The Brief

Lawmakers’ efforts to free up state money for sober homeless housing have been thwarted for a second year in a row, after Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that had sailed to his desk with few “no” votes.

Assembly Bill 255 would have allowed cities and counties to spend up to 10% of their state funding on “recovery housing,” where people live in a sober environment and work on overcoming an addiction. The move would have tweaked California’s “housing first” strategy, which generally frowns on programs that put up barriers to housing — such as requiring people to stay clean or participate in treatment.

“It’s disappointing that the Governor vetoed AB 255,” the bill’s author, Assemblymember Matt Haney, a San Francisco Democrat, said in a statement. “This bill was about giving people in recovery a real choice to have safe, sober housing when they need it. Californians who are working hard to stay sober are often forced into housing where drug use is allowed, and that puts their recovery and their lives at risk.”

The governor said the bill was unnecessary and would have created a “duplicative and costly new statutory category” for recovery housing. “Recent guidance” already allows cities and counties to spend state homelessness funds on sober housing, Newsom said in his veto message.

That was news to Haney.

“Unfortunately that is not the understanding shared by housing providers themselves, the legislature, the cities, counties and their attorneys, or people seeking recovery housing,” he said in a text to CalMatters.

In response to CalMatters' request for more detail on the state’s policies for funding sober housing, the governor's office sent a link to a draft policy document dated January, 2025, but then followed up with a final version dated July, 2025. The document says state money can fund sober housing as long as the people in that housing are sober by choice.

Haney's office had not seen the document until it was sent by a CalMatters reporter, said spokesperson Nate Allbee.

In his veto message for AB 255, Newsom said any future changes to the state's recovery housing policy should be considered through the annual budget process.

“California remains committed to advancing recovery housing within Housing First,” he said. “I encourage the author and stakeholders to continue working with my Administration to strengthen these options in ways that complement, rather than complicate, the state’s approach.”

Haney's bill would have set up a new system for the state’s housing department to regulate recovery housing, which would have cost an estimated $4.12 million in the first year, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee’s analysis. Recovery programs would have paid a fee for state certification. But those fees, likely amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, would not entirely offset the state’s costs, according to the analysis.

“I was a little surprised,” Sharon Rapport, California state policy director for the Corporation for Supportive Housing, said of the governor’s veto. “But when I thought about it, I thought it probably did make sense, because part of the bill does require a certification program to be created, and there wasn’t funding for that.”

Flyers with information on the floor of the new detox center at the St. Vincent De Paul Village Family Health Center of Father Joe’s Villages in San Diego on Jan. 31, 2025.

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Adriana Heldiz

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CalMatters

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Rapport’s organization worked with Haney’s office on some amendments to the bill, including reducing the percentage of state funding that can go to sober housing from 25% down to 10%.

Newsom’s veto message referenced the original 25% version of the bill. His office did not respond to an email asking why he used the old number.

In an effort to adhere to housing first principles, Haney’s bill specified that recovery housing residents wouldn’t be evicted just for relapsing. If they no longer wanted to participate in recovery, they could have continued living onsite until the program operator found them a new place to live.

This was Haney’s second attempt to funnel state money into recovery housing. His first, Assembly Bill 2479, died last year amid worries that it would siphon too much money away from low-barrier housing, and that people might lose their placement if they relapsed.

Since 2016, California has required housing providers to adopt a “housing first” model, which emphasizes getting people into housing even if they are addicted to drugs or alcohol, or struggling with a mental illness. Instead of requiring people to participate in treatment programs as a condition of getting housing, providers offer voluntary services. The idea is to get people housed as quickly and easily as possible, because it’s much easier to tackle someone’s other problems – such as their drug addiction – once the person has a roof over their head.

While both Haney and the governor are attempting to work sober housing into California’s existing housing first strategy, the federal administration, meanwhile, is attempting to blow up the entire policy.

President Donald Trump this summer issued an executive order directing federal agencies to end support for ‘housing first’ policies that “deprioritize accountability and fail to promote treatment, recovery, and self-sufficiency.” It directs those agencies to require people participating in federally-funded housing programs to participate in addiction and mental health treatment.

Haney said he remains a firm believer in housing first.

“I don’t think it is at all intended to help us be more responsive and effective,” he said of the federal policy change. “It’s intended to undermine responses to homelessness and affordable housing.”

