Pelosi blasts ‘extreme MAGA judge’ + Rally to make prison phone calls free

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

PELOSI BLASTS ‘EXTREME MAGA JUDGE’ OVER RULING

After a federal judge in Texas on Wednesday ruled that it is unconstitutional to require employers to cover the cost of HIV-prevention drugs for workers, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, blasted “the extreme MAGA judge’s assault on life-saving PrEP medication and ACA preventive services.”

U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor, the same George W. Bush-appointed judge who in 2018 ruled that the Affordable Care Act was invalid, said the requirement violated the religious beliefs of the employer, Braidwood Management of Katy, Texas.

“Defendants do not show a compelling interest in forcing private, religious corporations to cover PrEP drugs with no cost-sharing and no religious exemptions,” O’Connor wrote in his ruling.

In a statement, Pelosi said: “Today, a radical Republican-appointed federal judge ruled that employers can deny coverage for PrEP: A drug proven to save lives from HIV/AIDS and a key strategy for ending the epidemic. This disturbing decision amounts to open homophobia: Unleashing unthinkable suffering and death specifically among the LGBTQ community.”

Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, also voiced outrage over the decision.

“Apparently, people’s religious freedom now includes the right to have other people contract HIV. This ruling is outrageous but not surprising given the emerging radical legal doctrine that someone’s ‘religious freedom’ allows them to harm other people,” Wiener wrote on Twitter.

RALLY PLANNED TO PRESSURE NEWSOM TO END FOR-PAY PRISON PHONE CALLS

It’s estimated that prison and juvenile hall phone calls cost California families $68.2 million a year, as a handful of corporations charge inmates and their families high rates for telecommunications. Soon, that number may go down to $0.

Sen. Josh Becker, D-Peninsula, is set to join San Francisco Assistant Sheriff Tanzanika Carter and community activists Thursday to rally for SB 1008, which makes those phone calls free.

The bill is currently on Gov. Gavin Newsom’ s desk, and the governor has until the end of September to sign or veto it.

“The cost of phone calls for incarcerated people is a significant burden on their financial well-being and mental health and that of their families,” according to a statement from Becker’s office. “With the breadwinner gone, one in three families fall into debt trying to remain connected with a loved one, and 87% of this burden falls on women – particularly women of color.”

The rally, outside the San Francisco County Jail in San Bruno, is set to begin at 10 a.m., and will also feature San Mateo County Sheriff-Elect Christina Corpus, Paul Bocanegra of the group ReEvolution, as well as parents, children and partners of incarcerated people.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Love when the governor has a press conference w/out notifying the press corps.”

- CalMatters reporter Emily Hoeven, via Twitter.

Best of The Bee:

• Kaiser Permanente reached out to striking mental health clinicians to request bargaining sessions on Thursday and Friday, saying the company remains “committed to reaching a fair and equitable agreement that’s good for our therapists and our patients,” via Cathie Anderson.

• The emergency messages flashed across cell phones at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday with a jump-out-of-your seat alarm telling Californians this was serious stuff. Extreme triple-digit heat had pushed the state’s energy grid to its limits and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services issued an all-points emergency alert telling residents in two-dozen California counties to shut down and save power or face rolling blackouts. It worked, via Darrell Smith.

• Why are you getting virtually no interest on your savings? After all, mortgage interest rates are nearly twice as high as they were at the start of the year, thanks largely to the Federal Reserve’s decisions this year to increase its key rates. Yet the interest you’re getting on your CDs and other accounts could barely be more than one-fourth of 1%. What’s going on here? Via David Lightman and Hanh Truong.