The trustees of City College of San Francisco are calling on state lawmakers to pass a bill that would end deadnaming trans and nonbinary college students on their diplomas and other academic records. The public community college adopted such a policy in 2020.
The community college board unanimously voted 7-0 at its January 28 meeting to adopt a resolution in support of Assembly Bill 245. Trustee Tom Temprano, a gay man who is vice president of the board, introduced it, as the Bay Area Reporter s Political Notebook first reported this week.
Board President Shanell Williams, who is bisexual, and student Trustee Vick Van Chung, who is genderqueer, cowrote the resolution with Temprano. At the meeting the other four trustees asked to be added as cosponsors at the request of Chung.
SACRAMENTO
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed an emergency bill that will extend through June eviction protections for Californians suffering financial hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic, acting just days before an earlier moratorium was set to expire.
Newsom’s action on the legislation followed the measure’s approval Thursday by the state Legislature and was aimed at heading off what many state officials warned would be mass evictions and a surge in homelessness as Californians struggle with lost income during the pandemic.
The measure prevents landlords from evicting tenants who pay at least 25% of their rent through June and attest that they face financial hardship because of COVID-19 and its effect on the economy. The bill also provides $2.6 billion in federal funds for rent subsidies that will help pay most past-due rent by low-income tenants dating back to last April.
Rent is due in three days and many Californians are struggling to pay.
According to an estimate last week by the independent Legislative Analyst’s Office, about 90,000 California households are behind on their rent. Other estimates have been much higher. As my colleague Liam Dillon recently reported, the pandemic’s financial toll has particularly battered low-income tenants across the state who already needed to dedicate significant portions of their income to cover California’s high housing costs.
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With the state’s existing eviction moratorium set to expire days from now, fears of a coming “eviction cliff” have loomed large. But the worst has been staved off, at least for now.
SACRAMENTO
Californians facing financial hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic will be protected from eviction through June as long as they pay part of their rent under an emergency bill approved Thursday by the Legislature, just three days before an existing moratorium was set to expire.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said he will sign the legislation on Friday morning, providing eviction protection for tenants who pay at least 25% of their rent through June. The bill also provides $2.6 billion in federal funds for rent subsidies that will help pay most past-due rent by low-income tenants dating back to last April.
A California lawmaker is again attempting to ban medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children in the Golden State. A similar legislative effort died last year in the Legislature, and it remains to be seen if the same fate awaits the bill this year.
Lawmakers in the state of New York are expected to also take up such legislation, and a federal bill is likely to be introduced in Congress this year. Should the state-level bills become law then California and New York would become the first states in the nation to restrict intersex surgeries on infants unless they are medically necessary.