Thousands Of Healthcare Workers See Wages Increase

Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, October 16, 2024…

• Most healthcare employers in California are required to increase their minimum wage starting Wednesday. This is the first raise of its kind in the U.S. specific to healthcare.
• This fall, school districts throughout the state are asking voters to approve billions of dollars in bonds to repair and renovate aging campuses. But what is a bond?  
• Sacramento’s Law and Legislation Committee unanimously passed firearm regulations on Tuesday that range from gun liability insurance to a yearly $25 gun harm reduction fee.

Minimum Wage Increase Now In Place For Thousands of Healthcare Workers

Starting Wednesday, more than 350,000 healthcare workers are getting raises. That’s thanks to a state law finally in effect after months of delays. They include nursing assistants and pharmacy technicians, as well as janitors and receptionists. Many of these workers are women of color, often living in poverty.

The law is expected to alleviate workforce shortages at hospitals and clinics and improve patient care in California, by helping to recruit and retain workers to often tough frontline jobs. Bianca Frogner directs the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University of Washington. “It gives healthcare maybe a fighting chance against other industries that might be raising wages and are competing for workers,” she said.

What Is A Bond? Why Am I Always Being Asked To Vote For One?

This fall, dozens of school districts throughout Southern California are asking voters to approve billions of dollars in bonds to repair and renovate aging campuses.

In L.A. County: 27 school districts are seeking $15 billion. In Orange County: 10 school districts are seeking $2 billion.

The size of the bond and the resulting change in property taxes varies from district to district, but these requests all exist in the context of a school facilities funding system that’s failed to meet some schools’ needs for decades.

School districts rely on voters to approve statewide and local bonds to pay for repairs, renovations, and new construction. A bond is basically a loan that a school district takes out, and which property owners in that school district pay back through an increase in property taxes.

Gun Owners In Sacramento Would Pay ‘Harm Reduction Fee’ Under City Proposal

Registered gun owners in Sacramento would be required to pay a “harm reduction fee” and face other restrictions under a set of proposals that moved forward on Tuesday during a City Council committee meeting.

Supporters say the measures, which surfaced after a recent spike in shootings, would reduce gun violence. But a gun rights lobbyist said they would financially burden residents who follow existing laws and won’t prevent people from illegally obtaining firearms for criminal activity.

The city of San Jose passed a similar gun insurance and harm reduction fee policy two years ago. A federal court dismissed lawsuits from the National Association for Gun Rights and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association that argued the policy violated the Second Amendment. But the court ruled they could sue again when the city begins charging harm reduction fees.