Maddy Institute – August 18, 2017

18Aug

TOP POLITICAL STORIES

Local/Regional:

DEADLINE EXTENDED/ $1,500 Scholarship / Maddy Legislative Intern Scholar Program

The Maddy Institute

We are looking for highly self-motivated, energetic and organized individuals who are interested in learning the dynamics of working in a legislative office while making an impact in their community.

Fresno women organizing anti-white supremacy rally

Fresno Bee

Two young Fresno women are organizing a rally to stand in solidarity against white supremacy. The rally on Aug. 26 is a counterprotest to rallies they say will promote white supremacy that are reportedly planned for San Francisco on Aug. 26 and another in Berkeley on Aug. 27.

Columnist Lois Henry to leave The Californian

bakersfield.com

Lois Henry, The Bakersfield Californian’s longtime columnist, is leaving the newspaper. Her final column will be Aug. 27.

Valadao invited to address constituents

Hanford Sentinel

With no town halls planned from Congressman David Valadao (R-Hanford), the community is organizing one of its own. Residents of Valadao’s district are set to join together for a town hall on health care, immigration, jobs and water access. The constituents have invited Valadao to address the community and respond to their questions and concerns.

State:

Arnold Schwarzenegger takes on Donald Trump, hate groups

Sacramento Bee

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that “there’s blame on both sides” regarding last weekend’s violence in Charlottesville, Va. California’s former governor wants the president to know that “there are not two sides” to social unrest.

Arnold Schwarzenegger says bipartisanship shouldn’t be a dirty word. It should be the job.

Sacramento Bee

It’s hard to imagine the greatest country in the world without compromise. In fact, it’s impossible. Our foundational document, the Constitution, was an incredibly delicate balance between large states and small states, rural and urban citizens, industrialized and agricultural interests. The reason we have two houses of Congress is actually called “The Great Compromise.”

FPPC flips opinion on contribution limits to Josh Newman

Sacramento Bee
The state’s campaign finance watchdog voted Thursday to flip its longstanding opinion on contribution limits and allow candidates to give unlimited sums of money to help Democratic Sen. Josh Newman fight a recall election.

· State audit finds corrections officials are failing to ensure prisons evaluate and monitor inmates at risk for suicide Los Angeles Times

Showdown over state auditor’s access to records on probes of state judges

SFGate

An unprecedented legal standoff between the state auditor and the agency that disciplines unethical judges in California came to a head Thursday as lawyers for both sides delivered spirited arguments in a case that has pitted the public agencies against each other for nearly a year.

California violent crime ticked up again in 2016

Sacramento Bee

For the second year in a row, California saw an increase in violent crimes, according to new state figures, which also include the first detailed look at peace officers’ use of force.

California police killed 157 people last year — more than a third of them in L.A. County

A report released Thursday by state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra marks the first time California has publicly released statewide statistics on police use of force.

After Virginia violence, far right and white nationalists turn to a familiar target: California

Los Angeles Times

When far-right activist Kyle Chapman took to Facebook last week urging followers to attend upcoming rallies in the Bay Area, he was downright gleeful about taking the fight to the celebrated liberal bastion.

California state senator introduces measure to crack down on sexual harassment

Los Angeles Times

State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) announced Thursday she was introducing a measure to amend California’s Unruh Civil Right Act to expressly forbid sexual harassment between investors and entrepreneurs.

From lyrics to legislation: Common comes rapping on California’s Capitol

CALmatters

Inmates at the state prison in Lancaster got an unusual perk this spring: a private meeting with Gov. Jerry Brown’s top aide and a Grammy-award winning rapper. It was one stop in a larger effort that has recently brought Common—a musician who blends hip-hop beats with an activist message—close to key California decision-makers.

Fire:

Berryhill: Rural California’s seat at the table kills fire tax

Sierra Star

But it’s hard to get people who never leave the city to care about anything east of I-5, so when the recent cap-and-trade negotiations were taking place, I knew this was the only time they would listen.

Weather conditions helping to slow fire in Yosemite

Fresno Bee

The South Fork Fire, one mile east of Wawona in Yosemite National Park, grew slightly Wednesday as high humidity kept the fire within its western and southern containment lines. The fire, now covering 2,407 acres and only 7 percent contained, is spreading slowly northeast into the Yosemite Wilderness, federal fire officials said. It began Sunday.

