Weekly Update 3/20/23

California

Governor Gavin Newsom called on the Legislature to put a $3 to $5 billion bond measure before voters in 2024 to create 6,000 more beds for individuals in mental health crises

President and Administration

On Tuesday, 3/14, President Biden traveled to Monterey Park, California, where a mass shooting claimed 11 lives, to announce an Executive Order designed to increase the number of background checks before firearm sales, moving the U.S. as close to universal background checks as possible without additional legislation…

New data shows a significant increase in deaths among pregnant people in the United States in 2021, cementing America as the most dangerous, wealthy country for women to be pregnant or give birth…

Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Marco Rubio (R-FL) are working on legislation that would more than double the budget of the National Health Service Corps, which offers scholarships and loan repayment for health providers who work in underserved areas…

On Tuesday, 3/14, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) authorized emergency use of Pfizer-BioNTech’s bivalent COVID-19 vaccine as a booster for kids six months to four years old…

The Biden administration is proposing the first-ever federal limits for toxic chemicals in drinking water…

In January, the American Academy of Pediatrics released its first formal clinical practice guidelines centered on the screening and treatment of young patients with obesity…

More than 900 charter school authorizers nationwide are responsible for ensuring that schools operating within their portfolios are meeting student and family needs…

It’s unclear whether President Biden’s student loan cancellation plan will survive a legal challenge now before the Supreme Court, but a different federal program may still offer relief to many borrowers…

According to a Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) recent report, the Biden administration’s proposed overhaul of income-driven repayment would cost $230 billion over 11 fiscal years, 2023 through 2033…

Congress

On Friday, 3/17, Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Joni Ernst (R-IA) announced that they would seek to stop Biden’s debt relief program using the Congressional Review Act, a tool that allows lawmakers to overturn recently enacted executive branch rules…

This week, House Republicans are planning to pass a bill sponsored by Rep. Julia Letlow (R-LA), to ensure that parents "have a seat at the table when it comes to their children's education”…

On Friday, 3/17, the majority of House members from Ohio introduced the Reducing Accidents in Locomotives (RAIL) Act, a bill that aims to improve rail safety in the wake of last month's derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, including provisions related to notification, first responders, and rail inspections…

Education

The Biden administration’s $90 billion plan to provide free community college likely won’t make it through Congress, but supporters  maintain the request shows it’s a priority for the administration and helps to continue the national conversation…

According to the latest Healthy Minds survey, college students are experiencing all-time high rates of depression, anxiety and suicidality…

Hundreds of thousands of young people who came of age during the pandemic did not go to college. Many have turned to hourly jobs or careers that don’t require a degree, while others have been deterred by high tuition and the prospect of student debt…

The Association of Community College Trustees and the National Head Start Association are partnering to bring more Head Start centers to community college campuses…

Weekly Update 3/13/23

California

In the latest California budget proposal, Governor Gavin Newsom called on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to create a guaranteed transfer pathway for community college students or forfeit a chunk of state funding…

With a series of storms forecasted to continue through mid-March, Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency on Wednesday, 3/8, to support storm response and relief efforts in 21 additional counties…

Governor Gavin Newsom won’t give a State of the State address this year in favor of a statewide tour this month, in which he can highlight his major policy goals in a more informal setting…

In February, personal and corporate income taxes paid to the state fell $1.2 billion — or 25 percent — short of projections for the month…

President and Administration

President Joe Biden rolled out his third budget request last week, calling for a seven percent increase in non defense discretionary spending in fiscal 2024 and a three percent boost in national security funding…

The Biden administration is considering reviving the practice of detaining migrant families who cross the border illegally — the same policy the president shut down over the past two years because he wanted a more humane immigration system…

According to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open, nearly 26 percent of U.S. parents said they lied about their child's COVID-19 infection or didn't follow public health guidelines meant to prevent viral spread…

The U.S. Department of Education announced on Wednesday, 3/8, five finalists in the Future Finder Challenge, a $1 million challenge to reimagine career navigation for adult learners…

Congress

In a recent letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) asked the department to create a tool to track wildfire hospitalizations similar to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s heat and health tracker that compiles data about heat-related illnesses and hospitalizations…

Sens. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) reintroduced the Increasing Mental Health Options Act of 2023…

More than 100 Democrats from both chambers signed onto a letter last week underscoring their support for President Joe Biden’s student loan relief policies, arguing that a well-educated population is critical to the U.S. economy and that Americans “drowning” in education debt are less likely to become homeowners or save for retirement…

Senior Republicans in the House and Senate say Medicaid is very much on the table as talks around reducing the deficit intensify ahead of a budget showdown between President Joe Biden and House leaders…

Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), the top Democrat on the House education committee, said on Thursday, 3/9, that he’s optimistic about reaching a bipartisan deal to expand Pell grants to cover short-term training programs…

Education

More high schoolers are taking dual enrollment courses, which allow them to take their classes and simultaneously apply the credits toward a diploma and an associate degree…

President Biden has proposed a $440 million budget for federal charter school grants, irking advocates after consecutive years of flat funding…

As his profile in the party has risen, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) has grown less outspoken on the subject of charter schools…

In response to the Republicans’ controversial parental rights bill, House Democrats plan to introduce alternative legislation on Friday, 3/17 that will call for “inclusive” schools and oppose efforts to censor curriculum…

Now ranking member of the Senate education committee, Sen. Cassidy (R-LA) has a powerful perch from which to draw attention to a reading disability that affects an estimated one in five Americans…

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) is planning to leverage the decline in public perception of higher education to usher in a new era of stronger accountability for the nation’s colleges and universities in her role as chairwoman of the House education committee…

According to a new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research, transfers between community colleges and four-year institutions continued to drop last fall, an ongoing trend since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic…

The U.S. Department of Education has opened a civil rights investigation into the Four Rivers Special Education District in Illinois for students with disabilities to determine whether children enrolled there have been denied an appropriate education because of the “practice of referring students to law enforcement for misbehaviors”…

New York State lawmakers have introduced several bills that would ban corporal punishment in private schools after The New York Times reported that students in some Hasidic Jewish religious schools have been regularly hit, slapped or kicked by their instructors…

More than a year after the nation’s return to in-person learning saw a surge of disruptive behavior in schools, educators say students are still struggling to adjust to life back in the classroom…

Families in Florida could soon gain the opportunity to mix and match public and private or home schooling…

Weekly Update 3/6/23

California

Starting on April 3,  California will drop masking requirements in health care facilities and prisons and lift its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers along with a requirement that hospitals accept transfer patients from facilities with crowded ICUs…

Following two high-profile mass shootings in California, the majority of voters surveyed in a new statewide poll said they worry that gun violence will affect them or someone close to them…

California lawmakers will soon weigh legislation that would extend the nation’s largest foster care system by five years for some youth, making it the first state in the nation to offer housing, financial and caseworker support to young adults through age 26…

Under a new bill, more people in California could be detained against their will because of a mental illness…

According to a new report, more homeless people in Orange County are dying each year, and accidental drug overdoses involving fentanyl are a leading reason why…

California is on track to break a snowpack record set 40 years ago, signaling relief for a state that has grown desperately dry in recent years…

A new state audit found that community colleges, specifically at four community college districts (Foothill–De Anza, Kern, Los Rios, and San Diego), overall fell short of its goal that 75 percent of community college classes be taught by full-time professors…

According to a new report by the California Student Aid Commission, only 29 percent of undocumented students in California who applied for financial aid through the California Dream Act Application during the 2021–22 academic year enrolled in college and received aid, and only 14 percent of the estimated undocumented student population in postsecondary education received financial aid…

A new select committee in the California Legislature will explore ways the state can reconnect neighborhoods that decades ago were torn apart by interstates and highways…

Assembly Budget Subcommittee Chair Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) said afterschool programs won't be on the chopping block as the California Legislature looks for ways to offset a projected $22.5 billion deficit…

Nearly two years into the California reparations task force’s work, the group still has yet to make key decisions that will be at the heart of its final report recommending how the state should apologize and compensate Black residents for the harms caused by slavery and discrimination…

President and Administration

On March 9, President Biden will travel to Philadelphia to release his budget for FY’24, which begins on October 1…

On Tuesday, 2/28, a majority of justices appeared dubious about the Biden administration’s pandemic-related legal justification for the sweeping student debt relief program…

Just weeks after President Biden used his State of the Union to call for crackdowns on insulin prices and “junk fees,” a handful of companies are starting to comply on their own…

According to a new study by the Dallas Federal Reserve, the expanded Child Tax Credit may have increased employment for some families with at least one out-of-work parent…

Tens of millions of low-income families lost additional food stamp benefits on Wednesday, 3/1, after the expiration of a pandemic-era policy that had increased the amount they received…

SAMHSA released a new report that discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on behavioral health, specifically the psychiatric symptoms associated with Long COVID, potential long-term implications, and suggestions for future directions for recovery…

Eli Lilly, an American pharmaceutical company, announced a series of price cuts that would lower the price of the most commonly used forms of its insulin by 70 percent and said it will automatically cap out-of-pocket insulin costs at $35 for people who have private insurance and use participating pharmacies starting May 1…

Congress

House Republicans are banning earmarks in the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education measure…

