage rate would affect existing labor standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill needed 41 out of 80 “yes” votes to move onto the Senate. It passed with just 47.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hike or pay cut?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Quirk-Silva’s office tried to get around the prevailing wage fight early on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prevailing wages are required of publicly funded works, including many affordable housing projects. They are set by the California Department of Industrial Relations, which sets its rates based on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/oprl/FAQ_PrevailingWage.html#q1\">most common wage\u003c/a> for each job type in each region of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quirk-Silva’s bill specifically bars the state department from taking the new $28 per hour townhome wages into account when running those calculations, lest a glut of townhome builders inadvertently bring down the wages owed to union roofers and plumbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A construction worker operates machinery to move dirt at the site of new middle housing units at 2824 D Street in Sacramento on October 7, 2025. Developers are reviving “middle housing” such as duplexes and cottage clusters, but say California’s rollout of the new rules has been anything but smooth. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The trades aren’t satisfied with that concession. That’s because the federal government conducts its own wage surveys and set its own prevailing wage for federally-funded infrastructure projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current federal prevailing wage required for a residential roofer in Sacramento, for example, is \u003ca href=\"https://sam.gov/wage-determination/CA20260019/5\">$46.73 per hour\u003c/a> plus benefits. That number is based on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/government-contracts/construction/faq#23\">most common wage paid\u003c/a> for that job in the area or — if no single rate is paid to at least 30% of the workers in the survey — on the regional average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The federal government won’t give a rat’s ass about what this bill says,” Scott Wetch, a lobbyist for Trades-affiliated unions, said at the bill’s April hearing. “And they will set the prevailing wage rate for all the crafts at $28.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades “have a case” in this argument, said Kevin Duncan, an economist at Colorado State University Pueblo who has studied prevailing wage policy’s effect on construction costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imagine a smaller market with a relatively low unionization rate. If the bill uncorked a geyser of contractors paying all their low-wage workers exactly $28 per hour, “that would be the prevailing rate — and with zero benefits,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Backers of the bill dispute that, saying such a specific outcome is unlikely given how many contractors are likely to use this specific townhouse bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also argue that vanishingly few residential roofers do federal public works jobs in Sacramento — or anywhere in California — so changes in the federal prevailing wage for residential projects aren’t likely to affect many workers anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers and supporters march through Oakland to the Lion Creek Crossings, an affordable housing complex, on April 27, 2026, as part of a demonstration calling for more than $300,000 in unpaid wages from Bay Area contractors Milestone Roofing and Saarman Construction. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Instead, most roofers are non-union on privately-funded projects and many are being paid less than $28 per hour, said Danny Curtin, director of the California Council of Carpenters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To say that raising those wages “will actually bring everybody else’s wages down, defies comprehension,” he said at the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/06/ab-1751-trades-carpenters-fight/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "This is just the latest spat between two rival construction unions over the future of California housing policy.",
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"title": "A California Housing Bill Would Raise Wages to $28. Why Do Some Unions Hate It? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ -->\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When is a minimum \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/wages\">wage hike\u003c/a> of more than $11 per hour actually a pay cut?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That question has dominated the debate over a current \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1751\">California housing bill\u003c/a> that has riven the state’s two most powerful construction worker unions and many state legislative Democrats reluctant to get on the wrong side of either group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260ab1751\">Assembly Bill 1751\u003c/a>, authored by Fullerton Democrat Sharon Quirk-Silva, would kick aside regulatory barriers to building townhouses — tightly clustered, multistory homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In exchange for this fast-tracked approval process, townhouse developers would be required to pay their workers at least $28 per hour.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s a significant pay bump over the statewide minimum wage of $16.90.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the fiercest opposition to the bill has come from what might seem like an unexpected source: The State Building and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella organization that represents electricians, plumbers, sheet metal workers and other skilled construction trade unions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/020526SJ-TINY-HOMES_GH_025-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers continue building units at the Cerone Interim Housing Community on Feb. 5, 2026, in San José. The interim housing site is expected to house up to 200 people. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The trades — as the council is colloquially known — argue that the new wage floor could have the paradoxical side-effect of driving down the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-sac-construction-workers-housing-20170512-htmlstory.html\">prevailing wages\u003c/a>” enjoyed by many of their members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prevailing wages are mandatory minimum pay rates for publicly-funded or supported construction projects, which include many affordable housing developments and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2023/04/california-housing-law-union-dispute-2/\">other projects\u003c/a> propelled forward by recent state law in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State and federal regulators set prevailing rates based on surveys of the most common wages in each field and geographic area. Because union pay scales can cover hundreds of similarly employed workers, those union-level wages often set the prevailing wage.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In a testy debate on the Assembly floor earlier this month, Quirk-Silva stressed — repeatedly — that the bill would in no way affect the state-set wage rates. “It does not replace prevailing wage,” she said. “It does not undercut prevailing wage. This bill leaves prevailing wage exactly where it stands in current law.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades aren’t buying it, noting that the federal government sets its own rates for federally-supported projects. But the group’s bigger beef may boil down to precedent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, the building trades have battled any legislation aimed at easing regulations on the construction of new housing unless it also included pro-union guarantees. Those are either union-level prevailing wage pay requirements or, in more recent years, even more restrictive “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2021/06/california-affordable-housing-unions/\">skilled and trained\u003c/a>” rules that require developers to hire apprenticeship program graduates, the vast majority of whom are union members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quirk-Silva’s townhouse streamlining bill introduces a new standard: a minimum wage far lower than what most trades members already make.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Making a meager minimum wage hike the new bone that pro-housing bills throw to construction workers would “signify the new norm,” said Chris Hannan, president of the Trades Council. “When you start a trend of doing a minimum wage, then that becomes the new go-to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The trades and carpenters, at it again\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Standing on the other side of the debate, supporting the new wage standard, are California’s unionized carpenters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades battling the carpenters is a \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/07/california-construction-unions-housing/\">familiar face-off in Sacramento\u003c/a>. This isn’t even the first time the groups have publicly locked horns over this specific wage proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last summer, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat and \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2022/05/california-housing-crisis-unions/\">longtime ally\u003c/a> of the carpenters, inserted residential construction worker minimum wage of between $28 and $40 per hour \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/prevailing-wage-construction-california-ab130/\">into a budget bill\u003c/a> in the final hours of the fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12044982\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12044982\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250618-NEWTEACHERHOUSING-09-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers build at 750 Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco on June 18, 2025, during a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of two affordable housing projects. One will deliver 75 units prioritized for SFUSD and City College educators, and the other at 850 Turk will add 92 family apartments. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Aside from high-rise construction developments where the use of steel and concrete tend to draw more specialized workers, unions represent relatively few laborers who build California homes, the carpenters argued at the time. The new wage standard would be a modest corrective for those non-union laborers whose current wage floor is the state minimum wage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For years, carpenters union leaders have argued that improving working standards for low-wage workers presents an “\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2023/04/california-housing-law-union-dispute-2/\">organizing opportunity\u003c/a>” for the union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades were apoplectic. Dozens of union members crowded in the budget bill hearing to decry what they saw as an anti-union reversal of state labor policy. One representative likened the measure to \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/25/california-democrats-stage-intraparty-war-over-last-minute-push-to-build-more-housing-00425196\">“Jim Crow” laws\u003c/a>. Many labor-friendly Democrats on the committee recoiled; the proposal was shelved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the idea has been given a bit more time for debate, though the trades and some lawmakers have still complained of a process they see as rushed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Quirk-Silva’s bill was introduced in early February, it focused solely on townhouse regulations. The wage language was added only in time for its second committee hearing in late April. (Quirk-Silva’s staff declined to make her available for an interview to explain that delay or discuss the bill in general, citing personal family matters. On the Assembly floor, she explained the late addition in part by noting “severe health issues” among staff and family members.