Web Version [link removed] | Update Preferences [link removed] CBRT in the News New Brief: Tearing Down Drug 'Rebate Walls' Would Save Patients, Improve Health Care Outcomes

Tearing down drug "rebate walls" that increase patient costs and block access to cheaper and often more effective medications would increase competition, lower out-of-pocket costs, and improve health outcomes, finds a new brief released today by the Center for Medical Economics and Innovation at the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute.

"America's patients are harmed because they do not benefit from large, fast-growing rebates when purchasing their medicines," writes the brief's author, Dr. Wayne Winegarden, director of PRI's Center for Medical Economics and Innovation. "When rebate walls block competition, they impose excessive costs on patients, block access to medications that could be more or equally effective at lower costs and threaten patient health."

"The COVID-19 vaccine should be a lesson for all of us. Anything that creates a barrier to the marketplace does not help our healthcare system. Knocking down rebate walls will help ensure patients and providers have access to medicines that are the best at treating patients," said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable, which has encouraged state leaders to investigate the practice of rebate walls.

Read More [[link removed]] Why The California Shutdown Is Divided By Regions Not Counties

Governor Gavin Newsom had dire words as he rolled out his new stay-at-home order Thursday.

"Lives will be lost unless we do more than we've ever done,” said Newsom from his home where he is in quarantine.

The governor enforced a stay at home order back in March, but this time, you may have noticed the metrics controlling whether San Diego falls into a shutdown or gets out are now based on a regional calculation, not a county one.

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"None of us think for a second that it's going to be three weeks," said Robert Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable. "When we first got the order we, frankly, were very concerned."

Lapsley said the shutdown should allow all businesses to stay open at reduced capacity, not just retailers.

Read More [[link removed]] Ports Fared Better Than Anticipated In 2020 Amid Pandemic

The nation’s ports didn’t experience the cratering of traffic anticipated earlier in the year because of the global pandemic, and according to forecasters the next two years are looking pretty good.

Moody’s Investors Service revised its outlook for the U.S. public ports sector to stable from negative in a Dec. 4 report and the twin ports of Southern California posted record setting numbers in October.

Exports through California ports hit nearly $18 billion in October and imports neared $50 billion, according to U.S. Department of Commerce data compiled by the California Center for Jobs & the Economy.

“Despite the current economic downturn, trade activity is straining the capacity of ports both in California and much of the rest of the nation,” according to the center’s Dec. 4 report.

Nationally, the Moody’s Investors Service prognosis for ports over the next 12 to 18 months is for 5% growth in cargo volumes.

Read More [[link removed]] Business Climate and Job Creation U.S. Unemployment Claims Rise To Highest Level Since September

The economic recovery has downshifted, with job growth slowing and layoffs persisting at a high level amid rising coronavirus cases and related restrictions.

The number of workers seeking unemployment benefits, a proxy for layoffs, climbed sharply by 137,000 to 853,000 last week, the Labor Department reported.

The level of applications was the highest since September, but still well down from a peak of nearly seven million in late March. The number of applications for a separate federal pandemic program also rose sharply last week.

The claims figures add to signs the recovery continues, but at a cooler pace. Job growth eased in November and the number of job openings edged down in early December. The labor market’s partial rebound has been a key component in the overall economic recovery from a pandemic-related downturn in the spring.

Consumer spending rose in October for the sixth straight month, though at a slower pace, according to the Commerce Department. The manufacturing and services sectors expanded in November, according to the Institute for Supply Management.

Read More [[link removed]] U.S. Recovery Will Cool Further Before Getting Vaccine Boost, WSJ Survey Shows

The U.S. economic recovery is likely to slow further before the impact of expected approvals of Covid-19 vaccines makes itself felt in the second quarter of 2021, a new Wall Street Journal survey shows.

In the latest monthly survey of business and academic economists, forecasters slashed their projections for economic growth and job creation in the first quarter, amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

A number of economists said they expect coronavirus caseloads to remain high in the first quarter of 2021 because vaccines will take time to be distributed across the U.S.

