California Supreme Court to Take up Brown Act Allegations in Supervisor Appointment | Political | Highlandnews.Net

2/28/2020 California Supreme Court to take up Brown Act allegations in supervisor appointment | Political | highlandnews.net

https://www.highlandnews.net/news/political/california-supreme-court-to-take-up-brown-act-allegations- in/article_6a8ddbb6-59a8-11ea-a6-37fad5f7462c.html California Supreme Court to take up Brown Act allegations in supervisor appointment

By Alejandro Cano Feb 27, 2020

The California Supreme Court will decide whether a local advocacy group properly challenged San Bernardino County Supervisor Dawn Rowe’s appointment in 2018.

The highest court in the state will decide whether Inland Empire United’s allegation that supervisors violated the Brown Act, California’s open meeting law, during its appointment of Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe. The group challenged Rowe’s appointment by a petition for writ of mandate or an action in quo warrant to the exclusive procedure.

https://www.highlandnews.net/news/political/california-supreme-court-to-take-up-brown-act-allegations-in/article_6a8ddbb6-59a8-11ea-a6ff-37fad5f74… 1/3 “The court could decide in two months or in a year, there is no specic time. If the court decides we properly challenged the county, then the case goes to the lower court which basically said she should not be in oce,” said Michael Gomez Daly, executive director of I.E. United. “The court will listen to the arguments regardless if she gets elected. The county is just buying time.”

Meanwhile, the temporary stay issued by the Supreme Court on Jan. 23, remains in eect pending further order, which means Rowe could remain in oce until otherwise stated.

In September of 2019, a Superior Court judge ruled the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors violated the Brown Act during Rowe’s appointment. The judge ordered the appointment be rescinded.

The county appealed, requesting the order to remove Rowe be stayed. The petition was granted; however, in early January an appellate court reversed the ruling. The county appealed the case to the California Supreme Court.

I.E. United does not have “unlimited amounts of money” to ght in courts, thus it may not appeal the decision if unfavorable, said Gomez Daly.

“The county changed the amount of money allowed to spend per year per case from $100,000 to $200,000, meaning the county has spent well over $500,000 on this case ghting to defend this appointment,” said Gomez Daly. “We led the correct paperwork, but if the court says the opposite we don’t know if we would appeal. We have been paying legal fees with donations. They are powerful, have lots of money.”

Gomez Daly said the challenge was not against Rowe. It was an act of demanding transparency, he said. Rowe could be elected by voters, but that does not change the fact that the board violated the law during her appointment, he said.

Rowe is one of ve candidates seeking the seat for the Third District supervisor in San Bernardino County. Other candidates are Kaisar Ahmed, Karen Ickes, Latron Lester and Eddie Tejeda.

https://www.highlandnews.net/news/political/california-supreme-court-to-take-up-brown-act-allegations-in/article_6a8ddbb6-59a8-11ea-a6ff-37fad5f74… 2/3 2/28/2020 Construction begins for SR-210/Base Line expansion | Public Works | highlandnews.net

https://www.highlandnews.net/news/public_works/construction-begins-for-sr--base-line- expansion/article_e3728868-59aa-11ea-a1b6-4f25a4880101.html

FEATURED Construction begins for SR-210/Base Line expansion

Hector Hernandez Jr. Feb 27, 2020

San Bernardino Mayor Pro Tem Theodore Sanchez, San Bernardino County Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe, SBCT President Darcy McNaboe, Caltrans District 8 Deputy District Director for Division Right of Way Rebecca Guirado and Highland Mayor Larry McCallon break ground on the SR-210 Lane Addition and Base Line Interchange Project on Wednesday, Feb. 26. hector hernandez jr.

The cities of Highland, San Bernardino, Redlands, San Bernardino County Transit Authority (SBCTA) and Caltrans broke ground on the Base Line and State Route 210 interchange project Wednesday, Feb. 25, setting o three years of construction that will widen the freeway to six lanes, Base Line to eight lanes and make other improvements to the interchange.

https://www.highlandnews.net/news/public_works/construction-begins-for-sr--base-line-expansion/article_e3728868-59aa-11ea-a1b6-4f25a4880101.html 1/3 2/28/2020 Construction begins for SR-210/Base Line expansion | Public Works | highlandnews.net Highland Mayor Larry McCallon, SBCTA President Darcy McNaboe, San Bernardino Mayor Pro Tem Theodore Sanchez, Caltrans District 8 Deputy District Director for Division Right of Way Rebecca Guirado and San Bernardino County Third District Supervisor Dawn Rowe each spoke on the importance of the project in easing trac congestion for improved safety, economic growth and quality of life in region.

“For many, these improvements will mean getting home to our families sooner, less frustration getting to and from work,” said Rowe.

Rowe also pointed out that the project would not be possible without the funds from Measure I, a half-cent tax passed by county voters in 1989.

“There’s no better gift we can give someone than opportunity and time,” said Guirado, quoting a colleague. “This transportation project will oer both.”

“This will be a great project for the area and the city of Highland, reducing congestion, giving us more economic opportunities,” McCallon said.

He also asked that residents have patience and keep safety in mind while navigating through the construction areas for the next three years.

Overall cost for the project is approximately $198.7 million. Approximately $118.3 million will be funded by Measure I and $67.1 million by the state and $13.3 million by city of Highland.

The project is actually three projects to be constructed in the same time frame in order to reduce negative eects to commuters.

https://www.highlandnews.net/news/public_works/construction-begins-for-sr--base-line-expansion/article_e3728868-59aa-11ea-a1b6-4f25a4880101.html 2/3 2/28/2020 Construction begins for SR-210/Base Line expansion | Public Works | highlandnews.net One project focuses on adding one lane in each direction on SR-210 from Sterling Avenue to San Bernardino Avenue plus auxiliary lanes, sound walls and an acceleration lane at Fifth Street.

The second project will upgrade and rehabilitate the pavement of the existing freeway lanes.

The third project focuses on widening Base Line from six lanes to eight from Buckeye Street to Seine Avenue. This will also include widening and aesthetic improvements to the bridge over SR-210, including rod iron fencing sidewalks, and bike lanes.

To provide residents information on the project, SBCTA willhold an informational open house 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, March 4, at Highland City Hall, 27215 Base Line.

Hector Hernandez Jr.

https://www.highlandnews.net/news/public_works/construction-begins-for-sr--base-line-expansion/article_e3728868-59aa-11ea-a1b6-4f25a4880101.html 3/3 2/28/2020 Short-Term-Rental Landlords Plead Their Case Before ALA Board - Mountain News : News Short-Term-Rental Landlords Plead Their Case Before ALA Board Story and photos by Harry Bradley | Posted: Thursday, February 27, 2020 9:00 am President Clifford moved through the Arrowhead Lake Association (ALA) agenda with board discussion and voting on various items of business. For example: Replacement of the Liberty Dock, located off the Lake Arrowhead Village peninsula, behind the Coach Outlet. Five licensed dock contractors submitted bids on the fourteen slips, multiple Short-Term-Rental (STR) docks ranging from $143,000 to $195,000. The dock landlords packed Arrowhead construction was awarded to MJS Dock Service, Mike Lake Association’s (ALA) Burnt Scorziell, owner. President Clifford, said the commercial Mill Beach Club to present their upgrades included aluminum construction and 2 ft. opinions. "If I cannot guarantee replaceable padding (rather than the typical ‘fire hose’ access to Lake Arrowhead to my padding. “Estimate cost will be $165,000, with competing Short-Term-Renters, I'm out of the job before Memorial Weekend,” said Scorziell. In other business," was a common theme dock business, repairs of the C Dock were awarded to Kiwi presented to the ALA Board of Docks. The estimate was $10,240. Directors by the part-time After all the other ALA Committee Reports President landlords. Clifford told the crowded room of ALA members that ALA would be conducting a vote to capture the voice of the entire membership to regarding STR’s using the lake and ALA facilities. He said, “The Board and Staff are not taking a position on this issue.” The ballot will be mailed out with the annual invoice, with a separate envelope for the return ballot. “The ALA Bylaws (“Bylaws”) currently do not state whether Short Term Renters can or can’t access ALA Property. ALA’s Board of Directors wants to have a clear definition of whether the ALA membership wants to allow Short Term Renters to access ALA Property. Accordingly, the ALA Board of Directors recently decided to conduct a vote by the ALA membership to determine whether Short Term Renters should be able to use ALA Property. “

Because of this ALA Board proposed election the STR Landlords attended the ALA meeting on Saturday, February 22nd, 2020. STR Landlords want their Short-Term-Renters (STR’s) to be able to use their boat, kayaks, stand-up paddleboards, walk the trails and be allowed to swim and fish in both Lake Arrowhead and Grass Valley Lake. Approximately 38 people addressed the Board for an allotted three minutes. A summary, compilation of their presentation is as follows: “…rental income factors into residential value,” Ted; “The first thing all my STR’s ask is can I use the lake. Without lake access, I’m out of business,” Anonymous; “…changing the 64 Agreement, is taking away my deeded rights,” Candice; “…how would ALA enforce it..,” Doug; “UCLA and the Resort are commercial businesses with access, how would the change affect those businesses…?” www.mountain-news.com/news/article_d5741b68-5988-11ea-af2d-4b19d278b0ce.html?mode=print 1/2 2/28/2020 Short-Term-Rental Landlords Plead Their Case Before ALA Board - Mountain News : News Adrian; “It is a private lake, respect it,” Mathew; “I rent a modest home to only two couples, without the STR income we could not afford to keep it; our daughter calls our cabin the happy house,” Jennifer; “… avoid a war [in court],” Perry. A few speakers offered compromise and some who opposed STR use entirely, like Angela M. who said, “No use of boats by STR’s, it is dangerous.”

www.mountain-news.com/news/article_d5741b68-5988-11ea-af2d-4b19d278b0ce.html?mode=print 2/2 Omnitrans orders four New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE electric buses (https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/02/20200228-nfi.html)

28 February 2020 (https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/02/20200228-nfi.html) Omnitrans of San Bernardino Valley, California has placed a new order for four 40' battery-electric Xcelsior CHARGE heavy-duty transit buses from New Flyer.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) passed the Innovative Clean Transit Regulation in December 2018, which requires transit agencies to transition their fleets to zero-emission technologies by 2040. Since 2000, New Flyer has delivered 300 buses to Omnitrans, which currently operates more than 175 forty-foot and sixty-foot compressed natural gas (CNG) transit buses from New Flyer.

Omnitrans is the public transportation provider in San Bernardino County, California, carrying more than 11 million passengers each year throughout its 480- square mile service area, covering 15 cities and portions of the unincorporated areas of the county.