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since then the entirety of the legislative debate has been focused on the wage issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12076525\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12076525\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260116-NewsomLuriePresser-33-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference at the Friendship House Association of American Indians in San Francisco on Jan. 16, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That itself is a notable development: The bill exempts the construction of townhomes from both environmental review and the jurisdiction of elected local city councils and planning boards. Just a few years ago, such a proposal would have made for a capitol-shaking, headline-grabbing fight. But a year after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2025/06/ceqa-urban-development-infill-budget/\">exempting most urban housing\u003c/a> developments from environmental litigation, the land-use implications appear to be an afterthought.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At an Assembly floor vote last month, San Diego Assemblymember Chris Ward referred to the minimum wage issue as the “900 pound gorilla.” He, like many Democrats who spoke on the bill, said that he supported the legislation in general, but that he remained wary of the “unresolved” questions about how the new wage rate would affect existing labor standards.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill needed 41 out of 80 “yes” votes to move onto the Senate. It passed with just 47.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Hike or pay cut?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Quirk-Silva’s office tried to get around the prevailing wage fight early on.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prevailing wages are required of publicly funded works, including many affordable housing projects. They are set by the California Department of Industrial Relations, which sets its rates based on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dir.ca.gov/oprl/FAQ_PrevailingWage.html#q1\">most common wage\u003c/a> for each job type in each region of the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Quirk-Silva’s bill specifically bars the state department from taking the new $28 per hour townhome wages into account when running those calculations, lest a glut of townhome builders inadvertently bring down the wages owed to union roofers and plumbers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12059484\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12059484\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251007-SACRAMENTOMIDDLEHOUSING_00145_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A construction worker operates machinery to move dirt at the site of new middle housing units at 2824 D Street in Sacramento on October 7, 2025. Developers are reviving “middle housing” such as duplexes and cottage clusters, but say California’s rollout of the new rules has been anything but smooth. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The trades aren’t satisfied with that concession. That’s because the federal government conducts its own wage surveys and set its own prevailing wage for federally-funded infrastructure projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The current federal prevailing wage required for a residential roofer in Sacramento, for example, is \u003ca href=\"https://sam.gov/wage-determination/CA20260019/5\">$46.73 per hour\u003c/a> plus benefits. That number is based on the \u003ca href=\"https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/government-contracts/construction/faq#23\">most common wage paid\u003c/a> for that job in the area or — if no single rate is paid to at least 30% of the workers in the survey — on the regional average.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The federal government won’t give a rat’s ass about what this bill says,” Scott Wetch, a lobbyist for Trades-affiliated unions, said at the bill’s April hearing. “And they will set the prevailing wage rate for all the crafts at $28.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trades “have a case” in this argument, said Kevin Duncan, an economist at Colorado State University Pueblo who has studied prevailing wage policy’s effect on construction costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Imagine a smaller market with a relatively low unionization rate. If the bill uncorked a geyser of contractors paying all their low-wage workers exactly $28 per hour, “that would be the prevailing rate — and with zero benefits,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Backers of the bill dispute that, saying such a specific outcome is unlikely given how many contractors are likely to use this specific townhouse bill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also argue that vanishingly few residential roofers do federal public works jobs in Sacramento — or anywhere in California — so changes in the federal prevailing wage for residential projects aren’t likely to affect many workers anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081535\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081535\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260427-CONSTRUCTIONWORKERS-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Construction workers and supporters march through Oakland to the Lion Creek Crossings, an affordable housing complex, on April 27, 2026, as part of a demonstration calling for more than $300,000 in unpaid wages from Bay Area contractors Milestone Roofing and Saarman Construction. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Instead, most roofers are non-union on privately-funded projects and many are being paid less than $28 per hour, said Danny Curtin, director of the California Council of Carpenters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To say that raising those wages “will actually bring everybody else’s wages down, defies comprehension,” he said at the hearing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/housing/2026/06/ab-1751-trades-carpenters-fight/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "california-lawmaker-pushes-immunity-for-stone-makers-amid-silicosis-epidemic",
"title": "California Lawmaker Pushes Immunity for Stone Makers Amid Silicosis Epidemic",
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"headTitle": "California Lawmaker Pushes Immunity for Stone Makers Amid Silicosis Epidemic | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>U.S. Republican lawmakers voted to advance a federal bill on Wednesday that would shield artificial stone manufacturers and distributors from liability as their products are increasingly linked to an incurable lung disease, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084053/california-stoneworkers-with-silicosis-struggle-to-get-workers-comp\">disabling and killing stoneworkers in California\u003c/a> and other states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5437\">H.R. 5437\u003c/a>, authored by California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock, would dismiss about 500 filed lawsuits — and prohibit additional ones — by workers seeking monetary damages for injuries after inhaling toxic silica dust generated when cutting artificial stone to make kitchen and bathroom countertops. Most of the civil cases are from California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s vote along party lines on Wednesday recommended the proposed legislation for a full floor vote, over the objections of Democratic members who argued it would primarily benefit one major U.S. manufacturer and multiple foreign ones while denying recourse for young, ill workers in America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is tragic that the Republican majority showed no interest in stopping this epidemic that is killing workers,” David Michaels, a former assistant secretary of labor at OSHA and an epidemiologist at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, said in a statement. “Passage of this legislation will undoubtedly result in more workers being disabled by deadly dust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing scientific evidence shows that the crystalline silica dust released by artificial stone is uniquely toxic, and stonecutters get sick with often deadly silicosis even when following safety regulations in sophisticated fabrication shops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Measures such as cutting slabs under a layer of water to suppress dust, ventilation systems and wearing masks are insufficient to protect people, according to multiple doctors and workplace safety experts, including those at agencies such as Cal/OSHA and the California Department of Public Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079665\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079665\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/StoneworkerGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/StoneworkerGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/StoneworkerGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/StoneworkerGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone countertop fabricator wears a mask to help protect against airborne particles which can contribute to silicosis at a shop on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, in Sun Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But in his comments on Wednesday, McClintock \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069714/as-california-silicosis-cases-rise-engineered-stone-industry-seeks-immunity-in-dc\">echoed a main argument\u003c/a> by Cambria, a Minnesota-based company, and Cosentino, headquartered in Spain, that artificial stone slabs are safe to handle as long as countertop fabrication shops downstream in the supply chain follow proper measures. McClintock and other Republican committee members said the bill is needed to protect businesses targeted by what they called frivolous lawsuits and jobs in a multibillion-dollar industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This legislation addresses a fundamental question of fairness in our civil justice system. Who should be held responsible when workplace safety laws are violated? Who is liable when an otherwise safe product is misused?” McClintock, whose congressional district covers parts of the Central Valley and Sierra foothills, said. “We’re now seeing crippling lawsuits that ignore the guilty fabricators and instead sue the manufacturers, because that’s where the money is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This comes as California took a key step last month \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084910/california-steps-closer-to-ban-on-engineered-stone-after-silicosis-surge\">toward a ban\u003c/a> on artificial stone with more than 1% crystalline silica, in an effort to prevent hundreds more workers from contracting an aggressive form of silicosis that has killed at least 31 people in the state’s industry since 2019.