“Real-time data point to a slow entry into 2021 with the health situation worsening, employment softening and spending moderating,” said Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics.

Read More [[link removed]] U.S. Consumer Sentiment Rose In Recent Weeks

U.S. consumers grew more confident in the economy in late November and early December, with many expecting the economic conditions to improve when the country begins to exit from the coronavirus pandemic.

The University of Michigan said Friday its index of consumer sentiment climbed to 81.4 in the two weeks ended Dec. 9, from 76.9 in November. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expected a reading of 75.5.

Rosier expectations for the economy drove the index’s rebound, though respondents’ views on current economic conditions improved as well.

“Most of the early December gain was due to a more favorable long-term outlook for the economy, while year-ahead prospects for the economy as well as personal finances remained unchanged,” said Richard Curtin, the survey’s chief economist.

Read More [[link removed]] Vaccines Herald Return To Offices, But Workers Don’t Want To Go

As employers eagerly await the Covid-19 vaccines that promise to return staff to offices after months of working from home, new reports indicate getting them back won’t be easy.

More than half of U.S. employees currently working from home say they’d like to keep their remote arrangements beyond the pandemic, according to a Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday.

One-third of those surveyed said they want the option to telework at least sometimes. Only 11% said they ‘rarely or never’ want to work from home, according to Pew’s October survey of almost 6,000 U.S. adults.

Most Americans won’t have a choice. While almost two-thirds of workers holding a bachelor’s degree or higher said their work can be done remotely, only 23% of those without that educational attainment can, according to Pew.

Read More [[link removed]] California Labor Secretary In Serious Contention For Biden Cabinet

California's labor secretary began her legal career fighting for Thai garment workers held captive in a Los Angeles sweatshop. Decades later, she's in serious contention to join the Biden administration as secretary of the U.S. Labor Department, according to sources familiar with transition discussions.

Julie Su, the daughter of Chinese immigrants and a longtime advocate for low-wage workers, would step into the role as the country reels from an economic crisis that has disproportionately burdened women, people of color and workers with less education.

The top labor job will take on outsize importance as Biden looks to inherit a limping job market that has seen the pandemic stoke permanent losses and compromise worker safety.

Su, 51, would oversee unemployment insurance, worker safety, job training, and other aspects of the economic recovery — not to mention implementing the sweeping pro-labor agenda Biden campaigned on, which would increase workplace requirements and make it easier for workers to organize, among other things. Many of these responsibilities dovetail with her current work in California, where she has overseen jobless benefits and worker safety as millions of Californians confront the pandemic.

Read More [[link removed]] Newsom Taps Former Clinton WH Press Secretary For Top Economic Post

Dee Dee Myers, the first female White House press secretary in history and recently a top executive for Warner Bros., will become the chief economic and business adviser for California Gov. Gavin Newsom as he grapples with a pandemic-stricken economy.

Myers, 59, will start Friday as senior adviser to Newsom and director of the Goveror's Office of Business and Economic Development, she said in an interview with POLITICO. She's joining the governor's office as not only California needs repair, but also Newsom's reputation after he attended an expensive dinner with lobbyists last month that drew criticism as the state entered an unprecedented surge of coronavirus infections.

“There are challenges — but a lot of opportunities here," Myers said of the state's economic situation, adding that she's eager “to get these businesses, and small businesses, back on their feet and provide resources and capital."

Myers said she intends to advise the governor on California's vaccine rollout as part of her work with the business community.

Read More [[link removed]] California's Looming Economic Challenges

Even as 59% of Californians expect the state to be bogged down by widespread unemployment and financial depression for the next five years, 58% approve of how Gov. Gavin Newsom is handling the economy.

The findings, from a statewide Public Policy Institute of California survey released late Wednesday, come as the state braces for another economic hit. Greater Sacramento will tonight become the third region to shutter vast swaths of its economy after its ICU capacity on Wednesday dropped below 15%. But even as cash-strapped businesses and frustrated residents demand data justifying Newsom’s restrictions, support for the governor seems steady. Newsom had an approval rating of 58% in October, identical to this month’s marks for his approach to the economy. (The survey was conducted from Nov. 4-23, before the new regional shutdown was announced.)