Posted on 28 February 2020 in Brief (https://www.greencarcongress.com/brief/) | Permalink (https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/02/20200228-nfi.html) | Comments (0) (https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/02/20200228-nfi.html#comments)

https://www.greencarcongress.com/2020/02/20200228-nfi.html 1/9 2/28/2020 The day of a Highland sheriff’s patrol deputy | Public Safety | highlandnews.net

https://www.highlandnews.net/news/public_safety/the-day-of-a-highland-sheri-s-patrol- deputy/article_fe6a7a0c-59a7-11ea-8449-cbc5bf84d1e9.html

FEATURED The day of a Highland sheri’s patrol deputy

Jason Miller Feb 27, 2020

Highland Police Department Deputy Charlie Cuellar during patrol on Friday, Feb. 14. Highland Community News Photo by Jason Miller

The Highland Community News rode shotgun with two deputies, Deputy Lionel Brown and Deputy Charlie Cuellar during their respective shifts to see what an average day looks like for sheri’s deputies. https://www.highlandnews.net/news/public_safety/the-day-of-a-highland-sheriff-s-patrol-deputy/article_fe6a7a0c-59a7-11ea-8449-cbc5bf84d1e9.html 1/5 2/28/2020 The day of a Highland sheriff’s patrol deputy | Public Safety | highlandnews.net At the Highland station, 18 deputies from the San Bernardino Sheri’s department cover the city of Highland, about 18 square miles.

The Annual Crime Report for San Bernardino County in 2019, which includes Highland has not been completed yet; in 2018 Highland Police Department had 2,089 calls, 256 reports were led and there was an average of 80 adult arrests per deputy.

The day started with Cuellar half-way through his 12-hour day shift; as he was leaving Highland Station 13 Cuellar was on his way to a prior call regarding an abandoned car that had been parked, he received a call from dispatch of a father and son ghting on their property on the west side of Highland near Cypress Street. When he approached the scene it appeared that the ght was already over with the son the only one still present. Cuellar, upon checking the man's ID/record, found that he had a felony no-bail warrant for not attending a probation hearing. After reading the suspect his rights, Cuellar arrested him and put him in the back of the squad car to transport him down to Central Detention Center o of Rialto Avenue in San Bernardino.

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Since the outbreak of the coronavirus last December, the state and the county require medical personal at the jail to conduct a screening of all suspects being booked in the facility. The suspects/prisoners are asked three questions: Do they have a fever?, Are they are experiencing respiratory symptoms which may include cough or shortness of breath?, Have they traveled to China/Asia in the last 14 days before have any of the symptoms?

If any of the aforementioned symptoms meet the criteria the suspects are then isolated from other prisoners and put under quarantine until emergency medical personal have a chance to examine them at a hospital. Depending on how many suspects are being booked, it can sometimes take up to three hours to complete the process. In Cuellar’s case, the process took about an hour.

As Cuellar was leaving the jail, he received a radio call reporting a stolen truck in the city of Highland. Cuellar then radioed dispatch that he was responding as backup and took o speeding down Third Street with light and sirens. Cuellar said, that they often have to change the tone of the sirens as some people driving in front of them have their radios on too high and

https://www.highlandnews.net/news/public_safety/the-day-of-a-highland-sheriff-s-patrol-deputy/article_fe6a7a0c-59a7-11ea-8449-cbc5bf84d1e9.html 2/5 2/28/2020 The day of a Highland sheriff’s patrol deputy | Public Safety | highlandnews.net cannot hear him coming from behind. He also has to sometimes pause for cross trac in the intersection to let them through before driving through. About a quarter of a mile away from Base Line driving north on Victoria Avenue he received word from dispatch that another patrol ocer had caught the suspect in a carwash o of Base Line. Cuellar then proceeded to the scene without lights and sirens at normal speed to make sure his fellow patrolman had the manpower needed for that situation. After checking-in with the person in charge at the scene, Cuellar then proceeded to the original call of the abandoned car, but before he was halfway there he received another call from dispatch this time regarding a possible domestic violence call in east Highland. After arriving on scene, Cuellar saw that another deputy had responded and Cuellar got out of his patrol vehicle to make sure the deputy was able to handle the situation.

For those wondering what may have happened to that abandoned car, Cuellar nally did get around to it after responding to three other calls from dispatch including another for domestic violence, which ended up turning violent after a man hit his girlfriend in a Valentine's Day ght, the man was then arrested on felony charges. The car was found to be stolen and contained what appeared to be stolen items; Cuellar then had the car towed to impound.

Following that Cuellar headed back to Station 13 as it was the end of his day shift and Deputy Brown as he was beginning his graveyard shift. Brown then patrolled around west Highland before he was radioed by dispatch of an attempted break-in in an apartment complex near Elm Street; after lling out a police report from the residents Brown resumed his patrol of the area before he was called to a domestic violence call in east Highland from dispatch. In this case, the husband got into a ght with his wife over showing up late from work for Valentine's Day. As the man hit his wife he was arrested by another deputy that was already on scene, the charges against that are not known at this time.

Brown said that every time law enforcement has to pull over or detain someone they have to ll out a RIPA (Racial and Identity Proling Act) Report, which became law under Assembly Bill 953 in July of 2018. Ocers are now required to ll out this report and the information is then put into a database and given to the state RIPA Board that is overseen by the U.S. Department of Justice and California Attorney General.

The ocer/deputy has to provide the following:

https://www.highlandnews.net/news/public_safety/the-day-of-a-highland-sheriff-s-patrol-deputy/article_fe6a7a0c-59a7-11ea-8449-cbc5bf84d1e9.html 3/5 2/28/2020 The day of a Highland sheriff’s patrol deputy | Public Safety | highlandnews.net Original Agency Identier number (ORI)

Date, time, and duration of the stop

Location of stop

Perceived race or ethnicity of person stopped

Perceived gender of person stopped

The person stopped perceived to be LGBT

Perceived age of person stopped

If The person stopped has limited or no English uency

Perceived or known disability or person stopped

Reason for stop

If stop made in response to a call for service

Actions taken by an ocer during the stop

Results of stop

Ocer’s Identication (ID) Number

Ocer’s years of experience

Type of assignment of the ocer

According to the Highland Police Department, deputies are still adjusting to AB 953 and it has added to the amount of time it takes for each deputy to complete each incident.

Brown had to le one of these reports after he pulled over a possible DUI suspect with expired tags on his car.

https://www.highlandnews.net/news/public_safety/the-day-of-a-highland-sheriff-s-patrol-deputy/article_fe6a7a0c-59a7-11ea-8449-cbc5bf84d1e9.html 4/5 2/28/2020 The day of a Highland sheriff’s patrol deputy | Public Safety | highlandnews.net Brown said that only people can x themselves not law enforcement.

Jason Miller

https://www.highlandnews.net/news/public_safety/the-day-of-a-highland-sheriff-s-patrol-deputy/article_fe6a7a0c-59a7-11ea-8449-cbc5bf84d1e9.html 5/5 LOCAL NEWS San Bernardino commissioner alleges sexual harassment by Mayor John Valdivia Alissa Payne, 36, said Thursday, Feb. 27, Mayor John Valdivia also tried to get her drunk at a public meeting in January

Alissa Payne, a former legislative field representative, is one of four people to accuse thethe SanSan BernardinoBernardino MayorMayor JohnJohn ValdiviaValdivia ofof creatingcreating aa hostilehostile workwork environment,environment, speaks out during a press conference in front of the San Bernardino City Hall on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press- Enterprise/SCNG)

By BRIAN WHITEHEAD || [email protected] || SanSan BernardinoBernardino Sun PUBLISHED: February 27, 2020 at 11:53 a.m. || UPDATED:UPDATED: February 27, 2020 at 4:19 p.m.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/02/27/san-bernardino-commissioner-alleges-sexual-harassment-by-mayor-john-valdivia/ 1/6 2/28/2020 San Bernardino commissioner alleges sexual harassment by Mayor John Valdivia – San Bernardino Sun

A San Bernardino city commissioner has accused Mayor John Valdivia of sexual harassment, the third such allegation in as many weeks.

At a news conference Thursday, Feb. 27, in front of City Hall, Alissa Payne, 36, said Valdivia offered to put her and her children in an apartment last year, tried to get her drunk at a public dinner in January and subjected her to unwanted touchingtouching thatthat samesame evening.evening.

Payne, a mother of six, joins Mirna Cisneros, 30, and Karen Cervantes, 24, in accusing the San Bernardino mayor ofof abusingabusing hishis power.power.

In all, five people have come forward this month with allegations of sexual harassment and hostile work environment against the city’s top elected official.

“The mayor wants power and his way at all costs,” Payne said Thursday. “The mayor knew of my situation of being a single mother and he preyed on me and used me.”

Payne’s allegations come in the same week that Jackie Aboud, a former legislative fieldfield representative,representative, saidsaid ValdiviaValdivia created a hostile workplace duringduring herher timetime working in his office.

“I have daughters,” Payne said in an interview Thursday. “I have daughters and I have to set an example for my daughters, because if they were going through this I thinkthink II wouldwould bebe angryangry ifif theythey didn’tdidn’t comecome forward.forward.

“(Valdivia) has power over the decisions that affect my kids and me right now and I don’t want retaliation and I don’t want him having that power over anybody.”

Valdivia’s campaign consultant and spokesman, Chris Jones, said in an email Thursday that the mayor “is legally constrained from commenting on these matters until the city completes its investigation.”

City officials ordered the probe into Cisneros’ and Cervantes’ claims against Valdivia shortly after the two went public Feb. 5. The investigation is ongoing.

“A distinct pattern has become evident – a predatory pattern by Mayor John Valdivia of seeking out young women who are vulnerable, experiencing hardships and just starting their careers in government,” Rancho Cucamonga attorney Tristan Pelayes, who is representing all four women, said at Thursday’s news conference.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/02/27/san-bernardino-commissioner-alleges-sexual-harassment-by-mayor-john-valdivia/ 2/6 2/28/2020 San Bernardino commissioner alleges sexual harassment by Mayor John Valdivia – San Bernardino Sun “This pattern consists of sexually inappropriate behavior, manipulation through bullying and verbal abuse, and quid pro quo by promising promotions and career advancement opportunities,” Pelayes said.

Payne, who is active in the community and on social media, said Thursday that Councilwoman Sandra Ibarra approached her last fall about becoming a city commissioner. When she expressed reluctance to do so, Payne said, Ibarra told her: “Don’t worry about it. You’ll get it. You’re a pretty girl. All you have to do is stand there and let (Valdivia) look at you. He likes them young and pretty.”

Payne alleges the 2nd Ward councilwoman has told other commissioners the same.

Ibarra, who has called for the mayor to resign ifif thethe allegationsallegations againstagainst himhim areare true,true, declineddeclined toto commentcomment Thursday.Thursday.

As a member of the parks and recreation and arts commissions, Payne said Valdivia constantly winked and flirted with her in public and in private. He told her how to vote and what to do and say at meetings, Payne said.

Valdivia also asked her to meet him alone after hours and guaranteed her a seat on the City Council, Payne added.

On a Saturday in October, Payne said, Valdivia requested her help. When she told him in passing she was looking for a place to live, Payne said Valdivia offered to put her in an apartment.

She declined.

Last month, Payne said, she attended a dinner with Valdivia where she expected toto seesee otherother women,women, butbut sheshe waswas thethe onlyonly one.one. ValdiviaValdivia continuouslycontinuously askedasked herher toto drink and put his hands on her back, she said. At the end of the evening, Payne said she offered him her hand to shake and he pulled her in for a hug.

Payne said she learned of Cisneros’ and Cervantes’ allegations afterafter thethe dinnerdinner and has not spoken with Valdivia since.

She plans to file a claim against the city.

