The Brief

In December, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas assigned his members an “urgent” task: Make California cheaper to live in.

“Californians are deeply anxious. They are anxious about our state’s cost of living,” he told his colleagues in the wake of an election where concerns about the economy were top of mind for voters. “We must chart a new path forward and renew the California dream by focusing on affordability.”

Five months later, the state Legislature has little to show for it.

Just last week, Rivas announced four new “select committees” tasked with pitching ideas to lower the cost of housing, fuel, child care and food, but they won’t meet until June, and Rivas did not specify when he expects legislation from the committees. Some of the lawmakers assigned to chair them say they want to develop “practical” solutions but did not articulate what those would be.

Rivas, a Salinas Democrat, has also backed a slate of measures, most of which aim to ease restrictions on housing construction, but few have reached the Assembly floor for a vote.

Similarly, Senate Democrats unveiled just three legislative proposals as their “opening salvo” to affordability last week, focusing on reducing energy costs, increasing housing supplies and boosting job training.

While the Legislature is just starting to zoom in on affordability, prices are rising rapidly as a result of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff policies and groceries could get more expensive.

Economic justice advocates argue that Californians need immediate relief. Anya Svanoe, communications director for the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, said renters are still feeling the pinch.

A customer walks by a display of fresh eggs at a grocery store in the San Anselmo area of Marin County on Sept. 25, 2024. Egg prices surged last year, largely due to avian influenza (HPAI), also known as bird flu.

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“Putting together a committee that comes together months from now that won’t even do anything until the following year does not seem to me that [lawmakers] are treating it with real urgency,” she said.

Democratic leaders told CalMatters good policies take time to develop. They noted that lawmakers had to shift their focus earlier this year to Los Angeles wildfire victims and counter Trump’s policies, and it took time to onboard freshman lawmakers.

“I have never been one to simply do something to get clicks or make headlines. I want substance and impact,” Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire said in an interview. “My philosophy is: Do it right, not fast.”

Rivas spokesperson Nick Miller also said the select committees — essentially working groups established to tackle niche policies — will allow lawmakers to gather more public input and drill down on specific issues during the summer recess without feeling swamped by the regular legislative schedule.

Some analysts are skeptical that any proposals could actually make California more affordable, anyway. Garry South, a longtime Democratic strategist, said affordability is a problem “too large for legislative solution,” especially when compounded by Trump’s tariff policies.

“It’s political optics to some degree,” South said. The bills "all sound good on the surface, but I don’t think there’s any predictability that if any of them pass, or all pass, that all of a sudden we are going to be out of the housing crisis in California.”

Tackling the 'biggest cost drivers'

Rivas said that the select committees will tackle the “biggest cost drivers for Californians.”

The committees will focus on four areas: Lowering the cost of child care for babies to 3-year-olds; making food more affordable and enrolling more people in CalFresh, the state’s food stamp program; exploring financing options for affordable housing; and examining the effectiveness of the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, a clean energy incentive program that some argue could raise gas prices.

Assemblymember Lori Wilson, a Northern California Democrat who chairs the Assembly Transportation Committee and will chair the select committee on fuel, said lawmakers have had a packed calendar.

“How could you even fit these types of conversations at the same time we are actively doing committees?” said Wilson, who sits on six committees.

Lawmakers don’t need a new committee to develop solutions, because they are already introducing proposals in the current legislative session, said Mike Gatto, a former Los Angeles Democratic assemblymember who chaired the appropriations committee.

“Every single member of the Legislature has a pretty good understanding of what is causing this affordability problem in the state of California,” he said. “This information is out there.”

Select committees have traditionally been used to “give individual lawmakers who care about an issue … greater portfolio and greater exposure,” Gatto said. But he said they’re rarely effective.

“I don’t think too many veteran Capitol watchers can recall a select committee that produced significant results on an important issue,” he said.

But Miller pointed to last year’s select committee on retail theft, which produced laws to clamp down on organized shoplifting and toughen penalties on property thefts.

Proposals largely focused on housing

Optics or not, state Democrats’ affordability agenda appears clearer than a few months ago.

Led by Rivas, a strong ally of the YIMBY movement, Assembly Democrats are pressing for fewer regulations in exchange for quicker, more abundant new construction they argue would ultimately lower housing costs.

Lawmakers in early April approved a four-bill package to expedite building by streamlining the approval process for new housing and halting most changes to building standards for six years. One proposal would allow renters to take in people at risk of homelessness as long as their landlords agree.

Housing construction in a neighborhood in Elk Grove on July 8, 2022.

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“These bills will alter the trajectory of the housing crisis,” Rivas said in a statement.