ECONOMY / JOBS

Economy:

Online grocery shopping in Fresno: Instacart, Walmart, Vons, Whole Foods, Smart & Final, Petco

Fresno Bee
Valley shoppers can now go grocery shopping from their couches. Two new online grocery shopping services are launching in the Fresno area, letting shoppers get their groceries without ever setting foot in a store.

California has much wealth, but also nation’s highest poverty rate

Modesto Bee
With all the recent hoopla about California’s record-low unemployment rate and the heady prospect of its becoming No. 5 in global economic rankings, it is easy to lose sight of another salient fact: It is the nation’s most poverty-stricken state.

Calif Jobs Report : USDOL

BLS

July CA jobs report, payroll jobs up 82,600, as jobless rate ticks up to 4.8%.

Jobs:

With the state’s new gas tax approved, Caltrans is on a hiring spree as construction work ramps up

San Jose Mercury News

Since lawmakers approved SB 1, a gas tax and transportation funding bill, earlier this year, Caltrans has been ramping up its efforts to put shovels in the ground across the state. That means more workers — a whopping 1,100 more — in nearly every division, said Christina Hisamoto, a staff services manager for Caltrans. In the Bay Area, where Caltrans is headquartered, that also means more human resource workers and administrative employees, she said.

Mandatory public employee union orientation now on the books in California

OCRegister

National Employee Freedom Week, which runs from August 20th to the 26th this year, is a national effort to inform employees about the ability they have to opt-out of union membership. In the 5th year of its existence, the 2017 edition of National Employee Freedom Week is especially interesting as the public employee unions may be in for some serious upheaval and are nervous about it.

Legal cannabis to create regulatory jobs on state, local levels

ABC30
Three state organizations are now in charge of regulating marijuana in California. They will begin licensing businesses in January. The Bureau of Cannabis Control is taking the lead, and between now and the end of the year, it plans to hire another 80 employees. A spokesperson says part of their work will include incapacitating the black market for marijuana.

The demise of myRA raises the stakes for state retirement initiatives

Urban Institute
In late July, the US Treasury Department announced it was terminating the myRA program, the latest federal effort to boost retirement savings. The program, launched two years ago, enabled participants to contribute to a tax-preferred retirement account through automatic payroll deductions.

Few U.S. Workers Worry About Tech Making Their Job Obsolete

Gallup
Amid the steady stream of news about driverless cars, artificial intelligence and robots supplanting humans in the workplace, most employed U.S. adults are not worried that their jobs will become obsolete or unnecessary because of technology. U.S. adults are most concerned that their benefits will be reduced, though worry about that is not high either.

The Inland Empire: Second only to San Francisco in California job growth?

PolitiFact California

California’s workforce of 19 million is spread across distinct metro regions, from tech-heavy Silicon Valley to the agricultural powerhouses of Fresno and Bakersfield, to the movie studios of Los Angeles.

EDUCATION

K-12:

FUSD board leader paid $300,000 in libel suit

Fresno Bee

A year before he was elected to the Fresno Unified school board, Brooke Ashjian paid $300,000 to settle a defamation lawsuit after derogatory comments about a prominent Fresno family and others were traced to his computer.

Back to school: What’s inside your children’s school meals?

Bakersfield Now

The Bakersfield City School District welcomed back their students with an important message about nutrition and health.

Understanding transitional kindergarten: a quick guide

EdSource

Transitional kindergarten is an option for younger children, who are not old enough for kindergarten, to gain social and academic experience. The program, like kindergarten, isn’t mandatory but children must have their 5th birthday by a certain month to even qualify.

A summer rich in history for students who looked, listened and questions

EdSource

History is all around yet often invisible, with stories and sites waiting for the curious to discover them.

Myths and Facts About Vaccines for Children

Consumer Reports

Over the years, vaccinations that help protect children from infectious diseases such as measles and mumps have saved hundreds of thousands of lives in the U.S. and prevented millions of hospitalizations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Teacher Compensation

Legislative Analyst’s Office

Compare California teacher compensation over time by county and state with new interactive graphics on our Education page.