“The minute I found out Mirna and Karen came out, I wasn’t shocked at the allegations,” Payne said. “I was shocked that I wasn’t the only one. I thought he was doing this on the side, but he was doing it in the open to a bunch of us.”

Thursday, a week after calling for Valdivia to resign if the initial allegations against him were true, Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, called for the mayor to step down immediately. https://www.sbsun.com/2020/02/27/san-bernardino-commissioner-alleges-sexual-harassment-by-mayor-john-valdivia/ 3/6 2/28/2020 San Bernardino commissioner alleges sexual harassment by Mayor John Valdivia – San Bernardino Sun “I’ve seen enough,” Aguilar wrote in a tweet.. “This“This patternpattern ofof harassmentharassment andand abuse is unacceptable, and Mayor Valdivia needs to step down immediately. I believe these women, and I admire their courage to come forward.”

Rep. Pete Aguilar @RepPeteAguilar

I'veI've seenseen enough.enough. ThisThis patternpattern ofof harassmentharassment andand abuseabuse isis unacceptable, and Mayor Valdivia needs to step down immediately.immediately. II believebelieve thesethese women,women, andand II admireadmire theirtheir couragecourage toto come forward. sbsun.com/2020/02/27/san…

San Bernardino commissioner alleges sexual harassment by M… Alissa Payne, 36, said Thursday, Feb. 27, he tried to get her drunk at a public meeting. sbsun.com

25 1:52 PM - Feb 27, 2020

See Rep. Pete Aguilar's other Tweets

Also on Thursday, Don Smith, a part-time legislative field representative for the mayor, said Valdivia has mentally and verbally abused him over the past year and a half.

Smith said the mayor has ordered him to work extra hours unpaid and has promised him promotional opportunities. Smith alleges Valdivia has had him run personal errands on city time.

“He routinely threatened my job as a means to bully me,” Smith said. “The mayor trulytruly believesbelieves hehe isis aboveabove thethe law.”law.”

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/02/27/san-bernardino-commissioner-alleges-sexual-harassment-by-mayor-john-valdivia/ 4/6 2/28/2020 San Bernardino commissioner alleges sexual harassment by Mayor John Valdivia – San Bernardino Sun About a dozen people gathered Thursday at City Hall with signs supporting Valdivia.

Following the morning press conference, protestor Angela Torres, vice chairwoman of the city charter review committee, said she feels the accusations need to be handled and dealt with differently.

“I haven’t heard exactly everything” about the allegations, she said in an interview, “but I can tell you when it comes down to disgruntled employees, cutbacks, budget cuts, everything changes. People start dramatizing things and they start insinuatinginsinuating justjust toto getget theirtheir benefit,benefit, andand II don’tdon’t thinkthink it’sit’s right.”right.” More Women Come Forward With Allegations Against San Bernardino Mayor

February 26, 2020 at 10:32 pm Filed Under: Mayor John Valdivia, San Bernardino, San Bernardino Mayor, San Bernardino News, Sexual Harassment

RANCHO CUCAMONGA (CBSLA) — More women have come forward to accuse a local mayor of creating a hostile work environment alleging he made unwanted advances and retaliated when they spoke up. “It’s hard for me to wake up everyday and know that he’s still in ofce,” Alissa Payne, a working mother speaking out against San Bernardino Mayor John Valdivia.

Valdivia has been called on the mat again by yet another young woman who worked with him.

“I tried my hardest to ignore the advances and the unwanted physical touching,” Payne said. Alissa Payne said she was the victim of “But when he came out in the unwanted advances and retaliation at the hands of San Bernardino Mayor John Valdivia. open and clearly offered to (CBSLA) provide me an apartment.”

That was when Payne said she realized he was crossing the line of kindness and acting like a creep. The working mother does a lot of volunteer work. She coaches inner city softball, collects Christmas trees for struggling families and even coordinated a mobile shower to help the homeless in San Bernardino.

“I thought I’d be able to be a part of that change,” Payne said.

She said Valdivia noticed her acts and helped her become a volunteer city commissioner, but she said he later forcefully hugged her at a commissioners’ dinner.

“I felt so cheap,” she said.

She then stepped away from her volunteer role, but immediately after doing that, she said somebody reported the mobile shower she had set up and shut it down.

“If you’re willing to do this to a non-paid employee, to somebody in the community who wants to help, what else will he do with his power,” she said.

RELATED: 2 Women Accuse San Bernardino Mayor John Valdivia Of Sexual Harassment

Attorney Tristan Pelayes said he can prove a pattern of the mayor preying on at least six vulnerable young women, and that he kept his alleged victims in fear by having them sign non-disclosure agreements.

“Everything a sexual predator will do, Mr. Valdivia did,” Pelayes said.

The city of San Bernardino did not respond to a request for comment, but the mayor has previously called the women’s claims false and politically motivated.

“They’re terried of coming forward,” Pelayes said of the women.

https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/02/26/more-women-come-forward-with-allegations-against-san-bernardino-mayor/ 2/4 2/28/2020 More Women Come Forward With Allegations Against San Bernardino Mayor – CBS Los Angeles Pelayes said he has led a couple of claims against the city that he said will eventually turn into lawsuits. 2/28/2020 Fontana hires Dana Point executive as city manager – San Bernardino Sun

LOCAL NEWS Fontana hires Dana Point executive as city manager

Mark Denny is the newly hired city manager of Fontana. “I’m really thrilled to join the team,”team,” hehe said.said. (Photo(Photo byby DavidDavid Allen,Allen, InlandInland ValleyValley DailyDaily Bulletin/SCNG)Bulletin/SCNG)

By DAVID ALLEN || [email protected] || InlandInland ValleyValley DailyDaily BulletinBulletin PUBLISHED: February 27, 2020 at 3:01 p.m. || UPDATED:UPDATED: February 27, 2020 at 3:02 p.m.

Giving the invocation at the start of Tuesday’s Fontana City Council meeting, Councilman Phillip Cothran expressed the hope “that our city will be honored by thethe choiceschoices thatthat wewe make.”make.” 2/28/2020 Fontana hires Dana Point executive as city manager – San Bernardino Sun The most important choice by council members had just been made in closed session. They’d agreed, albeit not unanimously, to hire Fontana’s first new city manager this century.

Mark Denny, currently the city manager of Dana Point,, willwill replacereplace KenKen Hunt,Hunt, who started in 1999 and left abruptly last July under still-murky circumstances..

Having written about Hunt’s leave-taking, I made sure to be in the Council Chambers for the hiring of his successor. Denny was pointed out to me in the back row with city staff, I introduced myself and he invited me to take the empty seat to his right.

When the meeting opened, City Attorney Ruben Duran announced Denny’s hiring. The vote, he said, had been 3-1: Jesse Armendarez, Phillip Cothran and John Roberts in favor and Jesse Sandoval opposed. Mayor Acquanetta Warren was on vacation, attending a friend’s wedding in Italy.

“I’m really thrilled to join the team in Fontana,” Denny said in brief comments when he was called up to speak.

When Denny returned to his seat, he let out a sigh of relief, then pulled out his phone. “Let me tell my wife,” he said to me before shooting a text to Kathi.

As usual with a city council meeting, a few items of interest occurred, some of themthem faintlyfaintly ridiculous:ridiculous:

•• Armendarez Armendarez sworeswore inin threethree newnew policepolice officers,officers, askingasking themthem toto putput theirtheir rightright hand on their Bible. To prompt the councilman, Police Chief Billy Green, standing behind them, pantomimed raising his left hand. Taking the cue, sort of, Armendarez told the officers, “Raise your right hand.” Well, it was his right, since theythey werewere facingfacing him.him.

•• One One officer,officer, introducingintroducing hishis wifewife whowho waswas standingstanding nextnext toto him,him, toldtold thethe audience, “My two daughters are out there somewhere.” Then he looked down and saw one of the girls clinging to his wife’s leg. “Oh, here’s one of them right here,” he said in surprise. I hope he’s not assigned to the detective bureau.

•• Renderings Renderings ofof aa plannedplanned medicalmedical clinicclinic atat BaseBase LineLine RoadRoad andand SierraSierra AvenueAvenue showed a boxy L-shaped building with a blank wall facing the prominent corner. Cothran said the design resembles “a prison.” The architect blamed Arrowhead Regional Medical Center’s “pretty strict design standards.” So Arrowhead mandates that their facilities resemble prisons? Arrowhead, heal thyself. The council approved the plans but asked for numerous upgrades, including a planter or fountain on the corner.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/02/27/fontana-hires-dana-point-executive-as-city-manager/ 2/5 2/28/2020 Fontana hires Dana Point executive as city manager – San Bernardino Sun At meeting’s end, Roberts, the council’s only holdover from Hunt’s hiring two decades ago, declared regarding Denny: “I think great times are ahead. Thank you forfor steppingstepping upup andand makingmaking FontanaFontana youryour newnew home.”home.”

Interim City Manager Mike Milhiser said applicants were screened by a panel that includedincluded GregGreg Devereaux,Devereaux, aa consultantconsultant whowho waswas Hunt’sHunt’s predecessorpredecessor asas citycity manager. Nice of Devereaux to keep his hand in.

Milhiser, hired in July, has two meetings left before Denny starts April 6. The white-haired Milhiser, 72, pointed out that Denny, 51, is considerably younger and has no gray hair.

City Clerk Tonia Lewis warned Denny: “We can turn your hair white real quick.”

When the meeting adjourned, I introduced myself to Sandoval and asked about his no vote. “I just feel it wasn’t the right fit for Fontana,” he said. He didn’t explain furtherfurther butbut said,said, “you“you cancan GoogleGoogle him.”him.”

Indeed, a Google search revealed that Denny, then a staffer for Republican Assemblyman Curt Pringle, pleaded guilty in 1996 toto aa misdemeanormisdemeanor countcount ofof election fraud for helping get a weak Democrat on the ballot to siphon votes away fromfrom aa strongerstronger DemocratDemocrat challengerchallenger toto aa favoredfavored Republican.Republican. DennyDenny waswas sentenced to community service, three years’ probation and a $2,800 fine.

Sandoval was the only one for whom that was an issue. Warren was quoted in a city statement Wednesday that Denny “is an ideal choice” for the job. (She did not add: “Arrivederci, Italy!”)

Wisely leaving politics, Denny wentwent toto workwork forfor OrangeOrange County’sCounty’s government,government, firstfirst as parks director and then as chief operating officer, and since 2017 has overseen Dana Point, the south Orange County coastal city of 33,000.

I asked about Sandoval’s no vote. “Obviously I’m going to work to earn the trust and support of all five of them,” Denny told me.

He will be paid $297,675 per year, plus benefits, a city vehicle and $28,000 per year inin deferreddeferred compensation.compensation. Hunt,Hunt, as I wrote in December,, isis stillstill onon thethe payrollpayroll forfor $440,000 in pay and benefits through Jan. 31, 2021 under the terms of his separation agreement, which called for him to clam up.

“I understand he worked his entire career here and helped move this city to where it is today,” Denny said of Hunt. “I want to take what he did and move it forwardforward withwith thethe council’scouncil’s direction.”direction.”

