California Legislature rushes to spring recess

Thursday marked the final day for the Legislature before its starts a week-long spring break. So lawmakers were busy proposing and hearing some bills on contentious issues with deadlines coming up in late April and early May for them to advance.

Before leaving Sacramento, legislators also approved two pressing measures and sent them to Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

One is a bill to increase the state’s tax on managed care health plans. As part of a strategy to increase tax revenue and reduce the state budget deficit, the state can increase the Managed Care Organization tax on Medi-Cal insurance plans and commercial plans and use that money to request matching federal dollars. The tax contributes about $1.5 billion in general fund revenue a year, according to the California Budget & Policy Center.

Another bill heading to Newsom’s desk extends the state deadline for college financial aid applications to May 2. The measure is in response to a glitch that prevents students with parents without Social Security numbers from applying.

Lawmakers also took on affordable housing. CalMatters housing reporter Ben Christopher writes that Attorney General Rob Bonta and San Francisco Sen. Scott Wiener, both Democrats, rolled out a new bill Wednesday that would put the financial squeeze on cities found by a court to have violated state housing law.

Supporters might call it the “Make NIMBYs Pay” Act.

Sponsored by Bonta’s office and introduced by Wiener, the bill would require courts to slap scofflaw cities with a minimum fine of $10,000 per month. The cities would begin racking up legal debt starting on the day they stop following the law. 

Currently courts can only start tacking on monetary penalties after giving cities at least 60 days to come into compliance.

• Wiener, on social media: “Cities thus have no incentive to avoid a lawsuit by following the law. Worst case, they get sued, lose & comply. SB 1037 creates actual incentives to comply with the law.”

Money collected under the bill would go toward “the development of affordable housing located in the affected jurisdiction,” the bill reads.

Since becoming the state’s top prosecutor in 2021, Bonta has enthusiastically assumed the role of California’s housing cop, suing the cities of Coronado and San Bernardino for failing to plan for enough new housing as required by a newly turbocharged state law. His office has also sued the cities of Elk Grove (for rejecting an apartment complex for the unhoused), La Cañada Flintridge (for refusing to streamline a mixed-income project) and Huntington Beach (for refusing to permit new duplexes and accessory dwelling units).

If the bill becomes law, it would only apply to violations made after Jan. 1, 2025.

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal: 

Gov. Newsom said late Thursday that he supports President Joe Biden’s call for a ceasefire in Gaza, citing the “ongoing and horrific loss of innocent civilian life.”

• Newsom, in an “open letter” addressed to California’s Muslim, Palestinian American, and Arab American communities: “I support President Biden’s call for an immediate ceasefire as part of a deal to secure desperately needed relief for Gazan civilians and the release of hostages. I also unequivocally denounce Hamas’s terrorist attack against Israel. It is time to work in earnest toward an enduring peace that will furnish the lasting security, autonomy, and freedom that the Palestinians and the Israeli people both deserve.”

Newsom’s statement came one day before the U.S. asked the U.N. Security Council to back a ceasefire resolution, though Russia and China vetoed it. And it follows other leaders shifting to more forceful calls for Israel to change its conduct of the war. 

Following his State of the Union address on March 7, when he announced a new effort to bring in humanitarian aid by sea, Biden called for a six-week ceasefire and a hostage-prisoner exchange. And in a call with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week, the president expressed concerns about the civilian death toll and Israel’s blockade of aid delivery, according to a White House summary. 

But in California, views have been more mixed. 

More than 60% of likely voters in California support an immediate ceasefire in a poll released last month by the Public Policy Institute of California. But they’re more divided on whether to increase, decrease or maintain military aid to Israel and humanitarian aid to Palestinians. 

The state’s Jewish Democrats have been split over calls for a ceasefire; Newsom’s move puts him at odds with those who have opposed the idea and framed the issue as Israeli having a right to defend itself. U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, who has advanced to the November election for U.S. Senate, had rejected calls for an immediate ceasefire, but said earlier this month that he would support one contingent on Hamas releasing hostages it kidnapped from Israel, adding that “the obstacle to getting that temporary ceasefire is Hamas.”