Nevertheless, the governor is approaching an inflection point — and how he handles it will determine a lot about his political future, CalMatters’ Laurel Rosenhall reports. Next month, Newsom will enter the second half of his first term, key for his re-election prospects in 2022. Already, there is a challenger waiting in the wings: Kevin Faulconer, San Diego’s outgoing GOP mayor. And Newsom has a lot of challenges to overcome.

Read More [[link removed]] Oracle Is Moving Its Headquarters From Silicon Valley To Austin, Texas

Oracle is the latest tech company to move its headquarters out of California. The company said on Friday it's moving its headquarters from the Silicon Valley to Austin, Texas.

"Oracle is implementing a more flexible employee work location policy and has changed its Corporate Headquarters from Redwood City, California to Austin, Texas. We believe these moves best position Oracle for growth and provide our personnel with more flexibility about where and how they work," a spokesperson confirmed to CNBC on Friday.

Bloomberg first reported of the move.

A bulk of employees can choose their office location, or continue to work from home part time or full time, the company said.

"In addition, we will continue to support major hubs for Oracle around the world, including those in the United States such as Redwood City, Austin, Santa Monica, Seattle, Denver, Orlando and Burlington, among others, and we expect to add other locations over time," Oracle said. "By implementing a more modern approach to work, we expect to further improve our employees' quality of life and quality of output."

Read More [[link removed]] California's Corporate Residents Hit The Road For Business-Friendly Alternatives

Tesla CEO Elon Musk earlier this week blasted California for driving a corporate exodus, likening the state to a sports team that is used to winning and has grown complacent.

California, like a winning sports team that “has been winning for a long time,” has taken innovators for granted, Musk said, adding, “You have a forest of redwoods and the little trees can’t grow.”

Musk made the comments in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Tuesday. In the interview, Musk revealed that he personally had moved to Texas after growing frustrated with the Golden State.

While he is keeping Tesla and SpaceX in the state for now, he pointed out the dwindling of California’s corporate residents.

Read More [[link removed]] California's Recovery Slows Amid Surging Outbreak, More Shutdowns

With much of California returning to tight coronavirus-related health restrictions, the state last week saw the largest jump in unemployment claims since late March.

California’s initial jobless filings rose by 47,454 to 177,837, according to the Department of Labor’s weekly report, the state’s largest weekly increase in claims since the week of March 28. The bump effectively erased the previous week’s progress, when the fewest Californians filed for unemployment insurance since the pandemic began. In this past week, more Californians filed initial claims than anytime since September.

The U.S. economy hit a similar bump: Jobless claims increased by 137,000 to 853,000, on a seasonally adjusted basis, after claims had fallen by 71,000 the week before.

“Our fears of a significant economic toll taken by the explosion in the COVID-19 cases have now been matched by a spike in new claims for unemployment benefits,” said Mark Hamrick, a senior economic analyst for Bankrate. “As with last week’s report, it isn’t clear how much of this volatility might be linked to the Thanksgiving holiday, amounting to a game of catch-up. But the underlying story and trends, including the slowing number of jobs being added in the monthly employment data, are unsettling.”

Read More [[link removed]] California Has Third-Highest Homeless Population In US: Report

California has the third-largest homeless population in the United States, according to new report.

Moving and home improvement resource site Porch found only New York and Hawaii have a higher rate of homelessness than California, where there are 38.3 homeless people for every 10,000 residents.

Just over 71% of the homeless California population is living unsheltered, the survey found.

The state also saw a sharp 16% increase in homelessness in 2019 compared to 2018.

Overall, California has 128,777 homeless individuals who are not in families with children, while the homeless population in families with children is 22,501.

Read More [[link removed]] The Golden State's Future? Most Californians Are Pessimistic

California may call itself the Golden State, but most Californians see its future as tarnished.