Later that month, Rivas said he supported nine other “affordability” measures on housing, wage theft and broadband. One of them, introduced by Oakland Democrat Buffy Wicks, a major supporter of easing construction restrictions, would exempt most urban housing projects from the California Environmental Quality Act, making it all but impossible for environmentalists to sue to block developments.

Most of the housing proposals Rivas signed off on represent much more technical changes, though, such as making it easier to build farmworker housing, making agencies approve developments more quickly and standardizing the housing project application process.

It’s hard to know if any of those measures will lead to more housing construction, much less if they will make housing cheaper, said Bill Fulton, former director of planning and economic development for the city of San Diego and a fellow at the University of California-Berkeley Terner Center for Housing Innovation.

“In spite of the fact that all those bills have passed (in past years), we have not seen overall housing production increase very much or overall housing affordability go down very much,” Fulton said.

“The Legislature passed lots and lots and lots and lots of laws … without actually doing a careful analysis of what’s working and what’s not, and they continue to pass more laws.”

Fulton said other factors discouraging building in California include the high cost of labor and building materials and high interest rates, which are not addressed by the current raft of housing bills.

Svanoe, who champions tenant protections, said state lawmakers are streamlining housing development while doing little to make rent affordable. She supports Assembly Bill 1157, a progressive proposal to lower the cap on rent increases. Faced with pressure from YIMBY-aligned Democrats, the measure is now delayed until next year.

“There’s no room to give [on] any rent increase at this point,” Svanoe said. “It’d be the difference between someone staying in their home and someone becoming homeless.”

The housing measure included in the Senate Democrats’ affordability package is much more skeptical of new construction. While Sen. Aisha Wahab’s Senate Bill 681 would streamline some development, it would also restrict landlords from charging extra fees and crack down on homeowners association fees.

“We’re reinforcing the state’s housing production goals, but not at the expense of the Californians who are barely hanging on,” Wahab, a Fremont Democrat who chairs the Senate Housing Committee, said in the legislative analysis.

A potential showdown looms between Democrats over housing policy — a clash already underway in the Senate.

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

Several local groups in SoCal have planned demonstrations today over the fatal shooting of a man by federal agents in Minnesota on Saturday morning.

Here’s a list of some of those actions today:

• Echo Park
  
  • 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the corner of Park Avenue & Echo Park Lake Avenue
• Irvine
  
  • 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Corner of Culver Drive & Barranca Parkway
• Ontario
  
  • Starts at 11:30 a.m at Euclid Avenue & Holt Boulevard
• Cypress Park
  
  • Noon to 2 p.m. at The Home Depot on 2055 N. Figueroa St.
• Rancho Cucamonga
  
  • Noon to 2 p.m. at Haven Avenue & Foothill Boulevard
• Long Beach
  
  • Starts at 3 p.m. at the intersection of Pine Avenue and 3rd Street
• Downtown Los Angeles
  
  • Starts at 3 p.m. outside of the Federal Building, at 300 North Los Angeles Street

Some 31,000 nurses, pharmacists and healthcare workers employed by Kaiser Permanente will begin an open-ended strike tomorrow in California and Hawaii, with 28,000 of those workers in California alone.

The health system and the union representing Kaiser workers — United Nurses Associations of California & the Union of Health Care Professionals — have been negotiating for a new labor contract for months. Core bargaining issues include wages for nurses, understaffing and retirement benefits.

"Staffing's been a big problem,  wages, working conditions ... and that's just to name a few," said Peter Sidhu, Executive Vice President of UNAC/UCHP. "We will have the largest open-ended healthcare strike in U.S. history."

Picketing is slated to begin at 12 local Kaiser medical facilities in the following communities: Anaheim, Baldwin Park, Downey, Fontana, Irvine, Los Angeles, Ontario, Riverside, Harbor City, Panorama City, West Los Angeles and Woodland Hills.

Kaiser said in a statement that their hospitals and medical offices will stay open during the strikes, but some pharmacies will close.

Billions of dollars are pouring into data centers to power streaming services, cloud storage and the biggest energy monster of all, artificial intelligence.

Dozens of data centers already dot the region, from El Segundo to downtown L.A. But in Monterey Park, residents concerned about the environmental and health impacts of data centers are drawing a line.

A developer has proposed building a nearly 250,000-square-foot data center in a local business park. Last Wednesday night, hundreds of people packed City Hall to say they didn’t want it — or for that matter, any such facility.

“No data centers in Monterey Park!” the crowd chanted.

Residents’ immediate goal was to ensure the City Council approved a 45-day moratorium on data center development, an item added to the agenda after weeks of mounting public pressure.