The affable Denny dipped his head and pointed out that he does have some gray hair. https://www.sbsun.com/2020/02/27/fontana-hires-dana-point-executive-as-city-manager/ 3/5 2/28/2020 Fontana hires Dana Point executive as city manager – San Bernardino Sun Although Fontana will be his new work home, he’s staying put in San Clemente, where he and his wife only recently moved.

Coincidentally, San Clemente is also the home of James Makshanoff, Pomona’s new city manager,, andand he’she’s notnot movingmoving either.either. TwoTwo SanSan ClementeansClementeans areare nownow running cities in the 909? I did not see that trend coming.

Valley Vignette

Crusty Tart Bakery in Upland is closing Friday after 32 years. Reader Julia Parra, a longtimelongtime customer,customer, alertedalerted me.me. “Gabriel“Gabriel andand II areare readyready toto retireretire andand startstart aa newnew chapter in our lives,” co-owner Maria Jacobo posted on Facebook.. TheThe bakerybakery atat 130 S. Mountain Ave. made cookies for the movie “Christmas With the Kranks” and sold its wares in street markets in Upland and La Verne. “We want to thank all our customers and their families and appreciate all the business and support throughoutthroughout thethe years,”years,” MariaMaria wrote.wrote.

David Allen writes Friday, Sunday and Wednesday, tartly. Email [email protected], phone 909-483-9339, visit insidesocal.com/davidallen, like davidallencolumnist on Facebook and follow @davidallen909 on Twitter. 2/28/2020 Adelanto planning commissioner removed a week after opposing GEO expansion - News - vvdailypress.com - Victorville, CA

Adelanto planning commissioner removed a week after opposing GEO expansion By Martin Estacio Staff Writer Posted Feb 27, 2020 at 8:37 PM ADELANTO — A city planning commissioner who opposed a private prison’s expansion and addition of 750 beds for federal immigration detainees has been unseated, one week after his vote against the move.

The Adelanto City Council on Wednesday voted 3-1 to remove Vice Chairman JayShawn Johnson. Mayor Pro Tem Gerardo Hernandez introduced the motion, citing “extremely disturbing” comments made by the commissioner at the last Planning Commission meeting.

Council member Stevevonna Evans, who appointed Johnson, voted against his removal. Council member Ed Camargo abstained.

On Feb. 19, Johnson cast the lone no vote in a move that allows GEO Group to use a prison, which houses state inmates until Feb. 29, for the intake of detainees under custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“After doing my due diligence, and I am confident that the members of this body have done so as well, several conflicts were discovered, and this appears to be a sinister plan that began last year,” Johnson said before the Planning Commission’s 4-1 vote.

He said he felt “uneasy” when City Manager Jessie Flores terminated a contract between Adelanto, GEO and ICE in March 2019, a move that some critics have said was made so the private prison could legally expand and circumvent state law.

Johnson also said the way in which the permit modification was submitted in the mail by GEO “caused me to raise an eyebrow” and was not common practice for the city.

Hernandez said Wednesday that his call for Johnson’s removal was based on comments made after the Planning Commission’s approval.

According to the mayor pro tem, Johnson belittled and berated his fellow commissioners and “made reference to them accepting money outside closed doors.”

In an interview with the Daily Press on Thursday, Johnson denied the accusations, calling them false.

“As we know, commissioners serve at the pleasure of the Council as appointed officials, and the Council has the authority and the right to appoint and remove as they see fit, with or without merit,” he said. “But if a reason is given, at least that reason should be factual.”

After the Feb. 19 decision, Johnson expressed disappointment with the Commission’s approval, video from the meeting shows.

“With all the respect that I have for this body tonight, I admonish you,” he said, adding that voting against GEO’s expansion was a difficult decision because company officials had argued not expanding would leave over 100 people without jobs.

“But procedurally, we can’t keep being complicit with what’s going on that’s not right in upper management,” Johnson continued. “This was an opportunity to show that we’re not in agreement with the things that are happening in the city. We’re shrouded in controversy. We’re shrouded in scandals. And this was a way to show something different. And tonight, we fell right back into that same trap, and I’m very disappointed.”

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Hernandez and Adelanto Mayor Gabriel Reyes did not respond to requests for comment sent Thursday via Facebook Messenger and text message, respectively.

During the Council meeting, Evans disagreed with Hernandez’s description of Johnson’s comments as an “attack” on fellow commissioners.

“I think that we cannot set precedent of removing people from positions because we don’t like something they said,” she said Wednesday.

On Thursday, Evans told the Daily Press that Johnson’s removal was retaliation for his being a “whistleblower.”

Advocate groups have blasted GEO since its Adelanto ICE Processing Center was found to be violating federal detention standards, and lacking medical and dental care, according to government watchdog reports.

At the time, GEO officials said they took the reports’ findings “very seriously” and had started to work with ICE to address the issues.

The relationship between Adelanto and GEO has also been the subject of scrutiny, particularly over the past year as state law has effectively banned private prisons and immigration centers.

The contract Flores terminated in March, which Johnson spoke of on Feb. 19, known as an intergovernmental service agreement, or IGSA, was severed after GEO officials asked the city manager for its “cooperation” in an earlier memo, according to a previous Daily Press report.

Under California law, the contract Adelanto had with GEO and ICE restricted the private company from expanding the number of its beds for immigration detainees, which included the 1,940-bed ICE processing center already in the city.

“GEO pressured Adelanto to do this first,” immigrant rights advocate Lizbeth Abeln said at the time.

In January, The Palm Springs Desert Sun reported on emails that showed GEO would continue to pay the city a $50,000 administrative fee for facilitating the IGSA, despite the contract’s termination.

That’s in addition to a development agreement with GEO that nets the city almost $1 million a year.

In December, GEO announced it had signed two 15-year contracts directly with ICE to operate four private detention centers.

These included the Adelanto ICE Processing Center and an annex, the 750-bed Desert View Modified Community Correctional Facility, that hadn’t yet been approved for detainees until the Feb. 19 Planning Commission vote.

The contracts were signed just days before Assembly Bill 32, a state law that bans the use of private prisons and immigration centers but allows their continued operation if the contracts were in effect before Jan. 1.

The move was rebuked by Congressional lawmakers and advocate groups, who said the contracts flew in the face of the law’s intent.

Johnson also questioned GEO’s motives on Feb. 19, asking how the company could sign into contracts with the federal government for a certain number of beds before the conversion of the Desert View facility could be approved by the Planning Commission.

“How do you enter into a contract for beds that, at that point, you technically didn’t have?” he said before the expansion’s approval. “What made the GEO Group so sure that this modification would be approved?”

Martin Estacio may be reached at [email protected] or at 760-955-5358. Follow him on Twitter @DP_mestacio.

https://www.vvdailypress.com/news/20200227/adelanto-planning-commissioner-removed-week-after-opposing-geo-expansion?utm_source=SFMC&ut… 2/4 HEALTH & MEDICINE Why coronavirus could have slipped into U.S. long before screenings, travel restrictions

BY CATHIE ANDERSON AND DARRELL SMITH

FEBRUARY 28, 2020 07:31 AM     As public health investigators try to track down how a Solano County woman ended up getting a case of new coronavirus, two epidemiologists told The Sacramento Bee that the illness could have arrived in the United States days or even weeks before screenings and travel suspensions began.

Researchers have run models of the evolution of this virus, and they say it’s more likely that it first emerged in early to mid-November, said Catherine Troisi, a professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. That means the virus was floating around the Wuhan area for as many as 11 weeks before the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the first U.S. case on Jan. 21.

Put that together with the fact that thousands of people travel through Wuhan’s airport daily, heading to foreign destinations, Troisi said, and it’s likely that the highly transmissible COVID-19 pathogen caught a ﬂight to the United States before the outbreak caught the world’s attention.

In January, when oﬃcials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ﬁnally began their testing, they limited it:

▪ To travelers who had returned from traveling in China within a 14-day period and showed respiratory distress.

▪ Or to people who had close contact with such a traveler and showed symptoms.

The policy meant that no one could say whether the new coronavirus had already surfaced in individuals who were hospitalized with pneumonia.

“You only have the opportunity to be counted as a case if you’ve been tested,” Troisi said, “as of a couple days ago, there had been only 426 tests done in all of the United States.”

By Thursday, the CDC website said there had been just 445 tests performed.

Epidemiologist Christine Kreuder Johnson said: “We know that oftentimes diseases are recognized only at the tip of the iceberg where the more severe cases get the health care facilities and testing is initiated, so ... there could be other cases that we don’t know about. This news from (Wednesday) is our ﬁrst indication that’s possible.”

Johnson and her colleagues at the University of California, Davis, have been leading a global investigation into coronaviruses and other pathogens that can be transmitted to humans. Right now, Johnson said, they are supporting colleagues around the globe who are being asked to do case detection for the ﬁrst time in their country. UCD researchers are supporting them with test interpretation.

In early January in Nepal, a UC Davis partner used testing protocols they had developed to diagnose a case of the new coronavirus, Johnson said.

CDC EXPANDS TESTING

She predicted early Thursday that the CDC would expand testing now that they have discovered a case of unknown origin in Solano County, and later that day, CDC Director Robert Redﬁeld told congressional leaders that his agency had changed the criteria for testing and now planned to test people hospitalized with unexplained cases of pneumonia.

Troisi said she felt that “the reason testing is not being done is not because nobody wants to test. It’s because nobody has the testing kits, and once those become available, which they will — and hopefully very soon — more testing will be done.

Until there is broader testing, Johnson said, it will be difficult to know whether prior testing efforts were sufficient.

At a news conference Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that California would rapidly and “exponentially” expand its ability to test for COVID-19. Newsom vowed that “we will meet this moment,” saying that CDC oﬃcials spoke with him about boosting California’s testing capability.

“The CDC is assuring us that testing protocols will be enhanced with urgency. The CDC is moving expeditiously on this,” Newsom said, adding that “there is nothing more important than point-of- contact testing.”

In the case of the UC Davis patient, doctors had requested a coronavirus test shortly after the patient arrived Feb. 19 from another hospital in Northern California., according to a statement from UCD Health Chief Executive Oﬃcer David Lubarsky and UCD Interim CEO Brad Simmons. The medical team at the prior hospital said she had a virus, so they transferred her with orders that all personnel use personal protective gear to guard against droplets, Simmons and Lubarsky said.

It was four days before the CDC sent someone to take samples and run the test, according to the UCD statement. During that time, medical personnel used protective equipment when with the patient, Simmons and Lubarsky said, but still, out of an abundance of caution, they had asked the team to take time oﬀ at home and monitor themselves for symptoms.

UC Davis Health patients and their relatives told The Bee that they worried about the possibility of exposure at the hospital because it was a week before anyone knew the patient had coronavirus.

Medical center leaders posted a Q&A online at the UCD Health website on Thursday, explaining how the organization puts patient safety ﬁrst.

“Patients and visitors should know that we have the right people, with the right training, facilities and processes to ensure a healthy and safe environment for everyone at all times,” oﬃcials noted in the Q&A. “UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento is open and serving patients. Taking care of individuals with complex illnesses such as an infectious disease, like novel coronavirus (COVID- 19), is nothing new for our care teams – we do it every single day. “

‘THE VERY BEST AT WHAT THEY DO’

The Bee asked union leaders whether their members were concerned about the possibility of infection.

