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Legislators propose new slate of Covid vaccine laws Elizabeth Aguilera CALMATTERS
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom is easing mask restrictions and declaring the pandemic is moving into a less critical phase. Yet an aggressive slate of Covid-19-related bills – to mandate vaccines for children and workers, to allow 12- to 17-year-olds to get the vaccine without parental consent and more – remain in play under the Capitol dome. The vaccine working group of Democratic legislators behind the proposals say their aim is to increase vaccination rates across all age groups, improve the state vaccine registration database and crack down on misinformation about the virus and the vaccine. Taken together, the adoption of these bills would make California an outlier among states – and give it the country’s most strict Covid-19 regulations. Other states are considering various mandates and legislation related to Covid-19, but none appear to have the coordination of this effort, steered by some of the most powerful legislators in Sacramento. “These bills all attempt to bring cohesion, consistency and clarity to our overall approach and response to the pandemic,” said Democratic Sen. Josh Newman of Fullerton, a
member of the group. The bills: n Senate Bill 871 would require all children 0 to 17 to get the Covid-19 vaccine to attend child care or school. n SB 866 would allow children 12 to 17 to get the Covid-19 vaccine without parental consent. n SB 1479 would require schools to continue testing and to create testing plans. n SB 1018 would require online platforms to be more transparent about how information is pushed out to consumers. n SB 1464 would force law enforcement officials to enforce public health orders. n Assembly Bill 1993 would require all employees, including independent contractors, to show proof of Covid-19 vaccine to work in California. n AB 1797 would make changes to the California Immunization Record Database. n AB 2098 would reclassify the sharing of Covid-19 “misinformation” by doctors and surgeons as unprofessional conduct that would result in disciplinary action. Critics said the bills infringe on the health privacy of children, interfere with how doctors work, impose a burden on businesses and workers, and rely on vaccines See Laws, Page A8
Martin do Nascimento/CalMatters file
Tony Tran receives a Covid-19 vaccination at the La Clinica de la Raza community vaccination site in Oakland, Jan. 4.
Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS
A mother and child wait on a bus at the border in Medyka, Poland, to be taken to a safer place after crossing the
border from Ukraine, Saturday. The number of Ukrainians who crossed the border has surpassed 1.5 million.
Russian attacks intensify in Ukraine Zelenskyy again pleads for no-fly zone
Tribune Content Agency KYIV, Ukraine — With Russian troops besieging cities in Ukraine’s south, spurring a humanitarian catastrophe even as they press their offensive around the capital, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the strategic coastal city of Odesa would soon be under attack as he again urged Western countries to create a no-fly zone. “Russians have always visited Odesa, felt only warmth in Odesa. . . . And now what? Bombs on Odesa? Artillery on Odesa?” Zelenskyy said in an impassioned video address Sunday. “It will be a war crime. It will be a historical crime.” His pleas came as as Ukrainian authorities tried and failed for a second consecutive day to evacuate civilians from Mariupol and Volnovakha, two cities in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Mariupol, a port city of half a million people, is a key part of Russia’s offensive to deny Ukraine any exit to the sea. An earlier cease-fire on Saturday broke down with both the Ukrainian and Russian sides accusing the other of violations. Both cities have in recent days suffered cut-offs of electricity, heat and food amid the encirclement by
Russian forces that have expanded their reach across the south. But the cease-fire didn’t materialize Sunday. Though a so-called “regime of silence” (meaning a cease-fire) was set to begin at 10 a.m. local time and last for 11 hours, it had collapsed by afternoon. Pavlo Kirilenko, head of the Ukrainian government’s military-civilian administration in Donetsk, said the evacuation convoy couldn’t leave, blaming the situation on Russian troops who he said were “regrouping their forces” and conducting “powerful shelling” of the city. “It is extremely dangerous to take people out under such conditions,” he said, adding that a humanitarian convoy was heading toward Mariupol from the city of Zaporizhzhia, more than 120 miles away, but had yet to reach its destination. The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed that the estimated evacuation of some 200,000 people from Mariupol failed, saying the city was enduring “devastating scenes of human suffering.” “Today, our team began opening up the evacuation route from Mariupol before hostilities resumed,” the group said in a statement. “We remain in Mariu-
pol and are ready to help facilitate further attempts – if the parties reach an agreement.” Mykolaiev, another coastal city that Russian forces have tried to take in recent days ahead of a push on Odesa, prepared to put up a defense. Its mayor, Oleksandr Senkevich, said on a post in his official Facebook page that the city remained in Ukrainian hands and thanked employees of a local company who helped prepare Czech hedgehogs – the large, caltrops-shaped anti-tank obstacles. Later in the day, Zelenskyy posted another video message after reports of an eight-rocket barrage hitting the Vinnytsia regional airport, some 110 miles southwest of Kyiv: “Against our city against our peaceful Vinnytsia – which has never posed a threat to Russia in any way – a brutal, cynical missile strike has completely destroyed the airport.” He added that Russia was obliterating Ukrainian infrastructure and that it was the responsibility of Western leaders to create a no-fly zone. “If you do not do that, if you don’t at least give us aircraft for us to be able to protect ourselves, there can be only one conclusion: You also want us to See Russia, Page A8
‘New strategy’ would force some mentally ill into treatment Jocelyn Wiener CALMATTERS
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom last week unveiled a muchanticipated proposal to address a mental health crisis increasingly visible on trash-strewn sidewalks and in cramped jail cells around California. The proposal, known as the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (or CARE) Court, would provide a framework for courts to compel people with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders into treatment, while also providing participants with supportive housing
Alisha Jucevic/CalMatters file
Governor Gavin Newsom at press conference on the next phase of the state’s pandemic response, Feb. 17. and wrap-around services. “This is a completely new strategy,” Newsom said at a press conference to introduce the new plan.
“And I hope that creates a space for a different conversation than we’ve had in the past.” All 58 counties would
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be required to participate in the program, which is currently just a policy framework and still needs to be approved by the Legislature. Counties could face penalties for failing to provide requisite services, administration officials said. That’s one of several details that differentiates this proposal from Laura’s Law, which also entails court-ordered treatment but allows counties to decide whether they want to participate. Newsom noted that, in one year, only 218 people were served by Laura’s Law. The Newsom administration estimates the CARE Court program could
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serve between 7,000 and 12,000 Californians. Administration officials say the new proposal is different, in part, because of the resources it comes with. It builds on a
$12 billion allocation to address homelessness last year, as well as another $2 billion proposed this year, they said. People could come See Strategy, Page A8
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