The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) announced more than $2.8 million in funding is being made available to 28 small businesses, community-based organizations and local governments throughout California in the first round of the Healthy Stores Refrigeration Grant Program. Nine recipients are in the Bay Area, including two in San Francisco.
Publication: KPCC/Southern California Public Radio
California Assemblyman Phil Ting has proposed a bill that he hopes will help the state stay on track with its goals to fight climate change and help more Californians take advantage of the state’s rebate program for electric vehicles.
If you’ve been on the fence about getting an EV, what has been the impediment? Lack of selection? Purchase or maintenance cost? Lack of knowledge? Charging stations? What would get you to buy an EV?
Listen to the debate on KPCC's AirTalk, hosted by Larry Mantle, by clicking on the "Read More" button below.
GUESTS:
Phil Ting, California Assembly member (D-San Francisco) representing the 19th Assembly District, which encompasses western San Francisco and northern San Mateo County and author of AB 1046
James Moore, professor of engineering and public policy at USC
David Rapson, associate professor of economics and co-director of the Davis Energy Economics Program (DEEP) at UC Davis
Publication: San Francisco Chronicle
SACRAMENTO — California could triple the rebate it gives to drivers who purchase zero-emission cars under a San Francisco lawmaker’s bill that seeks to put the state on track to meet its goals to combat climate change.
Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting’s bill, AB1046, would let state regulators increase a typical consumer’s rebate for an electric car to up to $7,500 and provide a stable pot of funding for the payments.
Ting said his bill would promptly boost rebates and reduce them over time, as electric vehicles such as Teslas and Chevrolet Bolts presumably grow in popularity.
California’s existing rebate program gives buyers a flat $2,500 for full-battery electric vehicles. Ting said that gives buyers no incentive to go electric now versus years down the road.
(San Francisco) – Recognizing that the state must do more to meet its greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction goals, Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) unveiled AB 1046 today to drastically reform the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP), California’s existing rebate program for clean cars. The proposal gears up efforts to get more zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) on our roads and do so at a faster pace than ever before. Modeled after the state’s solar rebate program, the revamped CVRP would initially increase the rebate amount given to consumers. Then, as market penetration grows, the rebates would decline over time.
“There is no real incentive to buy or lease a zero-emission vehicle right now if consumers know the rebate level will be the same year after year – or even worse, run out during the year,” said Ting. “But if consumers have certainty that the rebates will diminish as time goes on, they might act sooner rather than later.”
Since transportation accounts for nearly 40% of GHG emissions in California, cleaner cars are key to reducing harmful pollutants from the air we breathe and helping slow the climate crisis. Then-Governor Jerry Brown issued an Executive Order last year, calling for five million ZEVs to hit the road by 2030. California still has a long way to go – at the beginning of 2019, there were only 550,000 clean cars estimated on its roads. Reform of the rebate program envisioned through AB 1046 would spur greater adoption of ZEVs.
Publication: The Hill
Cities and states are leading the crackdown on using facial recognition as lawmakers in Congress struggle to find a path to address concerns over the emerging technology.
Privacy and civil rights advocates have castigated facial recognition as overly invasive and potentially discriminatory. But with Washington appearing slow to act, critics are now targeting their efforts at the state and local level, where they believe legislation to restrict the technology can move faster and tougher action is likelier.
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And in California, legislation that would bar the installation of facial recognition software in police body cameras is making its way through the Senate.
“By adding facial recognition software to police body cams, you are deploying thousands of cameras in California immediately and surveilling ordinary citizens 24 hours a day,” California Assemblyman Phil Ting told The Hill, explaining the impetus behind the bill. “I don’t know that ordinary citizens like [that surveillance].”
Publication: San Jose Mercury
State lawmakers believe too many California homeowners still struggle to build granny flats, with high fees, construction costs and regulations stalling even the most careful plans.
A handful of proposals in Sacramento would expand the years-long efforts to clear hurdles for homeowners interested in building auxiliary dwelling units (ADUs) on their property. The measures would close some loopholes and cut more red tape in laws adopted in the last three years to ease the construction process for the units.
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Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, has proposed streamlining the local approval process. His bill, AB 68, would reduce the deadline for municipalities to review and approve auxiliary units from 120 to 60 days. It would also prohibit towns and cities from enacting laws aimed at restricting the units, such as parking and lot size requirements.
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Ting said encouraging ADU construction is a way to bring more housing to communities with minimal disruption. “The real goal is to get more housing production up and down the state,” he said.
Publication: KRON-TV/San Francisco Bay Area
SACRAMENTO (KRON) – President Trump taking aim at California’s plan to provide health care coverage to children and young adults, regardless of immigration status.
Assembly Budget Chairman Phil Ting says lawmakers knew this could be a fight, but he says it’s a fight worth having.
“We’re not going to be bullied by the president. Our people, our voters feel a strong sense that we should be insuring everyone here, if we can and that’s the goal. We’re going to continue on that course, cause that’s the right thing to do,” Ting said.
Publication: San Francisco Examiner
A new state transparency law will take effect Monday that sets a short time frame for law enforcement across California to release body camera footage in serious cases, including police shootings.
Under Assembly Bill 748, law enforcement agencies will have to release the footage within 45 days of an “critical incident,” unless doing so would interfere with an investigation.
The legislation from Assemblymember Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, is intended to create a uniform process for releasing body camera footage and to help law enforcement build trust with communities.
“That trust can’t be built between communities and law enforcement unless the public can see the footage,” Ting said in a recent interview.
Ting said he modeled the legislation after a policy adopted last year by the Los Angeles Police Commission. The commission created the policy after the Los Angeles Police Department appeared to selectively release footage from police shootings depending on whether the suspect was armed.
“When push came to shove, it could just be denied just because they felt like it,” Ting said of requests for body camera footage.
Publication: ABC 7 KRCR News
A new California law requiring the release of law enforcement body camera footage goes into effect on Monday, July 1.
Assembly Bill 748 will require the release of recordings from body-worn cameras within 45 days of an incident, including if officers fired shots or if a use-of-force causes death or great bodily harm.
The bill was introduced by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) and signed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2018.
According to Ting, prior to the passage of AB 748, California had no consistent policy regarding the release of body camera recordings.
Publication: Courthouse News Service
Yielding to worries that facial recognition technology could exacerbate racial injustices, a major supplier of law enforcement cameras said Thursday it won’t be adding the technology to its police body cameras.
Axon, which sells stun guns, body cameras and cellphone software to law enforcement agencies in over 100 countries, is banning the implementation of facial recognition capabilities in its body cameras. The Arizona-based and publicly traded company says it will follow the recommendation of its board of ethics and continue improving the technology before selling it to law enforcement.
“Face recognition technology is not currently reliable enough to ethically justify its use on body-worn cameras,” the ethics board said in a report.
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Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, says Axon has been supportive of his proposed statewide ban and the lawmaker called Thursday’s announcement “courageous.”
“Axon is raising the bar from a moral and ethical point of view,” Ting said in a phone interview.
Ting’s proposal, Assembly Bill 1215, has cleared the Assembly and could be voted on in the Senate this summer.