AFSCME 3299, which represents thousands of patient care workers at the medical center, sent a statement that, in part, read: “Together with UC doctors, nurses and other technicians, AFSCME 3299-represented ... workers are the very best at what they do.”

“We are working closely with UC and other medical center stakeholders to follow all CDC guidelines with respect to detection, treatment and prevention of coronavirus — and in many cases, to exceed them. The public should be conﬁdent in the quality of care and safety precautions being undertaken by our members.”

The UCD case brought home the potential risks in only testing people who had traveled to China. Public health oﬃcials say they have people on the ground in Solano County tracking down close contacts of the woman, and they have quarantined and isolated an unspeciﬁed number of hospital employees who came into contact with the patient at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital.

Johnson said it’s crucial that the front-line medical team are protected: “Based on what we know today, we need more diagnostic testing. There are various diagnostic tests that can support each other in the conﬁrmation of a positive or a negative, not just one test. We need multiple tests, and we need them ready at the hands of doctors at the minute they suspect.”

As for the public health investigation into the Solano case, Johnson said, no one knows what will be found. It could be that the individual unknowingly or unwittingly came into contact with a traveler who had been to China or came into contact with a surface that such a traveler touched. Contact tracing will be very diﬃcult in this instance, she said.

The New York Times reported Thursday that a government whistleblower ﬁled a complaint with the Oﬃce of the Special Counsel, alleging that federal employees were not given any protective gear or training when they had been sent to help process U.S. evacuees from Wuhan, China, at Travis Air Force Base and other military installations. Travis is located in Solano County, where the UCD patient lived.

What people should know, Troisi said, is that those who have coronavirus can transmit it before symptoms show up and, in fact, the person shedding the virus may never experience symptoms.

DON’T PANIC. PREPARE, EXPERTS SAY

Despite this and other challenges, neither Troisi nor Johnson expressed fear or anxieties about living in a world where they could encounter someone with coronavirus. Johnson said people should prepare, not panic.

“I understand outbreak epidemiology enough to know we can minimize community spread through actions,” Johnson said. “We can take action. We are not hopeless. I think people get very worried when they feel they don’t have any control over a situation, but there is a lot we can do to minimize community spread of a virus here in the U.S.”

What does preparation look like? Johnson suggested individuals go to the CDC site and learn about the ways to prevent the virus: hand-washing, staying at home when you’re sick, and covering your mouth with your elbow or tissue when sneezing or coughing.

Schools and businesses can prepare by making decisions on what procedures they will implement if there’s widespread transmission and communicating that to parents and workers respectively. What would they consider in terms of allowing work outside the oﬃce or school?

At UC Davis, Johnson said, the faculty and staﬀ are “looking at sharing best practices in minimizing infectious disease transmission, and for respiratory diseases, we are sharing best practices in workplace preparedness so that everyone has all the information they need and nobody feels worried because of lack of information.”

Does this mean they’re also stocking up on those N95 respirator masks that are hard to ﬁnd around the region?

“No, we’re not,” she said. “The masks have only been recommended for people who are actually sick with COVID-19.” 2/28/2020 Los Angeles Times - eNewspaper

As virus spreads, testing is under scrutiny

Problems with federal government response to coronavirus could be fueling undetected U.S. cases, experts say. BY EMILY BAUMGAERTNER, ALEX WIGGLESWORTH AND COLLEEN SHALBY The four-day delay in testing a Northern California patient who appears to be the first in the United States to contract the coronavirus from community contact highlights growing questions about the federal government’s testing policies and protocols as the virus continues to spread. A growing number of experts have said problems with the test process — including ineffective test kits and restrictive rules on who gets tested — could fuel the undetected spread of the virus. “When you miss cases, you can’t isolate them, test their families or get a hold on this before it keeps spreading,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiology expert at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Until Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention restricted coronavirus testing to patients with clear symptoms of infection who had either traveled to China recently or been in contact with someone who had tested positive for the virus. As the virus outpaced detection efforts around the world, that gateway to testing proved far too narrow. As early as last week, doctors at UC Davis Medical Center had suspected coronavirus in the patient’s case and immediately requested testing from the CDC. But it was another four days before the test was done. During that time, others in the area could have been exposed to the virus. On Thursday, the CDC expanded the criteria for who qualifies for testing to include sick patients who had traveled to Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea. Severely ill patients with acute lower respiratory sickness who are hospitalized will now also be tested, even if they have no known link to the coronavirus outbreak.

But The CDC faces growing political backlash.

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California Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday called on the White House to start rapid testing of all suspected cases, saying the identification of coronavirus patients quickly is essential limiting the spread. Gov. Gavin Newsom said California is in desperate need of test kits. The state has just 200 kits for diagnostic and surveillance purposes, but federal officials have promised more will arrive in the coming days, he said. “We are currently in deep partnership with the CDC on one overriding protocol that drives our principal focus right now, and that’s testing,” Newsom said, calling expanded testing “our top priority, not just in the state of California but, I imagine, across the United States.” Such an expansion includes both broadening the criteria that a person must meet to be tested for COVID-19, as well as getting more coronavirus test kits sent to California, he said. The kits themselves have come under growing scrutiny. The CDC distributed test kits to partner laboratories across the country, but many of those campuses ran into problems with one of the ingredients, leading to inconclusive test results. Most public health officials needed to send specimens to the CDC’s central laboratories in Atlanta for testing, a process that can take up to 48 hours, creating a bottleneck. “We’ve only had a handful of labs that can test with it. The rest have been on pause,” said Scott Becker, the executive director of the Assn. of Public Health Laboratories. “When you’re waiting 48 hours to get a response from the CDC, you’re burning through equipment caring for a patient, just waiting to see the results.” The problem grew so troublesome that state and local laboratories began seeking permission from the Food and Drug Administration to bypass standard regulations and design and launch their own tests rather than rely on the federal one. On Thursday morning, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told members of Congress the problem had been resolved. The FDA approved a modified protocol that circumvents the issue. Forty local and state public health labs, as well as some run by the Pentagon, are already authorized to begin using the modified test, and more than 50 others will be doing the same by next week, he added. Delays and missteps in coronavirus testing have caused major issues across the country, where public health officials on the front lines are stretched thin. Epidemic preparedness is already “a victim of roller coaster funding,” Becker said, and the baseline shortage of equipment and personnel are exacerbated.

In addition to preparedness duties — developing local guidance, tracing patients’ contacts, working with schools and churches to community — officials are having to do more for people quarantined at home. Health workers are delivering groceries to keep them at https://enewspaper.latimes.com/desktop/latimes/default.aspx?edid=c42f40ce-2599-41f3-a21e-f2408872bb85 2/4 2/28/2020 Los Angeles Times - eNewspaper

home, said Adriane Casalotti, chief of government and public affairs at the National Assn. of County and City Health Officials. Above all, the burden on individual families is heaviest. “In most jobs in this country, you can’t work from a laptop on your couch. When there are delays in diagnostics, we’re out there asking real people to choose between the public’s health and their own financial well-being — them keeping their jobs. For individual families, this is complicated and messy,” Casalotti said. Critics said the slow testing process could mean coronavirus is already spreading in U.S. communities. But because the virus’ symptoms are frequently mild, people might be spreading it unknowingly. A Japanese couple visiting Waikiki Beach in Hawaii tested positive for the virus after returning to Asia, but Nuzzo and other epidemiologists say the virus’ incubation period suggests that they could have contracted it on U.S. soil. Hawaiian authorities were so alarmed by the limited testing capabilities in the U.S. that they requested permission from CDC authorities to use a tool from Japan. On Thursday, the focus on coronavirus in the U.S. centered on Solano County. UC Davis officials said the coronavirus patient arrived at its medical center from another hospital Feb. 19 but was not tested until Sunday. There is no evidence the woman had traveled from a coronavirus hotspot or was in contact with someone who had. The hospital said precautions had been put in place because of healthcare workers’ concerns about the patient’s condition. It asked a “small number” of employees to stay home and monitor their temperature. The woman was “in her community” for a number of days before accessing care, California Health and Human Services Agency Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly said Thursday. Investigators are now working to find and contact any people who may have come in contact with the woman. The CDC has sent 10 staffers to help trace her contacts, Newsom said. Healthcare workers, including some students from UC Davis and other colleges, are under self-quarantine because they might have exposed to the virus. Solano County is home to Travis Air Force Base, where several hundred people were quarantined after returning on repatriation flights from Wuhan, China, and the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. Reports from Washington indicated that a whistleblower had alleged that federal health workers were not provided adequate training and protective gear when dealing with quarantined people at Travis and a second California base.

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A total of 33 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus in California, and five have since left the state, Newsom said. Of the confirmed cases, 24 were evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship or traveled on repatriation flights from Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Newsom said more than 8,400 people are being monitored in 49 local jurisdictions. COVID-19 has infected more than 83,000 people in about three dozen countries since it was discovered in late December. More than 2,800 have died, most of them in mainland China. There are currently 60 confirmed cases in the United States.

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Lawmakers demand answers on virus

Congressional critics press health officials on the COVID-19 response and troubles with testing kits.

VICE PRESIDENT Mike Pence greets a worker at the operations center at the Department of Health and Human Services. All public communications on the coronavirus are to be coordinated through Pence’s office. (Andrew Harnik Associated Press) BY NOAM N. LEVEY AND JENNIFER HABERKORN

WASHINGTON — Fearful that more Americans may have coronavirus than is known, senior Trump administration officials told Congress on Thursday they are speeding distribution of testing kits to better assess the risk of a widespread outbreak in the United States.

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But the assurances from Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services, did not quell lawmakers’ criticism that the White House hasn’t adequately prepared for a potential public health crisis. And several Democrats raised concerns that Azar’s department did not adequately train or provide necessary protective gear to health workers sent to assist Americans flown back from coronavirus hot zones in China and elsewhere last month and quarantined at Travis Air Force Base and March Air Reserve Base in California. The accusations of improper safety protocols, including allowing the health workers to leave the bases, were outlined in a whistleblower complaint from an unidentified official in the Health and Human Services Department. In a statement, the department said it was “evaluating the complaint.” Further roiling Washington was a White House move to channel all public comments by federal health officials through the vice president’s office. It stoked new concerns that President Trump and his deputies are seeking to withhold crucial information for partisan purposes. “The American people do not need or want uninformed opinions or spin from its leaders,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday. “They want the truth.” Democrats hammered administration officials at two congressional hearings Thursday, demanding more details on the public health response. Those demands took on urgency after officials confirmed that a woman in Northern California with coronavirus was not tested for more than week after she was admitted to the UC Davis Medical Center. Wider spread of coronavirus “could have begun yesterday,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) angrily told Azar, who testified at a budget hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee. “The question is whether the administration is moving based on this serious concern, or just putting a happy face on all this, [hoping] it will all go away when the spring flowers come out,” Doggett said. Azar insisted the administration response was well orchestrated and denied any knowledge of inadequate safety procedures at the California military bases. Testifying before a House foreign affairs subcommittee, Dr. Robert Redfield, who heads the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, sought to strike a balance between reassurance and vigilance.

He said the CDC assesses that the risk of infection “remains low,” but the agency anticipates more so-called community cases, like the patient in California who told authorities she had not traveled abroad or been exposed to someone with the virus.

