The issue drew dozens of public employees to a Senate committee hearing Wednesday, where they urged support for legislation that would set stronger statewide standards for telework and give individual agencies more room to decide when in-person work is necessary.

The Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee advanced the bill on a 4-1 vote. The measure would not directly block Newsom’s return-to-office directive, which the governor has said is intended to improve accountability, strengthen government services and help revive downtown Sacramento.

Instead, the proposal by Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-Milpitas, would require state agencies to evaluate telework options and justify in writing when employees must come into the office. It also would direct the Department of General Services to create a public dashboard showing the costs, savings and other effects of state telework programs.

Lee and supporters pointed to a 2024 state audit that found remote work could save California money while reducing pollution and improving productivity and employee morale. Supporters also argued that forcing office workers back to cubicles is not a responsible solution for struggling downtown economies.

“As we grapple with the affordability crisis, we want to make sure that our downtowns and urban cores are not places where workers have to be, but where workers want to be,” Lee told the committee. “It’s not fair to shackle our office workers to be the entire bedrock for downtowns.”

The debate has implications across California, including for state employees who live in Southern California and the Inland Empire and may face long commutes to regional offices or state facilities. Telework became widespread in state government during the COVID-19 pandemic, as it did in many private workplaces.

Newsom began pushing state workers back to offices in 2024, first requiring two in-office days per week. His administration later increased the requirement to four days. A four-day mandate had been expected to take effect last year for some workers, but the governor delayed it for certain unions during labor talks as part of an effort to reduce payroll costs.

State employee unions, with the exception of those representing public safety workers, are backing Lee’s bill. Supporters include SEIU Local 1000, the largest state worker union, which is currently negotiating a contract with the Newsom administration. According to CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database, the union has contributed at least $2 million to current California lawmakers.

At Wednesday’s hearing, workers said many state jobs can be done effectively from home and that departments have already invested heavily in digital systems. One employee with the California Department of Pesticide Regulation said the department had spent years and millions of dollars moving away from paper-based work and argued that pesticide evaluations do not require a permanent office presence.

In a separate development affecting public employees, California health plans serving government workers will not be required to expand coverage for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. A provision that would have required CalPERS to provide the benefit to its 1.3 million members was removed from legislation this week after the pension fund and a health insurer warned it could raise premiums and cost taxpayers about $187 million annually.

Original source: CalMatters

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The awards, presented by the Sacramento Press Club, honor political and public policy reporting from across California.

Reporter Byrhonda Lyons won the impact in journalism award for her investigation into how the California Department of Motor Vehicles handled surplus proceeds from auctioned vehicles. Her reporting found that the DMV collected more than $8 million between 2016 and 2024 from nearly 5,300 vehicle auctions in which cars sold for more than the costs owed, but former owners were not notified that they could be entitled to the remaining money.

CalMatters journalism engineer Mohamed Al Elew followed the investigation by building an online tool that allowed people to search whether their towed vehicle had generated excess proceeds. The DMV later created a similar lookup system.

The reporting also prompted legislative action. In March, state Sen. Kelly Seyarto, R-Murrieta, cited Lyons’ work when introducing SB 1029, a bill that would require the DMV to notify vehicle owners when surplus funds from a lien sale may be owed to them.

Awards judges called the project a clear example of public service journalism, noting that CalMatters used reporting and public records to uncover money that should have been returned to Californians.

CalMatters investigative reporter Sergio Olmos was among the journalists honored with the courage in journalism award. The Sacramento Press Club recognized reporters who continued covering protests against federal immigration enforcement actions in Los Angeles in 2025 despite being struck, detained or otherwise targeted.

The award included journalists whose experiences were referenced in legal action filed by the Los Angeles Press Club and Status Coup against the Los Angeles Police Department. The lawsuit alleged that officers targeted journalists even when they were clearly identified as members of the press. A court later issued an injunction barring law enforcement from interfering with journalists doing their jobs.

Olmos was included after he was hit in the chest by a crowd-control munition while reporting on an immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025. He told The Washington Post he was wearing a press pass and recording video near a federal building complex when LAPD officers fired munitions at demonstrators. Olmos said he believed he was struck by a 40 mm sponge grenade.