What they got, in a meeting that stretched past midnight, was the council’s commitment to draft an outright ban during the 45-day period for a later vote. “That is more than I ever could have hoped for from this meeting,” resident Steven J. Kung said. “I am shocked and a little bit overjoyed.”

Residents organize

Hours earlier at a rally he helped lead outside City Hall, Kung had been far more cautious.

He expressed little faith in city officials, especially after learning that the project had been moving through the city’s planning process for about two years without his knowledge.

Kung said he only found out about the proposal from the Australian-based developer when his husband showed him a social media post by SGV Progressive Action last month — despite their living about 1,300 feet from the proposed site.

“I was incensed that no one had told me, especially since I lived so close,” he said.

Steven J. Kung is part of the activist and resident-led No Data Center Monterey Park.

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Kung joined a grassroots group of residents and activists called No Data Center Monterey Park, which has organized teach-ins, canvassing drives and yard sign campaigns in the weeks leading up to the vote.

Developer's promises

The developer, HMC StratCap, has said its proposed data center on 1977 Saturn Street would generate more than $5 million a year in tax revenue and more than 200 jobs during construction. It’s also promised to build a public park.

But residents said that’s not worth the tradeoff of the massive energy demand of data centers, pollution from diesel backup generators and noise from cooling equipment.

The developer counters that the generators will be strictly regulated, a “closed-loop cooling technology” will use water efficiently and noise will be “similar to a typical commercial area,” according to a handout shared with residents at Wednesday’s meeting.

Monterey Park City Hall was packed to capacity as people waited to testify in opposition to a proposed data center.

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The developer has also agreed to an environmental impact report.

Kung and others say an EIR is the least the developer should do. They say they’re also troubled by the decision to locate a data center in a city of roughly 60,000 people, more than half of them immigrants.

“They see a small city full of Asians and Latinos, and they don’t think we’ll fight back,” Kung said. “But they’re wrong.”

“People, not machines”

So many people showed up that the lobby was converted into overflow space.

Among them was Alex Leon, a mathematician who attended with his wife, a phlebotomist, and their two young daughters.

“This has kind of been our dream, living in Monterey Park,” Leon said. “I just don’t want it to turn into an industrial farm for big data.”

Alex Leon came to speak out against the proposed data center with his wife Janette and their two daughters.

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Like dozens of others, Leon wasn’t there just to watch, but wanted council members to listen. When his turn came to give comment, he met the eyes of the council members.

“Monterey Park should be built for people, not machines,” he said. “For families, not server racks. For community life, not industrial infrastructure. This is our home, and it’s worth defending.”

“Open and honest conversations”

A handful of speakers supported the project, including a representative for the developer. Laziza Lambert pivoted at the podium to face the crowd.

“We just really want to be good, long-term partners with the community and hope to have open and honest conversations,” she said, as some in the audience started to jeer.

Residents voiced concerns that once one data center is approved, the floodgates would open, noting that the developer owns another parcel on the same street.

But much of the anger that night was aimed at city leaders. Speaker after speaker said they had been kept in the dark.

Tran and

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Katherine Torres, a real estate agent and president of the Monterey Park Women’s Club, said the organization is apolitical, but she would be sure to tell the members.

“I swear, I’m going to spread the word about the data center because they need to know,” she said as the room erupted in applause.

She looked at the council members with whom she was on a first-name basis.

“I have dinner with you guys,” she said. “I go to your events. Why didn’t I know?”

A surprise shift

By the fifth hour, nearly 80 residents had spoken. Then it was the council’s turn to give comments before their vote on the 45-day moratorium.

Two members said they supported going beyond a temporary pause and considering a permanent ban. Jose Sanchez’s opposition to data centers was already known to those closely following the issue. But Elizabeth Yang’s was not.

Yang told the room that her mother and stepfather live within a mile of the proposed site.

The council meeting was preceded by a rally against data centers.

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“I’m not going to vote for something that’s going to hurt my own family,” she said.

She added she was disappointed the developer had not done more with outreach and information.

“Because of all of you feeding us good information, I’m siding with no data center,” Yang said.

The remaining residents started clapping and rose to their feet.

What’s ahead

The council unanimously approved the 45-day moratorium during which city staff will draft an ordinance that could ban data centers outright — a proposal that will return to the council for a vote.

Outside council chambers, Steven J. Kung praised his fellow residents for speaking out and pushing the council to think bigger.

“I’m so proud of Monterey Park and our residents,” he said. “The more I’m here, the more I fall in love with the people.”

He’d celebrate that night. But then it’d be back to work, making sure the ban stands and Monterey Park keeps data centers out for good.

