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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-San Bernardino) authored the proposals which have already been approved in the Assembly.
“California is fifth in the nation in the number of unsolved MMIP cases. Surely we can do more to prevent, investigate and prosecute these cases, and make tribal communities — and the state — safer,” said Ramos, the first and only California Native American serving in the Legislature.
AB 2138 would establish a three-year pilot project under the Department of Justice granting California state peace officer status to qualified tribes and the officers they employ.
The Department of Justice would monitor, evaluate and support the program and have the authorization to suspend or terminate participation in the program for gross misconduct or failure to comply with program requirements.
Requirements for granting peace officer status would include completing and adhering to the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training standards and procedures.
The tribal community would also need to enact a law or resolution to make records available in accordance with the public records act as it relates to policing.
Thirteen states and the federal government already grant peace officer status to tribal police. The Yurok Tribe and California Indian Legal Services are co-sponsors of the measure.
A second Ramos bill, AB 1863, would require the California Highway Patrol to develop policies and procedures related to the Feather Alert, a notification system similar to the AMBER alert used when Native Americans are missing and in danger.
The Feather Alert took effect in January 2024 after passage of AB 1314 (Ramos, 2022).
Feather Alert updates would include developing policies for the system, requiring CHP to provide a reason for the denial, directing CHP to make all reasonable efforts to locate the individual and updating the definition of danger to a person’s safety.
Ramos said the changes would help ensure an effective and responsive alert system. He added the changes evolved after an informational hearing and discussions with tribes, law enforcement and CHP. AB 1863 is co-sponsored by Bear River of the Rohnerville Rancheria, Pechanga Band of Mission Indians and the Yurok Tribe.
“I thank Assemblymember Ramos for creating this mechanism to quickly get the word out when Indigenous people go missing or are at risk,” said Yurok Tribal Chairman Joe James.
“We supported previous legislation that created this alert because it will help reduce the disproportionate rate of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People cases in California,” James said. “The next generation of Indigenous California should not have to live in a world where they have to worry about family members going missing or worse. With the updates in this legislation, we will take action to address the remaining root causes of this complex crisis.”
“I am grateful to Assemblymember Ramos for introducing the Feather Alert and putting forth AB 1863 this session to directly address concerns from those at the forefront of this crisis,” said Pechanga Band of Indians Vice-Chair Catalina Chacon.
Vice Chair Chacon added, “Allowing our tribal governments to communicate directly with the State respects our sovereignty, saves critical time, and will further help us to bring our missing home safely.”
“We carry the strength of our ancestors to ensure our tribal citizens are safe and protected. The work that has been done on AB 1863 has provided tribal nations their voices back to ensure we end MMIP,” said Bear River of the Rohnerville Rancheria Chairwoman Josefina Frank. “We are the voice and movement for those we have lost.”
AB 1863 is sponsored by the Bear River of the Rohnerville Rancheria, the Pechanga Band of Mission Indians and the Yurok Tribe.
The third measure, AB 2695, requires the Department of Justice to align its records and data with the federal National Incident-Based reporting system to assist law enforcement and others understand where criminal incidents related to MMIP are occurring and also include a notation indicating whether domestic violence incidents took place in Indian Country.
AB 2695 is sponsored by Attorney General Rob Bonta.
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- Written by: Lake County News reports
Precision medicine, particularly when used with advanced diagnostic tools for infectious diseases, has the potential to alleviate the burdens of future pandemics by enabling early detection, faster response and more effective countermeasures.
“The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the necessity for robust public-private partnerships to respond rapidly to emerging public health threats. By harnessing the power of precision medicine, California is moving to the forefront of pandemic preparedness and prevention,” said Newsom.
Newsom’s office said pandemic preparedness and prevention are critical to safeguarding public health and ensuring societal and economic resilience against infectious disease outbreaks.
This effort involves a multi-faceted approach that includes early detection through advanced diagnostics, rapid response mechanisms, and the integration of data and technology to monitor and predict disease trends.
Strengthening healthcare infrastructure, enhancing the public health workforce, and fostering community engagement are also essential components.
By strategically investing in precision medicine research to develop next-generation tools and approaches, the state can achieve a more targeted and effective response to infectious diseases.
“California aims to set a new standard for pandemic preparedness and prevention, ensuring a safer and healthier future for all residents,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, CalHHS Secretary. “This move underscores California's commitment to advancing public health through innovation.”
The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine was launched in 2015 to support collaborative research and foster partnerships between the state, researchers, patients, communities, and industry to further the aims of this approach to health and medicine.
Precision medicine aims to use advanced computing tools to aggregate, integrate, and analyze vast amounts of data from research, clinical, environmental, and population health settings, to better understand health and disease, and to develop and deliver more targeted diagnostics, therapeutics and prevention measures.
“The time to prepare is now. California already has many promising technologies to mitigate future pandemics, but we need consistent focus to drive down costs and deploy them in the field,” said Max Henderson, co-founder, CEO and chief data scientist at CovidActNow, a US-based non-profit formed in April 2020 to provide modeling and infrastructure to track the spread of the pandemic. “This new focus on pandemic prevention will help California lead the way in preventing the loss of life, economic devastation, and large scale shutdowns from future outbreaks. I commend the Newsom administration for pledging to carry on this important work.”
“There are very few actions we can take in this world that could result in alleviating more suffering and saving more lives than preventing another global pandemic — I am glad to see Governor Newsom and the State of California pick up that torch to help Californians and all of humanity,” said Dr. Steve Luby, director of research at the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health and globally renowned expert in pandemic prevention.