In a wide-ranging new survey of attitudes toward the economy, 6 in 10 residents said they expect California’s children to be worse off financially than their parents.

More than two-thirds said California’s gap between the rich and poor is widening. And nearly 6 in 10 anticipate “mostly periods of widespread unemployment or depression” during the next five years.

“People are gloomy,” said Mark Baldassare, president and chief executive of the Public Policy Institute of California, which conducted the survey. “They’re very, very worried about the short term and the long term.”

The poll, conducted just after the November election, revealed more pessimism about the future generation than the group’s 2014 and 2018 surveys. The mood might be influenced by the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and by the political climate, Baldassare suggested.

Read More [[link removed]] 2020's IPO Riches Will Benefit S.F. As Well As California

There’s good news for those who didn’t invest in or work at Airbnb, DoorDash, or others of the dozens of Bay Area startups that went public this year. Your fortunes will still be boosted from 2020’s record-breaking crop of Wall Street debuts.

Those who live in California will see benefits from blockbuster initial public offerings from the likes of Airbnb and DoorDash as the state fills depleted coffers with tax revenue from all the newly minted billionaires, millionaires and hundred-thousandaires. The state and cities will also reap economic benefits as those folks spend their newfound riches.

The main benefit to the state comes through income taxes. California taxes capital gains — the profits made from sales of stock — as ordinary income. Initial public offerings result in extraordinarily high compensation for employees, executives and investors. When they exercise options, sell shares or vest stock awards, they will owe taxes, likely at the top rate of 13.3%.

Read More [[link removed]] Energy and Climate Change Global Carbon Emissions Dropped A Record 7% Due To COVID-19. Don't Count On It To Last

The COVID-19 pandemic reduced global greenhouse gas emissions by a record 7% this year, according to new estimates released Thursday by an international group of scientists.

“We have never registered such a large change,” said Corinne Le Quéré, a professor of climate change science at the University of East Anglia in England who is part of the research team behind the Global Carbon Project.

But the reductions are probably a short-lived effect of stay-at-home orders and the resulting economic downturn, and are bound to vanish once a COVID vaccine becomes widely available and transportation and industry returns to pre-pandemic levels. For that reason, the dip in emissions is not expected to significantly slow the warming of the planet.

Emissions are projected to drop by 2.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 2020, compared with 2019, according to the analysis. That’s the greatest percentage decline in planet-warming pollution since World War II, and considerably larger than the nearly 1 billion tons reduced in 1945, according to the analysis by more than 80 researchers.

Read More [[link removed]] Governor Newsom Appoints New Chair To Air Resources Board

Governor Newsom today made key appointments to the California Air Resources Board, including a replacement for long-time chair Mary Nichols, who has retired and may be tapped for a federal job.

His choice is Liane Randolph, a lawyer who has served as Deputy Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency and most recently as commissioner on the California Public Utilities Commission.

Randolph has been described as thorough, detail-oriented, smart, well-organized, and politically savvy by those who have worked with her. She will be the first Black chair of the board, and advocates are hoping that will make her a strong voice for equity in an organization that has recently been called to do better on this issue both for its staff and on its policies.

“Commissioner Randolph is a thoughtful leader who brings vast knowledge and experience to the challenge of meeting California’s climate and energy goals,” wrote Gladys Limón, Executive Director of the California Environmental Justice Alliance, in a press statement. “As an alliance of EJ organizations working to improve the environmental health of communities with the worst air quality in the state, we hope Randolph prioritizes equity in her leadership and look forward to working with her.”

Read More [[link removed]] California More Than Doubled Its Record For Land Burned In Wildfires This Year

Nature struck relentlessly in 2020 with record-breaking and deadly weather- and climate-related disasters.

With the most named storms in the Atlantic, the largest-ever area of California burned by wildfires, killer floods in Asia and Africa and a hot, melting Arctic, 2020 was more than a disastrous year with the pandemic. It was a year of disasters — and climate change from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas was a big factor, scientists said.

