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California Gov. Gavin Newsom has outsourced his way through the covid-19 pandemic, tasking his private-sector allies in Silicon Valley and the health care industry with fundamental public health duties such as testing, tracing and vaccination. Among the losers: the state’s weakened public health system.
As cities across California wrestle with a crisis of homelessness that has drawn international condemnation, Santa Rosa’s bold experiment with a city-sanctioned encampment suggests a way forward.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is painting the effort to remove him from office as a partisan power grab. But among the tens of thousands of Californians who signed the recall petition are Democrats and independent voters frustrated by his pandemic policies, from school closures to vaccine distribution.
Insurance giant Blue Shield of California has made millions in charitable and political donations to Gov. Gavin Newsom over nearly two decades, largely to his dearly held homeless initiatives. In turn, Newsom has rewarded the insurer with a $15 million no-bid contract to lead the state’s covid vaccination distribution.
With the introduction of a single-payer bill Friday, a group of California Democratic lawmakers set the terms of the health care debate in the Capitol this year. The move puts Gov. Gavin Newsom in a delicate political position, threatening to alienate voters as he faces a likely recall election.
The growing public backlash over California’s messy vaccine rollout is putting immense pressure on Gov. Gavin Newsom, a first-term Democrat facing a Republican-driven recall effort.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2021-22 budget blueprint would direct billions in state covid assistance to schools, businesses and the state’s vaccination effort. But he didn’t propose more funding for the state's 61 local health agencies, which have taken on increased responsibility for testing, contact tracing and enforcement of health orders.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said in July that California would target businesses that flagrantly violate public health orders. But the state’s strategy of education over enforcement means that businesses that don’t comply face few — if any — consequences.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said he has already begun discussing California health care priorities with Xavier Becerra, tapped this week by President-elect Joe Biden to serve as his Health and Human Services secretary.
Despite his lack of front-line experience, Democrats see the California attorney general as an important ally to shepherd a progressive agenda on the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, reproductive health services and immigration.
Given the pandemic’s disproportionate hit on minority communities, two Democratic lawmakers are pushing Newsom to agree to offer health care to all unauthorized immigrants. They planned to unveil legislation Monday — and a new strategy to make it happen.
California has more at stake than any other state should the U.S. Supreme Court strike down the Affordable Care Act. Millions of people could lose their health coverage and the state could lose billions in federal money each year.
There couldn’t be more at stake for California’s Democratic health care agenda in the presidential race. State lawmakers are already penning big-ticket legislation they hope to pursue should Democrat Joe Biden win, from single-payer to a new wealth tax.
Health care leaders say Proposition 15, a ballot initiative that would raise property taxes for large-business owners, could help boost revenue for chronically underfunded public health departments.
This was supposed to be the year California finally did something about its homelessness epidemic. COVID-19 upended that promise, along with the cobbled-together services many homeless people rely on for survival. Interviews across the state reveal a new magnitude of hardship and indignity for tens of thousands of people living on the streets.
Gov. Gavin Newsom approved many consequential health care bills by his bill-signing deadline Wednesday, including a ban on the sale of menthol and other flavored tobacco products, the creation of a state generic drug label and better coverage for mental health disorders.
Lawmakers are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign bills that would address the challenges of the current COVID-19 crisis and help the state prepare for future pandemics.
California could become the first state to develop its own line of generic drugs under a bill approved Monday by the legislature. The measure heads to Gov. Gavin Newsom for consideration.
This pandemic is like war, and California’s local health officers are leading the state's response. Yet unlike war heroes, who are lionized, they are facing unprecedented attacks and death threats.
Counties say the ripple effects of the state’s COVID-19 data failures are impeding their ability to slow the spread of the coronavirus, even as they must make life-or-death decisions about business and school reopenings.
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