This story has been updated to include a response from Gov. Gavin Newsom's office.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

After the Department of Justice issued a wide-ranging subpoena to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles last June, the records of more than 3,000 patients now will be protected until at least February 2029 under a settlement reached between patient families and the federal government.

What the federal government was seeking

The DOJ wanted to pull a wide swath of information from CHLA’s records related to hormone therapy prescriptions, including the identities and social security numbers of the people it was prescribed to. Lawyers for CHLA patient families said the broad request also included details of patients’ sexual health data and records of their mental health and said the inquiry violated their constitutional rights.

What CHLA’s lawyers are saying

“This is a massive victory for every family that refused to be intimidated into backing down,” said Khadijah Silver, director of gender justice and health equity at Lawyers for Good Government. “The government's attempt to rifle through children's medical records was unconstitutional from the start.”

Silver also noted that DOJ confirmed it had not received any sensitive patient data under the parts of the subpoena that had been struck down.

What’s in the settlement

Under the agreement, which was first reported by Reuters, the federal government has withdrawn its requests for personal information like social security numbers, prescription records and “documents relating to the clinical indications, diagnoses or assessments that formed the basis for prescribing puberty blockers or hormone therapy.”

The government cannot make new requests of this type to CHLA until February 2029. The settlement also establishes a process for the DOJ to continue to pursue seeking some limited redacted medical records from CHLA.

What it means for parents and children

In the aftermath of the subpoenas, many advocates were worried that families would face federal prosecution for seeking gender-affirming care for their children.

However, according to the settlement, the DOJ said it “is not currently aware of information that would support the federal prosecution of parents or guardians who have sought and consented to receiving gender-related care for their children at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.”

What the hospital and DOJ say about the win

LAist has reached out for comment to both entities and has not heard back.

The backstory

The subpoenas were issued on or about June 11, 2025, according to the settlement. They were made public in July, though many patient families remained in the dark about whether they were affected. CHLA announced it planned to close its clinic for trans youth June 12.

Judges have ruled against similar requests and struck down subpoenas seeking records from other hospitals, like Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Boston Children’s Hospital.

Los Angeles voters could soon get another chance to weigh in on Measure ULA, better known as the city’s “mansion tax.”

First approved by voters in November 2022, the measure has taxed real estate selling for more than $5 million. It funds tenant protection programs and affordable housing construction.

But economists have found that because the tax also applies to apartments — not just mansions — housing developers are pulling back on building in the city compared to other parts of L.A. County. One UCLA study concluded the city would have more low-income units on balance if the tax did not apply to new apartments.

Now, there’s a new effort brewing at City Hall to change how the “mansion tax” works.

City Councilmember Nithya Raman, chair of the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, introduced a motion Friday to place a new measure on the June ballot. The ballot measure would ask voters to exempt recently constructed apartment buildings from the tax, among other changes.

“We've seen some real pressures on the market as a result of ULA,” Raman told LAist. “It was sold to voters and talked about as a mansion tax. I don't think it was intended to slow the construction of new apartments in a city with an acknowledged and widespread housing crisis.”

Supporters of the tax say it’s working as intended. They dispute claims that ULA is responsible for slower housing growth in the city.

No council votes have yet been taken.

Local reform effort follows failed state bill

Supporters say the tax has funded eviction defense and rent relief programs. It has also produced the city’s largest-ever pot of money for low-income housing development, though less than 200 apartments have been completed and leased so far.

Joe Donlin, director of the group United to House L.A., called the latest reform effort “irresponsible.”

The proposed tax exemption for apartments built within the last 15 years would be “a tax break for developers and billionaires,” Donlin said.

“That would be giving money away from ULA programs that are protecting renters, that are keeping people from falling into homelessness, and building affordable housing,” he said.

Raman’s motion would also cancel the tax on homeowners affected by the Palisades Fire. Another change would restructure certain financing terms in order to attract traditional lenders to participate in ULA-funded affordable housing projects.

Many of the changes are similar to those proposed by state lawmakers in a bill that failed to advance at the tail end of last year’s legislative session in Sacramento.

Dueling effort at repeal is underway 

But those who support reform say without some changes, the tax could soon be thrown out entirely. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association is collecting signatures for a separate ballot measure that would overturn not just Measure ULA, but similar taxes across the state.

Mott Smith, a reform proponent and the co-author of a UCLA study that found the tax had sharply reduced high-end real estate sales, said this is shaping up to be a tough political fight.

“I commend Councilmember Raman for doing her best to turn Measure ULA into something that might actually work before it goes away,” Smith said.

