California officers and lawmakers, together with Gov. Gavin Newsom, typically make daring proclamations that promise to make residents’ lives simpler. However for 2 current state initiatives, CalMatters reporters discovered that to this point, affected Californians are nonetheless ready for outcomes:
Quick meals council: Gov. Newsom signed a legislation in 2023 that raised the minimal wage for quick meals staff to $20 and created a first-in-the-nation council that may set work guidelines for an business that employs greater than a half-million Californians.
The employees acquired the increase, and that’s a giant win for them. However since its first convening final March, the nine-member council — comprised of enterprise homeowners, staff and union representatives — hasn’t performed a lotstudies CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang.
Up to now, the council determined to think about a cost-of-living adjustment to the business minimal wage, and it plans to debate potential further wage hike necessities at its subsequent, as-yet unscheduled, assembly. However regardless of some marathon conferences that included hours of feedback from staff, restaurant homeowners and their respective allies, most conferences usually centered on what the council ought to talk about.
Nick Hardeman, the meals council’s chairperson, mentioned the work is much like beginning a brand new division from scratch, and the tempo to this point is to be anticipated.
- Hardeman: “It is hard to come to decisions. And there’s a lot of people who are coming from two completely different sets of life experiences when we’re talking about issues, and you see that play out in every single meeting.”
Insulin: With greater than 3.5 million Californians dwelling with diabetes, Gov. Newsom pledged in 2023 that California would promote its personal insulin — a life-saving drug that helps sufferers handle the illness — for $30 a vial beneath a “2024 delivery” timeline.
However as CalMatters’ Kristen Hwang explains, the governor’s plan to provide an affordable, generic insulin is years behind his schedule.
Throughout a current Senate oversight listening toNewsom administration representatives mentioned they don’t have a timeline for when the insulin could be accessible on the market. Elizabeth Landsberg, the director of the state’s Division of Well being Entry and Data, which oversees the insulin initiative, mentioned whereas the tempo has been slower than the state anticipated, it’s “not outside of industry norms.”