Over the past year, Olmos has reported extensively on immigration raids in California. His investigative series examined the conduct of immigration agents from Bakersfield to Los Angeles, and later in Chicago and Minneapolis, documenting allegations of forceful tactics and questionable detentions that courts have said likely violated constitutional protections.

Anat Rubin won in the criminal justice reporting category for “The Man Who Unsolved a Murder,” an investigation into the shortage of investigators working with public defense teams in California. The reporting found that low-income defendants, who make up at least 80% of people charged with crimes, are often convicted without anyone independently investigating the allegations against them.

Rubin’s work showed that nearly half of California’s 58 counties do not employ full-time public defense investigators. In counties that do have them, access varies widely and is often insufficient.

Judges praised the project for its reporting and writing, saying it clearly showed the consequences of inadequate investigative support for defendants. They also noted the reporting on the risks of relying on flat-fee defense attorneys instead of public defenders.

CalMatters reporter Joe Garcia was a finalist in the same category for reporting from inside California’s prison system. His work examined the realities of shared prison cells and the state’s parole process, including how rehabilitative programming has expanded while the share of prisoners found suitable for parole has gradually declined.

In public health reporting, Jocelyn Wiener, Marisa Kendall and Erica Yee won for an eight-part series on California’s CARE Court program. The program allows family members, first responders and others to petition courts to help people with severe mental illness obtain treatment, and in some cases gives judges authority to order care.

The series examined how the program has worked in practice, including the experiences of families trying to get loved ones off the streets and into psychiatric treatment, and the legal limits courts face when handling petitions. Judges said the reporting explained how the law’s original goals were weakened during the legislative process and why the program has struggled to deliver on its promises.

Adam Echelman won in education reporting for his coverage of financial aid fraud in California’s community college system. His reporting found that colleges were seeing unprecedented levels of fraud, with scammers stealing millions more in student aid than in any prior period, according to reports colleges submitted to the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office.

Following the CalMatters reporting, Republican members of Congress called for a federal investigation, a Democratic state lawmaker requested a state audit and the chancellor’s office approved a new identification verification policy for students. Jory Hadsell, an executive in technology initiatives for the chancellor’s office, said colleges have become more aggressive in detecting fraud through improved filtering practices and new software.

Judges said Echelman’s coverage combined deep reporting, data and the voices of people affected by the fraud, while underscoring the stakes for students, faculty, staff and taxpayers.

Original source: CalMatters

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In a video statement, Newsom said federal agents have recently contacted family friends and former employees as part of what he characterized as an open-ended search for wrongdoing.

“In recent days, federal agents have knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees,” Newsom said. “Not because they found a crime, but because they simply are trying to find one.”

Newsom said he believes he has been placed on what he called Trump’s political “hit list,” alongside figures such as former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff of California and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the former Democratic vice presidential nominee.

A person in the Department of Justice familiar with the matter said at least two criminal investigations involving Newsom have been underway for about a year in the Eastern District of California. According to that person, the inquiries stemmed from whistleblowers and people in Sacramento and involve questions related to Siebel Newsom’s taxes, as well as a separate investigation connected to Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson.

Williamson pleaded guilty in May in a corruption case that has not implicated the governor. She had been indicted on wire fraud charges tied to allegations that money was routed from a dormant campaign account belonging to Xavier Becerra, the former Biden administration health secretary and a leading candidate to succeed Newsom as governor.

Newsom’s office pushed back sharply on the federal activity, saying prosecutors turned their attention to the governor and his family after failing to find evidence tying him to the Williamson case. The governor’s office said investigators have asked about private matters involving the Newsom family, including the couple’s marriage.

The governor alleged that federal agents are seeking records and misusing the grand jury process by combing through years of documents. Newsom’s office said neither he nor Siebel Newsom has received a subpoena, though the office said the governor “looks forward” to receiving any such request.

Officials in Newsom’s office also told reporters that the specificity of some investigators’ questions has led them to believe federal agents may have subpoenaed financial records for businesses tied to the Newsoms.

