May 21, 2020

By Antonio Ray Harvey

California Black Media

 

During difficult times such as now, it’s in your best interest to keep an eye on laws working their way through the California State Capitol and to know the legislators who are pushing them.

These bills, sourced from ideas and shaped into policies, change existing laws or implement new ones. Once signed into law, they can restrict or broaden the opportunities that we, our families and communities have.

While most of us are sheltering in place, a few bills of significance in California are going through the legislative process.

 

From legislation to cut rents and mortgages across California to your right to order invisible braces for your teeth online, here are five pieces of legislation that could impact the African American community across California, and meet the legislators who authored and introduced those bills.

 

Senate Bill 1410 - Helping Californians in Crisis Keep Roofs Over Their Heads

Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) introduced a bill, SB 1410, that would provide temporary financial assistance to California renters. The state will step in and make direct payments to landlords for as much as 80% of unpaid rent for tenants across the state — that’s if their nonpayment is “attributable to the pandemic.”

If passed, SB 1410 would charge the California Deparment of Housing and Community Development with administering the program, and it will cover up to seven months of unpaid rental payments.

“COVID-19 has immensely affected our economy, put pressure on both tenants and property owners to fulfill their payment obligations, and has exacerbated the need to keep people housed during an existing housing crisis,” said Gonzalez of her bill, which is co-sponsored by Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach).

Under the proposal, landlords allowed to participate would have to agree to a few conditions. They would have to not make any rent increases for a specified period; not tack any fees to money due for past rents; not pursue any remaining rent owed for the months the program covers.

 

 

“In order to protect our broader housing economy, SB 1410, an urgency measure, will not only provide much-needed immediate assistance to both tenants and property owners but also protect our most vulnerable communities,” Gonzalez explained.

The California Apartment Association, which represents rental property owners all across the state, is sponsoring the legislation. For now, the group has asked its affiliates to work out payment arrangements with tenants who fall behind on their rents.

SB 1410 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Housing. Hearings are scheduled for May 26 and May 27.

 

Assembly Bill 3070 – Pulling Racism Out of the Jury Selection Process

Assemblymember Dr. Weber’s (D-San Diego) AB 3070 bill would prohibit a party from using a peremptory challenge to remove a prospective juror on the basis of the prospective juror's race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, or religious affiliation.

Introduced on Feb. 21 of this year, Dr. Weber’s bill addresses how the jury-selection process referred to in courtrooms as Voir Dire — and conducted by trial judges, prosecutors or defense attorneys — exclusively uses peremptory strikes to remove African Americans or people of color from a court case.

 

“The California Supreme Court has only overturned 2% of jury-selection biased cases that it has viewed in the last 20 years,” Weber said in a hearing for her AB 3070 last week. “However, this procedure has failed to achieve its constitutional mandate and purpose. Social science research has shown that African Americans are excluded from juries from peremptory challenges at a much higher rate, as much as two-and-half times, than prospective jurors of other races are eliminated. The results have been especially detrimental to African Americans, Latinos, and other people of color.”

The bill would also allow a party to object to the use of a peremptory challenge to raise the issue of improper bias based on these criteria. Upon objection, the bill would require the party exercising the challenge to state the reasons the peremptory challenge has been exercised.

In the California law books, during jury selection, potential jurors are excused “for cause” when a judge discovers that they may impartially view the case. Whether it’s the defense or prosecution, each side may exercise some limited number of peremptory strikes to excuse additional jurors without offering a reason.

The current law prohibits a party from using a peremptory challenge to remove a prospective juror on the basis of an assumption that the prospective juror is biased merely because of the sex, race, color, religion, national origin, and ancestry.

In addition, it is illegal to eliminate a potential juror on the bases of ethnic group identification, age, mental disability, physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, or sexual orientation of the prospective juror, or on similar grounds.

 

 

 

 

 

Assembly Bill 1998 - Preserving Your Right to Order Invisible Braces, Or not

The business of telehealth in the dentistry field in California could be transformed if a bill passes that prevents patients from dealing directly with companies without first seeing a dentist.