[aside postID=news_12084910 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-5-KQED.jpg']More than 560 people have been confirmed with silicosis in California, the only state \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DEODC/OHB/Pages/essdashboard.aspx\">actively tracking\u003c/a> the disease. Dozens have undergone lung transplants, while dozens more were found ineligible. The surge in silicosis coincides with a rise in popularity of artificial stone, which has become the top countertop material in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly all silicosis patients in California are low-income Latino men, many of them immigrants who said they didn’t know about the dangers of cutting and polishing artificial stone, also known as engineered stone or quartz, until they or co-workers got sick. The cost of their expensive medical treatment has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084053/california-stoneworkers-with-silicosis-struggle-to-get-workers-comp\">largely shouldered \u003c/a>by state taxpayers, and not by workers’ compensation benefits through employers’ insurance, even though silicosis is job-related.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several lawsuits against manufacturers have led to settlements, said James Nevin, an attorney with Brayton-Purcell, a Novato-based law firm that represents workers in most silicosis claims. So far, two of the three cases that reached verdicts have resulted in jury awards: $52.4 million for a Los Angeles former stonecutter in 2024, which was appealed, and $17.4 million for a 28-year-old stoneworker in Colorado last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevin said only 1% of crystalline silica engineered stone is manufactured in the U.S., with Cambria as the largest domestic producer. The $500 million company employed \u003ca href=\"https://www.cambriausa.com/news-events/press-room/quartz-processing-shift\">1,800 workers \u003c/a>in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Australia became the first country to ban artificial stone in 2024, several major manufacturers have started selling products in the U.S. with lower or no crystalline silica, but Cambria has not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067172\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067172\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone countertop fabricator wears a mask to help protect against airborne particles, which can contribute to silicosis, at a shop on Oct. 31, 2023, in Sun Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A Cambria representative did not immediately respond to KQED’s request for comment on the bill’s progress. Cambria spent $250,000 on lobbying last year, and $50,000 in this year’s first quarter, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?cycle=2025&id=D000095438\">Open Secrets\u003c/a>, a nonprofit tracking money in politics. \u003ca href=\"https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?id=D000100492\">Cosentino\u003c/a> Group spent more than $350,000 on lobbying in 2025 and $80,000 during the first quarter of this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the hearing, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin lambasted the proposed legislation as preferential treatment for Cambria’s CEO Marty Davis, a Trump supporter who has asked the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/05/17/nx-s1-5726366/ceo-trump-donor-quartz-kitchen-countertop-tariffs\">to impose significant tariffs\u003c/a> on imported engineered stone slabs. Raskin noted the bill does not address the growing silicosis epidemic or any solutions to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Check out this legislation, which would protect one super-powerful, super-rich Donald Trump campaign donor from facing any accountability in the courts as young working men die from avoidable lung failure,” Raskin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A federal proposal by California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock could block hundreds of silicosis lawsuits, as California workers suffer a deadly lung disease linked to engineered stone countertops.",
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"title": "California Lawmaker Pushes Immunity for Stone Makers Amid Silicosis Epidemic | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>U.S. Republican lawmakers voted to advance a federal bill on Wednesday that would shield artificial stone manufacturers and distributors from liability as their products are increasingly linked to an incurable lung disease, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084053/california-stoneworkers-with-silicosis-struggle-to-get-workers-comp\">disabling and killing stoneworkers in California\u003c/a> and other states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5437\">H.R. 5437\u003c/a>, authored by California Republican Rep. Tom McClintock, would dismiss about 500 filed lawsuits — and prohibit additional ones — by workers seeking monetary damages for injuries after inhaling toxic silica dust generated when cutting artificial stone to make kitchen and bathroom countertops. Most of the civil cases are from California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s vote along party lines on Wednesday recommended the proposed legislation for a full floor vote, over the objections of Democratic members who argued it would primarily benefit one major U.S. manufacturer and multiple foreign ones while denying recourse for young, ill workers in America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is tragic that the Republican majority showed no interest in stopping this epidemic that is killing workers,” David Michaels, a former assistant secretary of labor at OSHA and an epidemiologist at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, said in a statement. “Passage of this legislation will undoubtedly result in more workers being disabled by deadly dust.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing scientific evidence shows that the crystalline silica dust released by artificial stone is uniquely toxic, and stonecutters get sick with often deadly silicosis even when following safety regulations in sophisticated fabrication shops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Measures such as cutting slabs under a layer of water to suppress dust, ventilation systems and wearing masks are insufficient to protect people, according to multiple doctors and workplace safety experts, including those at agencies such as Cal/OSHA and the California Department of Public Health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079665\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079665\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/StoneworkerGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/StoneworkerGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/StoneworkerGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/StoneworkerGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone countertop fabricator wears a mask to help protect against airborne particles which can contribute to silicosis at a shop on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, in Sun Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But in his comments on Wednesday, McClintock \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069714/as-california-silicosis-cases-rise-engineered-stone-industry-seeks-immunity-in-dc\">echoed a main argument\u003c/a> by Cambria, a Minnesota-based company, and Cosentino, headquartered in Spain, that artificial stone slabs are safe to handle as long as countertop fabrication shops downstream in the supply chain follow proper measures. McClintock and other Republican committee members said the bill is needed to protect businesses targeted by what they called frivolous lawsuits and jobs in a multibillion-dollar industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This legislation addresses a fundamental question of fairness in our civil justice system. Who should be held responsible when workplace safety laws are violated? Who is liable when an otherwise safe product is misused?” McClintock, whose congressional district covers parts of the Central Valley and Sierra foothills, said. “We’re now seeing crippling lawsuits that ignore the guilty fabricators and instead sue the manufacturers, because that’s where the money is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This comes as California took a key step last month \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084910/california-steps-closer-to-ban-on-engineered-stone-after-silicosis-surge\">toward a ban\u003c/a> on artificial stone with more than 1% crystalline silica, in an effort to prevent hundreds more workers from contracting an aggressive form of silicosis that has killed at least 31 people in the state’s industry since 2019.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>More than 560 people have been confirmed with silicosis in California, the only state \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DEODC/OHB/Pages/essdashboard.aspx\">actively tracking\u003c/a> the disease. Dozens have undergone lung transplants, while dozens more were found ineligible. The surge in silicosis coincides with a rise in popularity of artificial stone, which has become the top countertop material in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nearly all silicosis patients in California are low-income Latino men, many of them immigrants who said they didn’t know about the dangers of cutting and polishing artificial stone, also known as engineered stone or quartz, until they or co-workers got sick. The cost of their expensive medical treatment has been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084053/california-stoneworkers-with-silicosis-struggle-to-get-workers-comp\">largely shouldered \u003c/a>by state taxpayers, and not by workers’ compensation benefits through employers’ insurance, even though silicosis is job-related.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several lawsuits against manufacturers have led to settlements, said James Nevin, an attorney with Brayton-Purcell, a Novato-based law firm that represents workers in most silicosis claims. So far, two of the three cases that reached verdicts have resulted in jury awards: $52.4 million for a Los Angeles former stonecutter in 2024, which was appealed, and $17.4 million for a 28-year-old stoneworker in Colorado last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevin said only 1% of crystalline silica engineered stone is manufactured in the U.S., with Cambria as the largest domestic producer. The $500 million company employed \u003ca href=\"https://www.cambriausa.com/news-events/press-room/quartz-processing-shift\">1,800 workers \u003c/a>in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Australia became the first country to ban artificial stone in 2024, several major manufacturers have started selling products in the U.S. with lower or no crystalline silica, but Cambria has not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067172\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067172\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/StoneworkerGetty1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone countertop fabricator wears a mask to help protect against airborne particles, which can contribute to silicosis, at a shop on Oct. 31, 2023, in Sun Valley, California. \u003ccite>(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A Cambria representative did not immediately respond to KQED’s request for comment on the bill’s progress. Cambria spent $250,000 on lobbying last year, and $50,000 in this year’s first quarter, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?cycle=2025&id=D000095438\">Open Secrets\u003c/a>, a nonprofit tracking money in politics. \u003ca href=\"https://www.opensecrets.org/federal-lobbying/clients/summary?id=D000100492\">Cosentino\u003c/a> Group spent more than $350,000 on lobbying in 2025 and $80,000 during the first quarter of this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the hearing, Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin lambasted the proposed legislation as preferential treatment for Cambria’s CEO Marty Davis, a Trump supporter who has asked the federal government \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/05/17/nx-s1-5726366/ceo-trump-donor-quartz-kitchen-countertop-tariffs\">to impose significant tariffs\u003c/a> on imported engineered stone slabs. Raskin noted the bill does not address the growing silicosis epidemic or any solutions to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Check out this legislation, which would protect one super-powerful, super-rich Donald Trump campaign donor from facing any accountability in the courts as young working men die from avoidable lung failure,” Raskin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-steps-closer-to-ban-on-engineered-stone-after-silicosis-surge",
