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Tri-County Sentry
Friday
MAY 16, 2014
State News Gaines Bone Marrow Awareness Month Jackson Bill to Help Long-Term Resolution Wins Assembly Passage Unemployed Passes Out of Committee
SACRAMENTO – Assemblywoman Beth Gaines, R-Roseville, in partnership with Be the Match, presented Assembly Concurrent Resolution 122, designating May as Bone Marrow Registry Awareness Month in conjunction with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) Man and Woman of the Year Campaign. ACR 122 was approved by the Assembly on a bipartisan vote. The need for more bone marrow donors was brought to Gaines’ attention through local LLS Woman of the Year Candidate Bernice Jimenez Creager, who campaigns to raise funds and awareness for the issue in memory of her cousin Danny, who passed away from Leuke-
Assemblywoman Beth Gaines joins the Heisinger and Love families to commemorate May as Bone Marrow Awareness Month. From Left to Right: Kevin Heisinger (father), Garrett Heisinger (child), Jason Love (father), Emily Love (child), Christina Love (mother), Speaker John Perez and Assemblywoman Beth Gaines, R-Rocklin. (Photo Credit: Christian Koszka, Assembly Republican Caucus)
mia at 17. “While cancer impacts all of us, blood cancers such as leukemia are particularly deadly for minority com-
munities due to the small number of individuals registered to donate bone marrow,” said Creager. GAINES, See page 12A
Barbara Lee Announces $16M in Federal Health Grants
Oakland, CA – Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) announced a total of $15,926,537 in Department of Health and Human Services grant to Bay Area community health care providers. These grants will allow Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, Asian Health Services, La Clinica de La Raza, Lifelong Medical Care and West Oakland Health Council, Inc. to provide quality and affordable medical and dental services to underserved populations in the East Bay. “I am proud that these community health centers will receive this critical federal funding to continue
Congresswoman Barbara Lee
to respond to the medical needs of the most vulnerable in our community,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee. “As a member of the Labor, Health and Humans Services Appropriations
Subcommittee, and cochair of the Congressional Asian and Pacific American Caucus Healthcare Taskforce, I will continue fight for resources to enable community health centers to provide the medically underserved quality and affordable healthcare in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner.” The individual grant amounts are: Alameda County Health Care Services Agency: $1,131,856; Lifelong Medical Care: $2,896,217; La Clinica de La Raza, Inc.: $5,742,761; Asian Health Services: $2,757,336; and West Oakland Health Council, Inc.: $3,398,367.
SACRAMENTO – A bill by State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (DSanta Barbara) to help the long-term unemployed get job training and get back to work passed out of the Senate Education Committee. The vote was 8 to 1. Every year, more than 7,750 Cal Grant C awards are set aside for vocational and job training. Senate Bill 1028 would require that special consideration in the awarding of those grants be given to the long-term unemployed, those who have been unemployed for six months or longer. Priority would be given to those seeking job training in growing industries with a high demand for workers and higher wages. “Our economy is improving, but there continue to be far too many people who have been unemployed for far too long, “
Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson
Jackson said. “My hope is that this bill will help give some Californians the jump start they need to get working again. It will also help meet the needs of businesses, who need a well-trained workforce to meet the needs of a 21st century economy.” Under SB 1028, annual grant awards of up to $5,000 could be used for up to two years for tuition, fees, books
and other expenses, including living expenses. California has one of the highest long-term unemployment rates in the nation, with close to 700,000 workers who have been unemployed for six months or longer. Research shows that the longer a person is unemployed, the harder it is for them to rejoin the workforce. The long-term unemployed are less likely to get interviews and must submit 3.5 times as many applications to be granted an interview. The bill asks the California Student Aid Commission, in consultation with state and federal agencies, industry leaders and others, to determine which training programs and industries should be prioritized in the grant awards, so that they are aligned with the state’s economic needs.
New Law Will Help Preserve Good Jobs in the Los Angeles Area
El Segundo, CA – California State Board of Equalization (BOE) Chairman Jerome E. Horton announces that space flight property will be exempt from property taxes levied annually beginning January 1, 2015, and for the following ten years. BOE-supported Assembly Bill 777 (Muratsuchi) was signed. “I applaud Governor Brown and the legislature for realizing this exemption will help preserve jobs held by SpaceX employees in Hawthorne, as well for employees throughout our state at other aerospace compa-
nies. This is great news for our state’s economy.” The legislation exempts certain types of space flight
property and its components from property taxes levied by county assessors. The BOE estimates that according to county assessors, the annual property tax loss will be at least $1.1 million. “While this legislation might cause slight losses in property taxes at the local level, the benefits in attracting aerospace companies and well-paying jobs they provide will more than make up for it. Plus, it will enable California to remain at the forefront of this exciting and dynamic industry.”
OAKLAND, Calif.-- Kaiser Permanente registered nurses and consumer advocates revealed how the HMO giant has accumulated a reserve that is $21.7 billion – 1626 percent – more than required by the state, while cutting patient care services and raising premiums on consumers. The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, California's largest nurses organization, also announced its endorsement of a measure that will appear on this November's ballot to regulate health insurance rates in California. The initiative can force refunds to consumers based on such excessive amounts held in reserve. CNA Treasurer Martha Kuhl, RN noted that California registered nurses regularly "struggle to get our patients the care they need, including people facing financial ruin because of high insurance bills. Too often these struggles are over what the insurance company will pay rather than what is the best care option for patients. This November Californians can confront the bottom line mentality of insurance companies by passing this initiative to rein in these out of control price hikes." "Kaiser has given more
than $7.1 million against rate regulation because it wants to continue overcharging customers," said Jamie Court, proponent of the ballot measure and president of Consumer Watchdog. Kaiser Oakland RN Katy Roemer decried Kaiser's recent rate hikes, which cost small group policyholders $18 million, and individuals $59 million, while cutting patient services. "Kaiser nurses cannot stand by quietly while Kaiser is hiking rates, cutting care and accumulating vast reserves and using patient care dollars to defeat an initiative that begins to bring some accountability into high prices that insurers impose on patients and families," said Roemer. Roemer described a number of ways Kaiser could use the $21.7 billion for the benefit of patients rather than Kaiser executives. Those include admitting patients who need care rather than blocking admissions, stop using "observation status" to circumvent hospital admission and prevent Medicare penalties when patients discharged too soon return to the hospital, stop sending patients home prematurely placing the burden of complex medical care on KAISER, See page 12A
BOE Chairman Jerome E. Horton
California Nurses, Consumers Protest Kaiser Permanente's Cuts in Care