By Eliyahu Kamisher, Josh Eidelson and Andrew Oxford : yahoo – excerpt

(Bloomberg) — For two decades, a California law has helped workers sue the world’s biggest companies. Drivers for Uber Technologies Inc. won a $20 million settlement, Google employees secured $27 million over complaints of free-speech violations, and Walmart Inc. agreed to pay $65 million for allegedly not providing seating to their cashiers…

Now, Governor Gavin Newsom is quietly overseeing talks about changing that law after prodding from some of California’s largest business interests, who say a cascade of progressive policy wins in the state – like raising the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $20 an hour and increasing paid sick days — are eating away at their bottom lines.

Newsom’s office has brought together the state’s powerful California Chamber of Commerce with the California Labor Federation to hash out a compromise over the Private Attorneys General Act, or PAGA, people familiar with the negotiations said. The law has cost big and small businesses $10 billion over the past ten years, according to one study, and is viewed by labor advocates as a model of worker protection.

The negotiators are in a race against time: June 27 is the deadline to strike a measure from Californians’ November ballot that would give voters the opportunity to repeal the law. The Chamber of Commerce is negotiating on behalf of a broad alliance, which includes the billionaire owner of the Wonderful Company, Stewart Resnick, car dealership owners, Walmart and McDonald’s Corp., along with small businesses across the state. The business coalition committed more than $31 million to entities backing the ballot measure, including the signature-gathering effort and an advertising blitz…(more)

By Chris Legras, Jaime Page : westsidecurrent – excerpt (include audio track)

In the latest installment of the Current’s investigation into failures in our city and state’s approach to the homelessness crisis, we explore Governor Gavin Newsom’s “Largest Mobilization of Small Homes”

LOS ANGELES – One of the great challenges in understanding the failures of the City and County of Los Angeles and the State of California to effectively address the homelessness crisis is identifying the full panoply of funding state, county and city agencies have brought to bear, and the myriad public agencies involved.

In the Westside Current’s ongoing investigation into these failures, particularly the thousands of unoccupied homeless housing units, we look at a signature program from Governor Gavin Newsom. In two rounds of funding from a state program called the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) initiative, the state allocated two rounds of funding, each amounting to $1 billion. Within these allocations, the City of Los Angeles was granted approximately $144 million to address homelessness.

In March 2023, the governor announced the release of an additional $1 billion through a fourth round of HHAP. The money was intended to help cities rapidly provide transitional housing for thousands, including the deployment of 1,200 units of “tiny homes” statewide. LA received an additional $86.5 million in this round, mostly to purchase and install 500 tiny homes throughout the city.

Under the strategy, the State would purchase the homes and the California National Guard would assist in preparing and delivering them to cities, “free of charge and ready for occupancy.”

Despite the enthusiastic announcement and an emergency order from the Mayor at the time, tangible progress on the tiny home initiative has been elusive. As of the end of May, not a single home has been constructed. The only tangible progress the city has made is submitting a list of potential locations for the housing units to the state.…(more)

By Linda Perez : laprogressive – excerpt

When it comes to housing, healthcare, and workers’ rights, Milei has pushed a radical agenda that goes against communities, endangering the very fabric of democracy in Argentina…

Why is a California organization called the Bay Area Council bringing the far-right president of Argentina to our state? Javier Milei, in just six months in office, has sparked nationwide protests for attacking inclusion policies, removing gun restrictions, and threatening affordable housing, all of which the Council says it supports. Welcoming him to the Pacific Summit 2024 in San Jose this week raises disturbing questions about the Council and its own legislative agenda.

The Bay Area Council promotes itself as a champion for housing, transportation, and public safety. Yet its chosen headliner conflicts with the Council’s purported goals and reveals the increasingly illiberal, pro-corporate, and anti-democratic shift by the Council itself.

In recent months, the Council has sponsored four bills—SB 1092, SB 951, SB 1077, and AB 2560—that masquerade as tools for coastal housing access. In reality, they would extend some perks to developers and neuter the California Coastal Commission’s power…(more)

By Steven Sharp : la.urbanize.city – excerpt

L.A. real estate, architecture, and urban planning news from the past week…

Newsom Promised 1,200 Tiny Homes For Unhoused Californians. A Year Later, None Have Opened…
‘Shocking’: The fall of Third Street Promenade, Calif.’s once-vibrant outdoor mall…
Improving safety on the system: Metro launches TAP to exit pilot at North Hollywood B Line station beginning May 28…
Why Silicon Beach didn’t live up to the hype as an L.A. tech powerhouse…
City Repaved Coronado Street Without Measure HLA-Required Bikeway…
Opinion: California will force Malibu and other towns to add housing. Here’s why that’s not nearly enough…
Eyes on the Street: El Monte’s Merced Ave Linear Park…
Ex-Metro security chief says police patrols were so lax, they didn’t notice a dead man at station…
Consulting Firm Armanino Secures 45K SF of SoCal Office Space With Irvine Company…
Neighbors complain about illegal hostels…(more)

By Steven Sharp : la.urbanize.city – excerpt

L.A. real estate, architecture, and urban planning news from the past week…

Newsom Promised 1,200 Tiny Homes For Unhoused Californians. A Year Later, None Have Opened…
‘Shocking’: The fall of Third Street Promenade, Calif.’s once-vibrant outdoor mall…
Improving safety on the system: Metro launches TAP to exit pilot at North Hollywood B Line station beginning May 28…
Why Silicon Beach didn’t live up to the hype as an L.A. tech powerhouse…
City Repaved Coronado Street Without Measure HLA-Required Bikeway…
Opinion: California will force Malibu and other towns to add housing. Here’s why that’s not nearly enough…
Eyes on the Street: El Monte’s Merced Ave Linear Park…
Ex-Metro security chief says police patrols were so lax, they didn’t notice a dead man at station…
Consulting Firm Armanino Secures 45K SF of SoCal Office Space With Irvine Company…
Neighbors complain about illegal hostels…(more)

By Alan Riquelmy : courthousenews – excerpt

Golden State lawmakers had until Friday to pass bills out of their house of origin.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — After spending the past few days in a rush to meet a crucial end-of-week deadline, California lawmakers eased into the holiday weekend with hundreds of bills advanced.

Bills had to pass out of their house of origin by Friday to stay alive. Both the Assembly and Senate held marathon sessions each day starting Monday, voting on hundreds of bills before the gavel fell Friday.

Assembly leadership, anxious to keep on schedule, expressed frustration at times when a quorum failed to appear each morning.

“Thank you to the 18 members today of the on-time caucus,” quipped Assembly Speaker pro Tempore Jim Wood, a Healdsburg Democrat, on Wednesday. Forty-one members are needed for a quorum.

The Senate and Assembly had packed schedules throughout the week — passing legislation on campus protests, book bans and voter ID — in anticipation of holding quick Friday sessions, which both achieved…(more)

Follow the actions going forward here: https://www.livablecalifornia.org/