Assembly Republicans have called for a resolution condemning Hamas. And in response to Newsom’s letter, Jim Stanley, Assembly GOP leader James Gallagher’s spokesperson, accused the governor treating Israeli hostages as “an afterthought.” 

Newsom’s statement also came after months of criticism by pro-ceasefire supporters that he wasn’t even-handed in his stance on the Gaza war. 

After the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by the militant group Hamas, in which 1,200 were killed and at least 200 taken hostage, Newsom added a stop in Israel on the way to a climate change tour of China. While in Israel, he met with government officials and visited the parents of a Californian being held hostage. The governor did not go to Gaza due to security issues, and his pledge of medical and humanitarian aid for Palestinians wasn’t fulfilled until weeks after similar aid was delivered to Israel.

Officials from California chapters of the Council on American Islamic Relations and other groups have been pushing the governor to call for a ceasefire for months — including at a meeting in December involving community leaders and organizers from around the state. 

Read more about what led to Newsom’s letter.

For the record: This item has been revised to clarify the latest position of U.S. Rep Adam Schiff.

Long-awaited indoor heat protections for California workers were about to be put off, again. The reason: The state corrections department raised last-minute concerns about the cost of compliance, even though the state workplace safety agency has been working on the proposal for years.

But on Thursday, the workplace safety board rebelled and approved the rules anyway, CalMatters Capitol reporter Jeanne Kuang explains. It’s unclear when the rules could actually take effect, but board members say that by pushing forward, they hope to force Newsom’s administration to quickly resolve the issue. 

The state has just eight days to get all the key stakeholders, including the state’s Department of Finance, to sign off on the proposed rule for it to take effect this summer. The mandate would require employers to either cool down workplaces when indoor temperatures reach 87 degrees or lower the risk of workers getting sick from heat illnesses.

Wednesday night, the finance department rescinded its required approval, saying recent cost estimates from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement the rule would be in the billions of dollars. 

It’s unclear how the corrections department arrived at the number, and why it sent its estimate so late. Last year, the safety board estimated it would only cost the corrections department less than $1 million in the rule’s first year and less than $500,000 annually after that. 

The finance department’s move blindsided board members and outraged labor groups. While labor leaders thanked the board for voting, summer is only a few months away.

• Megan Ortiz, executive director of a southern California nonprofit, who visited a day laborers’ center in Van Nuys this week, to the board: “What I heard from the workers was, ‘Ya viene el calor.’ Here comes the heat.”

For more on what happened at the meeting, read Jeanne’s story.

With Thursday’s release of new guidelines for state agencies on how to obtain, use and train generative artificial intelligence tools, California’s “measured approach” (as Gov. Newsom put it last September) to navigate this emerging technology is moving forward.

As CalMatters tech reporter Khari Johnson explains, generative AI uses massive datasets to train itself and produce content including text and images. The latest guidelines are part of Newsom’s executive order, and they detail “best practices” for state agencies:

• Designate an employee to monitor generative AI tools and assess their risks;
• Report use of generative AI and submit a review to the California Department of Technology before signing any contracts;
• Train executives, technical experts and workers on best practices of AI.

Calls for government agencies to set AI standards continue to grow, along with fears about the technology’s impact on jobs, elections and daily life. Last week, a coalition of 400 employees at local government agencies penned an open letter urging policymakers and industry leaders to consider the risks AI poses around “racial discrimination, violations of privacy, and threats to safety.”

Five pilot projects using generative AI are already underway in state agencies, including by the state’s tax department to advise call center agents, by Caltrans to reduce traffic accidents and by the Health and Human Services Agency to help with health care facility inspections.

For more on California’s AI guidelines, read Khari’s story.

In other tech news: Bonta joined the U.S. Department of Justice and 15 other attorneys general in suing California-based Apple for antitrust violations in the smartphone market. They say Apple’s monopoly is raising costs for consumers, unfairly keeping out competitors and stifling innovation. 

• Bonta, in a statement: “California’s economy thrives on entrepreneurship, serving as a driving force behind its innovation and growth. Consumers, innovation, and the competitive process — not Apple alone — should decide what options consumers should have.”

Apple denies the allegations and says it will vigorously contest the lawsuit.