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At this point, her case is the first known infection that was transmitted from an unknown source in the United States. But the extent of community transmission remains a mystery since U.S. public health officials have had limited ability to track the disease. Lawmakers expressed concern about delays in getting effective testing kits to laboratories around the country after defects with existing lab kits came to light, forcing labs to put testing on hold as the virus spread. “That was a really, really uncomfortable position to be in,” said Scott Becker, who heads the Assn. of Public Health Laboratories, a trade group. Azar said more than 40 public health laboratories should be able to use a modified test kit for the new coronavirus, known as COVID-19. He said another test could be sent to 93 public health labs “as soon as Monday.” There were other signs of progress Thursday. Vice President Mike Pence, whom Trump named Wednesday as his coronavirus response coordinator, appointed Dr. Deborah L. Birx, an expert on HIV/AIDS, to a coronavirus task force, a move that drew bipartisan praise. Birx, a diplomat who oversees U.S. efforts to combat HIV/AIDS globally, is a well- respected immunologist who has worked at the Pentagon and the CDC. On Capitol Hill, senior lawmakers said they are close to a bipartisan deal to boost funding for the public health response, with votes expected as soon as next week. The final total is likely to be more than $4 billion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Schumer warned that Democrats won’t support a spending package unless Trump is barred from using the money for anything other than coronavirus. The White House has repeatedly sought to use Defense Department funding to build the president’s border wall. The Democratic leaders also said they would insist any vaccines are affordable and available to all who need it. The conditions reflect distrust between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration, whose mixed messages about the coronavirus threat have appalled many public health experts. Exacerbating the mistrust, the White House decided that all public communications on coronavirus by federal agencies would be coordinated by Pence’s office, according to an administration official.

Under other circumstances, the effort to control messaging, which was first reported by the New York Times, might draw little criticism since public health experts emphasize the need for clear and consistent communication in a public health crisis. But Trump’s record of attacking scientists and experts and his efforts to downplay the coronavirus risks, even as CDC experts sounded more serious warnings, cast the move in https://enewspaper.latimes.com/desktop/latimes/default.aspx?edid=c42f40ce-2599-41f3-a21e-f2408872bb85 3/4 2/28/2020 Los Angeles Times - eNewspaper

a darker light. “There’s nothing wrong with a coordinated process inside the federal government to make sure it is sending out clear, fact-based information,” said Dr. Michael Carome, who directs health research at Public Citizen, a leading consumer advocacy group. “But there’s every reason to suspect something else is happening — that public health experts are being instructed to stay silent because they are sharing truthful information that the Trump administration finds inconvenient,” he added. Times staff writer Eli Stokols in Washington contributed to this report.

https://enewspaper.latimes.com/desktop/latimes/default.aspx?edid=c42f40ce-2599-41f3-a21e-f2408872bb85 4/4 Gov. Newsom details 33 California coronavirus cases; state calls latest a ‘turning point’

BY SOPHIA BOLLAG

FEBRUARY 27, 2020 11:58 AM    

The latest California coronavirus patient receiving treatment in Sacramento who caught the virus from an unknown person represents a “turning point,” but risk to the public remains low, the director of California’s Public Health Department said Thursday.

Oﬃcials have traced the other 32 cases identiﬁed in California to international travel or contact with an infected spouse, California Department of Public Health Director Sonia Angell said during a news conference in Sacramento. Five of the infected people have since left the state, leaving 28 still in California.

The state only has about 200 kits to test for coronavirus, which Gov. Gavin Newsom said is “simply inadequate.”

Federal health oﬃcials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say more kits are on the way and should arrive in a matter of days, Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said.

Newsom said the new kits would “exponentially” increase the state’s ability to monitor and treat the virus. More than 8,000 people in California are being monitored for the virus because they have traveled recently in Asia, state health oﬃcials said.

“It’s natural to feel concerned about the novel coronavirus, but I want Californians to know that we have rigorously planned for this public health event,” Ghaly said.

Newsom and other state officials spoke at the state’s Department of Public Health, just down the road from UC Davis Medical Center, where the first American coronavirus patient who caught the virus from an unknown source in the community is being treated. Previously, public health officials had traced all the U.S. cases to recent trips abroad or other known patients.

Newsom and other oﬃcials refused to answer speciﬁc questions about which other people may have come in contact with the infected woman, a Solano County resident who was transferred to UC Davis Medical Center a week ago, according to an internal memo obtained by The Sacramento Bee. DELAYED TEST AT UC DAVIS

The state is contacting and interviewing people the patient may have infected, Newsom said. He declined to give further details because he said he doesn’t want to add to public anxiety about the case.

UC Davis doctors requested that public health officials test the woman for coronavirus when she was admitted Wednesday, but the woman “did not fit the existing CDC criteria.” Federal officials did not order a test for her until Sunday, according to the memo, which was first reported by the Davis Enterprise newspaper. Positive test results came back Wednesday.

“The case from yesterday is obviously giving the CDC a lot to consider in terms of revising those protocols so that more individuals will be tested with symptoms that might be identiﬁed as common pneumonia without a clear source,” Ghaly said. “We are in conversations with the CDC about ensuring... physicians or clinicians who ask for the test will more easily be able to (access) it.”

New testing guidelines “can’t happen soon enough,” Newsom said.

“Testing protocols have been a point of frustration for many of us,” he said.

WHERE WERE PATIENTS INFECTED?

Some people who were exposed to coronavirus are quarantined at Travis Air Force Base and nearby hospitals in Solano County after they were evacuated from a Japanese cruise ship. But Angell said there is “no evidence” that the woman from Solano County caught the virus from one of those people.

Of the coronavirus cases conﬁrmed in California, 24 are people who were evacuated on repatriation ﬂights, Angell said. Seven others are also travel related. One person caught the virus from their spouse.

At this point, Newsom said he does not plan to declare a state of emergency over the coronavirus. 2/28/2020 Pasadena Now » L.A. County Health Officials Say No Need to Panic, But Are Preparing for Coronavirus | Pasadena California, Hotels,C…

L.A. County Health Officials Say No Need to Panic, But Are Preparing for Coronavirus By ERIC HEINZ, City News Service Published : Thursday, February 27, 2020 | 5:48 AM

www.pasadenanow.com/main/l-a-county-health-officials-say-no-need-to-panic-but-are-preparing-for-coronavirus/#.Xlk-BKhKhPY 1/9 Health and emergency-management officials said Wednesday there is “no reason to panic” locally about the coronavirus known as COVID-19 that has spread around the world, but they said preventative measures are being taken.

“The current risk to L.A. County residents for getting COVID-19 is very low. The best things people can do to protect themselves from any respiratory virus, including COVID-19, are the simple, everyday preventative measures such as washing hands, covering your cough and avoiding going out when sick,” said Dr. Prabhu Gounder, medical director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s respiratory diseases unit, which is leading the county’s response to the outbreak.

“In addition, influenza activity is still very high, and we want to encourage everyone to get the flu vaccine, if they haven’t done so

www.pasadenanow.com/main/l-a-county-health-officials-say-no-need-to-panic-but-are-preparing-for-coronavirus/#.Xlk-BKhKhPY 2/9 2/28/2020 Pasadena Now » L.A. County Health Officials Say No Need to Panic, But Are Preparing for Coronavirus | Pasadena California, Hotels,C… already,” Gounder said during the Los Angeles City Council’s Public Safety Committee meeting.

There has only been one case of the coronavirus detected in Los Angeles County. That person has since been treated and cleared of the virus, but it stayed with the patient for 21 days, health officials said.

DPH officials said they’ve been reviewing the daily updates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and responding to their instructions, as well as monitoring travelers coming from China, where the virus originated in the Hubei province.

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti told reporters earlier Wednesday that extensive precautions are being taken at Los Angeles International Airport to help prevent a spread of the virus, such as disinfecting various surfaces every hour.

County health officials said they are holding conferences with city officials and medical professionals on a near-daily basis, and they are trying to obtain testing kits for local monitoring from the CDC. Those kits were supposed to arrive last week, but the outbreak has grown significantly worldwide since then, causing a delay.

The CDC has been issuing 14-day quarantines for people who have symptoms or may have been exposed to the virus.

COVID-19 was first reported as being transmitted from animals to humans, but the CDC confirmed last month that it can now be transferred from human to human.

Aram Sahakian, the general manager of the Los Angeles city’s Emergency Management Department, said scientists have reported that when the virus made the “jump” from animals to humans, it started to evolve and became more resilient, “and it’s probably still mutating.”

“That’s why there’s no immediate hope for a vaccine in the nearest future,” Sahakian said. “Not to scare anybody, but those are the facts.”

He said regular treatment and care is the best they can provide in order to help infected people get better, adding that very young people, elderly people and those with certain health problems are most at risk for experiencing elevated symptoms of the virus.

www.pasadenanow.com/main/l-a-county-health-officials-say-no-need-to-panic-but-are-preparing-for-coronavirus/#.Xlk-BKhKhPY 3/9 2/28/2020 Pasadena Now » L.A. County Health Officials Say No Need to Panic, But Are Preparing for Coronavirus | Pasadena California, Hotels,C… When officials were asked what could trigger a county state of emergency regarding the virus, they said they were hesitant to immediately say.

The county issued a similar emergency declaration for the hepatitis A outbreak that spread among homeless people between 2016 and 2018.

“It is not tied to (whether we have) a certain number of cases to have an emergency,” Sahakian said. “If the core group preparing for this incident sees the need for more resources, they can pull the trigger on it. It doesn’t mean (the virus) is out of control.”

Orange County declared a local health emergency Wednesday. San Francisco did so on Tuesday, and San Diego County declared an emergency earlier this month.

Gounder said there have been reports of some people being asymptomatic, meaning they contracted the virus but did not experience any of its symptoms, which can make the virus more difficult to detect.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said she has authored a motion asking the board to request funding from the federal government to combat the coronavirus at its March 4 meeting. HEALTH & MEDICINE Mask shortage in Sacramento as coronavirus fears grip California. What protection is available

BY RYAN SABALOW, ALEXANDRA YOON-HENDRICKS, AND DARRELL SMITH

FEBRUARY 27, 2020 11:15 AM     Looking for a mask to protect yourself from coronavirus now that it’s possibly spreading through Sacramento County? You’re probably not going to ﬁnd one on a store shelf in the Sacramento area.

Several local sellers say they’ve been sold out for weeks, as global fears about the virus known as COVID-19 has led to widespread production shortages and online price gouging, despite disease experts being reluctant to recommend the public use them because even the N95 respirators used by health professionals can provide a false sense of security and only work when worn properly.

“We sold out of masks probably about two weeks ago. We had people coming in hoarding them. Trying to buy all of them,” said Clint Hopkins, pharmacist and owner of Pucci’s Pharmacy on J Street in Sacramento. “All of our suppliers are sold out across the country that we buy from.”

It was the same at Walmart on Antelope Road in Sacramento County. There was an ample supply of sanitary wipes, sterile gloves and hand sanitizer, but no masks on any of the shelves.

“We haven’t had any for two weeks,” one worker said. “They’re all going to China.” Walmart’s corporate oﬃce didn’t immediately return a request seeking comment.