Some African Americans in the state view the unrestricted purchasing of dental equipment as an advantage, an affordable means to get dental service. They do not want to see that option taken away.

Assemblymember Evan Low (D-Silicon Valley) introduced AB 1998, the “Dental Practice Act,” on January 27. If passed, the legislation would require dentists to conduct an in-person examination of their patients prior to approving a treatment plan for clear aligners or other orthodontics.

The bill would prohibit internet companies from offering direct-to-consumer products to Californians until legislation is passed that establishes parameters for how teleorthodontic companies may operate.

“California is proud to be the incubator of innovation — but we cannot sacrifice patient health and safety in exchange for making billionaires out of tech bros,” Low said. “The industry should view AB 1998 as a sign that the Legislature is serious about requiring meaningful safeguards if these questionable and controversial business practices are allowed to continue.”

In a letter addressed to Cal Matters published on March 27, the California State NAACP President Alice Huffman asked the legislature to reject any bill that would create a barrier to affordable dental care.

“Now, more than ever, the African American community needs as many options as possible to close the disparity gap for oral health care. African Americans and other people of color have the right to affordable, quality health care treatment,” Huffman stated.

Huffman also shared that SmileDirectClub, for example, pioneered a teledentistry platform for clear aligner therapy treatment that has helped more than 100,000 Californians, including African Americans.

In the current throes of the coronavirus pandemic, Huffman stresses that these services are critical for Californians in need of health care or dental care.

“From psychiatry to physical therapy to dentistry, the benefits of the telehealth model are profound. Patients receive expert care in some cases without the added trouble of traveling to see a doctor or paying high visitation fees. But in other cases, access to experts in a specific field, such as neurology or orthodontia, are limited,” Huffman stated.

 

Senate Bill 867 and Senate Bill 868 – Revising AB 5 to Keep Freelancer Freedom

Sen. Patricia Bates (R-Laguna Niguel) wants to see some changes to AB 5, California’s “Gig Worker” bill that went into effect Jan. 1. She thinks the law puts unnecessary restrictions on independent contractors in the state and hinders their ability to earn a living.

The law requires app-based companies such as Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash that rely on independent contractors to reclassify those workers as W-2 employees, in some cases.

Under California labor law, changing the status of those workers requires companies to provide benefits, such as sick leave, unemployment and workers’ compensation, and more.

But for many gig workers who prefer the flexibility and freedom freelancing provides, or whose professions are not amenable to 9 to 5 jobs, the new law is more of a burden than blessing.

The law, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in September 2019 codified into State law a 2018 California Supreme Court decision handed down in the case of Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles.

 

Since AB 5 passed last year, the bill authored by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzales (D-San Diego) has been under fire from several industries in the state — including media, musicians, artists and translators — who did not get exemptions as other professionals like lawyers, dentists, insurance agents and PR copyrighters did.

 

Bates says she introduced SB 867 and SB 868 to help newspapers and freelance journalists continue to operate in California by exempting them from the state’s new anti-independent contracting law, AB 5.

 

“Assembly Bill 5 took a sledgehammer approach to an employment problem that required a scalpel, which consequently hammered many Californians who truly wish to remain their own bosses,” Bates said. “The Legislature can begin to fix some of AB 5’s flaws by helping California’s newspapers and journalists continue to operate normally as they have in our state.

 

SB 867 would permanently exempt newspaper distributors and carriers from AB 5. While existing law exempts newspaper distributors from AB 5’s requirements for one year, it is not a long-term solution, Bates wrote in the bill.

 

 

SB 868 would exempt freelance journalists from AB 5, which Bates said has severely cut into the incomes of freelancers that contract with various media outlets. Under current law, AB 5 limits freelance journalists to just 35 stories a year if they wish to remain an independent contractor.

“It has led to many people losing income opportunities,” Bates stated.

May 14, 2020 

By Stacy M. Brown 

NNPA Newswire Senior Correspondent 

 

Facebook has announced that 15 member publishers of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) will receive $1.288 million in grants through the Facebook Journalism Project's relief fund for local news.

