Weekly CA-COVID Update 2/8/22

California

California’s statewide indoor mask mandate will vanish one week from today on Tuesday, 2/15… 

A new California program to financially reward college students for volunteering has drawn national attention - but less than half of its budgeted money is going to actual student aid…

Two months after four people were killed and seven injured during a Michigan high school shooting, State Sen. Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) will introduce a bill that would require school administrators to collect information from parents about guns stored at home and would mandate backpack, locker and car searches if there is a credible threat or danger of mass casualty…

Sharon Henry, a chief deputy in the Solano County District Attorney’s Office who sued the county last year, announced last week that she is challenging her boss, Krishna Abrams, in this June’s election…

Unlike some other states, California law does not require school districts to provide buses even if a student lives far from campus…

Gov. Newsom’s administration has negotiated a deal to give Kaiser Permanente (KP) a special Medicaid contract that would allow the health care behemoth to expand its reach in California and largely continue selecting the enrollees it wants, which other health plans say leaves them with a disproportionate share of the program’s sickest and costliest patients…

Gov. Newsom, who three years ago placed a moratorium on executions, is moving to dismantle the US’ largest death row by moving all condemned inmates to other prisons within two years…

The California Teachers Association was Sacramento’s top spender last year, pouring nearly $4.6 million to sway education policy in the state, according to the final tally of lobbying disclosures for 2021…

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, who was appointed as California’s first-ever surgeon general in 2019, has resigned…

Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) supported the leading tech antitrust bill, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, in the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, but demanded significant changes if it is to get their support on the Senate floor… 

Coronavirus

An executive order issued by Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on 1/15 that allows parents to opt out of COVID-19 school mask mandates prompted dueling lawsuits last week, one siding with Youngkin and the other challenging his order…

Children under five years old may be eligible for COVID-19 shots as soon as the end of February - much earlier than previously expected…

A new analysis of research across nearly a dozen countries including the U.S. found widespread anxiety and depression among children and teens at the start of the public health crisis…

A new study found that with universal masking, in-person education was associated with low rates of secondary transmission, even with less stringent distancing and bus practices…

A new report suggests that school closures in January 2022 were more common in districts with less in-person school during 2020-21 and in districts with a larger share of students who were Black and Hispanic or eligible for free and reduced-price school lunch…

The American Academy of Pediatrics calls for renewed emphasis and support to keep schools open…

Novavax has applied to the FDA for emergency use authorization of COVID vaccine…

Asked how their communities should respond to a surge in COVID-19 infections, more than 40 percent of likely voters said they want schools to take steps to limit the spread of disease - even if those measures interfere with students’ learning, according to a survey conducted by the McCourtney Institute for Democracy…

Weekly Update 2/7/22

President and Administration

Natalie Jaresko, the executive director of Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board, is resigning after helping the U.S. commonwealth through a historic bankruptcy…

President Biden issued a proclamation declaring January 2022 as National Mentoring Month. Mentoring has a positive effect, both academically and professionally…

President Biden pledged a stepped-up federal fight against gun violence as he visited New York City on Thursday, 2/3, and called for more funding for law enforcement and community anti-violence programs to address rising crime… 

Employers in the U.S. added roughly 467,000 jobs in January and the numbers for November and December were revised significantly upward - an unexpected jolt to the economy that came in the midst of the surging Omicron variant of COVID-19…

On Friday, 2/4, the Biden administration issued a new rule asking schools to soon start meeting nutrition standards that were strengthened at the urging of former first lady Michelle Obama - but were suspended during the pandemic as schools struggled to procure more nutritious options… 

Congress  

The “Four Corners” – the chairs and ranking Republicans on the House and Senate appropriations committees – continue meeting in an effort to extend government funding… 

The White House is preparing another COVID-19 funding request for Congress that could include both domestic and international priorities…

On 1/27, Senator Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) had brain surgery in response to a relatively minor stroke…

The House approved a $350 billion initiative Friday, 2/4, to boost U.S. competitiveness with China and other rivals, but differences with the Senate and emerging partisan divides signaled struggles ahead in reaching a compromise… 