Some L.A. council members have already signaled opposition to the push for reform.

Alejandra Alarcon, a spokesperson for Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, said in a statement to LAist that Jurado opposes the motion as written.

“Voters overwhelmingly supported ULA to help build and sustain diverse communities,” the statement read. “Any changes to the measure should be made with community advocates at the table, not without them.”

What’s next?

The new City Council effort has a long way to go before any changes are made to the tax.

If a majority of the council approves it for the June ballot, a majority of local voters would need to sign off on changing a measure that received nearly 58% support from voters back in November 2022.

The eagle (egg) has landed.

Southern California's famous bald eagle couple, known as Jackie and Shadow, appear to have something new to take care of, as seen on the popular YouTube livestream run by Friends of Big Bear Valley that has captivated thousands of people.

Jackie laid the first egg of the season around 4:30 p.m. Friday in the nest overlooking Big Bear Lake, according to organization records, as more than 14,000 people watched the livestream.

In recent months, the birds were seen working on their "nestorations"— bringing in fresh sticks and fluff furnishings to the top of the Jeffrey pine tree they’ve claimed as their home, according to the nonprofit.

Last year, Jackie laid the first egg of that season around the same time, following up with a second and third a few days later.

Fans are once again eagerly watching the eagles for signs of more eggs in the clutch, which refers to the eggs laid in each nesting attempt, usually three days apart.

Jenny Voisard, the organization’s media and website manager, told LAist the Big Bear bald eagle fan community grew when the couple successfully raised two bald eagle chicks, Sunny and Gizmo, last season.

“The building of the nest, the bonding, the flirting, the mating, the bickering, the moving the sticks around, defending against intruders, you know, that's all been new for a lot of people,” she said.

“People are all kind of like nervous aunties and uncles,” she continued. “So we just try to keep everybody calm.”

As always, Jackie and Shadow are in charge. Fans will have to wait and see what this season will bring, Voisard said.

What to watch for

Friends of Big Bear Valley has been keeping track of the nesting season milestones, including a new daily record of at least 28 sticks delivered to the nest in November. The eagles’ previous single-day stick record was 25, according to the organization.

Other milestones include Shadow dropping off the first fluff in December, and the first mating a few weeks later.

“Pancaking” is a term Friends of Big Bear Valley uses to describe when the eagles lay flat in their nest bowl, before the eggs have arrived, for increasingly longer stretches of time.

The organization said Jackie had her longest “pancake session” of the season so far this week, laying in the nest for a little more than a half hour.

“That activity is a sign that we're getting closer to egg-laying,” Voisard said. “[Jackie’s] doing a few things, she's making the shape and she's testing it out.”

Jackie will likely also eat more fish from the nest so she has enough energy for the egg-laying process, Voisard said. Last January, the eagles brought two fish to the nest in the hours before the first egg was laid and three fish a day earlier, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley records.

When eggs are imminent, she said Jackie will “pancake” on the nest for long periods of time before rousing and puffing up her feathers. Then, Jackie typically makes a high-pitched, whistling tea kettle noise as she has contractions, according to the organization.

On Friday, Jackie made the tea kettle noise about three minutes before the first egg was laid, according to Friends of Big Bear Valley records.

“She looks almost royal, because all of her feathers are out and it's just — I cry,” Voisard said with a laugh. “It's usually pretty amazing.”

The eagles know best

While there are signs of new life coming to the nest, every season is different for Jackie and Shadow, and Friends of Big Bear Valley is encouraging people to be patient.

It was unseasonably warm in the area this past fall, and last season was the first time Jackie and Shadow successfully raised two chicks to fly away from the nest instead of just one. The organization has said both factors could delay this season’s egg-laying timeline.

“I'm sure [two] was a lot more work than with just one,” Sandy Steers, executive director of the organization, told LAist previously. “So I think that had something to do with them needing a longer break.”

And some seasons have ended with an empty nest, including in 2024 and 2023 when both sets of eggs didn’t hatch after weeks of waiting.

Voisard said while we can’t predict what’s going to happen this year, fans don’t have to watch in fear or let human emotions get in the way of enjoying the eagle experience.

“We feel all of the feels with Jackie and Shadow … happiness, laughter, we get worried, we feel joy, we felt sorrow,” she said. “It's all OK, and Jackie and Shadow move forward, no matter what.”

Jackie and Shadow in Big Bear's famous bald eagle nest on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026.

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