Before becoming governor, Newsom built the PlumpJack hospitality business, which he has placed in a blind trust. Siebel Newsom is a filmmaker and leads the California Partners Project and the Representation Project, nonprofit organizations focused on gender equity and representation.

Disclosure reports filed with the Fair Political Practices Commission show Newsom solicited at least $1.9 million in charitable donations, known as behested payments, in 2024 and 2025 for the California Partners Project. The donations included $1 million from the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria.

Newsom’s office said federal agents have contacted more than a dozen people and organizations connected to the couple, including friends, former employees, business associates, donors and affiliated groups. The office did not identify those contacted.

The governor’s accusations were made in a strongly worded video but did not include direct evidence that Trump personally ordered or directed the federal inquiries. Newsom’s office maintains that the Justice Department is seeking a new allegation after the Williamson investigation, which began during the Biden administration, did not implicate the governor.

Matthew Rowan, an attorney for Williamson, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The White House referred questions about Newsom’s remarks to the Justice Department. A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“You can subpoena my records. You can investigate me. You can harass me. Put my name on any and every enemies list that you have,” Newsom said. “But leave my wife and family out of your personal vendetta!”

Original source: CalMatters

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Assembly Bill 1751, carried by Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, a Fullerton Democrat whose district includes parts of Orange and Los Angeles counties, would remove certain regulatory barriers for townhouse construction. The measure is intended to speed approval of tightly built, multistory homes, a housing type often seen as a middle ground between single-family houses and large apartment projects.

In exchange for that streamlined approval, developers would have to pay construction workers at least $28 an hour. That is well above California’s current statewide minimum wage of $16.90.

But the proposed wage floor has drawn fierce opposition from the State Building and Construction Trades Council, which represents skilled trades such as electricians, plumbers and sheet metal workers. The council argues the bill could weaken higher wage standards already in place for many union workers on public or publicly supported projects.

At the center of the dispute is the concept of “prevailing wage,” a government-set pay rate that applies to many publicly funded construction projects, including a number of affordable housing developments. Prevailing wages are calculated through surveys of what workers in specific trades earn in different regions. Because union contracts often cover large numbers of workers, union pay scales can help establish those prevailing rates.

Quirk-Silva has insisted that her bill would not alter those standards.

“It does not replace prevailing wage,” she said during a tense Assembly floor debate earlier this month. “It does not undercut prevailing wage. This bill leaves prevailing wage exactly where it stands in current law.”

The building trades remain unconvinced. Their concern is partly technical: while the bill says California regulators could not use the new $28 wage standard when calculating state prevailing wages, federal officials conduct their own surveys and set their own rates for federally supported projects. Union leaders worry that if enough townhouse construction jobs are paid at $28 an hour, that lower rate could influence federal prevailing wage calculations.

Their broader objection is about precedent. For years, the building trades have pushed back against housing bills that ease development rules unless they include strong labor protections, such as prevailing wage requirements or “skilled and trained” workforce mandates that favor graduates of apprenticeship programs, most of whom are union members.

AB 1751 offers a different model: a required minimum wage that is far lower than what many skilled union tradespeople already earn.

Chris Hannan, president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council, said that approach could become the new standard in future housing legislation. If lawmakers begin treating a construction minimum wage as the labor concession needed to win support for development streamlining, he said, “that becomes the new go-to.”

On the other side of the fight are California’s unionized carpenters, who support the proposed wage standard. The rivalry between the carpenters and the building trades has become a recurring feature of housing debates in Sacramento.

The two labor groups clashed over a similar proposal last year, when Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat and longtime ally of the carpenters, sought to include a residential construction wage floor of $28 to $40 an hour in a budget bill near the end of the fiscal year. The carpenters argued then, as now, that most workers building housing in California are not represented by unions, except on high-rise projects that require more specialized labor. A higher minimum wage, they said, would improve standards for those nonunion workers.

The building trades reacted strongly to that proposal. Union members packed a budget hearing to denounce the idea, saying it would mark a retreat from California’s traditional labor standards. One representative compared the measure to “Jim Crow” laws. The proposal was ultimately dropped after several labor-friendly Democrats expressed concern.