 

The social media giant said more than 200 news organizations would receive nearly $16 million in grants, which stem from $25 million in local news relief funding announced in March as part of Facebook's $100 million global investment in the news.

 

The grants include $10.3 million awarded to 144 U.S local newsrooms as part of the COVID-19 Local News Relief Fund Grant Program.

 

The fund is supporting many publishers who are hardest hit by this crisis, with nearly 80 percent of recipients being family- or independently-owned and more than half are published by or for communities of color.

 

The grants also include $5.4 million awarded to 59 North American newsrooms that participated in Facebook Local News Accelerator programs focused on subscriptions and memberships.         

 

Facebook said the remaining funds would be used throughout 2020 to support projects focused on longer-term sustainability in local journalism.

 

That includes $2.5 million for Report for America, helping the group place 225 journalists in 160 local news organizations for their 2020 reporting corps.

 

Partnering with leading industry organizations like The Local Media Association (LMA) and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism to move quickly, the Facebook Journalism Project has awarded more than 600 grants across the U.S and Canada since the pandemic began, Facebook stated in a news release. Additional grant programs have been launched to support journalism around the world.

 

The NNPA is a trade organization that represents the Black Press of America. The following are among the NNPA member publications included in the latest round of Facebook grants:

 

• The Los Angeles Sentinel Los Angeles, CA — Grant Amount: $80,000

 

• L.A. Focus Newspaper Inglewood, CA — Grant Amount: $60,195

 

• Los Angeles Wave & Independent Newspaper Group Los Angeles, CA — Grant Amount: $100,000

 

• The Weekly Challenger Newspaper Spring Hill, FL — Grant Amount: $100,000

 

• Voice News Network, Inc. / The Atlanta Voice, Atlanta, GA — Grant Amount: $100,000

 

• Chicago Crusader Newspaper, Chicago, IL — Grant Amount: $30,000

 

• The AFRO Newspapers, Baltimore, MD —Grant Amount: $100,000

 

• Real Times Media, Detroit, MI — Publications include: realtimesmedia.com, atlantadailyworld.com, chicagodefender.com, michiganchronicle.com, newpittsburghcourier.com — Grant Amount: $100,000

 

• St. Louis American, St. Louis, MO — Grant Amount: $97,305

 

 

• New York Amsterdam News, New York, NY — Grant Amount: $96,101

 

• Philadelphia Tribune, Philadelphia, PA — Grant Amount: $75,000

 

• The New Tri-State Defender, Memphis, TN — Grant Amount: $50,000

 

• Forward Times Publishing Company - Houston Forward Times, Houston, TX — Grant Amount: $100,000

 

• Houston Defender Newspaper Inc., Houston, TX — Grant Amount: $100,000

 

• The Richmond Free Press, Richmond, VA — Grant Amount: $100,000

 

 

• The Washington Informer, Washington, DC — Grant Amount: $100,000

 

“The Facebook Grant will help The AFRO continue its 127-plus year history of uninterrupted publishing and enable us to continue our legacy as one of the nation's most trusted voices in the African American community,” stated Frances Murphy Draper, Publisher and fourth-generation member of The AFRO newspaper.

 

“Additionally, this grant will allow us to expand our human and technological resources, both of which are sorely needed to continue our award-winning coverage as well as our reach to our beloved community who is disproportionately affected by COVID-19. We are grateful for Facebook's support and we congratulate our fellow NNPA publishers who also have received this award,” Draper said.

 

Danny J. Bakewell, Sr., executive publisher & Chairman/CEO of the Los Angeles Sentinel and NNPA Chairman emeritus was elated with the news of receiving the Facebook grant. He credited the dedication of his staff and team members for earning the grant during one of the most challenging times in American and Black history.

 

“We are honored to have been chosen by Local Media Association to receive the Facebook Journalism Project COVID-19 program Grant,” said Bakewell. “We have been and remain committed to helping our community survive in these unprecedented challenging times, when all businesses and families are struggling, especially those within the African American Community.” 