The United States didn’t just set a record for the most disasters costing at least $1 billion — adjusted for inflation — the nation obliterated the record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

By September, 2020 had tied the old record of 16 billion-dollar disasters and when the count is completed in early January, officials figure it will be 20, likely more. Only three states weren’t part of a billion-dollar weather disaster (Alaska, Hawaii and North Dakota) — and all the coastline from Texas to Maine, except for a tiny part of Florida, was under a watch or warning for a hurricane, tropical storm or storm surge from those systems in 2020, according to U.S. weather officials.

Read More [[link removed]] Oil Companies, Not Citizens, Must Fund California’s Climate Change Battle

The state recently announced a $74 million dollar project to move a stretch of highway along the Sonoma County coast inland to avoid sea level rise caused by climate change. Meanwhile, Governor Gavin Newsom increased issuing permits to drill for oil and gas in California by 190% earlier this year, offering up more than 1,500 permits to fossil fuel companies in 2020 alone.

We live in a place where working-class taxpayers fund multimillion-dollar infrastructure projects to address climate change caused by fossil fuel companies our government continues to coddle. Until we confront the fossil fuel industry head-on, we will continue to our current practice of bailing out a leaking ship while refusing to plug the holes.

California has no problem recognizing the reality of climate change and that its impacts will be catastrophic. In fact, the state has planned extensively for the oncoming disaster, offering up a sobering document on what strategies to employ to prepare for an eventual seven-foot sea level rise by 2100. Our Governor also clearly has no problem naming the cause of these impacts, citing our “reliance on climate-change causing fossil fuels” in one of many recent press releases declaring his commitment to fighting climate change.

Read More [[link removed]] Workforce Development How One California School District Is Moving Forward With Math In The Pandemic

In a school year when in-person instruction is already limited, California math teachers are making up for lost time on the fly.

Since school campuses closed in March due to the pandemic, education experts have sounded the alarm that certain groups, such as low-income and special education students, could fall further behind academically than their peers. And now test scores show that students are struggling in math more during the pandemic than in previous years.

But exactly how school districts have planned to mitigate learning gaps looks different depending on the district and even classrooms within a school.

One of California’s largest school districts, San Diego Unified, is pushing ahead with grade-level math content and addressing questions and gaps in learning as they come up during lessons. That contrasts with past approaches to so-called learning loss — when students lose academic skills and knowledge over a period of time — that have involved testing students at the beginning of the year to determine where they need extra help and offer remediation based on the results.

Read More [[link removed]] Community Colleges Hardest Hit As College Enrollment Among High School Graduates Falls Nationally Amid The Pandemic

Community colleges have seen the sharpest drop among colleges in high school graduates enrolling this fall, a likely effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to an annual report published Thursday by the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

This fall, as the pandemic raged and California community colleges switched largely to virtual courses, they saw a 30% drop in enrollments. Last year, the decline was less than 1%. It’s a pattern reflected by early enrollment data released in Sept. by the California Community College system, the nation’s largest with 116 institutions serving more than two million students. That data found that enrollment in California declined between 3.8% to 20%, based on data provided to EdSource from selected colleges.

Among all high school graduates, 22% fewer students enrolled in college immediately after graduating from high school this year. The steep drop is close to eight times the pre-pandemic rate.

Read More [[link removed]] Another Step Toward Universal Preschool In California?

Long a goal of early childhood advocates, universal preschool came a step closer to becoming reality this week.

Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, a veteran advocate for early education, and other legislators on Tuesday proposed a sweeping suite of bills to help reform the state’s early childhood system. The bills seek to expand transitional kindergarten to all 4-year-olds, make child care more affordable by creating a sliding scale for family fees, increase reimbursement rates for preschool teachers and bar expulsions and suspensions in preschool.

McCarty, who has championed universal preschool and other reforms for many years, stressed that this was an initial rollout and that more specifics regarding implementation and funding would follow over time.