A search of online retailer Amazon also showed limited availability for various face masks on Thursday, after national news outlets reported earlier in the week that Amazon warned some sellers not to price gouge.

On reports of shortages of protective masks, Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a mid-morning news conference on the state’s response to coronavirus that California has stockpiled “millions of masks.” Newsom said, though, that questions remain over some masks’ expiration dates. The governor said that how the masks were stored could mean their eﬀectiveness could extend past the manufacturers’ expiration dates.

SANITIZER STILL AVAILABLE

Meanwhile, Hopkins at Pucci’s said hand sanitizer is selling fast.

“The pump kind is getting diﬃcult to get. We can’t get any of that,” he said. “But like the Lysol wipes, those sort of things, the Lysol sprays, we’re not having any problems getting those yet.”

Hopkins said patients have been coming to his store with questions about what they can do to keep themselves safe. He reiterated the advice of public health oﬃcials: Practice good hygiene like hand washing before handling food and touching your face and make sure you’re up to date on all your vaccines including your ﬂu shot.

“Thirty-thousand people have died since October 2019 in the United States from the ﬂu,” he said. “And zero people have died from the coronavirus so far.”

Sacramento County’s Public Health Department spokeswoman Brenda Bongiorno said if you’re not feeling ill, there’s no need to race out and buy a mask anyway.

“If you’re not sick, you don’t need to wear a mask,” she said.

Meanwhile, common surgical masks block the droplets coming out of a sick person from getting into the air, but they are not tight enough to prevent what’s already in the air from getting in, she said.

As for those N95 masks, she said, they’re not only pricey, but they’re diﬃcult to use without training and must be ﬁtted and tested to work properly.

“The bottom line is for someone who is sick or symptomatic to use the paper mask, and for those who are not, try to avoid those who are sick,” said Sacramento County’s department of health services director Peter Beilenson.

WHAT ELSE SHOULD YOU STOCK UP ON?

It’s unlikely the coronavirus will bring about widespread disruptions in vital services such as the food supply or shutdowns of water and power, said Rebecca Katz, a professor and director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University.

“But I do believe we are going to see widespread community transmission, which means that it’s important to think that every time you go out to the store, it’s another opportunity that you might put yourself at risk to being exposed,” she said in an interview with The Sacramento Bee.

She urged Californians as they make their shopping lists to think about the things they might need if they were home sick with a bad cold or ﬂu. Those requiring daily medications should have at least a week’s supply on hand, she said.

“If you ﬁnd yourself sick, you don’t want to be running to the store for, say, more toilet paper or milk,” she said. “This is not about panicking. This is about thinking about what you and your family might need.”

Katz said Californians who’ve lived through earthquakes, wildﬁres, ﬂoods and widespread blackouts already have a good idea of what they need.

“The messaging we’re saying for (coronavirus) preparedness is literally the exact same messaging for preparedness for disasters, too,” she said. “It’s the same type of mentality: Have a plan. Know how to take care of you and your family, including in situations where there might not be a cavalry coming immediately.” INVESTIGATIONS California lawmakers order audit of Fresno sheriff, others over spending and jail conditions

BY JASON POHL

FEBRUARY 27, 2020 04:55 AM    

Citing a series of jail deaths in Fresno County and faltering local oversight across the state, lawmakers have directed the California auditor’s oﬃce to review how sheriﬀs manage their county jails.

The six-month project will focus on Fresno, Los Angeles and Alameda counties. It will include a 10- year examination of jail population trends and how counties have spent millions of taxpayer dollars intended to pay for a massive public safety “realignment” approved in 2011. That eﬀort under former Gov. Jerry Brown diverted thousands of inmates from state prisons to county jails.

California State Auditor Elaine Howle said Wednesday that her team will evaluate whether spending is consistent with the spirit of the prison overhaul and whether counties could do more to make their spending more transparent. The audit will take some 2,600 hours and cost approximately $350,000.

Assembly Member Sydney Kamlager, DLos Angeles, requested the audit and included Fresno County in her request because of a surge in jail deaths in the years since the 2011 realignment. She referenced recent reporting from McClatchy and ProPublica that found the number of in-custody deaths doubled in the seven years since realignment compared to the seven years prior.

She also included in her request Los Angeles County because of ongoing tension between the board of supervisors and the sheriﬀ, and Alameda County because of a ongoing audit demands being turned down.

“My hope is that this audit of three sheriﬀs departments will open the door to auditing other sheriﬀs departments across the state,” Kamlager said.

Addressing the Joint Legislative Audit Committee on Wednesday, Fresno County Sheriﬀ Margaret Mims disputed the need for an audit and criticized what she said was short notice to her oﬃce about the request.

“Had these questions been asked of me beforehand I would have answered,” she said.

Mims downplayed the need for the state to investigate her oﬃce because, she said, a recent review of the county’s realignment spending turned up no problems. Sen. Andreas Borgeas, RFresno, and Assemblyman Jim Patterson, RFresno, likewise criticized the process and gave little weight to the immediate need for a state audit because of the report Mims mentioned.

But that study, which turned up no irregularities, was among the most basic levels of review that accountants conduct, said Eric Xin, a partner with the group that did the analysis, Brown Armstrong, Certiﬁed Public Accountants.

The Sacramento Bee received a copy of that ﬁve-page report after Wednesday’s hearing. While reviewers looked at “over 1,000” expenditure lines, it was a small sample of otherwise expansive budget documents, Xin said.

That was by design — county oﬃcials who commissioned the report, which cost $9,250, kept the procedures extremely narrow in scope. They also did not ask the accountants to oﬀer any opinion or broader conclusions about the use of the funds, as would be customary in more sweeping studies. “This is not an audit,” Xin said Wednesday.

REALIGNMENT SPENDING IN QUESTION

Fresno County has received more than $221 million in state realignment money since 2011, a Bee analysis found. Alameda County has received more than $284 million, and Los Angeles County has received roughly $2.5 billion.

Statewide, counties have received more than $8 billion to cover the increased local costs of 2011’s public safety realignment. The California Constitution prohibits county oﬃcials from using that money to cut their own costs elsewhere. But lax spending rules and limited scrutiny from both state and county oﬃcials have allowed just that, McClatchy and ProPublica reported in December.

Though local governments routinely move money from one law enforcement purpose to another, doing so with realignment funds may violate state law.

The realignment legislation created county committees to oversee distribution of the funds. The so-called Community Corrections Partnerships, made up of leaders from departments in each county, ﬁeld budget requests, sometimes debate them and forward their recommendations to county boards of supervisors.

The committees were supposed to limit the inﬂuence of elected sheriﬀs and district attorneys, and to encourage spending on social services and alternatives to incarceration, said Craig Cornett, former budget director for the California State Senate, in a previous interview.

“We set up certain walls within it, partly in order to just keep the law enforcement crowd in check,” he said.

Counties release broad outlines of how they parcel the money out every year, but their disclosures provide little to no detail on how agencies spent the funds and whether they’ve reduced recidivism or improved social services.

STATE TAXPAYERS HAVE PAID BILLIONS TO COUNTIES TO HELP IMPLEMENT REALIGNMENT The state sends counties approximately $1 billion a year to pay the costs of California’s prison reforms. County committees write realignment budget plans, and the elected boards of supervisors have the final say on how to spend the money.

+ –

Amount received $1 million $10 million $50 million $100 million $500 million 2/28/2020 Los Angeles Times - eNewspaper

Cutting the cost of new homes

The cost to build new housing is too damn high. And one reason is all the pricey development fees layered on new apartment, single-family home and even affordable housing projects. Cities throughout California collect an assortment of fees from builders to raise money for such things as parks, schools, public art, affordable housing, transportation, environmental protection, fire and police service and city facilities such as libraries and sewer systems. These “impact fees” are designed to help cities offset the costs of serving the residents who will move into the new homes. But all those fees add up. In Los Angeles, impact fees cost almost $14,000 per unit for apartment and condominium projects and $11,000 for single-family homes. In Irvine, the same fees are $22,000 and $16,000, respectively. The Bay Area suburb of Fremont charges fees that add up to $22,000 per apartment and a whopping $35,000 for a single- family house. That’s according to a report commissioned by state lawmakers and prepared by the UC Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation. While impact fees are part of the normal cost of development in cities across the country, California has the highest in the nation, on average. In some cities, all the various fees charged to new development can add up to 18% of the cost of the median home. That not only raises the cost to buy or rent in California, but it can also make new construction so expensive that certain residential projects don’t get built. That only worsens the state’s housing shortage. Now a handful of Democratic lawmakers have proposed eight bills that would cap development fees and change the way such fees are calculated, disclosed and justified by local governments.

The effort is being led by Assemblyman Tim Grayson (D-Concord), whose 2017 bill commissioned the statewide study of development fees. Grayson’s new bills include proposals limiting a city’s or county’s fees to 12% of the median price of homes sold there and requiring the state to reimburse cities that waive impact fees on affordable-housing projects. He also wants cities to assess fees based on a project’s square footage rather than per unit, which would make it cheaper for developers to build smaller, less pricey units. This is not the only effort to rein in development fees. Proposition 13 — the $15-billion school construction bond measure on the March 3 ballot — would impose a 20% reduction in school-related impact fees on new multifamily developments, and waive those fees altogether when developers build near transit stops. That could siphon a lot of https://enewspaper.latimes.com/desktop/latimes/default.aspx?edid=c42f40ce-2599-41f3-a21e-f2408872bb85 1/2 2/28/2020 Los Angeles Times - eNewspaper

money from urban school districts with lots of new infill housing construction, which is one reason the Los Angeles Unified School District hasn’t come out in support of the bond. Grayson and his colleagues are likely to run up against the same concerns over local control and growth that have squashed other bills to reform local policies to boost housing production, including Senate Bill 50. Locals have a legitimate gripe — and they need state lawmakers to help with solutions, not just impose mandates. Cities in California rely on development fees to a much greater extent than communities in other states. That’s because of the original Proposition 13 in 1978 and other state laws that strictly limit property tax increases, which curtailed the revenue that had funded local infrastructure and services. There have been other cuts as well — the federal government used to spend a lot more money on local infrastructure, and the state’s dissolution of local redevelopment agencies in 2011 diverted billions of dollars a year that communities had been using to finance affordable housing and community improvements. Development fees are a politically popular way for cities and counties to raise money because, unlike property taxes or sales taxes, they don’t affect existing residents. They hit developers, who then pass the cost on to future residents through higher rents or sales prices. That makes new housing more expensive. Or, if the fees are too high, developers may forgo construction, particularly of lower-priced housing that can’t recoup the fees. One study found that high fees led to a decrease in construction of affordably priced “starter homes” in California. In some anti-growth cities, that’s the goal — to set fees so high that no development occurs in their borders. Other cities, however, have looked for reforms. Some have waived impact fees for granny flats or cut fees for affordable housing units. Others have delayed collection of impact fees or reduced fees for projects located in areas where they want to concentrate growth. Development fees are just one reason for the astronomical cost of building new homes in California. Land has gotten more expensive. So have labor and construction materials. But cities can control impact fees — along with the time it takes to permit new homes — and lowering or changing such fees can help make it easier to build much-needed housing.

https://enewspaper.latimes.com/desktop/latimes/default.aspx?edid=c42f40ce-2599-41f3-a21e-f2408872bb85 2/2 2/28/2020 New legislation would slash impact fees for some California housing – San Bernardino Sun

BUSINESSHOUSING New legislation would slash impact fees for some California housing More than 200 bills have been introduced this year to address homelessness and housing. One measure mandates $2 billion a year in spending on homeless programs.