This year’s version has gone through a more public legislative process, though opponents still argue it has moved too quickly. When AB 1751 was introduced in February, it dealt only with townhouse regulations. The wage language was added in late April before the bill’s second committee hearing.

Quirk-Silva’s staff declined to make her available for an interview, citing personal family matters. On the Assembly floor, she said the timing was partly affected by serious health issues involving staff and family members.

Since the wage language was added, debate over the bill has centered almost entirely on labor. That is notable because the measure would also exempt townhouse projects from environmental review and remove local elected city councils and planning boards from parts of the approval process. In past years, that kind of land-use shift would likely have triggered a major Capitol battle on its own.

But California’s housing politics have changed rapidly. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law exempting most urban infill housing developments from environmental litigation, reducing some of the political shock around proposals that limit local review.

During an Assembly floor vote last month, Assemblymember Chris Ward, a San Diego Democrat, called the wage issue the “900-pound gorilla.” Like several Democrats, Ward said he generally supported the housing goals of the bill but remained concerned about unanswered questions over how the $28 rate might interact with existing labor standards.

The bill needed 41 votes in the 80-member Assembly to advance to the Senate. It passed with 47.

Quirk-Silva’s office attempted to address the prevailing wage concern by writing into the bill that the California Department of Industrial Relations could not use the $28 townhouse wage when calculating state prevailing wage rates. Those rates are based on the most common pay for each type of work in each region.

The building trades say that does not solve the federal issue. For example, the current federal prevailing wage for a residential roofer in Sacramento is $46.73 an hour, plus benefits. Federal officials base those numbers on the most common wage paid in an area, or on the regional average if no single rate covers at least 30% of surveyed workers.

Scott Wetch, a lobbyist for unions affiliated with the building trades, warned at an April hearing that federal officials would not be bound by the California bill’s language.

“The federal government won’t give a rat’s ass about what this bill says,” Wetch said. “And they will set the prevailing wage rate for all the crafts at $28.”

Kevin Duncan, an economist at Colorado State University Pueblo who has studied how prevailing wage rules affect construction costs, said the trades’ concern is not baseless. In a smaller market with limited union presence, he said, a large number of contractors paying workers exactly $28 an hour could potentially influence a wage survey.

“That would be the prevailing rate — and with zero benefits,” Duncan said.

Supporters of AB 1751 say that scenario is unlikely. They argue the bill applies to a specific category of townhouse construction and would not generate enough federally relevant wage data to substantially change prevailing wage rates. They also contend that few residential roofers work on federal public works projects in Sacramento or elsewhere in California.

Most roofers on privately funded residential projects are nonunion and many earn less than $28 an hour, said Danny Curtin, director of the California Council of Carpenters. Raising the floor for those workers, he argued, should not be portrayed as a threat to higher-paid union trades.

The claim that a $28 minimum wage would pull other workers’ pay down “defies comprehension,” Curtin said.

Original source: CalMatters

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Voters should confirm their registration status, look over their ballot information and check the latest guidance from the Sacramento County elections office for details on voting options, ballot return procedures and in-person voting locations.

Residents can also consult the California Secretary of State’s office for statewide election information, including registration resources and official voter guidance.

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The number of monthly clients has risen to 310,000, more than double the number of people the food bank served before the pandemic, spokesperson Kevin Buffalino said. 

So it was a blow this month, he said, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture halted hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds for food banks. Caught up in the freeze were 11 truckloads of food – 400,000 pounds – that the Sacramento food bank was expecting over the next few months. 

A total of 330 truckloads bound for food banks across the state has been suspended, according to the California Association of Food Banks, with no indication of when or if they’ll be delivered. The biggest potential hit is to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, where 90 expected truckloads are in limbo. 

The orders were promised during the Biden administration, which in December announced a bonus round of food orders on top of deliveries the USDA normally makes to food banks. 

The freeze of the bonus orders came as food banks brace for other cuts — both from a new Trump administration intent on reducing federal spending and from California’s own state budget deficit after several flush budget years in the pandemic. In Washington, Congress is also considering cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which sends about $1 billion a month to low-income Californians to buy groceries. 