The Republican Party on Friday, 2/4, officially declared the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and events that led to it “legitimate political discourse,” and rebuked Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who have been the most outspoken in condemning the deadly riot and the role of former President Trump in spreading the election lies that fueled it…

Education

There is a new risk-based model for how state regulators should oversee colleges that enroll GI Bill recipients…

On Friday, 2/4, the House approved an amendment to add the College Transparency Act to the America Competes Act, which the House then passed…

Today, 2/7, the Education Department released updates to the College Scorecard that make the tool more useful for students and families weighing college options…

Last week, ED and its technical assistance partner the National Comprehensive Center released a new resource to help states share their progress deploying the $122 billion American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) funds…

During the two years that COVID-19 has upended school for millions of families, education leaders have increasingly touted personalized tutors as a means of compensating for lost learning…

The national six-year completion rate for students who started college in 2015 reached 62.2 percent, according to a new report out on Thursday, 2/3, from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center…

As battles erupt around the country over how the subject of race should be treated in the classroom, a new survey finds Americans are split over whether schools should teach children about current-day racism…

Weekly Update 1/31/22

California

Assembly Bill 1690, introduced last week, would ban single-use cigarette filters, e-cigarettes and vape products in the state with the aim of benefiting the environment and public health…

Gov. Newsom and state lawmakers reached an agreement last week to again require employers to provide workers with paid sick leave to recover from COVID-19 or care for a family member with the virus…

Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) is proposing to require that all schoolchildren receive a COVID-19 vaccine starting in 2023, a law that would be the nation's strictest student mandate if approved…

San Jose is now the first city in the nation to mandate gun owners to have liability insurance and pay an annual fee in an effort to curb gun violence…

California State University trustees strongly indicated Wednesday, 1/26, they will permanently scrap SAT and ACT testing requirements for admission - a move that would align it with the University of California, which dumped the standardized exams it criticized as biased and of little value…

Coronavirus

A new resource from Rockefeller and Duke university highlights case examples from Illinois, Massachusetts, and North Carolina’s Test to Stay programs and identifies four keys to success to help state and local officials overcome the challenges of Test to Stay programs…

The Omicron variant may be more dangerous for children than earlier COVID-19 strains, a study of hospitalization data from one of South Africa’s biggest medical insurance programs showed…

Child care centers in which children wear masks are less likely than others to shut down from COVID-19 outbreaks, according to a large-scale, year-long study of child masking in the U.S. Conducted by researchers at Yale University…

President and Administration

On Tuesday, 1/25, the House Democratic leadership released the America COMPETES Act, aimed at boosting U.S. high tech research and manufacturing, with a heavy focus on the semiconductor industry…

SAMHSA has released: Ready to Respond: Mental Health Beyond Crisis and COVID-19, which addresses…

On Thursday, 1/27, President Biden and the Supreme Court’s oldest member - Justice Stephen Breyer - held a press conference announcing Breyer’s retirement…

Companies doing business with the U.S. government have faced greater legal and regulatory changes than the average employer outside of health care under Biden, with more developments potentially ahead…

The White House has named a point person in the Biden administration’s efforts to reverse the alarming rise of homelessness across the U.S…

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has committed another $240 million in Emergency Connectivity Funding…

President Biden is planning to visit New York City on Thursday, 2/3, to discuss how to combat gun violence with NYC Mayor Eric Adams… 

The State of the Union is set for March 1…

The nation’s top financial regulators will soon embark on a controversial, first-of-its-kind mission: forcing banks and other industry players to prepare for potential threats to the U.S. financial system from climate change…

Congress  

Government funding runs out 2/18 and appropriators are hoping for a year-long funding deal as part of an omnibus spending package… 

Dozens of Democrats on Wednesday, 1/26, called on President Biden to release a legal memo his administration prepared about his powers to cancel student debt…

American families are feeling the financial squeeze of inflation and a persistent pandemic as Democrats return to Washington this week no closer to a deal on a reconciliation bill party leaders hoped would by now provide relief…

