After weeks of speculation, Gov. Gavin Newsom has picked his replacement for former California attorney Gen. Xavier Becerra. Last December, President Biden nominated Becerra to his Cabinet as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He was recently sworn into that role.
Assemblymember Chris Holden has (D-Pasadena) introduced legislation, Assembly Bill (AB) 948, to address discrimination in the real estate appraisal process in California.
Last week, philanthropic organizations and other funders joined hands to launch the California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF), a new $100 million initiative that will provide resources to Black-led organizations in the state of California over the next five years.
When Dr. Nadine Burke Harris heard that the National Basketball Association (NBA) was discussing educating the African American community about receiving COVID-19 vaccines, she said partnering with the league could be a game-changer in the state of California.
Malia M. Cohen, the only African American member of the California Board of Equalization (BOE), has some critical concerns about the cost homeowners will have to bear because of Proposition 19, a constitutional amendment that took effect on Dec. 16, 2020.
The proposition passed with 59 % of the vote. It exempted Uber and Lyft drivers — as well as others who work for other delivery and ride-hail companies – from the state’s controversial employee classification law AB 5. Under that law, which took effect in January 2020, most companies in the state had to switch contractors working for them from freelancers to full-time W-2 employees.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) announced that the state’s emergency preparedness campaign, which was launched last August, has surpassed the goal it set to engage at least one million socially vulnerable Californians. The campaign, titled “Listos,” which means ready in Spanish, provides the communities it targets with accessible, in-language, and culturally competent disaster readiness information.
Despite intense pressure from Black women political groups across the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to be California’s next United States Senator, replacing Sen. Kamala Harris. Padilla will complete Vice President-elect Harris’s term, which began in 2017 ends in 2023. He will be the first Latino to serve as United States Senator representing California. “The son of Mexican immigrants — a cook and house cleaner — Alex Padilla worked his way from humble beginnings to the halls of MIT, the Los Angeles City Council and the State Senate, and has become a national defender
Effective Dec. 1, Alice Huffman will no longer be the president of the California-Hawaii State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) due to “health concerns,” she tells California Black Media.
AB 2054 calls for the authorization of a pilot grant program that would allow community-based organizations instead of the police to respond in emergency situations
This year’s wildfire season has already been out of the ordinary. About 3.3 million acres have burned across vast tracts of California, Oregon and Washington. The areas surrounding those places have also been affected by dangerous levels of smoke over the last few weeks.
“The Black community is already subject to a lot, and we’re not thought about all the time. It’s important for us to take matters into our own hands and really be prepared for what’s to come because sometimes we’re not considered in the game plan as far as what the world needs to do,” Sidqe said.
With less than two months left before Election Day, campaigns both defending and opposing Proposition 22 — the ballot initiative that aims to keep gig company drivers classified as independent contractors — are revving up their efforts to reach out to Black voters.
Californians living with diabetes, a group of doctors and some African American healthcare advocates are asking the state Senate to take up — and quickly vote on — an “urgent” public health bill that lawmakers have put on ice. If passed, the legislation would place a $50 cap on monthly copayments insurers require diabetic patients to cover when buying their insulin treatments.
Shortly after members of the California legislature took a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds at the California Capitol to protest racism and the death of George Floyd, Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) took the opportunity to call out some of her Latino colleagues.
“I have to be honest, I’m disappointed with our Latino caucus,” Gonzalez said at the event that Assemblymember Syndey Kamlager (D-Los Angeles), a member the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), organized.