Motor Voter audit + Ann O’Leary speaks + Fighting Trump’s ‘anti-student agenda’
Happy Wednesday! I’ve had “rain, rain go away,” in my head all week. We begin today with some reporting from Bryan Anderson on “another day” in the DMV/Motor Voter saga.
Anderson writes...
Ann O’Leary, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s chief of staff, is scheduled to talk with Public Policy Institute of California’s president and CEO Mark Baldassare today. The “wide-ranging conversation” is scheduled to cover the state’s greatest issues, both current and future.
You can register to watch the event from 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. through the PPIC website.
A group of seven Assembly members are introducing a bundle of bills this morning that aim to “curb predatory marketing schemes that saddle students with debt and worthless degrees, and bring increased oversight to the for-profit college industry. “ Several of the measures restore former President Barack Obama-era student protections that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and President Donald Trump have since rolled back.
DeVos eliminated many regulations against the for-profit college industry last year, much to the dismay of critics of the business-run institutions, which enroll 2.3 million students per year. For-profit colleges often face criticism for utilizing greedy, borderline fraudulent tactics that deeply affect the financial well being of and employment prospects for students.
“If it’s the right fit for the student, then it’s the right education,” DeVos said last summer, noted by the Washington Post.
Assemblyman David Chiu, a San Francisco Democrat, is introducing a bill to limit the ability of “bad deals” by for-profit colleges that force students to incur student debt incomparable to graduate salaries. Assemblyman Jose Medina, D-Riverside, is also championing a bill that would allow tuition reimbursement for students enrolled in a school that ends up closing, and Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda, is also focusing on greater inspection of how online colleges that recruit California students into their distance-education programs.
Assembly members and Democrats Marc Berman from Palo Alto, Evan Low of Campbell and Stockton’s Susan Talamantes Eggman, have bills that expose how for-profit schools evade oversight and take advantage of legal loopholes to make money at their students’ expense. Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, is leading the initiative for California to “better protect students by prohibiting colleges from paying admissions representatives and marketers in ways that reward deception and are not in the best interests of students.”
The group of lawmakers will host a press conference today at 10 a.m. in Room 317 at the California State Capitol.
Now if only the package of bills could retroactively pay off my student loan debt...that’d be great.
STRAIGHT-A STUDENTS
Interested in knowing how your lawmaker scored on the California Environmental Scorecard? The California League of Conservation Voters released its annual report yesterday, and you can view it here.
Star students: Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, and Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, both scored 100 percent, and former Gov. Jerry Brown earned an 80 percent grade.
“We need bolder action than ever before to transform our economy and challenge what is possible. With legislative leaders in both houses – and a majority of state Senators – earning 100 percent scores, the Newsom Administration and legislature have a unique opportunity to meet the unprecedented moment our world is facing with 12 short years to act,” said Mary Creasman, chief executive officer of CLCV.
The scorecard offers useful information regarding individual voting patterns, policies that passed last year and what some of the state’s greatest environmental issues are.
CROSS-COLLABORATION
Chief Justice of California Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye will, metaphorically speaking, gavel in the Legislative-Judicial Summit today. The event will offer an opportunity for some of the state’s most powerful lawmakers and judicial leaders to discuss civic and policy challenges facing their offices, and will create the “open exchange of ideas between the two branches of government.”
Big names: In addition to Cantil-Sakauye, presenters at the summit include Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, University of California, Berkeley, School Law, Dean Kevin Johnson, University of California, Davis, School of Law, Judge Consuelo María Callahan, Judge, United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit, and Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar, California Supreme Court, and Justice Ming Chin, California Supreme Court.
TWEET OF THE DAY
CA State Auditor (@CaStateAuditor) — “Despite reports of serious issues at the detention facilities, the three cities that use private operators to house detainees pursuant to ICE contracts have provided little to no oversight.”
MUST-READ: 22-hour confinement, no bathrooms: Immigrants face harsh conditions in California ICE facilities, study says by yours truly, Hannah Wiley