Newsom calls out CA cities on homelessness

I’m CalMatters Capitol reporter Sameea Kamaland I’m in for Lynn right this moment.

From CalMatters homelessness reporter Marisa Kendall:

Whose fault is the California homelessness disaster?

Based on Gov. Gavin Newsom, cities and counties are accountable for failing to get folks off the road — regardless of all the cash he’s given them to take action.

That was the message the governor pushed Thursday as he signed a bundle of housing and homelessness payments at a San Francisco occasion with legislators and carpenters’ union members.

• Newsom: “There’s never been more support to address all of those concerns than in the last four or five years. So what gives? Time to do your job. Time to address the crisis of encampments on the streets in this state … I’m not going to fund the rhetoric of failure anymore.”

When requested by a reporter how the state will ensure that cities similar to San Francisco meet their housing objectives, Newsom stated it’s “not the state’s job to figure out how to do that.” As an alternative, he stated his workplace is targeted on imposing housing legal guidelines; it threatened the town of Norwalk with authorized motion earlier this week.

• Legal professional Basic Rob Bontaon the press convention: “No local government, no local jurisdiction, no local entity needs to do everything. But every jurisdiction, every local government needs to do something. They need to participate. They need to build housing in their jurisdiction.”

Talking at an inexpensive housing growth in San Francisco, Newsom additionally gave an replace on the $6.4 billion psychological well being and housing bond handed by voters in March. The state will use $2.2 billion to increase Homekey, which helps cities and counties flip accommodations and different buildings into homeless housing. The brand new program, dubbed Homekey+, will begin doling out funds in Could 2025 for housing for folks with psychological well being and/or substance use issues.

Housing payments: Newsom signed 32 housing-related payments in all, together with SB 1395, which can make it simpler for cities to erect “tiny homes” for homeless people; SB 450, which strengthens a 2021 legislation proscribing single-family zoning; and AB 1893, which can make clear the controversial “builders’ remedy” legislation.

It’s price noting that this batch broke a logjam on Newsom signing payments authored by state senators. He additionally signed three Senate payments to guard Californians from AI-generated, sexually specific content material. However even with these signings, Newsom nonetheless has 875 payments to determine on by his Sept. 30 deadline, in line with lobbyist Chris Micheli. CalMatters is monitoring what he decides on noteworthy ones.

You’re a California house owner who simply spent hundreds of {dollars} to guard your property from wildfires — and saved possibly $100 in your insurance coverage invoice.

May grants to low- and middle-income residents assist? That’s an thought California Insurance coverage Commissioner Ricardo Lara needs to deliver to the Legislature subsequent yr, he stated in dialog Thursday with CalMatters’ financial system reporter Levi Sumagaysay.

In the course of the hour-long CalMatters occasion in Sacramento, Lara mentioned his multi-pronged strategy to the insurance coverage disaster — with firms lowering protection, elevating premiums for residential and industrial prospects, or leaving the state altogether. A part of the plan contains dashing up the state’s evaluations of insurance coverage firms’ proposed price hikes — that are alleged to take 60 days, however usually take so long as 18 months, by which period charges may not replicate the chance anymore.

• Lara: “This was completely ignorant on my part as a new insurance commissioner. I’m like, ‘Okay, we’re reviewing these rates. We’re done, right?’ They’re like, ‘Oh no, there is a whole backlog.’”

One other important change Lara is pushing to make insurance coverage extra obtainable: For California to return out of the “dark ages” to affix different states in permitting insurance coverage firms to do “catastrophe modeling.” That may permit them to take projected losses under consideration – not simply historic data — utilizing information similar to frequency, severity, harm and loss from wildfires and different pure disasters. Insurers can begin utilizing the modeling to set charges subsequent yr.

Lara additionally needs to deal with issues with the FAIR Plan — a “last resort” insurance coverage plan required by state legislation that provides minimal protection for wildfires. His plan is to lift the quantity of protection. Run by a pool of insurers, the FAIR Plan has grown to 400,000 insurance policies.

“I’m so confident in my plan,” he stated. “I know it’s going to work.”

However client teams and Lara’s predecessors as insurance coverage commissioner have expressed issues that his plan favors insurers. Learn extra on what Lara needed to say to Levi.

Let’s get to some job and profession information:

• Internship grants: Greater than 300 Ok-12 colleges will cut up $450 million to arrange internships, enhance dual-enrollment at group schools and take different steps to attach college students to high-paying jobs in well being care, expertise and the humanities, the Division of Training plans to announce right this moment. However it’s been a rocky street: Delays and mishaps within the Golden State Pathways program have meant a complete grade stage missed the chance to take part, explains CalMatters’ training reporter Carolyn Jones. The Golden State Pathways program launched in 2022 as a part of California’s broader effort to enhance profession and technical training at excessive colleges and group schools and make profession coaching obtainable to each scholar. Learn extra on the grants in Carolyn’s story.

• Job coaching: And whereas most can agree profession training is an efficient factor, in some instances, streamlining is vital. Within the 25,000-person city of Reedley, for instance, there are 5 completely different public establishments that provide applications. Generally, they work collectively — however different occasions, they’re competing for a similar college studentsexplains CalMatters’ Group Faculty reporter Adam Echelman. That’s regardless of quite a few efforts to advertise collaboration. Newsom needs to unify these applications by creating a Grasp Plan for Profession Trainingwhich state companies are required to create by Oct. 1. Learn extra on the governor’s plans in Adam’s story.

• A profitable submit: California’s public worker pension fund had yr — and its head honcho is getting a beneficiant thanks consequently. Marcie Frost, the pension fund’s chief government, will earn greater than $1 million for the primary time since she joined the company in 2016. The CalPERS administrative board awarded her a $667,320 bonus — greater than triple what she bought final yr — on high of her base pay of $578,000, CalMatters’ Adam Ashton experiences.

California iPhone customers, now you can be part of these with Android gadgets to current your driver’s license and state IDs, Apple and Gov. Newsom introduced Thursday. California turned the fifth state to opt-in to Google Pockets identification final monthand is the seventh to get Apple Pockets IDs. Discover out the place you should utilize the digital IDs — and the place you may’t — from CalMatters’ expertise reporter Khari Johnson.