More than eight months after the city enacted a controversial homeless camping ban, state Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones wants to replicate it statewide.
But as CalMatters found, the impact of the camping ban isn’t as clear as politicians’ pronouncements suggest. CalMatters found that large-scale camps are less visible and have even dramatically decreased in some parts of the city but that unsheltered people are popping up more near freeways and along the San Diego River. Reporter Marisa Kendall also found “no evidence” that the city’s homeless population has dropped since the camping ban took effect – and documented just two prosecutions of the new city law compared with dozens more using an existing ordinance during the same period.
Mayor Todd Gloria, who championed the ordinance, told CalMatters he thinks the city looks “better than it did” before the camping ban but that the city’s work continues. He also acknowledged he’s not sure where unhoused people who have seemingly vanished went.
Homeless San Diegans and homeless service workers, meanwhile, say they are constantly on the move – and that this reality is complicating their lives and efforts to help them.
The bottom line, according to CalMatters: Anecdotes for now dominate debates over the ordinance’s successes and failures.
CA Supreme Court Takes Up Rooftop Solar Fight
Environmental activists got a big win this week as the state Supreme Court agreed to hear their case against a move by utilities regulators to slash the price of energy generated by rooftop solar.
Here’s what happened: Three groups, including San Diego-based Protect Our Communities Foundation, sued the California Public Utilities Commission after it voted in 2022 to cut how much rooftop solar panel owners could be compensated for selling excess energy back to the grid. An appeals court threw out the case back in December, but the State Supreme Court agreed to take up the case Tuesday, according to the court docket.
“The Supreme Court’s review will serve as a much-needed check on CPUC decision-making, and it means there’s still hope for some semblance of fair rates and climate action,” wrote Malinda Dickenson, general counsel and executive director of the Protect Our Communities Foundation.
Background: Solar advocates argue the commission’s move devalued solar power so much, it no longer penciled-out for home and business owners to make the large investment it takes to purchase and install solar in the first place. The California Solar and Storage Association estimated the average price of rooftop solar would drop 75 percent, from 30 cents per kilowatt-hour to 8 cents. The decision shocked California’s rooftop solar industry which saw sweeping job losses the following year, the Utility Dive reported.
A spokesperson for the state commission told the Union-Tribune that the new rooftop solar price “reflects the actual value of customer solar energy exported to the grid.” And, the move was supposed to help “control electricity costs for all customers.”
State Farm Slashing Home Insurance
State Farm is dropping insurance policies for more than 2,000 homes in San Diego County, as part of a statewide plan to cut its losses in California.
The insurer is slashing policies for 72,000 properties, including 30,000 homes and 42,000 apartments statewide, citing increased claims and rising construction costs.
In San Diego County the affluent estate community of Rancho faces the steepest cuts. State Farm plans to slash about half its coverage to that community by not renewing 713 out of 1,421 policies. Other areas facing significant cuts by the insurance giant include Alpine, Chula Vista, Jamul, Lakeside and El Cajon.
In a letter to California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, state farm executives acknowledged that there haven’t been major wildfire losses in recent years, but said windstorm damage and other liability claims, combined with high construction costs, “have generated large underwriting losses.”
Around the Empire
- Southern California spews a lot of this under-appreciated planet-warming pollutant, a pesticide that’s used to treat termites called sulfuryl fluoride. The human-made gas lingers for more than 40 years in the atmosphere, trapping heat that contributes to climate change. (Axios)
- High inflation has claimed another victim: SDSU basketball tickets. Following a second straight trip to the Sweet 16, San Diego State announced it’s raising ticket prices for basketball games by 20 percent. Eleven years ago, a mid-court seat cost $47.50. Now it will cost $100 more. (Union-Tribune)
- Flood victims can get expert advice on fixing flood damage from members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency stationed at Home Depot in Mountain View. (KPBS)
- Ex-county supervisor Nathan Fletcher used campaign funds from his short-lived state Senate bid to pay more than $320,000 in legal defense bills. (KPBS)
The Morning Report was written by MacKenzie Elmer, Deborah Brennan and Lisa Halverstadt. It was edited by Andrea Lopez-Villafaña.