The Future of Teacher Quality in California Is in Doubt–and That Also Puts California’s Economic Outlook in Jeopardy

Hoover Institution

California could be headed for trouble. When states are ranked against one another by student performance on national tests, California falls in the bottom five to ten states, depending on the subject of the test. Of course, California has an unusually hard-to-educate population. For example, more than half of all students in public elementary and secondary schools are Hispanic, suggesting that poverty and language issues may be particularly important in California. Nonetheless, comparing just Hispanic students across the states, California falls in the bottom five of states. (For comparison, Hispanics in Texas–a state with much the same demographics as California–place in the top five states of the nation.)

School Of Public Opinion: K–12 Schools In The United States

Hoover Institution

With schools in session across the country, Hoover senior fellow Paul Peterson details this year’s survey of American educationby Education Next. Among the more notable results: teachers are wary of their colleagues’ performance; parents are increasingly dissatisfied with charter schools.

What Might Federal “Back-Door” Vouchers Mean for California, and What Are State Policymakers’ Options?

California Budget & Policy Center

These “back-door” vouchers, just like traditional vouchers, undermine K-12 public education by diverting public dollars to support private schools. The possibility of the federal government imposing voucher-like programs on states runs directly counter to longstanding California values and ideals, chief among them the principle that public dollars should be reserved for public schools.

Higher Ed:

More community college classes offered at high schools, with some hiccups

89.3 KPCC

Administrators at Torrance schools like the new partnership with El Camino Community College so much that they’ve added new college classes – including engineering design and digital electronics – at their high schools during the school day.

California Community Colleges Helping Address Nursing Shortage

CAFWD

Internationally-trained nurses face a difficult barrier to practice in California. The California Board of Registered Nursing requires that, in specific courses, both classroom instruction and clinical practice must take place concurrently. In some nursing schools overseas, they are offered in consecutive semesters, which is deemed a “deficiency” and makes the applicant ineligible to take the NCLEX-RN (National Council Licensure Examination), the national exam required to practice in the state.

California’s public universities struggle with rising college eligibility

EdSource

California in many ways is a victim of its own success in preparing ever larger numbers of students for college. That is one way to look at the recent flap over the revocation of admission offers to about 500 students at UC Irvine who had either not sustained their academic performance during their last semester in high school or had not submitted their final high school transcripts as required by university rules.

UC Admissions: What the Numbers Mean

Public Policy Institute of California
The University of California’s recently released admissions data shows that about 62% of all applicants were admitted for fall 2017. UC expects that less than half will enroll.

ENVIRONMENT/ ENERGY

Yosemite area fires wreak havoc on air quality

Visalia Times-Delta

The South Fork Fire burning in Yosemite National Park continues to grow and is now more than 2,200 acres. Air quality at the park has gone from moderate to unhealthy in just a matter of days. As two fires burn in portions of the park, officials are warning visitors of the dangers of breathing in the smoke-filled air.

This colorful frog’s survival is at risk in California’s streams. Here’s how the state could save it

Sacramento Bee

The amphibians used to be common in the foothill streams of mountain ranges across California, including the Sierra Nevada and Coast ranges. Now they’re gone from over half of their historical habitat in California, and scientists and wildlife advocates are worried about their survival.

HEALTH/HUMAN SERVICES

Audio: Covered California may let insurers recoup 2018 losses in future years

89.3 KPCC

Covered California is proposing that insurers who lose money in 2018 on the exchange 2018 “due to enrollment changes and certain federal laws and policies” would be allowed to make larger profits each of the following three years to recover their losses.

Sutter shifting Medi-Cal enrollees to community health centers

Sacramento Bee

In Sacramento and Placer counties, roughly 10,000 adult Medi-Cal enrollees with Anthem Blue Cross are learning this summer that Sutter’s primary-care doctors will no longer see them. Instead, those patients are being shifted to primary-care doctors at community health centers such as Sacramento’s WellSpace Health or Auburn’s Chapa-De Indian Health, said Dr. Ken Ashley, the medical director for primary care at Sutter Medical Group. He said the change in providers will allow the patients to access more services.

Fearing Trump changes, Covered California is 1st in U.S. to promise insurers help

Did Gavin Newsom get his facts right on universal health care?

PolitiFact California

Insurer competition in rural areas: A bipartisan challenge

Brookings Institute
Only 10% of physicians practice in rural America despite a quarter of the population living there

Myths and Facts About Vaccines for Children

Consumer Reports

Local outbreak of diarrhea illness reported. Here’s how to keep from getting it

Modesto Bee

Health officials are alerting the public about outbreaks of an intestinal parasite that gives people diarrhea for weeks. Since early July, San Joaquin County has confirmed 17 people sickened by the microscopic parasite, Cryptosporidiosis, or Crypto. More than 40 other residents have come down with the symptoms.

