LAKE COUNTY
Voter registration at Lakeport Farmer’s Market
The Lake County Registrar of Voters Maria Valadez said staff will be at Lakeport Farmer’s Market to assist voter registration and provide additional resources.
Staff will be available to provide registration forms, poll worker applications, and general informational fliers about voting in elections. Scheduled attendance days for the Farmer’s Market, at 200 Park St Lakeport from 10am to 1pm are June 25, July 2 and 16, August 6 and 20 September 3 and 17
Eligible voters can register to vote online at https://registertovote.ca.gov/ or at the Lake County Registrar of Voters office, 325 N Forbes Lakeport, CA. Additional Information phone 707-263-2372.
—Submitted
SONOMA
Regional wildfires
The heat wave, with high winds and low humidity, is sparking a series of wildfires across the state. As of Monday evening, Cal Fire reported 18 active wildfires, including eight that started Monday.
In Northern California, about 400 firefighters try to extinguish Sonoma County’s Point Fire, which ignited Sunday in Healdsburg. It has burned 1,190 acres and (as of press time Wednesday) is 20% contained. Several hundred residents were under evacuation orders, and one firefighter was injured. The fire is threatening dozens of vineyards and prompted air quality advisories, warning the wildfire’s smoke may be unhealthy for children, elderly and those with respiratory illnesses.
The largest is the Post Fire in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. More than 1,000 firefighters are battling the blaze, has grown to nearly 16,000 acres and is only 20% contained. At least 1,200 people from nearby Hungry Valley Park were evacuated and one injury was reported.
Despite the millions across the state and country being harmed by intense heat and smoke during wildfire season, the Federal Emergency Management Agency still does not consider either as a “major disaster,” A coalition of environmental, health care and labor groups submitted a 77-page petition urging FEMA to change its rules so that state, tribal and local governments could potentially receive federal aid.
—Lynn La, CALMatters
CALIFORNIA
A way around California housing laws
Addressing California’s housing and homelessness crises, state lawmakers over the last decade have passed a litany of pro-development measures. But for cities that want to skirt those laws, a loophole has emerged.
In April, a Los Angeles County judge ruled that a 2021 law that lets homeowners split up their houses into separate units regardless of local zoning restrictions, did not apply to Carson, Del Mar, Redondo Beach, Torrance and Whittier because they were “charter cities.” Charter cities have their own municipal constitutions that grant more autonomy. Out of California’s 482 cities, more than 100 are charter cities.
Since the ruling, Bay Area suburbs (Pleasanton, Brentwood and Atherton) started efforts to become charter cities. Julie Testa has been leading the charge for Pleasanton as its vice mayor and says the state Legislature has “declared war on our cities.”
Testa: “I believe that we must do what we can do to defend our constitutional right to local control.”
But legal experts are skeptical that the April ruling will be upheld, or if it is upheld, it could be used to evade state land use laws. Said one attorney: “The courts have not been very receptive to charter city arguments given the housing crisis.”
—Lynn La, CALMatters
CALIFORNIA
California to rein in health-care costs
California is trying to keep health-care costs down by setting spending caps — a task that pits public officials against a deeply entrenched and heavily lawyered set of players
In late April, the state’s new Office of Health Care Affordability set a five-year target for spending growth that starts at 3.5 percent for 2025 and drops to 3 percent by 2029. The goal of the agency is to make care more affordable and accessible while improving health outcomes.
This year, when the office was considering an annual per capita spending growth target of 3 percent, the California Hospital Association said the figure didn’t account for the state’s aging population, new investments in its Medicaid program and other costs. Instead, the hospitals proposed a 5.3 percent average annual target over the five-year period.
The California Medical Association, representing state’s doctors, has expressed similar concerns.
Proponents of California’s affordability agency hopes with plans to make more detailed spending data public — fosters greater accountability.
—KFF Health News