"title": "California Steps Closer to Ban on Engineered Stone After Silicosis Surge",
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"headTitle": "California Steps Closer to Ban on Engineered Stone After Silicosis Surge | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>California regulators voted Thursday to take a key step toward \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079653/california-fabricators-face-artificial-stone-ban-as-silicosis-cases-mount\">banning a popular countertop material\u003c/a> linked to a surging lung disease that is disabling and killing hundreds of stoneworkers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision by the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board came after dozens of physicians, job safety experts, and people gravely ill with silicosis testified that artificial stone’s unique toxicity is causing a public health emergency. Current workplace regulations, enforcement and education are insufficient to save lives, they said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We as a board have to recognize that we do not know better than the scientists, the physicians, the workers that we’re hearing from. And we have to take effective action to prevent further cases now,” said board member Derek Urwin, a UCLA chemistry professor and Los Angeles County Fire Department engineer. “Control measures are not working, and it’s not the fault of the workers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For months, major manufacturers of artificial stone, opposed to the move, argued that their factory-made product is not the problem, but countertop fabrication shops that fail to follow proper safety measures, such as covering stone slabs with water while cutting to suppress dust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Representatives for Minnesota-based Cambria, Cosentino, headquartered in Spain, and other companies in the multi-billion dollar industry sought to cast doubt on the need for a prohibition, proposing a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070138/stone-industry-proposes-self-policing-as-california-weighs-artificial-stone-ban\">fabricator certification\u003c/a> program and more enforcement instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Banning a product to compensate for failed enforcement is irresponsible,” said Matt Thurston, regional director of Cosentino North America, during the marathon-length public testimony that preceded the vote in Los Angeles. “Allowing illegal fabricators to keep exposing workers to silica dust from other materials like natural stone is not worker protection. Number two, many shops already use these products safely and legally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080596\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12080596 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">José Andrade Peña holds his wife Susana Sanchez’s hand during a presentation on silica at an Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) meeting in Santa Rosa on April 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Statewide, more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DEODC/OHB/Pages/essdashboard.aspx\">560 stoneworkers\u003c/a> have contracted a more aggressive form of silicosis after inhaling toxic crystalline silica dust generated by artificial stone when it’s cut or polished. At least 31 people have died from the disease since 2019, and nearly 60 have undergone lung transplants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 75% of these cases were confirmed over the last three years. Nearly all of the patients are Latino men, many of them low-income immigrants who said they didn’t know about the hazards of working with artificial stone, also known as quartz or engineered stone, until they or their co-workers got sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rapid rise of silicosis in the industry — with about 1,000 new cases expected in the state over the next two years — coincides with skyrocketing consumer demand for engineered stone countertops in the last two decades, according to officials at the California Department of Public Health and Cal/OSHA. The state is the only one in the U.S. actively tracking the disease, even though more than a hundred cases linked to artificial stone have been identified in Colorado, Texas, Illinois, Florida and other states.[aside postID=news_12084053 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/ELEAZAR-RESENDIZ-CORTES-KQED-LEOPO-2026-1438-KQED.jpg']“I’ve had a lot of suffering. Last time, I vomited a lot of blood, and my nightmare did not end there,” Demetrio Luna, a California silicosis survivor who recently underwent a lung transplant, said in Spanish as board members neared a vote. “You can stop this because it is not just the patient who suffers, but the entire family. And despite what they say about wearing masks and cutting with water, the particles are so tiny that they enter the lungs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silicosis lung transplants among miners and all other occupations were relatively rare in the past three decades, with only 93 total nationwide between 1990 and 2022, said Dr. Betsey Noth, a senior industrial hygienist with Cal/OSHA. Since then, artificial stone workers in California have undergone 58 lung transplants, with additional patients found ineligible for the medical procedure because they were too sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Successful lung transplants, which cost $1 million or more each, extend patients’ lives by only a handful of years on average. Dr. Jane Fazio, a UCLA pulmonologist, told OSHSB board members that lung transplantation for the surge in engineered stone silicosis cases is a “very expensive band-aid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a terrible use of resources, and it is endless human suffering,” said Fazio, who has cared for most silicosis patients in the San Fernando Valley, in the U.S. silicosis epicenter. “Do we want to prolong a problem, or do we want a swift solution to a problem that is only getting worse unless we remove a dangerous product that’s really at the heart of the problem?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080590\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080590\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joseph M. Alioto Jr., chair of the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB), speaks during a board meeting in Santa Rosa on April 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A medical association petitioned the state in December to start expedited rulemaking to prohibit the use of engineered stone with more than 1% crystalline silica to make and install countertops. As part of the petition’s review, a detailed Cal/OSHA evaluation and the board’s own staff determined that removing the product upstream in the distribution chain would be the quickest and most cost-effective way to stem the silicosis epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the OSHSB proposed decision language released to the public last week seemed to require two committees to study the matter further, a path championed by chair Joseph Alioto Jr., a trial attorney who has advocated for the criminal prosecution of countertop fabrication shop employers found violating current silica rules. The move raised alarm bells among worker advocates who worried that the additional steps would create unnecessary delays — and derail a ban — in the face of an urgent occupational hazard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding to the concerns, only three board members were present for the high-stakes vote, instead of seven. Gov. Gavin Newsom, responsible for appointments to the body that approves workplace safety rules, has left two seats vacant for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the active board members — Alioto, Urwin and industrial hygienist Nola Kennedy — decided to grant the physicians’ petition and kickstart a fast-track process for Cal/OSHA to develop a regulation prohibiting the use of artificial stone with crystalline silica, which would take several months and still require another vote before approval. In a parallel track, the agency was tasked with convening two additional advisory committees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080597\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080597\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-19-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1329\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-19-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-19-KQED-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-19-KQED-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">José Andrade Peña, left, sits with his wife Susana Sanchez, right, during a presentation on silica at an Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) meeting in Santa Rosa on April 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>José Andrade Peña, an Oakland resident who was diagnosed with advanced silicosis in 2024 and who testified in person before the board last month while carrying the oxygen machine he needs to breathe, applauded the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What great news,” Andrade Peña, 53, said in a text message. “It comes as a huge relief to me and to many of my colleagues that are still working with this highly dangerous material. God is great.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decadeslong countertop fabrication worker, who used to be proud of lifting 60-pound stone slabs and being his family’s main breadwinner, said he can no longer work and is mostly confined to his home. Coughing fits and exhaustion rule days filled with worry for his five children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s painful and frustrating to know that the government still allows these toxic products to continue being sold,” Andrade Peña said. “Artificial stone should have been removed from the market a long, long time ago.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California regulators advanced a proposal to ban artificial stone countertops linked to silicosis from toxic silica dust, beginning rulemaking to prohibit engineered stone with more than 1% crystalline silica tied to hundreds of California cases.",