But food programs are just one of many competing priorities the Democratic-dominated state Legislature will have to balance as California starts to get a picture of how federal cuts may affect the state and its $322 billion budget. California receives more than $314 billion in federal funds for food benefits, health coverage and other social services each year, while federal grants to nonprofits and private contracts total more than $81 billion.

Department of Finance spokesperson H.D. Palmer said it’s still too early to determine whether California can afford to make up the federal spending being cut.

Already, the food banks association is urging lawmakers not to reduce the state food assistance dollars, but they’ll be jockeying for attention amid a myriad of real and potential federal cuts in everything from higher education to rural road repairs, refugee resettlement services and the massive low-income health program Medicaid.

“These are Sophie’s choices,” said Assemblymember Gregg Hart, a Santa Barbara Democrat who chairs a budget subcommittee that’s evaluating potential federal funding shortfalls. “Every single thing that we could talk about has a federal funding connection that’s in jeopardy and the state just doesn’t have the money to backfill it.”

The demand for food has not slowed

When a persistent foot condition forced Antoinette Turner to retire early last fall from her longtime job on a hospital graveyard shift, she looked for ways to save. 

The 61-year-old was “rationing” her savings and accepting help from her son. For the first time in her life, she started going to the Sacramento food bank. 

On Tuesday morning in a Sacramento church parking lot, she made her way down an assembly line of grocery pallets as volunteers offered canned soup, peanut butter, beans, rice and frozen turkey breasts. Hundreds of people were expected, including retirees, disabled veterans and immigrant families from Russia, Ukraine and Afghanistan who settled in the diverse Sacramento suburbs. 

“It’d be sad,” if the organization had to cut back, Turner said. “It makes my life easier.”

A confluence of cuts could force the food bank to do just that, Buffalino said.

Earlier in March, the USDA terminated a Biden-era grant program that gave food banks and tribal governments money to purchase food from local farmers. 

California food banks have gotten more than $80 million through the program since 2022, with some grants expected to last through mid-2026. They were expecting another $47 million in the program’s next round, before that was cut on March 7, said state Department of Social Services spokesperson Jason Montiel. 

It was unclear why the grant was canceled and the orders halted. USDA officials did not respond to queries sent to the agency’s press email seeking comment. Under Trump, federal agencies have moved to halt or cut grants in a quest to purge waste and spending on programs that don’t meet the administration’s ideological tests.

California, too, is slated to reduce food banks’ funding. For several years when the state had a record surplus, it devoted millions of additional dollars to a state program called CalFood that allows food banks to purchase from local farmers or food producers such as tortillerias. 

Those boosts gave food banks about $60 million a year through CalFood over the past three years; in the budget Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed for the fiscal year that starts in July, that funding would revert to $8 million. 

California food banks depend on aid

The federal and state food-purchasing funds have made up the majority of the $3.5 million the Sacramento food bank spends to buy food annually, Buffalino said. 

Purchased food makes up 40% of the groceries the food bank gives away; the rest is delivered by the USDA or recovered from supermarkets that can no longer sell it. 

With sharp reductions in both purchasing funds, Buffalino said the Sacramento food bank will either have to rely more heavily on private donations or cut back on how much it gives each recipient. 

Though demand at the food bank receded slightly as jobs started to recover from the pandemic, clients quickly came back because of inflation, Buffalino said. Food prices last year were nearly 24% higher than in 2020.

“It’s been a steady increase (in clients) over the past five years,” he said. 

Farmers, too, will be affected by the grants’ cancellation. 

The federal food-purchasing funds have allowed small farmers to buy new equipment, invest in greenhouses and expand their footprints to serve bulk buyers, said Megan Kenney of the North Coast Growers Association in Humboldt County. 

Kenney coordinates food orders between two regional food banks and about 40 farmers, all of whom plant fewer than 100 acres each. Over the winter, she and the farmers planned what they would plant based on food bank demand, expecting federal funds to back the purchases. 