 

“This grant will help us to continue working for those within our community that are struggling to take care of their families, keep their jobs or get back to work and trying to stay virus free all at the same time.  This grant will help us to continue our mission of informing our community of the resources available to help navigate through this pandemic so that we can all come through this together -  safe, healthy with our dignity intact,” said Bakewell.

 

Sonny Messiah Jiles, the publisher of the Defender Network in Houston, rejoiced when she received news of the grant.

 

“To God the glory,” Jiles proclaimed. “I am grateful to Facebook for recognizing the importance and relevance of the Black Press especially considering the threat of COVID-19 on the African-American community and on our financial stability,” she stated.

 

Washington Informer Publisher Denise Rolark Barnes said the grant couldn’t have arrived at a better time.

 

 

“As the country faced a pandemic like none other and reported by The Washington Informer, we also realized our fate rested in our ability to continue to tell the story of the Black COVID experience while advertising revenues disappeared,” Rolark Barnes stated.

 

“This Facebook grant, along with other programs supporting newspapers and small business, is desperately needed. The grant helps us to continue telling our stories and significantly assists our efforts to innovate at the same time,” she said, adding that she’s to her fellow NNPA publishers and NNPA leadership for “bringing us all together.”

 

Janis Ware, the publisher of the Atlanta Voice, said many African American-owned newspapers are facing cancellations from advertisers and the closing of many community businesses.

 

The Facebook grant has provided an opportunity to replace some of that lost revenue.

 

“We are excited about the opportunity to continue our deep dive into digital transformation with the funding that was awarded to The Atlanta Voice from Facebook,” Ware stated.

 

“During this unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, which so adversely and disproportionately affects the African American community, we must double-down on our efforts to keep us informed. Our very lives depend on it,” Ware stated.

 

“This Facebook grant ensures that we will be able to continue to do so. It is a blessing and we are certainly grateful.”

 

Calvin Anderson, president of the New Tri-State Defender and the NNPA’s Region 2 President, added that the support from Facebook will position his newspaper to ramp up its ongoing coverage and interaction in the publication’s target zip code and enhance their technological capabilities.

 

“The Facebook grant will assist us greatly in reaching and serving our Memphis readers and enhance our digital presence,” Anderson stated.

 

“Prior to the pandemic, we identified the need to adjust our business and content model. The goals were to significantly increase our digital footprint while expanding the depth, variety and quality of our coverage. The COVID-19 crisis and the pandemic response forced virtual communication unto our front burner in a way that foreshadow permanent change,” he said.

 

Anderson continued:

 

“We are extremely grateful for this grant support from the Facebook Journalism Project Supporting Local News Coverage of COVID-19 Program. Our selection largely reflects the dedicated work of our boots-on-ground staffers. Performing well during the pandemic means to us conveying timely needed information for safety and security. Our team has been getting the job done for our audiences under extremely difficult circumstances.”

 

The money was issued after Facebook received more than 2,000 applications for the COVID-19 Local News Relief Grant Program from newsrooms across every state in America, all U.S territories, and Washington, D.C.

 

The grant recipients were selected through a process led by the LMA and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism and with significant contributions from the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), Local Independent Online News Publishers (LION), Local Media Consortium (LMC), and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), according to the news release.

 

"The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role local news plays in our communities, while simultaneously threatening their very existence," said Jonathan Kealing, INN's chief network officer.

 

"Reviewing hundreds of applications on a tight timeline both illustrated the depth of need, but also highlighted the innovation that these small, independent publishers can provide for their communities when given the resources," he said. "I'm excited to see new news products and more critical original reporting in these communities, thanks to Facebook's support."

 

Facebook noted that the pool of grant recipients is notable in several ways:

 

•           Nearly four in five are family- or independently owned.

 

•           Half are published by or for communities of color.

 

•           Nearly 40 percent are digitally native publishers.

 

•           Just over a third are non-profits.