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"title": "California Steps Closer to Ban on Engineered Stone After Silicosis Surge | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California regulators voted Thursday to take a key step toward \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079653/california-fabricators-face-artificial-stone-ban-as-silicosis-cases-mount\">banning a popular countertop material\u003c/a> linked to a surging lung disease that is disabling and killing hundreds of stoneworkers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decision by the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board came after dozens of physicians, job safety experts, and people gravely ill with silicosis testified that artificial stone’s unique toxicity is causing a public health emergency. Current workplace regulations, enforcement and education are insufficient to save lives, they said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We as a board have to recognize that we do not know better than the scientists, the physicians, the workers that we’re hearing from. And we have to take effective action to prevent further cases now,” said board member Derek Urwin, a UCLA chemistry professor and Los Angeles County Fire Department engineer. “Control measures are not working, and it’s not the fault of the workers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For months, major manufacturers of artificial stone, opposed to the move, argued that their factory-made product is not the problem, but countertop fabrication shops that fail to follow proper safety measures, such as covering stone slabs with water while cutting to suppress dust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Representatives for Minnesota-based Cambria, Cosentino, headquartered in Spain, and other companies in the multi-billion dollar industry sought to cast doubt on the need for a prohibition, proposing a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12070138/stone-industry-proposes-self-policing-as-california-weighs-artificial-stone-ban\">fabricator certification\u003c/a> program and more enforcement instead.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Banning a product to compensate for failed enforcement is irresponsible,” said Matt Thurston, regional director of Cosentino North America, during the marathon-length public testimony that preceded the vote in Los Angeles. “Allowing illegal fabricators to keep exposing workers to silica dust from other materials like natural stone is not worker protection. Number two, many shops already use these products safely and legally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080596\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12080596 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-16-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-16-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-16-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-16-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">José Andrade Peña holds his wife Susana Sanchez’s hand during a presentation on silica at an Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) meeting in Santa Rosa on April 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Statewide, more than \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DEODC/OHB/Pages/essdashboard.aspx\">560 stoneworkers\u003c/a> have contracted a more aggressive form of silicosis after inhaling toxic crystalline silica dust generated by artificial stone when it’s cut or polished. At least 31 people have died from the disease since 2019, and nearly 60 have undergone lung transplants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 75% of these cases were confirmed over the last three years. Nearly all of the patients are Latino men, many of them low-income immigrants who said they didn’t know about the hazards of working with artificial stone, also known as quartz or engineered stone, until they or their co-workers got sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rapid rise of silicosis in the industry — with about 1,000 new cases expected in the state over the next two years — coincides with skyrocketing consumer demand for engineered stone countertops in the last two decades, according to officials at the California Department of Public Health and Cal/OSHA. The state is the only one in the U.S. actively tracking the disease, even though more than a hundred cases linked to artificial stone have been identified in Colorado, Texas, Illinois, Florida and other states.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I’ve had a lot of suffering. Last time, I vomited a lot of blood, and my nightmare did not end there,” Demetrio Luna, a California silicosis survivor who recently underwent a lung transplant, said in Spanish as board members neared a vote. “You can stop this because it is not just the patient who suffers, but the entire family. And despite what they say about wearing masks and cutting with water, the particles are so tiny that they enter the lungs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Silicosis lung transplants among miners and all other occupations were relatively rare in the past three decades, with only 93 total nationwide between 1990 and 2022, said Dr. Betsey Noth, a senior industrial hygienist with Cal/OSHA. Since then, artificial stone workers in California have undergone 58 lung transplants, with additional patients found ineligible for the medical procedure because they were too sick.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Successful lung transplants, which cost $1 million or more each, extend patients’ lives by only a handful of years on average. Dr. Jane Fazio, a UCLA pulmonologist, told OSHSB board members that lung transplantation for the surge in engineered stone silicosis cases is a “very expensive band-aid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a terrible use of resources, and it is endless human suffering,” said Fazio, who has cared for most silicosis patients in the San Fernando Valley, in the U.S. silicosis epicenter. “Do we want to prolong a problem, or do we want a swift solution to a problem that is only getting worse unless we remove a dangerous product that’s really at the heart of the problem?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080590\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080590\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-1-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-1-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-1-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-1-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joseph M. Alioto Jr., chair of the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB), speaks during a board meeting in Santa Rosa on April 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A medical association petitioned the state in December to start expedited rulemaking to prohibit the use of engineered stone with more than 1% crystalline silica to make and install countertops. As part of the petition’s review, a detailed Cal/OSHA evaluation and the board’s own staff determined that removing the product upstream in the distribution chain would be the quickest and most cost-effective way to stem the silicosis epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the OSHSB proposed decision language released to the public last week seemed to require two committees to study the matter further, a path championed by chair Joseph Alioto Jr., a trial attorney who has advocated for the criminal prosecution of countertop fabrication shop employers found violating current silica rules. The move raised alarm bells among worker advocates who worried that the additional steps would create unnecessary delays — and derail a ban — in the face of an urgent occupational hazard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Adding to the concerns, only three board members were present for the high-stakes vote, instead of seven. Gov. Gavin Newsom, responsible for appointments to the body that approves workplace safety rules, has left two seats vacant for months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, the active board members — Alioto, Urwin and industrial hygienist Nola Kennedy — decided to grant the physicians’ petition and kickstart a fast-track process for Cal/OSHA to develop a regulation prohibiting the use of artificial stone with crystalline silica, which would take several months and still require another vote before approval. In a parallel track, the agency was tasked with convening two additional advisory committees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080597\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080597\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-19-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1329\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-19-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-19-KQED-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/20260416_SICKSTONECUTTERS_GC-19-KQED-1536x1021.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">José Andrade Peña, left, sits with his wife Susana Sanchez, right, during a presentation on silica at an Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (OSHSB) meeting in Santa Rosa on April 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>José Andrade Peña, an Oakland resident who was diagnosed with advanced silicosis in 2024 and who testified in person before the board last month while carrying the oxygen machine he needs to breathe, applauded the decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What great news,” Andrade Peña, 53, said in a text message. “It comes as a huge relief to me and to many of my colleagues that are still working with this highly dangerous material. God is great.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The decadeslong countertop fabrication worker, who used to be proud of lifting 60-pound stone slabs and being his family’s main breadwinner, said he can no longer work and is mostly confined to his home. Coughing fits and exhaustion rule days filled with worry for his five children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s painful and frustrating to know that the government still allows these toxic products to continue being sold,” Andrade Peña said. “Artificial stone should have been removed from the market a long, long time ago.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "after-meta-layoffs-newsom-signs-ai-order-to-protect-workers-and-jobs",
"title": "After Meta Layoffs, Newsom Signs AI Order to ‘Protect Workers’ and Jobs",
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"headTitle": "After Meta Layoffs, Newsom Signs AI Order to ‘Protect Workers’ and Jobs | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gov-gavin-newsom\">Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> issued on Thursday what his office called a “first-of-its-kind”\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/5.21.26-AI-Workforce-EO-FINAL-SIGNED.pdf\"> executive order\u003c/a> directing state agencies to prepare workers and businesses for artificial intelligence-driven workforce disruption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California has never sat back and watched as the future happened to us — and we won’t start now,” Newsom said, in a statement accompanying the order. “We have taken the lead on advancing innovation, safety, and transparency. But we must think bigger. This moment demands that we reimagine the entire system — how we work, how we govern, how we prepare people for the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The order mandates agencies to explore a range of policy options, including severance standards, expanded unemployment insurance, job retraining programs aimed specifically at white-collar workers, worker ownership models and a concept the governor called “universal basic capital,” giving all residents a stake in assets such as corporate stocks, bonds or wealth funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move reflects \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079472/stanford-study-ai-experts-are-optimistic-about-ai-the-rest-of-us-not-so-much\">growing tension among Americans\u003c/a> over how AI is disrupting their \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034490/ai-companions-seductive-risk-teens-senators-want-more-guardrails\">personal lives\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12076726/ai-is-changing-tech-work-heres-why-it-matters-for-the-rest-of-us\">jobs\u003c/a>, even as many business leaders continue to express optimism about the technology’s capabilities. Layoffs tied to AI are snowballing across many sectors of the economy, including Silicon Valley, and labor leaders are growing increasingly impatient with