Another AB 5 showdown + Why can’t Newsom fill jobs fast enough in Housing? + Working homeless
Good morning! It’s Thursday. You can sleep next week after Election Night.
AB 5 SHOWDOWN
Prepare for new drama today surrounding AB 5, the state law that compels businesses to provide employment benefits to more workers instead of classifying them as independent contractors.
Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, has introduced a bill, AB 1928, that would suspend AB 5.
“This should be acceptable to everyone,” Kiley said in a statement. “While some of us disagree on the best remedy for AB 5, all of us agree the status quo is unacceptable and changes are needed. AB 1928 would simply put AB 5 on hold while we consider what those changes should be.”
Today, Kiley plans to call for a floor vote for his bill, in an attempt to bypass the usual committee route.
This would require that the Democrat-controlled Assembly vote to do so. That seems unlikely. The measure is among at least two dozen different bills lawmakers are considering to adjust AB 5, ranging from adding exemptions for certain professions to offering tax breaks to help people comply with it.
One person who likely won’t support the proposal? AB 5’s author, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, who took to Twitter to post a flowchart on how bills move through the Legislature, “for media and others who don’t seem to understand the process. There actually is a process.”
HOUSING VACANCIES
Via Sophia Bollag and Wes Venteicher...
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ambitious plans to build houses and reduce homelessness in California depend on a state department that is understaffed, lacking permanent leaders and struggling to adjust to change, according to documents and interviews.
The Department of Housing and Community Development, which administers most of the state money for housing, has one of the highest vacancy rates among large state departments, with about 21 percent of its positions unfilled, according to figures provided by the department and the State Controller’s Office.
Voters in the last two years have approved at least $6 billion in new money for affordable housing in the state. That money, plus more in federal grants and additional state funding, has to pass through the funnel of the housing department, which had 170 vacancies and 672 employees this month, according to Deputy Director of Administration Russell Fong.
The director’s job is vacant, as is a deputy director position overseeing the grants and loans. Officials are serving in temporary roles at both jobs. In the offices processing the money, 84 jobs are unfilled, according to Fong.
“It’s a struggle,” Fong said. “If we don’t fill these positions, there will be big backlogs. We’ve got to ramp up quickly.”
You can read more from Bollag and Venteicher here.
It’s a subscriber-only story. So, if you need one, here’s a deal on a digital subscription to The Sacramento Bee, www.sacbee.com/stateworkeraccess.
HOMELESSNESS STUDY
A new study from the California Policy Lab at UCLA reveals that nearly three-quarters of people who experienced homelessness in Los Angeles had some work history in California, with more than a third having worked within two years of becoming homeless.
However, just a fifth of the sample were working within the year that they became homeless, and they had an average annual wage of just $9,970, 16 percent of the area median income for the Los Angeles area, according to the study.
“There’s often an assumption that people experiencing homelessness are not working,” said report co-author Till von Wachter in a statement. “While it’s true that some individuals in our study had not worked in a long time, a substantial number – close to half – were working within four years before entering homelessness. These recent workers had a higher likelihood of returning to work after receiving services and their average wages were also higher. The results from our study on who is most likely to work after enrolling for homeless services can be used to tailor workforce programs to encourage employment and raise earnings of homeless service clients.”
For the report, the research team looked at enrollment data for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority from 2010 to 2018, as well as state employment records at California Employment Development Department from 1995 to 2018. The team had a sample size of 136,726 people.
BLOOMBERG’S CAMPAIGN IS COMING TO TOWN
Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg’s campaign is coming to Sacramento, though the candidate himself won’t be here.
The campaign is hosting a lunch reception and campaign briefing at Mulvaney’s this Friday at 11:30 a.m.
The event will be hosted by Mark Friedman and Marjorie Solomon, and will include the chance to hear from campaign rep Diana Taylor and “special guests.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Who doesn’t like stepping over dirty needles on their morning walk around the lake? Still waiting for the State to step in and end this insanity!”
- Assemblyman James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
PG&E Corp. and lawyers for wildfire victims Wednesday urged a bankruptcy judge Wednesday to reject FEMA’s demand for a $3.9 billion reimbursement from the troubled utility, saying the government’s claim could undermine a carefully crafted plan to compensate victims and exit bankruptcy, via Dale Kasler.
A California Democrat trying to eradicate invasive swamp rats from his state highly recommends using an animal carcass to get action in a typically deadlocked Congress, via Kate Irby.
Devin Nunes, Johnny Depp inspire Virginia proposals to crack down on harassing lawsuits, via Kate Irby
Thomas Carl “Tommy” Coy was born Jan. 14, 1947, in San Joaquin County and died at 2½ in Placer County on July 12, 1949, according to the online database Find A Grave. Then how has Thomas Carl Coy been living for decades in a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on a quiet cul de sac in Orangevale, via Sam Stanton.
This story was originally published February 27, 2020 at 4:55 AM.