Hepatitis C Virus outbreak among millennials

Capitol Weekly

Millennials haven’t inherited the best batch of goods from baby boomers. They got a housing crisis, a shaky job market, and some enormous student loans. But until recently, viral hepatitis was the burden of boomers alone to bear. Now, millennials are also facing an outbreak of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV).

How do I get parental leave in California? It changes based on whether SB 63 becomes law

Orange County Register

Rules governing who is eligible for parental leave and pay are complex, depending on such factors as how many hours you work, whether you pay into the state disability fund, how long you have worked for your current employer, as well as how many workers your employer has and where they are located. But if you meet the criteria, here are your benefits:

IMMIGRATION

Why banning immigration consultants would backfire

Sacramento Bee

Sometimes bills written with the best of intentions backfire. Assembly Bill 638 has an admirable goal of reducing immigration fraud, but would make it harder for immigrants to get help with routine visa applications. This bill – set to go before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monday – would eliminate the jobs of immigration consultants, a low-cost resource for immigrants who need non-legal assistance.

The Economic Cost of Isolating Immigrants

Zócalo Public Square

Whether it’s crime, security or jobs—Trump has openly and repeatedly linked many of the supposed woes of the nation to immigrants, fanning the xenophobic flames that exist at some level in all societies. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the strong anti-immigrant rhetoric has already slowed the pace of immigration into the United States, whether legal or illegal. And now Trump is working with two senators to slow immigration even more. The RAISE Act (Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment) would cut by more than half the number of immigrants legally allowed to enter the nation annually if it ever became law.

LAND USE/HOUSING

Land Use:

In seconds, watch 32 years of sprawling growth of Fresno, Clovis

Fresno Bee
From 1984 to 2016, homes and business exploded across undeveloped land in Clovis and northeast Fresno. Over that time, the cities’ combined population more than doubled. Google Earth’s Timelapse feature compresses those dramatic changes into a few seconds.

Housing:

Fresno council approves ban on illegal homeless camping

Fresno Bee

It soon will be illegal for homeless people to camp in tents or lean-to shelters on public or private property across Fresno. A proposed ordinance by Fresno City Councilman Steve Brandau was approved Thursday by the City Council in a 4-1 vote. Brandau was joined in voting for the measure by Luis Chavez, Clint Olivier and Paul Caprioglio.

California Assembly Speaker: Housing spending this year is more important than water and parks

Los Angeles Times

With Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers debating billions in new spending for a variety of projects on the 2018 ballot, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) said low-income housing will be the highest priority.

California housing: One of these bills is not like the others

The San Diego Union-Tribune

The California Legislature returns to session Monday with the goal of passing legislation that will reduce the state’s extreme housing crisis, which devastates millions of low- and middle-income families and has spurred a surge in homelessness.

Three ways to address California’s housing crisis immediately

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Last month, we cut ribbons on Talmadge Gateway and Cypress Apartments — two affordable-housing projects that will provide a combined 122 new homes in San Diego for struggling seniors and people who have been chronically homeless. At Talmadge Gateway, we met Marvina and Michael — two local seniors who expressed profound relief to finally have roofs over their heads and the chance to lead a stable life after years of instability.

It’s years away, but 70-story downtown tower could change L.A. skyline and ‘relationship with vertical living’

Los Angeles Times

A skyscraper that would be the tallest residential building in California has been proposed for downtown Los Angeles as the neighborhood’s housing boom rolls on.

PUBLIC FINANCES

Community Voices: Fight to close state’s commercial property tax loophole

Bakersfield Californian

For my entire life, I have marched hand-in-hand with disadvantaged people everywhere.

Republicans worry tax reform could be victim of their worsening relationship with Trump

Washington Post

President Trump’s increasing alienation from fellow Republicans and the business community is further imperiling the party’s top priority for the remainder of the year: cutting taxes and simplifying the byzantine tax code. Congressional GOP leaders are hoping to recover from their failed effort to replace the Affordable Care Act and salvage their legislative agenda by unifying the party around tax reform, but Trump has spent recent weeks publicly antagonizing key lawmakers and fanning controversy with his response to last weekend’s racist violence in Charlottesville.