 

"We're proud to support this diverse group of publishers — many of which are family- or independently owned,” said Campbell Brown, VP of global news partnerships at Facebook.

 

“Not only are these journalists working tirelessly to serve people right now — they're focused on transformation, building innovative local news businesses that can continue to serve communities beyond the current pandemic,” Brown stated.

 

The NNPA congratulates “the publishers whose applications and proposals were accepted and awarded by Facebook,” stated Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr. “Last month, we informed all of our member publishers about the Facebook grant opportunity. I am hopeful that this initial round of much-needed funding will open the door for our other NNPA member publishers to also apply for this type of financial assistance. We appreciate Facebook and their partners for supporting the Black Press. The financial enhancement and support of the Black Press is critically needed amidst this terrible pandemic that continues to devastate Black America across the United States. Local media is fundamental and a vital prerequisite to an inclusive democracy and economy.”

May 07, 2020 

By City News Service 

 

The top attorneys for the state's largest cities joined California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today to announce a lawsuit against Uber and Lyft, claiming the ride-hailing companies misclassified their drivers as independent contractors instead of employees.

 

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer joined Becerra and the city attorneys of San Diego and San Francisco in the lawsuit.

 

“Enough is enough. California law makes it clear that Uber and Lyft drivers are employees,” Feuer said. “We allege Uber and Lyft defy this mandate, exploit their drivers and unlawfully shift the costs of their responsibilities as employers to California's taxpayers.”

 

“As law enforcement leaders across the state, we're going to aggressively protect these hard-working drivers and fight to uphold California's worker classification laws,” Feuer said.

 

In the lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of San Francisco, the coalition of attorneys seek restitution for workers, a permanent halt to the “unlawful misclassification of drivers” and civil penalties, which they said could reach hundreds of millions of dollars.

 

The attorneys said classifying drivers as independent contractors deprives them of workplace protections such as the right to minimum wage and overtime pay, as well as access to paid sick leave, disability insurance and unemployment insurance.

 

The attorneys allege that since the passage of Assembly Bill 5 and under California's Unfair Competition Law, Uber and Lyft have not classified employees as full-time.

 

“We are looking forward to working with the attorney general and mayors across the state to bring all the benefits of California's innovation economy to as many workers as possible,” Lyft said in a statement, “especially during this time when the creation of good jobs with access to affordable health care and other benefits is more important than ever.”

 

Uber also responded to the lawsuit and said the company is prepared to contest it in court.

 

“At a time when California's economy is in crisis with 4 million people out of work, we need to make it easier, not harder, for people to quickly start earning,” Uber said in a statement. “We will contest this action in court, while at the same time pushing to raise the standard of independent work for drivers in California, including with guaranteed minimum earnings and new benefits.”

 

According to Becerra, independent contractor classification also allows companies to avoid obligations such as paying payroll taxes.

 

The attorney general said the companies ignore the fact that California law allows for drivers to choose when and how much to work and still be classified as employees.  

 

Nothing prevents the companies from providing flexibility to their drivers and classifying them as employees, he said.  

 

Becerra said unemployment claims have been “skyrocketing” during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the vulnerability of Uber's and Lyft's drivers to the virus is evident.

 

“Sometimes it takes a pandemic to shake us into realizing what that really means and who suffers the consequences,” Becerra said. “Uber and Lyft drivers who contract the coronavirus or lose their job quickly realize what they're missing. But it's not just these workers who lose. American taxpayers end up having to help carry the load that Uber and Lyft don't want to accept.”  

 

In the lawsuit, the attorney general and the city attorneys are seeking up to $2,500 for each violation of the California Unfair Competition Law and up to another $2,500 for violations perpetrated against senior citizens or individuals with disabilities.

 

“All Californians are harmed when companies like Uber and Lyft cheat their employees out of health care, unemployment benefits, and basic protections required by law,” San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott said.

 

“Uber and Lyft are billion-dollar companies that refuse to follow the rules, expecting taxpayers to pick up the slack when their employees get sick, need a hospital or lose their jobs. It's time for Uber and Lyft to pay their own bills.”