Speaker Pelosi announced last week that she plans to run for reelection, but did not announce that she will run for speaker in her video announcement…

Education

At least six historically black colleges and universities received bomb threats this morning, 1/31, disrupting campus operations and launching police investigations…

A new report from the education consulting firm EAB, released on Friday, 1/28, examines some of the ripple effects of the pandemic that could hurt student retention, including social disengagement and worsening mental health among college students, as well as lower transfer rates… 

When Congress voted last spring to send schools an unprecedented $125 billion in COVID-19 relief funds, it laid down some basic guidelines…

Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona on Thursday, 1/27, laid out his vision for continued recovery through the pandemic and key actions in four priority areas that will guide the Department's work over the coming months and years…

The Ed Recovery Hub, launched last week, showcases innovative, high-potential actions that states, districts and schools are taking right now that deserve additional consideration and emulation…

Going to college financially benefits low-income students, but less so than peers who are not low income, according to a new report…

The College Board announced last week that the SAT will be delivered digitally internationally beginning in 2023 and in the U.S. in 2024…

Immigration Update 1/25/22

California

California would allow all income-eligible residents to qualify for the state’s healthcare program for low-income people regardless of immigration status under Gov. Newsom’s recent budget proposal…

New demographic data shows California’s population falling for the first time on record - underscoring shifting immigration patterns, declining birth rates and the large number of deaths at the hands of the pandemic…

The Judicial System

Earlier this month, Biden administration lawyers urged the Supreme Court to deny bond hearings and a chance to go free to immigrants who are being held for deportation after returning illegally to the U.S…

Last week, the Biden administration vigorously defended a Trump-era emergency order that U.S. border authorities have used to expel hundreds of thousands of migrants without screening them for asylum, arguing the unprecedented policy is still needed to control the spread of COVID-19…

President and Administration

A newly disclosed memorandum citing “unprecedented” meddling by the Trump administration in the 2020 census and circulated among top Census Bureau officials indicates how strongly career Census Bureau employees sought to resist efforts by the administration to manipulate the count for Republican political gain…

In mid-December, the Biden administration withdrew from negotiations to offer financial compensation to thousands of migrant families for the harm inflicted on them by a Trump-era policy that separated parents and children at the border…

Apprehensions at the southwest border rose in November for the first time since July…

In early January the Biden administration again submitted Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez for consideration to lead the key immigration enforcement role within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)…

President Biden promised during his campaign to “end for-profit” detention, but he did not include ICE in his January 2021 executive order eliminating the use of private prisons… 

Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations say they have been kicked out of joint drug operations, shunned by local police departments and heckled at campus career fairs…

In early December, the Biden administration reached a deal with the Mexican government to restart the Trump-era “Remain in Mexico” program that requires asylum seekers to wait outside U.S. territory while their claims are processed…

Congress

Zoe Lofgren, a San Jose Democrat, chairs the immigration subcommittee of the House judiciary panel and is a longtime leader on immigration policy in Washington… 

The Senate in December approved President Biden’s choice to run Customs and Border Protection in a 50-47 vote, filling a key post that has oversight of one of the president’s earliest and biggest challenges: handling the historic spike in illegal crossings at the nation’s southern border…

Afghan Refugees

The Continuing Resolution signed into law by President Biden in December includes $7 billion for the resettlement of Afghan evacuees, an amount some Republicans sharply criticize… 

Haitian Migrants

The DHS’s civil rights office raised an internal warning to immigration and border officials that deporting Haitians to their volatile home country risked violating U.S. civil and human rights obligations and advised them against the practice in late August…

Weekly Update 1/24/22

California

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday, 1/21, told reporters that his administration is planning for the endemic phase of COVID-19, although he declined to offer a picture of what that would look like…

A group of 45 colleges and universities in California was selected to participate in a new statewide initiative to involve low-income students in finding solutions for pressing state problems such as inequities in education, climate change, pandemic recovery and food insecurity​, according to an announcement from Newsom’s office…

