Here's your daily briefing...
Bills sink or swim: With the legislative calendar winding down, dozens of proposals were torpedoed by a state Senate committee Thursday without a vote. About 80 bills went off to oblivion.
Who’s the payer?: A bill that would scrap medical insurance in California and establish the liberal holy grail of a single-payer health care system in the state cleared a major hurdle Thursday and will advance to the full state senate. Regardless of the vote, the proposal only takes effect in the unlikely event that legislators find the $400 billion a year to pay for it.
Foster kids need legal help: Tani Cantil-Sakauye, chief justice of California’s Supreme Court, is calling on lawmakers to boost funding for attorneys to represent foster children. According to an advocacy group, some lawyers are assigned as many as 350 different children to represent. A state Judicial Council recommends a caseload of no more than 188.
Dirty diesel to zero-emissions: Some Democrats are pushing state air regulators to require VW to spend some of the cash from the carmaker’s Diesel cheating settlement to provide discounted zero-emission vehicles for the poor. Some lawmakers are seeking to dedicate as much as 35 percent of the proceeds for that purpose.
Firefighter killed: An inmate wildland firefighter was killed in Humboldt County yesterday when a 120-foot tall tree suddenly toppled. Matthew Beck, 26, was leading a crew clearing a firebreak when the tree gave way. Beck was among the 3,900 California inmates serving as wildland firefighters. He was serving a six-year sentence for burglary.
Organizer fired: A man who criticized staffing practices at the state’s top chain of Dialysis clinics saying they pose serious dangers to patients was fired from his job at a DaVita facility in Southern California. The company disputes charges that the man’s dismissal was in retaliation for speaking against the company at a Sacramento rally.
And on the California Report: Reporters get a closer look at the huge landslide along the Big Sur coast….A Salinas mother copes with her son's murder…Breathing new life into Santa Cruz's cemetery for everyone…and San Francisco and Santa Clara Counties lead the fight against President Trump's threats to ‘sanctuary cities.’