the governor’s cautious approach to regulating the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, Meta announced it was laying off roughly 8,000 workers, about 10% of its workforce, as the company accelerates its shift toward AI. Intel, Cisco, Amazon and other tech giants have also dramatically reduced their headcounts in recent months, citing the need to shift spending to AI-focused employees and data center construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei has predicted that roughly half of all white-collar jobs could disappear within five years. Most other tech leaders disagree with the specific timeline but broadly agree that AI will displace white-collar workers in engineering, communications and law in the near future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055158\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055158\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/AnthropicAIGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/AnthropicAIGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/AnthropicAIGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/AnthropicAIGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left to right: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Chief Product Officer Mike Krieger and Head of Communications Sasha de Marigny give a press conference during Anthropic’s first developer conference in San Francisco, California, on May 22, 2025. \u003ccite>(Julie Jammot/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The economic logic driving those cuts has alarmed policymakers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom\u003ca href=\"https://x.com/CAgovernor/status/2057507319139750057\"> posted to the social media platform X\u003c/a> shortly after signing: “California will pursue new policies that make sure working Californians — not just Big Tech — benefit from the wealth and breakthroughs coming out of this space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom telegraphed Thursday’s order earlier this week, when he appeared at the Center for American Progress IDEAS Conference in Washington. “Businesses are going to make a fortune, and that’s why you cannot continue to have a payroll tax system that taxes jobs and then subsidizes automation,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tom Kemp, executive director of the California Privacy Protection Agency, applauded the fact that the order named data privacy as a consumer protection concern and highlighted the CPPA’s automated decision-making technology regulations, which he called “the nation’s most comprehensive.”[aside postID=news_12084499 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/TeenagersMetaSocialMediaGetty.jpg']Others are more skeptical. “\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Catastrophic job loss from AI is not inevitable, it’s a political choice\u003c/span>,” Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, wrote in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Gonzalez noted one area of genuine agreement: the order’s emphasis on collective bargaining as a tool for protecting workers from AI displacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That database of AI provisions in collective bargaining agreements exists, and we have introduced bills that mirror those protections over the past few years,” she wrote, going on to chide the governor for vetoing a number of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079472/stanford-study-ai-experts-are-optimistic-about-ai-the-rest-of-us-not-so-much\">Stanford HAI’s 2026 AI Index\u003c/a>, software developers ages 22 to 25 are among those most likely to see their skills made redundant earliest. This year, U.S. employment fell nearly 20% from 2024, even as headcount for older developers continued to grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following the job cuts announced at Meta, a union of Alphabet workers in the U.S. and Canada released a statement that suggests Silicon Valley’s own labor force may seek to organize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As Big Tech companies attempt to nudge ahead of each other in the AI race, our daily work lives are shifting,” Alphabet Workers Union-CWA Local 9009 said in a statement. “It’s undeniable that our whole industry is being transformed by the corporate push to adopt new AI tools. It’s hard not to feel anxiety and fear when we can see more and more tech companies cutting huge portions of their workforce both in anticipation of replacing them with AI, and to fund their multi-billion-dollar bets on AI as the future of the industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036125\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Meta, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads logos are screened on a mobile phone on Jan. 25, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meta declined to comment, and Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepMind and Amazon did not respond in time for this report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Gonzalez delivered what amounted to an ultimatum to Newsom: regulate AI or lose labor’s support for any future presidential run. Shuler called a potential AI-driven economic collapse a coming “crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In August 2025, Newsom announced a\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12051433/california-teams-with-google-microsoft-ibm-adobe-to-prepare-students-for-ai-era\"> partnership with Google, Microsoft, IBM and Adobe\u003c/a> to expand AI education in California schools and community colleges, a workforce preparation push that now looks like a precursor to Thursday’s more sweeping order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom also announced the statewide expansion of Engaged California, a digital platform originally launched to help coordinate recovery after the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, which will now be used to gather public input on AI’s impact on the workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A backdrop of federal inaction\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s order comes as President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he was postponing signing a long-anticipated AI executive order, telling reporters, “I didn’t like what I was seeing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The planned federal order would have created a system for the government to vet powerful new AI models before public release, a process the administration had been negotiating with Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and xAI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074482\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074482\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/GettyImages-2262729717-scaled-e1773182284895.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1413\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing at the White House on Feb. 20, 2026, in Washington, D.C. \u003ccite>(Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Trump has argued that aggressive AI oversight could hobble the United States in its technology competition with China, calling AI “a critical engine of the economy.” He told reporters he discussed AI safeguards with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a recent trip to China.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it remains unclear whether the federal administration will allow California and other states to take dramatic action as AI reshapes the American labor force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December 2025, Trump faced\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066910/trumps-ai-order-provokes-pushback-from-california-officials-and-consumer-advocates\"> backlash\u003c/a> from California officials and consumer advocates after he issued an executive order curtailing states’ ability to regulate AI, though the order didn’t directly preempt state AI laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gov-gavin-newsom\">Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> issued on Thursday what his office called a “first-of-its-kind”\u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/5.21.26-AI-Workforce-EO-FINAL-SIGNED.pdf\"> executive order\u003c/a> directing state agencies to prepare workers and businesses for artificial intelligence-driven workforce disruption.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California has never sat back and watched as the future happened to us — and we won’t start now,” Newsom said, in a statement accompanying the order. “We have taken the lead on advancing innovation, safety, and transparency. But we must think bigger. This moment demands that we reimagine the entire system — how we work, how we govern, how we prepare people for the future.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The order mandates agencies to explore a range of policy options, including severance standards, expanded unemployment insurance, job retraining programs aimed specifically at white-collar workers, worker ownership models and a concept the governor called “universal basic capital,” giving all residents a stake in assets such as corporate stocks, bonds or wealth funds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move reflects \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079472/stanford-study-ai-experts-are-optimistic-about-ai-the-rest-of-us-not-so-much\">growing tension among Americans\u003c/a> over how AI is disrupting their \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034490/ai-companions-seductive-risk-teens-senators-want-more-guardrails\">personal lives\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12076726/ai-is-changing-tech-work-heres-why-it-matters-for-the-rest-of-us\">jobs\u003c/a>, even as many business leaders continue to express optimism about the technology’s capabilities. Layoffs tied to AI are snowballing across many sectors of the economy, including Silicon Valley, and labor leaders are growing increasingly impatient with the governor’s cautious approach to regulating the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this week, Meta announced it was laying off roughly 8,000 workers, about 10% of its workforce, as the company accelerates its shift toward AI. Intel, Cisco, Amazon and other tech giants have also dramatically reduced their headcounts in recent months, citing the need to shift spending to AI-focused employees and data center construction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei has predicted that roughly half of all white-collar jobs could disappear within five years. Most other tech leaders disagree with the specific timeline but broadly agree that AI will displace white-collar workers in engineering, communications and law in the near future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12055158\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12055158\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/AnthropicAIGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/AnthropicAIGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/AnthropicAIGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/AnthropicAIGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left to right: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, Chief Product Officer Mike Krieger and Head of Communications Sasha de Marigny give a press conference during Anthropic’s first developer conference in San Francisco, California, on May 22, 2025. \u003ccite>(Julie Jammot/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The economic logic driving those cuts has alarmed policymakers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom\u003ca href=\"https://x.com/CAgovernor/status/2057507319139750057\"> posted to the social media platform X\u003c/a> shortly after signing: “California will pursue new policies that make sure working Californians — not just Big Tech — benefit from the wealth and breakthroughs coming out of this space.