The developer would not be sitting back either. Lambert, the representative for the developer, said they were moving forward with plans to host a town hall with residents in the next couple of weeks.

When Christian Bryson needs quick weather information, like for this weekend's massive snowstorm, he doesn't wait for the 5 p.m. local newscast. Instead, he turns to Ryan Hall.

"It's as if he's sitting in the living room with you tracking the storm," said Bryson, a 21-year-old meteorology student at the University of Tennessee at Martin.

Hall, who goes by "Ryan Hall, Y'all" on his social media platforms, calls himself a "digital meteorologist" and "The Internet's Weather Man." His YouTube channel has over 3 million subscribers. Hall did not respond to a request to comment about his platform.
Hall is part of an increasingly popular genre of social media weather accounts that share information leading up to extreme weather, and then livestream for their viewers, sometimes for hours at a time. Overall, Hall offers solid information and is a good communicator with a few technical omissions, experts told NPR. But the weather genre online spans a wide range of sources — from amateurs with no science background to accredited meteorologists.
Experts say that while weather influencers can help fill an information gap, platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and X tend to prioritize engagement and likes over accuracy. That means extreme weather updates on social media are often sensationalized or lack context, says Gary Lackmann, a professor of atmospheric science at North Carolina State University.
"They're not going to the National Weather Service web page, they're just looking at what's in their feed," Lackmann said. "Once you start clicking on viral extreme weather stuff, then the algorithm is going to just feed you more and more."

Rise in social media use for weather updates

Lackmann, who is also head of NC State's department of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences, said in 2024 during Hurricane Helene, a weather disaster that swamped western North Carolina, killing 108 people, he started to see more and more people getting their weather information from social media
He says that, in the face of extreme weather events, people need credible and authoritative sources such as the NWS.
But with social media, sometimes "you get some kid who wants to get a lot of shares and likes and be an influencer on social media," he said.
Matthew Cappucci, a senior meteorologist for the weather app MyRadar, has personal experience with both worlds. He worked for years at the Washington Post as a meteorologist, and now posts weather forecasts on the internet.
Cappucci said his success on Facebook, Instagram, and X shows how rapidly people are shifting from getting their weather information from traditional news outlets versus social media.
"Within two months, I was able to reach 60 million-plus people on social media, just on Facebook," Cappucci said
Bryson, the 21-year-old, said Hall and other credible weather influencers use language that non-meteorologists understand and they can share information at any time of the day.
"The fact that it's available at your fingertips," Bryson said. "I could go to Ryan Hall at 4 p.m. I'm eating my dinner and get the information that I need."

Digital meteorology can help fill information gaps 

There are positives to having meteorologists and credible weather sources on social media, Lackmann said. He's seen local weather influencers in North Carolina help disperse information from official outlets.

"There's a real need for that kind of localization and personalization of weather information," Lackmann said.
Aaron Scott, an assistant professor of meteorology at the University of Tennessee at Martin, said digital meteorology, a relatively new certification program that encompasses all forms of digital media, has an important place in the new media landscape.
"People do trust them, and they have built rapport," Scott said. "Sometimes that can make the difference if someone's going to actually go take shelter from a tornado or not."
Scott's department at UT Martin is now offering a digital meteorology class dedicated to teaching students how to engage with an online audience.
Cappucci also sees the positives with his own content. Social media allows for more flexibility than on-air television, he said. He pushes back on climate misinformation or weather conspiracy theorists.

A minefield of misinformation on social media

But all three experts interviewed by NPR see the downsides in the way social media algorithms push the most sensationalized — not always the most accurate — information to the forefront.
"The brightest colors, the most outlandish information will always get more following than actual truthful information," Cappucci said.
Cappucci said the ability to make increasing amounts of money on social media can also lead to inaccurate weather information.
"As TV viewership wanes and as salaries come down, it's easier to make up that money by posting crazy stuff online," Cappucci said.
Meteorologists use a number of different numerical models as they predict the possible outcomes of an extreme weather event. Because of this, people can "cherry-pick" one model and sensationalize a forecast, Lackmann said.
"You cry wolf too often, and people won't take proper precautions when there really is a high probability of an extreme event," Lackmann said.

The effort to preserve credible weather reports

Meteorologists and other weather professionals are grappling with how to navigate the new media landscape and prioritize accurate information, the experts said.
NWS has increased its social media presence, Lackmann said. Experts at the American Meteorological Society have discussed a social media certification that extends beyond the digital media certification currently available.

Scott said how the field will grapple with social media, and now AI-generated media, is "a huge question mark."
"That's the million-dollar question," Scott said. "How do we make it? Do we have some type of badging system where you're certified, you're not? Then, who decides that?"
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