California ‘dealmaker’ to retire + Republicans hit Newsom on homelessness + Paying jurors more
Good morning, and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
CHANGE AT THE BUILDING TRADES
via Jeong Park ...
Robbie Hunter is retiring after nearly nine years as the president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, which represents nearly 500,000 construction workers.
The union announced Hunter’s retirement in a tweet Wednesday, praising him for “always standing for and with the hardworking members of the building trades and their families.”
Hunter, who had also worked as a union leader in Southern California, has widely been considered as one of the most powerful labor officials in the state. His union has shaped state policies on topics ranging from gig economy to environment and the state’s high-speed rail project.
“As evidenced by the trades’ escalating density, Robbie, one of organized labor’s most skilled dealmakers, represented the trades nearly half million members with unmatched dedication. He never shied away from a righteous fight or a worker in need in his very long career,” said Tom Baca, the union’s financial secretary, in a written statement.
Hunter’s union’s opposition to the state’s proposal to ban fracking has irked environmentalists and some lawmakers who believe the restriction is critical to address climate change.
Hunter also has pushed lawmakers to require affordable housing developers to hire skilled construction workers, an approach that the builders say can drive up the cost of projects and make them less feasible.
Hunter defended the push in his recent interview with CalMatters.
“You cannot address poverty and housing by driving construction workers and our families into poverty,” Hunter told CalMatters. “It just doesn’t work.”
REPUBLICANS VISIT SACRAMENTO TO HIGHLIGHT HOMELESS PLANS
Via Lara Korte...
Two Republican recall candidates launched plans to fix California’s homelessness problem this week, an issue they say Gov. Gavin Newsom has fallen woefully behind on.
John Cox will roll into Sacramento on Thursday with his eight-foot tall ball of trash in tow to tout his plan before heading to Redding in the afternoon.
Of all the complaints Republicans have about Democratic leadership in California, homelessness is perhaps one of the biggest. A pervasive and nuanced problem, the state is home to more than 161,000 unhoused people, representing 28% of all homeless Americans, according to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.
“We’re going to take away all the excuses,” said former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who debuted his plan under a highway overpass in north Sacramento on Tuesday, surrounded by empty boxes, trash bags and other refuse from nearby encampments.
Faulconer’s “Streets to Shelter” plan would create a statewide network of shelters that homeless people would be obliged to use. It would also direct state agencies to clean up encampments on their public lands.
Businessman John Cox says his “beastly” plan for homelessness focuses on requiring treatment for those suffering with addiction or mental health problems before getting them into housing.
Follow our @CapitolAlert account today for coverage of Cox’s visit and more on Republicans’ homelessness strategies.
BETTER PAID JURORS IN SF
What’s better than $15 a day? How about $100 a day?
Low- and moderate-income San Francisco residents who serve on juries in that city would receive greater compensation for their service, as part of a pilot program that’s part of AB 1452, authored by Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco.
Under California law, employers are required to provide employees with time off to serve jury duty, but they are not required to compensate them for that time. If an employer doesn’t cover their salary, jurors earn nothing on the first day of service and just $15 per day after that.
AB 1452, which is co-sponsored by San Francisco Treasurer José Cisneros, Public Defender Mano Raju, and District Attorney Chesa Boudin, would be the first of its kind.
“Economic hardship shouldn’t deter people from serving on juries. On top of lost wages, the $15 per day that jurors are paid barely covers their transportation and meal expenses,” TIng said in a statement. “Higher compensation for jury duty will help ensure that our jury pools are more reflective of the communities they are serving. This legislation helps put us on a path to more diverse and inclusive juries.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Senator Skinner took on the NCAA and won. Well done.”
- Political consultant Matt Rexroad, discussing the NCAA’s decision to allow student athletes to profit from their likeness via Twitter.
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Introducing ‘La Abeja,’ our weekly Latino issues newsletter. Through La Abeja, we will delve into deep topics like the COVID-19 pandemic’s ongoing impacts on Latino Californians, the Latino representation of your local leaders and why your abuela is not likely to have heard the term “Latinx” but your Gen Z primos have. Sign up here. via Kim Bojórquez.
Rep. David Valadao voted Wednesday against creating a special Democratic-controlled committee to investigate the January 6 Capitol insurrection — after supporting an independent commission last month, via David Lightman.
PG&E Corp. is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to try to keep California from catching fire — and wants its customers to pay for it, via Dale Kasler.
This story was originally published July 1, 2021 at 4:55 AM.