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom telegraphed Thursday’s order earlier this week, when he appeared at the Center for American Progress IDEAS Conference in Washington. “Businesses are going to make a fortune, and that’s why you cannot continue to have a payroll tax system that taxes jobs and then subsidizes automation,” Newsom said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tom Kemp, executive director of the California Privacy Protection Agency, applauded the fact that the order named data privacy as a consumer protection concern and highlighted the CPPA’s automated decision-making technology regulations, which he called “the nation’s most comprehensive.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Others are more skeptical. “\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Catastrophic job loss from AI is not inevitable, it’s a political choice\u003c/span>,” Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, AFL-CIO, wrote in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, Gonzalez noted one area of genuine agreement: the order’s emphasis on collective bargaining as a tool for protecting workers from AI displacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That database of AI provisions in collective bargaining agreements exists, and we have introduced bills that mirror those protections over the past few years,” she wrote, going on to chide the governor for vetoing a number of them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079472/stanford-study-ai-experts-are-optimistic-about-ai-the-rest-of-us-not-so-much\">Stanford HAI’s 2026 AI Index\u003c/a>, software developers ages 22 to 25 are among those most likely to see their skills made redundant earliest. This year, U.S. employment fell nearly 20% from 2024, even as headcount for older developers continued to grow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following the job cuts announced at Meta, a union of Alphabet workers in the U.S. and Canada released a statement that suggests Silicon Valley’s own labor force may seek to organize.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As Big Tech companies attempt to nudge ahead of each other in the AI race, our daily work lives are shifting,” Alphabet Workers Union-CWA Local 9009 said in a statement. “It’s undeniable that our whole industry is being transformed by the corporate push to adopt new AI tools. It’s hard not to feel anxiety and fear when we can see more and more tech companies cutting huge portions of their workforce both in anticipation of replacing them with AI, and to fund their multi-billion-dollar bets on AI as the future of the industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12036125\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12036125\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty2-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Meta, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger and Threads logos are screened on a mobile phone on Jan. 25, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Meta declined to comment, and Anthropic, OpenAI, DeepMind and Amazon did not respond in time for this report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In February, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler and Gonzalez delivered what amounted to an ultimatum to Newsom: regulate AI or lose labor’s support for any future presidential run. Shuler called a potential AI-driven economic collapse a coming “crisis.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In August 2025, Newsom announced a\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12051433/california-teams-with-google-microsoft-ibm-adobe-to-prepare-students-for-ai-era\"> partnership with Google, Microsoft, IBM and Adobe\u003c/a> to expand AI education in California schools and community colleges, a workforce preparation push that now looks like a precursor to Thursday’s more sweeping order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom also announced the statewide expansion of Engaged California, a digital platform originally launched to help coordinate recovery after the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, which will now be used to gather public input on AI’s impact on the workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A backdrop of federal inaction\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s order comes as President Donald Trump on Thursday announced he was postponing signing a long-anticipated AI executive order, telling reporters, “I didn’t like what I was seeing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The planned federal order would have created a system for the government to vet powerful new AI models before public release, a process the administration had been negotiating with Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and xAI.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074482\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074482\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/GettyImages-2262729717-scaled-e1773182284895.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1413\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Donald Trump speaks during a press briefing at the White House on Feb. 20, 2026, in Washington, D.C. \u003ccite>(Chen Mengtong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Trump has argued that aggressive AI oversight could hobble the United States in its technology competition with China, calling AI “a critical engine of the economy.” He told reporters he discussed AI safeguards with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a recent trip to China.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it remains unclear whether the federal administration will allow California and other states to take dramatic action as AI reshapes the American labor force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In December 2025, Trump faced\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066910/trumps-ai-order-provokes-pushback-from-california-officials-and-consumer-advocates\"> backlash\u003c/a> from California officials and consumer advocates after he issued an executive order curtailing states’ ability to regulate AI, though the order didn’t directly preempt state AI laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Sales specialist Eli Inkelas helps outdoor enthusiasts shop at Recreational Equipment Inc. But on a recent day, the 28-year-old asked potential customers approaching \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037284/frustrated-berkeley-rei-workers-accuse-co-op-union-busting-straying-from-values\">REI’s Berkeley store\u003c/a> to boycott the retailer’s biggest sale of the year in support of unionized workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We want REI corporate and their attorneys to treat us respectfully and to bargain in good faith and help us ratify this contract that we’ve been fighting for now for three years,” said Inkelas, a Berkeley native who has also worked at REI in Boston.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hundreds of unionized REI workers are urging customers to boycott the retailer’s anniversary sale through Memorial Day as contract negotiations have stretched for more than three years, escalating pressure on the outdoor co-op to reach a deal while it works to recover from recent financial losses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company said the controversial tactic, also opposed by some employees at union stores, threatens jobs at a time when it’s trying to regain its financial footing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a disappointing move that targets the co‑op. It seems the union’s focus is on harming the financial wellbeing of the business, instead of advancing negotiations,” REI said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.rei.com/newsroom/article/rei-co-op-statement-on-bargaining-status-and-union-s-planned-boycott\">statement\u003c/a>. “The union’s dedication to undermining the business puts jobs, wages, benefits, and future opportunity at risk, and pulls everyone further from the progress our employees deserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>REI, a values-based consumer co-op, said it remains committed to bargaining in good faith. The specialty outdoor retailer, headquartered near Seattle, has not finalized an agreement with workers at any of the 11 locations that have unionized since 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12084518\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/IMG_5408-scaled-e1779300643537.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12084518\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/IMG_5408-scaled-e1779300643537.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eli Inkelas passes out flyers encouraging REI customers to boycott the outdoors retailer, outside the Berkeley store where he works on May 15, 2026. \u003ccite>(Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>REI has 195 stores across the U.S., employing about 14,000 people. Workers at a 12th store in San Diego are scheduled to vote on whether to join the union next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In North Berkeley, some shoppers entered the San Pablo Avenue store after declining flyers offered by workers in “REI Union” white T-shirts. Other customers chatted with the employees and their supporters, opting to leave without shopping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was kind of a no-brainer. I wasn’t going to cross the line and go in and buy,” said Cristina Cano, a San Francisco public school teacher and union member who lives in Berkeley. “I can buy whatever I need at another place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, REI reported revenue of more than $3.5 billion annually, but also net losses of $311 million in \u003ca href=\"https://www.rei.com/newsroom/article/rei-co-op-releases-2023-impact-report-and-financials-reporting-3-76-billion-in-revenue\">2023\u003c/a> and $156.4 million in \u003ca href=\"https://www.rei.com/newsroom/article/rei-co-op-releases-2024-impact-report-and-financials-becoming-first-national-retailer-to-achieve-zero-waste\">2024\u003c/a>, even as it opened new stores. The co-op, which invests significantly in member rewards, nonprofit donations and employee incentives and retirement contributions, \u003ca href=\"https://www.rei.com/newsroom/article/2025-financials-impact\">posted\u003c/a> a narrower net loss of $54.3 million in 2025, citing “progress toward profitability.”