“This education package aims to lift up working families and our kids throughout California. We all know that early education matters for kindergarten readiness, to make sure our kids are ready to thrive when they enter a public school system, and for moms trying to go to work or go to school themselves,” said McCarty, chairman of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance, during a press conference on the legislation. “We see it crystal clear during COVID-19 how much early education and child care impacts our economy.”

Read More [[link removed]] Infrastructure and Housing California Renters Face Eviction As Pandemic Protections Expire

Jennifer Dye and her 3-year-old daughter had lived in a one-bedroom backyard cottage in Morgan Hill for 10 months when the coronavirus pandemic hit the Bay Area earlier this year. For the last 15 years, the 36-year-old single mom worked as a manager at a local family-owned Chinese restaurant.

But in mid-March, California’s economy came to a screeching halt as state and local health officials issued unprecedented stay-at-home orders in an effort to slow the coronavirus’ spread. All non-essential businesses closed, forcing restaurant owners to furlough workers and operate via takeout or delivery only.

In a matter of weeks, the demand for unemployment benefits in California reached record numbers with the state’s Economic Development Department processing more than 3.5 million unemployment claims in the first month and a half of the pandemic.

Read More [[link removed]] Bay Area Lawmakers Seek Extension Of Eviction Protections

Amid the deepening economic costs of the pandemic, California lawmakers are proposing a lengthy extension of the statewide eviction moratorium and are working on the outlines for a landlord and tenant relief package.

A bill introduced Monday by Assemblymember David Chiu, D-San Francisco, would extend California’s eviction moratorium until the end of 2021 for renters struggling with job losses or illness. Tenants will still be required to pay at least one-quarter of their rent to be covered by the protections. Other new bills presented by senior lawmakers are expected to address more financial help for the most vulnerable tenants and small landlords.

“This pandemic is not only not over, people are still unemployed” said Chiu, chair of the housing and community development committee. He noted studies showing millions of Californians at risk of losing their homes. “It’s a public health issue and also a moral issue.”

The new proposals extend the pitched legislative debate over how to balance public health goals while avoiding a collapse in the rental industry and the potential for widespread homelessness and housing insecurity. State lawmakers in August cobbled together a two-thirds emergency vote in both chambers limiting evictions through the end of next month and won the approval of Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Read More [[link removed]] Weiner Pushes For Safe Injection Sites, More Housing Near Transit

State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, on Tuesday introduced new legislation to legalize overdose prevention programs, or safe injection sites, in select California cities.

Under Senate Bill 57, people suffering from substance addiction could safely consume in the presence of medical professionals who are equipped with the medication naloxone to prevent overdoses. The sites would first be implemented via pilot program in San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles.

SB 57 marks Wiener’s third legislation pushing for the sites.

Back in 2018, Wiener’s initial legislation Assembly Bill 186, was vetoed by then-governor Jerry Brown and after that, Wiener introduced AB 362 earlier this year, but that too was ultimately canned.

According to Wiener, safe injection sites operating in places like Canada, Australia and Europe have already proven successful in reducing overdose deaths and getting people into treatment.

In the face of COVID-19 and a skyrocketing overdose death rate — nearly 800 recorded in San Francisco so far — Weiner said the legislation is desperately needed.

Read More [[link removed]] Editorial and Opinion California’s $2 Billion Benefit Fraud

It’s been a rough year for California government: catastrophic wildfires, power outages, and now massive unemployment benefit fraud. It appears the progressive paragon can’t even make transfer payments without making a hash.

Many states have reported more fraudulent jobless benefit claims due to the pandemic Cares Act, which allowed independent contractors to qualify based on purported lost earnings. State systems weren’t designed to handle these claims. But California seems to be the biggest sap.

On Monday Bank of America, which contracted with the state government to issue benefit debit cards, identified some $2 billion in suspicious activities with many claims filed in the names of infants, centenarians and people living outside the U.S. The bank said fraudulent payments may be financing terrorists and illicit arms purchases. “The scale of program fraud in California is unique,” the bank wrote to legislators, who are (of course) blaming the bank for freezing suspicious accounts.

