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California Lawmakers Move Toward New Renewable Energy Goals

05.31.2017
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By Guy Marzorati, KQED News Fix
Democrats in California’s Senate doubled down on the state’s commitment to reducing dependence on fossil fuels, painting their move in contrast to Donald Trump’s potential withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. The Senate on Wednesday voted to set a goal of getting all of the state’s power from renewable energy sources by the year 2045. The aspirational target in SB100 builds on the existing mandate that half of the electricity produced in the state come from clean sources by 2030. Read the complete story at KQED News Fix.  

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From Foreclosure to Eviction: One Family’s Struggle to Recover

05.30.2017
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By Zaidee Stavely, KQED News Fix
When Vanessa and Richard Bulnes got an eviction notice, it felt sadly ironic. The Bulneses were unable to pay the rent because their corporate landlord took three years to remediate high levels of lead in the backyard soil, which caused Vanessa to lose her business — a family home child care that she had run for more than 20 years. “There were nights where I would wake up and think, ‘We’re squatters.’ And we felt really bad about that because it was never our intention to not pay rent,” Vanessa said. “Because after you lose a house for not paying your mortgage, we knew that’s not the way to go. This was like a second chance.

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Your CBO Cheat Sheet: 5 Takeaways From GOP Health Bill

05.25.2017
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By Carrie Feibel, KQED News Fix/The California Report
An estimated 23 million additional Americans will become uninsured over the next decade if the current version of the Republican health care bill goes into effect, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis released Wednesday. This is only slightly lower than the 24 million predicted in March, before Republicans tweaked the bill to pull in critical votes from both moderate and hard-right Republicans. The bill passed the House on May 4. Read the complete story at KQED News Fix/The California Report.

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Understaffed S.F. 911 Dispatch Center to Get Computer Help, Additional Hires

05.24.2017
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By Ted Goldberg, KQED News Fix
San Francisco emergency officials, who have been scrambling to respond to an increasing number of calls to the city’s 911 dispatch center, plan to roll out new technology in the coming weeks that aims to improve ambulance response times. The center’s staffing problems have been known for some time, but they were highlighted during the massive power outage that took away electricity from around 90,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers on April 21. Read the complete story at KQED News Fix.

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Push to Limit Money Bail Gains Steam in California

05.23.2017
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By Marisa Lagos and Sukey Lewis, KQED News Fix/The California Report
Every year in California, nearly 1 million people are arrested and booked into jail. Their freedom before they go to trial often hinges on a century-old money bail system that critics say favors the rich: If you can pay, you’re free — and if you can’t, you’re stuck behind bars. Read the complete story at KQED/The California Report.

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Affordable Care Act Will Wipe Out Coverage Gains by Small Business Workers and Self-Employed

05.22.2017
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By Viji Sundaram, New America Media
Republicans’ efforts to repeal and replace portions of the Affordable Care Act threatens the health coverage of California’s self-employed, as well as workers in such small businesses as restaurants, small retailers and family farms.
A study out May 18 by the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education showed that more than 1 million small business employees and over half a million self-employed Californians benefited from the health insurance options provided by the Affordable Care Act. Read the complete story at New America Media.  

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California Advances Private Sector Retirement Plan Without Feds

05.18.2017
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By Guy Marzorati, KQED News Fix/The California Report
California officials vowed to move ahead with a retirement savings program for the state’s private sector workers, a day after losing the federal government’s support for the initiative. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon and State Treasurer John Chiang said Thursday that the state will still enact the Secure Choice program, authorized last year, that will create retirement accounts for nearly 6.8 million Californians. De Leon criticized opponents of the plan as representing the interests of large banks and brokerage firms.
Read the complete story at KQED News Fix/The California Report.

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For Local Governments, Cashing In on Cannabis Isn’t Going to Be Easy

05.17.2017
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By Ben Christopher, Justice/CALmatters 
At the office of Monterey County’s Treasurer-Tax Collector, gun-toting guards now stand sentry over the parking lot and entry door. A newly renovated front office now serves as a secure drop-off point for taxpayers carrying duffel bags full of cash (payments made by appointment only). A fleet of state-of-the-art currency counters stand ready to speedily tally unprecedented sums of paper bills. And the regularly scheduled armored truck pickups are now passing through at a quicker clip. Read the complete story at Justice/CALmatters. 

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Fearing Deportation, Parents Worry About Enrolling Undocumented Kids in Medi-Cal

05.16.2017
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By Ana Ibarra, KQED News Fix/California Healthline
Luz felt relieved and grateful when she learned that her 16-year-old son qualified for full coverage under Medi-Cal. Now, she worries that the information she provided to the government health program could put her family at risk of deportation. Luz’s son is one of nearly 190,000 children who have enrolled in Medi-Cal since California opened it to undocumented children last year. Luz, her husband and her son came to Merced, from Mexico without papers about 10 years ago. Luz asked that the family’s last name not be used, for fear of being identified by federal immigration authorities.

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Report: 10,000 Immigrant Parents of U.S. Citizens Detained per Year in California

05.15.2017
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By Julie Small and Lisa Pickoff-White, KQED News Fix/The California Report
Many of the 65,000 immigrants detained on average in California every year are parents of U.S. citizens, according to a new report from an international human rights advocacy organization. California courts and lockups are an integral part of immigration detention and deportation in the United States. The Golden State has the largest immigration court workload in the country. And the only other state to hold more detainees on any given day is Texas, according to data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Read the complete story at KQED News Fix/The California Report.