Opinion: A tax reform President Trump should like, and you should too

PBS NewsHour

Tax reform. Everyone seems to think it’s necessary. But few agree on exactly — or even approximately — how to do it. Reform what? The number of tax brackets? Specific deductions? If so, which? But for all the arguments, claim conservative authors Yevgeniy Feyman and Charles Blahous, economists largely agree on one reform: ditching the tax exemption for health insurance. Here’s why.

TRANSPORTATION

ACE may roll into Manteca by 2020

Manteca Bulletin
You may just be able to hop on an ACE train to San Jose from Downtown Manteca as early as 2020. At a Manteca Chamber of Commerce coffee Wednesday morning at the Manteca Transit Center, Altamont Corridor Express CEO Stacy Mortensen told the dozens who gathered that while a hard-and-fast deadline for the track extension to Ceres is set for 2023, local officials believe that they could reach the new Manteca site much sooner.

Stockton’s ‘radical shift in thinking’ creates greater bicycle safety

Stockton Record

The city’s latest plan to improve bicycle access isn’t just for hardcore athletes, health-conscious commuters or families who like to ride on summer evenings in their tree-lined middle-income neighborhoods.

Houston backs bullet train, inks deal to help progress

Houston Chronicle

The train will run from Houston to Dallas. Construction is expected to start late next year or early 2019, company officials said, and take between four and five years. The cost is expected to be at least $12 billion. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner praised the project, citing it among examples of his goal of reducing automobile dependency.

WATER

With a crucial vote nearing, Gov. Jerry Brown’s Detla tunnels project is struggling to win over some agricultural groups

The Fresno Bee

If you live in Los Angeles, the cost of building the Delta tunnels might raise your water bill by as little as $2 a month or less – no more than a latte, to quote one of the project’s main cheerleaders in Southern California. But if you’re a farmer on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, the increase could be hundreds of dollars per acre-foot of water. And you could be looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional expenses every year, for decades, for a resource that’s as indispensable to farming as soil itself.

Delta tunnels project needs water agencies to pay for it. Why some are hesitating

Sacramento Bee

Long-term commitment to California’s water resources is essential

Los Angeles Times

Throughout the history of the West, the old adage remains true: “water is worth fighting for.” I believe our national parks are also worth fighting for. They are cherished places collectively known as “America’s best idea.” To protect both water and National Parks and in response to increasing threats to the California desert’s national parks, national monuments and groundwater supplies, I recently introduced Assembly Bill 1000 — the California Desert Protection Act.

Lawmaker misleads in claims about Oroville dam crisis

PolitiFact California
Republican state Assemblyman Travis Allen recently claimed the Oroville Dam emergency in Northern California “was entirely avoidable.”

“Xtra”

Massage businesses face tough new regulations in Kern County under proposal at Tuesday meeting

bakersfield.com

Kern County supervisors will decide whether to dramatically increase regulation of the massage industry on Tuesday. The new rules would only bring Kern County’s regulations in line with those currently in place in the city of Bakersfield.

Mathews: Take me out to the California League

Sacramento Bee

Take me out to the ballgame? Sure, as long as you’re taking me to San Jose or Lake Elsinore. Those cities don’t have major league teams – that’s the point. In California, Major League Baseball is miserable.

They risked their lives for their country. Here’s what California could do for them.

Sacramento Bee

Most Americans have heard about the toll of traumatic brain injury on the military. It is painful to read of the nonstop migraines, sleepless nights, failing memory, uncontrollable rages, persistent and intense anxiety, broken families, lost jobs and suicides during and after service that go with the condition. Since 2001, more than 360,000 military service members have been diagnosed with TBI.

What’s blooming this fall? UC Cooperative Extension offering horticulture classes

bakersfield.com
Whether you’ve got a green thumb or you’re trying to cultivate one, the University of California Cooperative Extension has something for you. The office is offering two horticulture classes this fall with primary instructor is John Karlik, an adviser for the University of California Cooperative Extension.

Molly Week Next Week

Clovis Community College News

Random acts of kindness…

U.S. Military Service Academy Information Night

David Valadao

This informational event is recommended for all high school and middle school students who reside in California’s 21^stCongressional District (check residency) and are interested in attending a military academy. Students and their families will have an opportunity to meet firsthand with representatives from the U.S. Military Service Academies and their local Congressional Office.