“They were encouraged to do these sorts of things,” Kenney said. “If they have to make a larger investment into seeds or labor without getting to see a return, they could really see that impact.”

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MURRIETA, CA — A convicted felon accused of trying to arrange a sexual encounter with an underage girl — who was actually an undercover law enforcement officer involved in an online predator sting — was charged Thursday with multiple misdemeanor and felony offenses.

Laith Fathi Sikta, 44, of Sacramento was arrested Saturday following a monthlong law enforcement operation that included Riverside County sheriff’s deputies from the Southwest Station in French Valley.

Sikta is charged with two counts each of distributing harmful material to a minor and identity theft, as well as one count each of contacting a minor with intent to perpetrate a sexual offense, arranging a meeting with a minor for illicit purposes, possession of child pornography, attempting to furnish marijuana to a child under 14 years old and possession of controlled substances.

Sikta, who is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail at the Byrd Detention Center, was slated to make his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.

According to sheriff’s Sgt. Joe Narciso, the investigation into Sikta’s online activity began toward the end of July when the internet predator sting was initiated.

“Sikta communicated his intent to have sex and arranged to meet for sex someone whom he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, but was actually an online undercover officer,” Narciso said.

He alleged that on Friday, the defendant drove from his Sacramento residence to Murrieta “with the plan to pick up the minor in the middle of the night.”

He was instead confronted by deputies, who took him into custody without incident on Winchester Road.

“Cannabis was located in Sikta’s vehicle,” the sheriff’s spokesman said.

According to court records, the defendant has a prior conviction for robbery.

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His comments indicate that if Biden gives into calls to step aside, the California governor will not challenge Harris, a front-runner in conversations about who should replace the president on the November ballot, if she seeks the nomination.

“Of course,” Newsom said when asked whether he stood by comments he made last year about not running against Harris. “Yes.”

Newsom’s vow would avoid a potentially ugly political battle for the party and its donors. Newsom and Harris rose up in Bay Area politics to become the state’s two most prominent elected officials. As vice president and Biden’s 2020 running mate, Harris would be the presumed Democratic front-runner to lead the ticket if called upon.

Newsom reaffirmed his stance during a news conference about California’s wildfire response at Sacramento McClellan Airport after returning from a swing-state tour on behalf of the Biden campaign.

Newsom campaigned for Biden in New Hampshire and Michigan as part of his effort to shore up support for the president after his poor debate performance against former President Trump in Atlanta in late June. The governor, who attended the debate as a surrogate for Biden, has attempted to swat down concerns about the president’s mental capacity and attested to the president’s abilities based on their personal interactions.

He’s continued to back Biden even as other Democrats question his ability to run.

On Wednesday, Newsom said he hadn’t read the full breadth of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s comments about Biden on MSNBC that morning.

“It’s up to the president to decide if he is going to run,” Rep. Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said. “We’re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.”

Newsom said he had also not read an opinion piece written by actor George Clooney calling for a Democrat to replace Biden.

Biden repeatedly has said he intends to remain in the race and even challenged Democrats who think they can beat him to step up.

“I think I’ve had 100 media outlets asking the same question, and I think that I’ve amply answered my support for the president and the support I saw on the ground was demonstrable,” Newsom said Wednesday.

He referenced Biden’s support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and compared the president with Trump, who Newsom said “didn’t even know what NATO was.”

In the past, he’s said the vice president would be naturally lined up to run if Biden ended his campaign. In New Hampshire, Newsom said he thought Harris could beat Trump.

“I have no doubt about that,” Newsom told reporters. “If it comes to that, but I don’t expect it’s going to come to that.”

Staff writers Noah Bierman and Seema Mehta contributed to this report.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s attorney general said the state of Florida appears to have arranged for a group of South American migrants to be dropped off outside a Sacramento church.

“While this is still under investigation, we can confirm these individuals were in possession of documentation purporting to be from the government of the State of Florida,” Bonta said in a statement late Saturday.

The documents said the migrants were transported through a program run by Florida’s Division of Emergency Management and carried out by contractor Vertol Systems Co., said Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for Bonta. Florida paid the same contractor $1.56 million last year to fly migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and for a possible second flight to Delaware that never took place.

