How Prop 34 Seems to Single Out One LA-Based Health Care Provider

Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, November 1, 2024: 

• More than 40,000 University of California workers have authorized their unions to call a strike in coming weeks. They say many departments are understaffed and accuse UC administrators of bargaining in bad faith.
• Although California’s more than 180,000 unhoused residents could be impacted by the results of next week’s election, many may not vote due to various challenges. Data from Sacramento County shows less than 10 percent of unhoused voters there are registered.
• Statewide Proposition 34 is, on its face, about requiring health care providers to spend nearly all of their revenue on patients. But the measure is backed by a landlord lobbying group and only applies to a single provider who is pushing for more rent control in California.

University of California Workers Authorize Strike

37,000 UC service and patient care workers with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, are preparing for a potential statewide walkout. That strike authorization vote passed with 99% support, AFSCME said Thursday.

Another more than 4,000 health care, research and technical workers at UCSF also authorized their union to call a strike over what they say is the university’s failure to bargain in good faith about short staffing and other top concerns.

Both unions filed unfair labor practice charges with the California Public Employment Relations Board this month, alleging that the university has refused to provide essential job vacancy and financial data needed to assess the extent of staffing crisis and develop solutions in ongoing contract negotiations.

Why Voting is So Hard When You’re Homeless

Many unhoused Californians may not vote this year because of challenges like not having reliable transportation to get to a polling place, or fears their stuff might get stolen while they’re away voting.

Many unhoused people also may not know that they can register to vote even if they don’t have a permanent address. Californians without a fixed address can register to vote using the address of a shelter or the cross street of the park or even the sidewalk where they spend the night.

Sacramento County is trying to bridge the gap by hosting voter registration drives at local homeless shelters and affordable housing developments. In addition to registering people to vote (they got 14 new registrants at one event in mid-October) county staff hand out fliers with information about where to vote, and tell people how to access the county’s online voter information guide, county spokesperson Ken Casparis told CalMatters.

The Confusing Case of Prop 34

Of all the measures on the California ballot this election, there is perhaps none more confusing than Proposition 34. It bills itself as a health care reform measure, but it’s sponsored by a lobbying group that represents the state’s apartment landlords.

If voters approve Prop 34, certain health care providers will be required to spend 98 percent of their revenue on patient care – or lose their licenses. But the measure’s criteria seem to be true of only one provider: the LA-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, or AHF, has used some of its profits to bankroll statewide rent control initiatives – including on this year’s ballot.

Prop 34 is funded by the same landlord trade group that has spent millions fighting those rent control measures. And their prop would effectively stop the AIDS Healthcare Foundation from ever backing another one.