Publication: Los Angeles Times

Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed Friday to add $168 million to the budget of the California Department of Motor Vehicles for more hiring and improvements to keep reducing wait times at field offices that ran up to six hours last summer.

The proposal will face scrutiny from lawmakers who say they need more assurances that the agency’s management is turning a corner as the state is seeking to appoint a new agency director.

“I do believe that the DMV needs more resources, because they have more customers coming in for the REAL IDs, but I don’t believe that the leadership team there now knows what to do with those resources,” said Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), who is chairman of The Assembly Budget Committee.

The request sent to the Legislature includes an extra $6 million for the current fiscal year, ending June 30, and $162 million more for next year.

That would represent a 13% increase in the previously proposed DMV budget of $1.2 billion next year.

Publication: San Francisco Chronicle

Gov. Gavin Newsom is seeking $168 million to hire more than 1,100 new employees at the California Department of Motor Vehicles and make other changes to reduce long wait times at DMV offices.

The request, made by his administration Friday to the chairs of the legislative budget committees, came two days after a state audit concluded that a “reactive culture” at the DMV was to blame for poor customer service and the faulty rollout of a new identification card last year.

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Assemblyman Phil Ting, the San Francisco Democrat who chairs the Assembly Budget Committee, said he agrees that the DMV needs more resources to fix its problems.

“But at this point, I don’t have confidence in the department or the leadership team that they know how to spend the money properly,” he said.

Ting pointed to promises from DMV officials last year that they would use tablets to assist people while they waited in line and adopt a texting notification system so people could leave and return when their number was called. The audit found that both programs had been sparingly implemented.

Publication: Los Angeles Times

Outraged by widespread allegations of cheating in the college admissions process, California lawmakers on Thursday proposed a sweeping package of bills aimed at closing loopholes that officials said gave the children of wealthy parents a side door into elite universities.

The six measures would bar special admissions without approval of three college administrators, regulate private admission consultants, audit the University of California admissions process, and deny state tax write-offs for donations made by parents as part of the cheating scheme.

Another bill, by Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco), would prohibit preferential admissions to applicants related to the institution’s donors or alumni. Universities that did not comply would be ineligible to participate in the Cal Grant program, so students who receive Cal Grants would have to use them at another institution.

“This is about fairness and equity,” Ting said. “We must close the side door that enables privileged families to get their children into elite colleges, taking the place of deserving students.”

Publication: San Francisco Chronicle

Any California college giving preference to the children of donors or alumni in its admissions decisions would be barred from participating in the state’s popular Cal Grants program, under a bill that is part of a reform package lawmakers said they will introduce in the Legislature.

The six proposals, announced Thursday, come in response to the college-admissions scandal in which a California consultant created a bogus charity to help wealthy parents and celebrities get their unqualified children into Stanford University, UCLA and other elite schools through bribery and cheating.

"We’ve all watched in complete disgust” as the scandal unfolded, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, said as he announced the proposals with Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, and other lawmakers. “For every student admitted through bribery, an honest and talented student was denied a place.”

Ting said he will introduce AB 697 on Friday to punish schools that offer legacy admissions by barring them from Cal Grants, the state’s financial aid program. Such admissions, typically found at private universities, favor students whose families donate to the campus. They are legal, unlike the bribery and fraud that marked the admissions scandal.

Publication: Los Angeles Times

Those glossy paper receipts that are often trashed before a shopper even leaves a store could become a relic of the past under a bill that cleared its first hurdle in the state Legislature on Monday.

Modeled after a new state law requiring that plastic straws be given in restaurants only upon request, the bill would require businesses to provide electronic receipts by default unless a customer asks for a paper one.

Assembly Bill 161 by Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) said his bill is an easy way to reduce paper waste in the state while addressing consumers’ frustrations with excessively long receipts. Customers have taken to social media for years to complain and poke fun at the size of their receipts, particularly at CVS drugstore, posting pictures of the coupon-packed printouts measuring taller than a refrigerator.

“If we are looking at reducing waste, probably the easiest thing we can do is get rid of the material that someone hands us that we don’t want that we hold onto until we get to the next trash can and then throw away,” said Nick Lapis of Californians Against Waste, a bill supporter.

Publication: Press Democrat

Gov. Gavin Newsom and California’s big city mayors pushed Wednesday for more money to help the homeless on top of the $500 million the state already is spending on one of its most vexing problems.

The new Democratic governor and the mayors touted the state’s Homeless Emergency Aid Program, which gives cities flexible grants to address homelessness with emergency shelters, supportive housing, navigation centers, housing vouchers and other services including mental health treatment. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, chairman of the 13-member Big City Mayors group, said they’re seeking another $500 million and maybe “a little bit more” for the program in next year’s budget.

But Assembly Budget Committee chairman Phil Ting, who sought the money being spent during this current fiscal year, said he can’t commit even to the same amount, let alone an expansion, until revenue numbers become more clear as the June budget deadline approaches.

He noted that revenues are $2 billion below projections, though officials think the income will rebound.

Newsom’s proposed budget includes $500 million for emergency shelters, navigation centers and other supportive housing. But he said he will revise his budget after meeting with the mayors for 45 minutes.

Publication: CalMatters

When Carol Dahmen discovered the CVS receipt draped across the counter of her Carmichael kitchen, she couldn’t resist pulling out her tape measure to document it.

Her husband had purchased one single prescription. The receipt, she discovered, stretched on to contain 11 coupons before topping out at an astonishing 4 feet 8 inches—the height of Olympic champion gymnast Simone Biles.

“This receipt is ridiculous and unnecessary,” Dahmen tweeted, endorsing the idea of scrapping paper receipts for emailed versions.

California lawmakers are considering just such a proposal— a bill by Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting of San Francisco that would make emailed receipts the default for businesses grossing more than $1 million beginning in 2022. Businesses breaking the rule could be fined $25 a day, up to $300 a year. Customers could still get a paper receipt, but they would have to request one—which some would undoubtedly do, rather than share their email addresses with many merchants.

Publication: Fox 40

Mayors from across the state gathered at the State Capitol Wednesday morning to discuss one of the biggest issues facing California -- homelessness.

"For California to succeed, Californians need to be housed," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said.

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Lawmakers say a new homeless emergency aid program implemented last year has already helped make some progress.

"In the form of shelters, navigation centers, vouchers to help people get off the street immediately," Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, said.

The mayors talked about new ways to implement the state money they will receive this year and spoke with Governor Gavin Newsom about trying to increase funding in the state budget to combat homelessness.