This reorganization and expansion is reflected in AB/SB 164.
Once this legislation is passed by the Legislature, Californians Against Pandemics, proponents of a ballot initiative eligible for the November 2024 ballot that would create the California Institute for Pandemic Prevention, has agreed to withdraw their measure.
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The Golden State Finance Authority has launched the ReCoverCA Homebuyer Assistance Program.
It’s funded by a $28 million grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development that’s designed to help low- and moderate-income residents — homeowners or renters — of the most impacted and distressed California counties to relocate outside of high fire hazard severity zones.
It was created with a goal centered on increasing the level of homeownership among impacted disaster survivors and contributing to the affordability and sustainability of communities across the state.
Low-to-moderate income homeowners and renters whose primary residence was located in high or very high fire hazard severity zones in Lake County in 2018 will qualify for the program.
Qualifying households will receive assistance in the form of a forgivable loan, up to $350,000, to cover the funding gap between the first mortgage loan amount and the purchase price of a home.
Lake County qualified due to the 2018 Mendocino Complex — consisting of the Ranch and River fires — which at one point led to much of Lake County’s population being evacuated. The complex burned 459,123 acres before it was fully contained, and it remains the third-largest wildland fire in California history.
In addition to Lake County, qualifying disaster areas in 2018 were Butte, Los Angeles and Shasta counties.
Another group of counties qualified for the grant as disaster areas for 2020: Butte, Fresno, Los Angeles, Napa, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Siskiyou, Solano and Sonoma.
“It is difficult for many families that lost their homes to wildfire to simply rebuild in the same location due to construction costs, fire insurance requirements, and other factors. In fact, many families had to relocate temporarily, even obtaining new jobs in a different location,” said Craig Ferguson, Deputy Director of GSFA. “ReCoverCA homebuyer assistance will be a big boost to help them start again with long-term housing and less fire risk going forward. We are excited to be a part of such a positive recovery effort.”
Carolyn Sunseri, a spokesperson for the program, said to qualify for the program, families don’t have to have lost their homes, sustained damage or even been evacuated. Rather, they have to have been “impacted” by living or renting in a high or very high fire severity zone.
The program’s guidelines also require income qualification and that they purchase a home that is not in a high fire area.
In Lake County, such areas are limited, Sunseri acknowledged.
Cal Fire’s fire severity map shows that areas in and around downtown Kelseyville, parts of the Northshore including portions of Clearlake Oaks, Lucerne and Nice, Upper Lake and and Blue Lakes, and portions of Lakeport and Clearlake are not in the high fire area.
Sunseri said those who successfully apply can purchase a home in any part of the state that’s not in a fire hazard severity zone.
She explained that applicants need to work with an approved lender. A list of such lenders is found on the ReCover website.
Once they are in contact with a lender, the lender goes through a process to make sure they are qualified in eligibility requirements. “They qualify them for a mortgage loan based on their current financial situation,” and what they can afford in a monthly payment, Sunseri said.
However, the assistance is beyond and on top of that, in order to help them purchase a home that’s either larger or in a different location, she said.
Once the determination is made for the loan size, then the home buyer loan kicks in on top of that amount, Sunseri explained.
The lender has to make the determination of how much of the $350,000 they will qualify for, which she said will give them a range of homes to consider for purchase.
She said the $350,000 maximum is reduced in a few cases, including due to the sale price of the home or if the applicant has a duplication of benefits, such as receiving some kind of financial assistance specifically for housing that they’ve not used up and which the state would want to be put toward their home purchase.
The total amount of assistance also will be reduced based on liquid assets. Sunseri said if a household has more than $100,000 in liquid assets, then the portion that’s over $100,000 would reduce the $350,000 piece.
However, she said, most people are going to qualify for the full $350,000 in assistance.
“It is designed to fill the gap between what they can afford in a monthly mortgage payment and what a home payment would really be for them as a family,” and to get them out of the high fire zone and into a comfortable situation, she said.
For low- and moderate-income families, “it can have a huge impact,” and avoid putting them in a monthly payment they can’t afford, Sunseri explained.
The program won’t expire for two or three years, although Sunseri is confident the $28 million will be expended by then.
That amount will cover 80 forgivable loans of $350,000. In the program’s first week, it had five applications across all counties, Sunseri said.
“I personally see the state renewing the funding for this,” Sunseri said, explaining that it’s believed the program will make an impact.
Sunseri said she plans to start hosting outreach events such as town halls in Lake County beginning in July. There also will be on-demand educational workshops online.
Complete program policies, eligibility requirements, interest rates, APRs, and loan applications are available through a network of ReCoverCA approved lenders, published on the Golden State Finance Authority website, www.gsfahome.org.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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The forecast said a plume of subtropical moisture is expected to arrive early Tuesday, and may trigger some gusty showers or an isolated dry thunderstorm in Lake County, along with cooler temperatures.
The long term forecast said the jet stream “continues to remain unusually active for the season.”
Due to that activity, temperatures are expected to rise again toward the end of the week.
The jet stream also will impact westerly winds in Lake County, which are expected to see gusts of up to 30 miles per hour.
Temperatures on Tuesday are forecast to be in the mid 90s during the day and the high 50s at night.
On Wednesday and Thursday, conditions will roll back into the 80s during daytime hours and low 50s at night before moving back into the 90s over the weekend and into next week.
Email Elizabeth Larson at