The top Senate appropriators are planning to start spending bill markups in May…

Senate appropriators have agreed to start negotiating top-line spending levels for their FY’24 bills, with the goal of a bipartisan agreement on the framework, followed by markups starting in May…

Rep. Katie Porter introduced a bill that would get rid of the $10,000 cap on deducting state and local taxes, allowing full SALT deductions for anyone making under $400,000 per year, and then implementing a $60,000 limit that would shrink with income…

Republicans and Democrats in Congress are criticizing a Biden administration proposal to make it more difficult for patients to access some controlled substances and other drugs by scaling back rules that facilitated prescribing by telehealth during the pandemic…

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) introduced the Parental Bill of Rights Act (H.R. 5), which is a revival of a legislative proposal Republicans pitched in 2021 to elevate the role of parental control in public schools across the country…

Education

Measures that the U.S. implemented to combat the COVID-19 pandemic may have potentially created long-lasting effects on young children…

According to a Chalkbeat analysis of data from eight states, more teachers than usual exited the classroom after last school year, confirming long standing fears that pandemic-era stresses would prompt an outflow of educators…

Oklahoma was poised next month to be the first state to allow a religious charter school…

A new survey of low-income and first-generation high school students and those who are people of color reveals that concerns about preparedness, the ability to meet their basic needs and academic costs are impacting their future education and career plans, making them less likely to believe more education is necessary…

Weekly Update 2/27/23

California

Sonya Christian will serve as the new leader of the California Community Colleges as the system confronts plunging enrollment around the state…

President and Administration

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has issued a new advisory on “Cannabidiol (CBD) - Potential Harms, Side Effects, and Unknowns”…

The Biden administration will make its case before the U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow, 2/28, that the ongoing financial hardship caused by the pandemic continues to necessitate a one-time student loan forgiveness plan…

Four e-cigarette manufacturers are the first to get civil monetary penalties from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products for selling unauthorized products…

The Department of Education (ED) wants to roll back part of the so-called free inquiry rule, which required public colleges and universities to uphold the First Amendment, among other provisions…

Finalized regulations from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) taking effect in 2024 will require a broader swath of taxpayers to electronically file their returns (such as partnership returns, corporate income tax returns and others) — and in the process dramatically reduce the number of paper forms mailed to the agency each year…

This first national primary care scorecard finds a chronic lack of adequate support for the implementation of high-quality primary care in the U.S. across all measures, although performance varies across states…

Recently, attention to anxiety has increased because of a draft recommendation from the United States Preventive Services Task Force, an independent expert panel that reviews research on preventive measures…

On Friday, 2/24, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) authorized emergency use of the first over-the-counter test that can detect both COVID-19 and the flu…

Education

The U.S. Department of Education has announced an expansion of its interpretation of federal regulations that appears to put a large swath of colleges’ ed-tech vendors on the hook for following more rules, and place the vendors under closer scrutiny…

Twenty-one states, along with Washington, D.C., and Guam, have legalized the sale, use and production of marijuana; 27 states have decriminalized it, and research data shows an increase in cannabis use on college campuses even as alcohol consumption declined…

According to new benchmark data, the percentage of third graders on track in reading hasn’t changed since this time last year…

Public Safety and Justice Update: 2/24/23

So far, 6,278 people have died from gun violence this year in the U.S, as of 2/23, roughly an average of 116 daily deaths…

Community leaders and officials in Omaha, Nebraska have seen a steady drop in reported gun violence over 15 years…

Nationally, homicides rose almost 30 percent in 2020 and remained high in 2021…

The City of Buffalo is suing several gun manufacturers, including Beretta, Smith & Wesson, Glock, Remington and Bushmaster, arguing they fueled gun violence in the city, endangered the safety and health of the public and “must be held accountable”…

Two weeks after a man fatally shot three students at Michigan State University, and wounded five others, flags are scheduled to return to full-staff as students return to campus…

The farmworker accused of killing seven people last month at a pair of mushroom farms in Half Moon Bay, CA pleaded not guilty last week in San Mateo County…

A city council member in Memphis, Tennessee, has proposed legislation that would bar police from pulling drivers over for six minor traffic violations, following the death of Tyre Nichols after a police traffic stop last month…

State Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) recently released more details about his Senate Bill 50, which would prohibit law enforcement officers from pulling over drivers for minor infractions, such as a broken taillight or tinted windows, unless an “independent basis for a stop exists”…

Stockton Police Chief Stanley McFadden and others this week celebrated the launch of an organizational wellness unit at the Police Department's operations building…

Teen girls across the US are “engulfed in a growing wave of violence and trauma,” according to federal researchers who released data showing increases in rape and sexual violence, and record levels of feeling sad or hopeless…