In October federal authorities arrested a Los Angeles rapper for allegedly stealing identities to swipe $1.2 million in federal jobless benefits. The rapper flaunted his heist in a music video he posted to YouTube in which he held up stacks of pre-loaded debit cards: “You gotta sell cocaine, I just file a claim.”

Read More [[link removed]] Newsom Blunders Again At Providing COVID Leadership

Gavin Newsom continues to demonstrate why he’s the wrong person to lead California through the COVID-19 crisis.

The governor’s plan to order regional shutdowns when hospital intensive care unit capacity dips below 15% is once again too little, too late — endangering lives because he lacks the political courage to lead.

The Thursday announcement is the latest of a series of blunders demonstrating that Newsom still doesn’t have a coherent plan to deal with the pandemic. California residents and especially front-line health care workers are paying a heavy price for his inept approach.

Fortunately, unlike Newsom, Bay Area officials aren’t waiting for things to get even worse before taking action. Health officers from Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco and Santa Clara counties and the city of Berkeley on Friday announced shelter-in-place restrictions beginning Sunday evening that will save lives and prevent the region’s hospitals from being overwhelmed. It’s appalling that San Mateo County isn’t joining in on what should be a regional effort.

The problem with Newsom’s leadership is that it remains reactive rather than proactive.

Read More [[link removed]] Climate Change Won't Stop On Its Own Any More Than COVID-19 Has

If COVID-19 taught us anything this year, it’s how badly things can go if we ignore science, don’t take precautions and don’t protect the most vulnerable among us. As we work to recover from the pandemic, we can’t forget another looming crisis: climate change. For years, science told us it’s coming. We’re already seeing the impacts. 2020 wasn’t a terrible year just because of COVID-19. We were hammered by more fires and extreme heat than we’ve ever seen because our climate is changing.

The rest of the country looks to California for climate leadership, even as we struggle to reach our 2030 climate goals. The good news is we can continue to lead in California. To do this, we must be both strategic and bold to address the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions in our state: More than 60% comes from buildings, electricity generation and transportation.

As a newly elected state senator, I’m excited to get to work. Here are some ideas:

Fourteen years ago, California set a goal of 1 million solar roofs, a milestone reached in 2018. I propose making it possible for us to soon have at least 1 million electric buildings to more deeply slash our use of fossil fuels and the emissions they produce. To do so we must create electric-ready homes and other buildings by lowering barriers that make it hard to switch to electric models when major appliances and equipment — like a home’s furnace or water heater — need replacing. This will speed our transition from natural gas.

Read More [[link removed]] How To Create An Easier Path To Climate Goals Through Electric Vehicles

California has led America’s climate fight by pioneering solutions here at home like cap-and-trade and tailpipe pollution reduction targets that the federal government and other states have adopted.

We can once again play this role, paving the way for President-elect Joe Biden’s goal of building 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations, by overcoming barriers preventing low-income and disadvantaged Californians from accessing chargers.

Electric vehicle charging access may not be considered climate policy, but it’s incredibly important to cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation is the largest source of California and U.S. emissions, and California’s new goal of 100% zero-emission passenger vehicle sales by 2035 is arguably the world’s strongest clean transportation target – but it cannot succeed without installing chargers in

Read More [[link removed]] Breaking Up Facebook

Facebook’s motto in its early days was to “move fast and break things.” That’s also one way to describe the Federal Trade Commission lawsuit against Facebook that was seconded this week by 46 state Attorneys General. That so many lawyers could come up with such a weak legal case is remarkable.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t have many political friends these days in either party. He has been criticized for restricting speech on his platform both too much and too little. Facebook has helped to destroy the advertising market for newspapers, and the world might be better off without it.

But the purpose of U.S. antitrust law isn’t to remedy social or political problems. That’s essentially what the FTC on a 3-2 vote and the AGs are seeking with their lawsuits that asks courts to force Facebook to divest its Instagram (2012) and WhatsApp (2014) acquisitions.

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