Newsom appoints transgender judge + Do nursing homes need oversight? + Newsom hypes job growth
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
NEWSOM APPOINTS TRANSGENDER JUDGE
California has its first appointed openly transgender judge.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced that he is appointing Andi Mudryk, a Democrat, to serve on the bench of the Sacramento County Superior Court.
Mudryk, 58, previously served as chief deputy director at the California Department of Rehabilitation, where she served as chief counsel from 2018 to 2020.
Prior to that, she worked at Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County and served as executive director of Disability Rights Advocates.
She earned her law degree from George Washington University Law School.
Mudryk is also a person of disability, having been diagnosed with brittle bone disease.
She replaces retiring Judge Benjamin Davidian.
Though Mudryk is the first appointed transgender judge, she is not the first openly transgender judge to serve on the bench in California. That distinction goes to Victoria Kolakowski, who was elected to serve as a judge in Alameda County Superior Court in 2010.
GROUPS PROPOSE QUALITY STANDARDS BOARD FOR SKILLED NURSING FACILITIES
SEIU Local 2015, which represents more than 400,000 nursing home workers and home care providers, has released a proposal to create a “Quality Standards Board” to oversee California’s nursing home industry.
The board would establish a number of standards for the nursing home industry, according to a statement from the union, including:
Establishing an industry-wide minimum wage standard for all nursing home staff
Implementing safe staffing level requirements at nursing homes
Strengthening benefits for caregivers, including access to healthcare and paid sick leave
Enforcing certain training requirements for nursing home workers
“The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated a pre-existing crisis in California’s nursing home industry, with essential caregivers — mostly women, mostly women of color — leaving at alarming rates due to low wages and the dangerous workplace conditions laid bare over the last two years. At the same time, corporate nursing home lobbyists are in Sacramento asking for higher reimbursement rates to make even more money off the backs of our essential caregivers,” said April Verrett, president of SEIU Local 2015, in a statement. “In order to truly transform the nursing home industry for the better, we need to implement changes that make jobs in the long-term care industry more attractive, safer, and sustainable.”
According to a recent poll commissioned by the union, half of those nursing home workers surveyed said that they are likely to leave their current position within the next year.
NEWSOM TOUTS CALIFORNIA JOB GROWTH
Newsom has been publicly bullish on California’s recovery in the face of a COVID-19 pandemic.
On Friday, he released a statement touting the latest jobs report, showing that California accounted for a little over a fifth of the nation’s jobs in Februrary, while the state decreased its employment rate.
“These latest numbers show that California is continuing to drive our nation’s job growth,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re doing it by promoting more pathways to opportunity and embracing the diversity, creativity, innovation, and determination that breeds success — building a California for all.”
California added 138,100 new jobs in February, more than any other state and 60,300 more than the next closest state (Texas), according to Newsom’s office.
The state has now regained more than 87% of the 2.7 million non-farm jobs lost during March and April of 2020 due to the pandemic.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I hear a fat lady singing in the distance...”
- Democratic strategist Steven Maviglio, reacting to this story about SEIU Local 1000 President Richard Louis Brown, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
The president of California’s largest state employee union likely won’t be able to exercise leadership powers for at least several more weeks after an appearance in Sacramento County Superior Court Friday morning, via Wes Venteicher.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta is threatening legal action against another California city that the state says is moving too slowly to approve badly needed housing, via Lindsey Holden.
California leaders all agree that residents need some kind of relief from inflation and soaring gasoline prices — but who should qualify? Drivers? Those in lower income brackets? All taxpayers? At least three plans are now on the table to provide some kind of rebate to Californians coping with expensive fuel costs. But they differ on who would actually get the money, via Lindsey Holden.