[aside postID=news_12032259 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/REIDublinGetty-1020x680.jpg']Workers supporting the boycott pushed aside concerns that it risks alienating customers beyond the 10-day sale event. As a consumer co-op, REI’s 25 million members can make a difference in how the company approaches bargaining, they said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“REI’s only tactic has been to delay and obfuscate and to make the process more difficult to convince us that we don’t need a union,” said Inkelas, who studies city planning and law at UC Berkeley and works part-time at REI, including as a cashier. “I just want them to come back to the table and negotiate fairly with us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union said that company negotiators recently floated requiring the labor organization to make a $1 million charitable donation, and limit negative talk about the company — claims that REI said \u003ca href=\"https://www.rei.com/newsroom/document/some-straightforward-facts-about-rei-co-op-s-union-negotiations\">misrepresented\u003c/a> bargaining discussions that were ultimately not pursued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Private-sector employees have a right to choose whether to organize and bargain collectively in the U.S. But labor experts said employers opposing a union can undermine those rights with little to no accountability, as federal law does not financially penalize violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, investigators with the National Labor Relations Board \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12032259/rei-punished-unionized-workers-in-berkeley-by-holding-back-raises-labor-board-alleges\">found evidence\u003c/a> that REI illegally withheld wage raises and bonuses from hundreds of employees — while continuing to give the benefits to nonunion employees — to discourage union membership. The company reached \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050938/unionized-berkeley-rei-workers-get-pay-raises-after-labor-board-alleged-they-were-shut-out\">a settlement agreement \u003c/a>on that complaint, paying impacted workers retroactive raises, in exchange for the union dropping dozens of unfair labor practice charges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Samuel Wirt, a Berkeley REI employee who is part of the bargaining team, said workers can’t accept offers of lower pay increases and fewer benefits when compared to nonunion stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This could be hashed out tomorrow if they’re willing to meet us on an offer that we can actually vote yes on,” he said. “We’re not asking for the sun and the stars here. We want to be able to continue working here in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The company said the controversial tactic, also opposed by some employees at union stores, threatens jobs at a time when it’s trying to regain its financial footing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is a disappointing move that targets the co‑op. It seems the union’s focus is on harming the financial wellbeing of the business, instead of advancing negotiations,” REI said in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.rei.com/newsroom/article/rei-co-op-statement-on-bargaining-status-and-union-s-planned-boycott\">statement\u003c/a>. “The union’s dedication to undermining the business puts jobs, wages, benefits, and future opportunity at risk, and pulls everyone further from the progress our employees deserve.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>REI, a values-based consumer co-op, said it remains committed to bargaining in good faith. The specialty outdoor retailer, headquartered near Seattle, has not finalized an agreement with workers at any of the 11 locations that have unionized since 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12084518\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/IMG_5408-scaled-e1779300643537.jpeg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12084518\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/IMG_5408-scaled-e1779300643537.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Eli Inkelas passes out flyers encouraging REI customers to boycott the outdoors retailer, outside the Berkeley store where he works on May 15, 2026. \u003ccite>(Farida Jhabvala Romero/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>REI has 195 stores across the U.S., employing about 14,000 people. Workers at a 12th store in San Diego are scheduled to vote on whether to join the union next week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In North Berkeley, some shoppers entered the San Pablo Avenue store after declining flyers offered by workers in “REI Union” white T-shirts. Other customers chatted with the employees and their supporters, opting to leave without shopping.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was kind of a no-brainer. I wasn’t going to cross the line and go in and buy,” said Cristina Cano, a San Francisco public school teacher and union member who lives in Berkeley. “I can buy whatever I need at another place.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, REI reported revenue of more than $3.5 billion annually, but also net losses of $311 million in \u003ca href=\"https://www.rei.com/newsroom/article/rei-co-op-releases-2023-impact-report-and-financials-reporting-3-76-billion-in-revenue\">2023\u003c/a> and $156.4 million in \u003ca href=\"https://www.rei.com/newsroom/article/rei-co-op-releases-2024-impact-report-and-financials-becoming-first-national-retailer-to-achieve-zero-waste\">2024\u003c/a>, even as it opened new stores. The co-op, which invests significantly in member rewards, nonprofit donations and employee incentives and retirement contributions, \u003ca href=\"https://www.rei.com/newsroom/article/2025-financials-impact\">posted\u003c/a> a narrower net loss of $54.3 million in 2025, citing “progress toward profitability.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Workers supporting the boycott pushed aside concerns that it risks alienating customers beyond the 10-day sale event. As a consumer co-op, REI’s 25 million members can make a difference in how the company approaches bargaining, they said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“REI’s only tactic has been to delay and obfuscate and to make the process more difficult to convince us that we don’t need a union,” said Inkelas, who studies city planning and law at UC Berkeley and works part-time at REI, including as a cashier. “I just want them to come back to the table and negotiate fairly with us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union said that company negotiators recently floated requiring the labor organization to make a $1 million charitable donation, and limit negative talk about the company — claims that REI said \u003ca href=\"https://www.rei.com/newsroom/document/some-straightforward-facts-about-rei-co-op-s-union-negotiations\">misrepresented\u003c/a> bargaining discussions that were ultimately not pursued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Private-sector employees have a right to choose whether to organize and bargain collectively in the U.S. But labor experts said employers opposing a union can undermine those rights with little to no accountability, as federal law does not financially penalize violations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, investigators with the National Labor Relations Board \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12032259/rei-punished-unionized-workers-in-berkeley-by-holding-back-raises-labor-board-alleges\">found evidence\u003c/a> that REI illegally withheld wage raises and bonuses from hundreds of employees — while continuing to give the benefits to nonunion employees — to discourage union membership. The company reached \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050938/unionized-berkeley-rei-workers-get-pay-raises-after-labor-board-alleged-they-were-shut-out\">a settlement agreement \u003c/a>on that complaint, paying impacted workers retroactive raises, in exchange for the union dropping dozens of unfair labor practice charges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Samuel Wirt, a Berkeley REI employee who is part of the bargaining team, said workers can’t accept offers of lower pay increases and fewer benefits when compared to nonunion stores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This could be hashed out tomorrow if they’re willing to meet us on an offer that we can actually vote yes on,” he said. “We’re not asking for the sun and the stars here. We want to be able to continue working here in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"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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"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.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"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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"order": 9
},
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"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"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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},
"fresh-air": {
"id": "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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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510051/podcast.xml"
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"hidden-brain": {
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"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",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"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
},
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/2p3Fifq96nw9BPcmFdIq0o?si=39209f7b25774f38",
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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/",
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"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": {
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"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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},
"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)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
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"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
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"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",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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}
},
"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/",
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"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/On-Our-Watch-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "On Our Watch from NPR and KQED",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "kqed",
"order": 11
},
"link": "/podcasts/onourwatch",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1567098962",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5ucHIub3JnLzUxMDM2MC9wb2RjYXN0LnhtbD9zYz1nb29nbGVwb2RjYXN0cw",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510360/podcast.xml"
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},
"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm-3pm, MON 12am-1am",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/onTheMedia.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/otm",
"meta": {
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"source": "wnyc"
},
"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/on-the-media/id73330715?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/On-the-Media-p69/",
"rss": "http://feeds.wnyc.org/onthemedia"
}
},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
"title": "PBS NewsHour",
"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/",
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"source": "pbs"
},
"link": "/radio/program/pbs-newshour",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pbs-newshour-full-show/id394432287?mt=2",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/PBS-NewsHour---Full-Show-p425698/",
"rss": "https://www.pbs.org/newshour/feeds/rss/podcasts/show"
}
},
"perspectives": {
"id": "perspectives",
"title": "Perspectives",
"tagline": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991",
"info": "KQED's series of daily listener commentaries since 1991.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Perspectives_Tile_Final.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Perspectives",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/perspectives/",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 14
},
"link": "/perspectives",
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/432309616/perspectives",
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},
"planet-money": {
"id": "planet-money",
"title": "Planet Money",
"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/sections/money/",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
"subscribe": {
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml"
}
},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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