For six years, the city of San Diego has stood with proponents of Proposition B. The measure eliminated guaranteed pensions for city employees hired after 2012. Thousands of city employees have been hired since then but the move does not, at all, mean they’ll be getting pensions anytime soon.
In a new post, Scott Lewis explains what happened, what didn’t happen and what’s coming next.
Another Big Blow for Thomas Jefferson School of Law
The American Bar Association has voted to strip Thomas Jefferson School of Law of its national accreditation.
The school has been on probation since November 2017 after a series of academic and financial struggles. It plans to appeal the decision.
“Just 25 percent of the school’s first-time test-takers passed the July 2018 California bar exam, the lowest percentage among the state’s 21 ABA-accredited schools. The school’s graduates who took the test for the first time in July 2017 also performed the worst among the state’s nationally accredited law schools,” reports VOSD contributor Lyle Moran. “In addition, the ABA said Thomas Jefferson has not complied with the accreditation standard requiring it to maintain a rigorous program of legal education.”
Fighting Fire With Plans
As fire season begins in earnest, state leaders are continuing to grapple with the best approaches to fire prevention, as well as liability for utilities that cause devastating wildfires.
“State officials and utility companies are struggling to prevent the next major wildfire while still trying to deal with wildfire-related fallout from last year’s Camp Fire in Northern California,” Ry Rivard notes in the latest Environment Report.
Regulators recently approved the major utilities’ wildfire mitigation plans, and state leaders seem to be leaning more toward creating a fund to pay for wildfire damages, as opposed to changing laws that place enormous legal responsibility on utilities that cause fires.
Fletcher, Boerner Horvath Demand Action From Tri-City
Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and North County Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner Horvath are demanding that Tri-City Medical Center, which closed its behavioral health beds last year, come up with a plan to reinstate services soon.
The two Democrats sent a letter to the Oceanside hospital district on Monday declaring their plan to request a state audit of Tri-City if officials don’t deliver a comprehensive plan to step up psychiatric emergency services within the next 30 days.
Tri-City, which shuttered 18 psychiatric inpatient beds and 12 crisis units last fall amid reported financial challenges, released a statement late Monday saying it was disappointed by the letter.
Fletcher said he sent the letter after months of waiting for the district to offer solutions.
“I think the audit will help provide detailed information that can help us shape and craft a legislative remedy,” Fletcher told VOSD. “The simple fact is you cannot have a public health hospital district that has no behavioral health capacity. It’s just not acceptable.”
County Supervisor Kristin Gaspar, who represents North County, criticized the letter, calling it a self-serving political statement.
“This is an all-too-familiar tactic from two Sacramento politicians who make grandiose threats to create the illusion that they are the reason for the change,” Gaspar wrote in a statement.
Fletcher fired back with a fiery statement of his own.
“For over a year, Supervisor Gaspar has been more interested in standing with Donald Trump than solving our regional mental health problems. It’s time to get the in-patient beds back online,” Fletcher wrote.
In Other News
- A former UC San Diego administrator is suing the university and Chancellor Pradeep Khosla. She claims Khosla harassed dozens of women. (NBC San Diego)
- The city plans to hire nine new staff members to focus on securing housing for homeless people staying in its three tent shelters. The city has fallen far short of the initial goals it set for how many of the people staying in the shelters would move into permanent housing. (Union-Tribune)
- The Associated Press has details on the state budget agreement reached in Sacramento.
The Morning Report was written by Sara Libby.