The Santa Ana Veterans Village, now under construction, will provide dozens of affordable rentals to ex-service members. The city helped make construction possible by committing income from “project-based” rent vouchers to the development, helping Jamboree Housing Corp. get financing. (Photo by Jeff Collins, Orange County Register/SCNG)

By JEFF COLLINS || [email protected] || OrangeOrange CountyCounty RegisterRegister Homes From PUBLISHED: February 27,$603K 2020 to at $1.03M 2:54 p.m. || UPDATED:UPDATED: February 27, 2020 at 2:54 p m https://www.sbsun.com/2020/02/27/new-legislation-would-slash-impact-fees-for-some-california-housing/ Gov. Gavin Newsom has vowed to come up with a plan to boost homebuilding this year.

“The status quo is simply unacceptable — we aren’t building enough housing,” he said during his State of the State address Feb. 19. “ … It’s time for California to say yes to housing. We cannot wait.”

But it turns out Californians will have to wait for details on how the governor will accomplish these goals. The plan is still being drafted.

“I don’t think we have an etched-in-stone, here’s how we’d like to see that happen (plan),”(plan),” AnthonyAnthony Williams,Williams, thethe governor’sgovernor’s legislativelegislative secretary,secretary, toldtold businessbusiness leadersleaders inin mid-February.mid-February.

And one central measure to increase housing production, Senate Bill 50, failed to survive the first month of the 2020 legislative session.

Nonetheless, housing remains one of lawmakers’ top priorities for a fourth straight year.

At least 200 bills touching on housing and homelessness already have been introducedintroduced thisthis year,year, accordingaccording toto HousingHousing California,California, anan affordableaffordable housinghousing advocacy group. More are expected before the March 18 deadline to amend existing placeholder legislation.

Among the measures are plans to boost affordable housing construction by eliminating environmental reviews and slashing development fees.

Lawmakers also propose creating a permanent source of funding for affordable housing and homeless programs. One bill would require the state to spend $2 billion every year on homeless programs. Tax breaks for vacation homes also would be eliminated, generating hundreds of millions of dollars for homeless programs each year.

“Increasing supply, making it easier to build affordable housing and funding it in an ongoing way (are key themes),” said David Zisser, Housing California’s associate director. “Overarching all of this is a focus on homelessness.”

Matt Schwartz, president and CEO of the California Housing Partnership Corp., is skeptical a major housingHomes package From will pass this year. https://www.sbsun.com/2020/02/27/new-legislation-would-slash-impact-fees-for-some-california-housing/ 2/6 2/28/2020 New legislation would slash impact fees for some California housing – San Bernardino Sun “There are good things that are happening, but we just can’t expect miracles in thisthis timeframetimeframe forfor aa newnew governor,”governor,” SchwartzSchwartz said.said.

Schwartz said, however, he is encouraged by this year’s emphasis on increasing homebuilding for low-income and homeless residents — efforts that won’t have an immediate impact.

“We are going to start seeing some big changes in the next couple of years,“ he said.

“We need to create housing for all income levels,” added Erin Riches, chief consultant to the Senate Housing Committee, speaking to business leaders a couple weeks ago. “We need to focus state resources on low-income housing, and letlet thethe marketmarket taketake carecare ofof allall otherother housing.”housing.”

Here’s a look at some of the key bills before the legislature this year.

HOMELESSNESS

AB 3300: WouldWould requirerequire thethe statestate toto appropriateappropriate $2$2 billionbillion forfor homelesshomeless programsprograms and construction of low-income housing every year starting in July.

The revenue would come from the state’s general fund, with more than half of the money going to counties and regional or local homeless planning agencies. Another $800 million would go to cities of 300,000 or more, and $100 million would go to nonprofit housing developers.

AB 1905: SeeksSeeks toto createcreate aa permanentpermanent sourcesource ofof fundingfunding forfor homelesshomeless programsprograms by eliminating the state’s mortgage interest tax deduction for second homes. It also would cap state deductions for primary homes to loans of $750,000 or less. The measure wouldn’t affect federal mortgage interest tax deductions.

The bill would affect fewer than 400,000 taxpayers and generate about $500 million a year for homeless programs, the bill’s author, David Chiu, D-San Francisco, said in a statement.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

AB 1907: SeeksSeeks toto spurspur constructionconstruction ofof homelesshomeless sheltersshelters andand affordableaffordable housinghousing by exempting them from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

The law would apply to emergency shelters, supportive housing and affordable housing developments statewide through 2028.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/02/27/new-legislation-would-slash-impact-fees-for-some-california-housing/ 3/6 2/28/2020 New legislation would slash impact fees for some California housing – San Bernardino Sun The bill would expand a pilot program lawmakers approved last year for Los Angeles. During the program’s first two months, Los Angeles approved a 154-bed shelter in Venice, nine permanent supportive housing projects and three homeless shelters, the bill”s authors said.

IMPACT FEES

A package of bills announced Monday, Feb. 24, seeks to reduce the cost of building low-income housing and homeless shelters by slashing development fees,fees, whichwhich municipalitiesmunicipalities chargecharge homebuildershomebuilders toto offsetoffset thethe impactsimpacts ofof newnew construction on local infrastructure.

Such measures are controversial, however, because cities and counties rely heavily on those fees to compensate for anemic property tax collections underunder California’s Proposition 13.

The 1970’s tax-limiting proposition is part of the reason why California cities have some of the highest development fees in the nation.

A 2018 study by UC Berkeley’s Terner Center found fees as high as $157,000 for a new house in the Bay Area city of Fremont, $140,000 in the Orange County city of Irvine and about $30,000 in Los Angeles. Fees per unit for an apartment or condo exceed $60,000 in Fremont and Irvine and were about $15,000 in L.A.

“Impact fees, while well-intentioned, have been an incredible impediment to development,” said Chiu, who chairs the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee.

City and county associations said the fees are vital to their ability to pay for infrastructureinfrastructure inin newnew developments.developments. So,So, thethe statestate shouldshould reimbursereimburse citiescities andand counties that are forced to cut development fees, their representatives say.

“Any successful strategies will require a sustainable, long-term funding commitment from the state,” League of California Cities spokeswoman Jill Oviatt said in a statement.

The new package includes cuts and some reimbursement.

AB 3148: WouldWould reducereduce developmentdevelopment feesfees forfor affordableaffordable housinghousing byby 25-75%: 25-75%: 75%75% forfor “very“very low-income”low-income” housing,housing, 50%50% forfor “low-income”“low-income” housinghousing andand 25%25% forfor “moderate-income” housing.

AB 3144: WouldWould provideprovide statestate fundingfunding toto reimbursereimburse locallocal governmentsgovernments thatthat waivewaive impact fees on affordable projects. impact fees on affordableHomes projects. From https://www.sbsun.com/2020/02/27/new-legislation-would-slash-impact-fees-for-some-california-housing/ 4/6 2/28/2020 New legislation would slash impact fees for some California housing – San Bernardino Sun AB 1924: WouldWould requirerequire locallocal governmentsgovernments toto assessassess developmentdevelopment feesfees perper squaresquare foot,foot, resultingresulting inin lowerlower feesfees forfor smaller,smaller, moremore affordableaffordable housinghousing units.units.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.. 2/28/2020 The soft corruption of behested payments – San Bernardino Sun

OPINION • Editorial, Opinion The soft corruption of behested payments

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD || [email protected] || PUBLISHED: February 27, 2020 at 9:09 a.m. || UPDATED:UPDATED: February 27, 2020 at 9:09 a.m.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/02/27/the-soft-corruption-of-behested-payments/ 1/4 2/28/2020 The soft corruption of behested payments – San Bernardino Sun Even as they call for getting special-interest money out of politics, some Democratic lawmakers in Sacramento are soliciting unlimited donations from donors with business before the Legislature under the guise of charity, highlighting abuse and the need for reform.

Egregious examples recently surfaced due to excellent news reporting at CALmatters. In one example, Assemblyman Rob Bonta, an East Bay Area Democrat, runs a foundation that gave a $25,000 contribution to a nonprofit where his wife was the CEO, which she said helped her new nonprofit get off the ground.

The donations to Bonta’s foundation had come from groups with regular business before the Legislature. Bonta defended the contribution by saying it’s OK because he wrote a letter saying none of the money would go to his wife’s salary.

It wasn’t as though his foundation was in the habit of shelling out contributions to many groups — there was only one other contribution that year and it was for just 10 percent of what he gave his wife.

And now, all of a sudden, when asked about the contribution by a reporter, he realized the contribution was actually a loan, and he’ll be filing an amended tax return (for the year 2017). Of course, he also asked donors with business before thethe LegislatureLegislature toto givegive moremore thanthan aa halfhalf millionmillion dollarsdollars toto hishis wife’swife’s nonprofitnonprofit inin what are called behested payments.

Nothing to see here.

There’s a foundation supporting the Los Angeles County delegation. It recently used funds to pay for a catered meeting of the delegation in Los Angeles.

CALmatters asked the obvious question: “Why would public officials from the same region need a nonprofit to pay for a meeting room when they work together fourfour daysdays aa weekweek inin thethe CapitolCapitol building?”building?”

“(Gathering) 40 people with very different schedules, representing various parts of the county, which is very big, is challenging,” said the lawmaker in charge of thethe foundation,foundation, AssemblywomanAssemblywoman SydneySydney Kamlager.Kamlager.

If only everyone were in the same location several days a week!

Meanwhile, Assemblyman Evan Low, a Silicon Valley Democrat, who runs a foundationfoundation forfor thethe TechTech Caucus,Caucus, appearsappears toto havehave soldsold accessaccess toto lawmakerslawmakers withwith aa dubious symposium. According to the Tech Caucus’ attorney, nothing illegal happened.

https://www.sbsun.com/2020/02/27/the-soft-corruption-of-behested-payments/ 2/4 2/28/2020 The soft corruption of behested payments – San Bernardino Sun Though required to do so, Low’s foundation has also stopped disclosing its donors, prompting an investigation by the California Fair Political Practices Commission. However, even if wrongdoing is found, the fines will be modest and itit willwill likelylikely notnot leadlead toto anyany change.change.

These charities and behested payments are catching on. As CALmatters reports, thethe amountamount ofof moneymoney inin behestedbehested paymentspayments forfor lawmakers’lawmakers’ charitiescharities grewgrew fromfrom $105,000 in 2011 to $2.9 million in 2019. Though it’s not just lawmakers. Last year, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis behested $330,000 from labor unions, among other groups, for new furniture for her office.

While the recent examples show the potential for what is at least soft corruption, historical examples show the worst can and will happen. Years ago, lawmakers were caught in an FBI sting soliciting bribes to a nonprofit to provide them with an income stream after retirement from the Legislature.

If getting special-interest money out of politics is something Sacramento politicians really care about, we would urge them to start here.