Brown plans extensive changes for school funding in 2013
by Anthony York, Los Angeles Times
Gov. Jerry Brown will push this year to upend the way schools are funded in California, hoping to shift more money to poorer districts and end requirements that billions of dollars be spent on particular programs.
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In addition to CFC press releases and op-eds written by CFC and published around the state, selections below include selected CFC advocacy blog posts through 2013.
Primary care doctors growing scarce
by Drew Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
Roughly 4 million additional Californians are expected to obtain health insurance by 2014 through the federal health law, an expansion that will likely exacerbate the state’s doctor shortage and could squeeze primary care access in the Bay Area, experts say. Read More ›
Mercury News editorial: PUC ruling benefits PG&E at ratepayers’ expense
In its latest and perhaps greatest outrage, the PUC ruled that PG&E can profit from the deadly 2010 San Bruno blast that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. Read More ›
Crackdown on car cellphones
by Bill Lindelof, Sacramento Bee
Nearly 3,000 drivers were caught breaking cellphone rules during a crackdown in Sacramento County and dozens of other police jurisdictions throughout Northern California. Read More ›
California gets federal approval to close Healthy Families
by Kevin Yamamura , Sacramento Bee
California will begin moving 860,000 lower-income children from Healthy Families to Medi-Cal next month after receiving last-minute federal approval today, state health officials said. Read More ›
California consumer laws in effect in 2013
Here is a look at some of the consumer rights bills that the Consumer Federation of California supported that were signed into law and will take effect in 2013. Read More ›
Affordable Care Act presents many unknowns for California officials
by Anthony York, Los Angeles Times
It is unclear how many Californians will sign up when the healthcare law takes effect in 2014, making it difficult for the Brown administration to estimate the costs of expanded coverage. Read More ›
Jerry Brown pushes new funding system for California schools
by Kevin Yamamura, Sacramento Bee
After CA schools eliminated art programs and increased class sizes to survive budget cuts, they are getting more money thanks to voter-approved taxes and economic recovery. Read More ›
PG&E customers get bill for gas rebuild
by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle
PG&E customers will pay nearly two-thirds of the $1.8 billion to upgrade natural-gas pipelines, which were exposed as potentially unsafe by the 2010 explosion in San Bruno. Read More ›
State to sound alarm for straying seniors
by Tony Bizjak, Sacramento Bee
A decade after California launched its Amber Alert program, which enlists citizen help in searching for missing children, the state will add a similar program for another at-risk groups: its elderly. Read More ›
Covered California health benefit exchange wraps up productive year
by Linda Leu, California Progress Report
The board of directors of Covered California, the new Health Benefit Exchange, met yesterday in Sacramento to continue its work implementing a reformed healthcare market in compliance with the federal Affordable Care Act of 2010. Read More ›
CFC supports bill creating oversight and transparency of CPUC giveaways
Senator Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, was joined by Richard Holober, Consumer Federation of California, and representatives from The Utility Reform Network (TURN), at a press conference today to unveil legislation that would prohibit the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) from giving away millions of dollars in ratepayer money to third parties without oversight and transparency. Read More ›