Senate Bill 866 by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) would allow a child 12 or older to consent to any vaccine approved by the FDA and recommended by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the CDC without their parents’ knowledge…

After weeks of an unprecedented spike in COVID-19 cases that challenged hospitals, schools and other institutions, there are growing indications that the surge spawned by the Omicron variant is flattening and, in some parts of California, even beginning to wane…

California would funnel $50 million into educating young people about the risks of opioids and fentanyl under Newsom’s latest budget proposal…

In a visit to a San Bernardino fire station on Friday, 1/21, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that the federal government will provide California $600 million to help the state recover from a historically severe wildfire season while highlighting plans to spend $5 billion more to address the dangers posed by fires… 

Coronavirus

The Biden administration will make 400 million N95 masks available to Americans for free starting this week…

On Friday, 1/21, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its mask guidance, now saying that people "may choose" to wear N95 and KN95 masks because they offer the best protection against COVID-19… 

In a systematic review of 36 studies from 11 countries, school closures and social lockdown during the first COVID-19 wave were associated with adverse mental health symptoms (such as distress and anxiety) and health behaviors (such as higher screen time and lower physical activity) among children and adolescents…

There is no evidence at present that healthy children and adolescents need booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine, the World Health Organization's (WHO) chief scientist said last week…

A U.S. judge in Texas issued a nationwide injunction on Friday, 1/21, barring the federal government from enforcing President Biden's requirement that federal workers without qualifying medical or religious exemptions be vaccinated for COVID-19…

President and Administration

President Biden on Friday, 1/21, urged Congress to pass legislation strengthening research and development and manufacturing for supply chains to address global semiconductor shortages… 

Last week, Puerto Rico received approval from a federal judge to leave bankruptcy under the largest public-sector debt restructuring deal in U.S. history, nearly five years after the financially strapped territory declared it could not repay its creditors…

President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes a historic investment of $65 billion to help close the digital divide and ensure that all Americans have access to reliable, affordable, high-speed broadband…

Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced an adjustment in school meal reimbursements to help schools continue to serve children healthy and nutritious meals… 

At its peak, 18.5 million kids relied on Pandemic-EBT in states and territories, which began under the Trump administration and continued under President Biden…

The Supreme Court agreed today, 1/24, to hear challenges to the admissions process at Harvard and University of North Carolina…

Federal agencies were directed to implement President Biden’s $15 an hour minimum wage for government workers on Friday, 1/21…

Congress  

House Democrats are expected to unveil their new version of USICA (U.S. Innovation and Competition Act) this week…

The Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)-led bipartisan group of senators exploring reforms to the 1887 Electoral Count Act is holding a Zoom meeting today, 1/24, as they continue to inch toward an agreement…

Democrats on Thursday, 1/20, scrambled anew to scale back what once was a roughly $2 trillion package to overhaul the nation’s health care, education, climate, immigration and tax laws, pledging to deliver one of President Biden’s top priorities - even if they weren’t exactly sure how…

Education

On Friday, 1/21, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Department of Education released a toolkit outlining federal resources available to help Puerto Rico recover and rebuild safe, healthy, and modernized school facilities…

On Thursday, 1/20, the Department of Education announced more resources for students and institutions to help reduce barriers to success in higher education, particularly those created and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic…

The Biden administration announced a series of administrative actions aimed at attracting and retaining international students and researchers in STEM fields on Friday, 1/21…

One in five undergraduates uses peer counseling for mental health support, according to a new survey of more than 2,000 U.S. college students…

Black and Latino students nationwide are disproportionately learning from inexperienced and uncertified teachers, according to new research…

Nearly 52 percent of parents considered or are considering new schools for their children, according to a National School Choice Week survey conducted this month… 

Yet another study is challenging the idea that student evaluations of teaching reliably measure what they’re intended to measure: instructional quality…

Pima Community College in Arizona has a host of new short-term certificate programs to help students become desirable job candidates in less than a year’s time…