The 16 migrants who arrived in Sacramento on Friday are from Colombia and Venezuela. They entered the U.S. through Texas. They were transported to New Mexico then flown by a charter plane to California’s capital, where they were then dropped off in front of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, California officials said.

They were approached outside a migrant center in El Paso, Texas, by people who offered them jobs and travel assistance, said Eddie Carmona of PICO California, a faith-based group helping the migrants. They did not know they were being taken to Sacramento and arrived with few belongings, he said.

Vertol Systems Co. and the Florida Division of Emergency Management did not immediately respond Sunday to emails seeking comment.

Bonta said he is evaluating whether violations of civil or criminal law took place.

“While we continue to collect evidence, I want to say this very clearly: State-sanctioned kidnapping is not a public policy choice, it is immoral and disgusting,” Bonta said in a statement.

Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle

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Soboba Tribal Council Chairman Isaiah Vivanco said this legislation is needed to provide a more accurate account of local Tribal history stating that “it would allow us to collaborate with local school districts in developing curriculum that will best describe who we are. So many times curriculum is based on a national level and students learn that all Native nations are basically the same.”

Nine young Soboba Tribal members were among the group that were allowed to go on record as showing their support for the bill.

“Although their testimony was (limited to) an introduction and a short message ‘here in support of AB 1703,’ it was a huge learning experience,” Vivanco said. “Our students were able to experience the legislative process. Not a lot of students get that opportunity.”

Vivanco said a highlight of the trip was visiting the Assembly floor which Assemblymember Ramos was able to reserve for them to tour. “He spoke to the kids explaining some of what his duties are and that was an unforgettable experience for them,” Vivanco added

Soboba Tribal Council Vice Chairwoman Geneva Mojado was given the opportunity to address the committee for two minutes and said, in part, “In my personal experience, I was always asked if I lived in a teepee or if I had running water at my home on the reservation. This was the stereotype that my fellow classmates learned in the history books that were taught throughout grade school. And because I was Indian, I must still live the same way.”

She said learning about only certain Tribes in history, some wondered if Indians even still existed. In the fourth grade, she said the class was taught about the Spanish missionaries who came to “rescue and conform” the Native people in California. “They did not teach the true and accurate accounts of the harsh reality of life that occurred to California Indian people,” Mojado said.

Not knowing the true history of her people when she was in fourth grade, she chose Mission San Luis Rey as her project. Had she known more, she would have done her own Tribe’s history, which she feels is equally, if not more, important.

“Now that my own two children are given the opportunity to do such projects, I always have them do something that relates to our Soboba Tribe or other Tribal affiliates,” she said. “Not only so that they can learn, but to educate their fellow students and instructor. The pride that they have to present about their culture and community makes them proud of who they are.”

Mojado said that even though the truth is harsh, the truth needs to be told and it should be done by the California Indian Tribes who have inherited the rich history and culture.

“The need for school districts and the Office of Education to consider AB 1703 to establish a task force with the Tribes local to their regions, is very important to the First Peoples of California and those who reside in California,” she said. “California Natives have been resilient and survived the most extreme acts of genocide from colonization. It’s time to teach the true history of California. Of the 109 federally recognized Tribes and more than 55 Tribes that remain unrecognized, it’s important to teach about California’s First Peoples in all schools.”

She said it is very important to the Tribes as to how instruction is developed and offered to students. She said Soboba Tribal members are eager to share their culture, history and community with others.

“All Tribes are unique and diverse,” she testified. “We are our own nations and exercise our Tribal sovereignty daily to continue to be self-reliant and grow our Tribal economies. No$uun Looviq (my heart is good).”

Mojado’s daughter, Gloria Valdez attends St. John’s School in Hemet and said what she enjoyed most was being part of the process and being able to testify, as well as learning how a bill passes in California. Daniel Valdez Jr., Mojado’s son, is a student at Hemet High School and said that if AB 1703 passes it will change how history is taught in California and he was part of helping to change the history by testifying in Sacramento.

Soboba Tribal Councilmember Kelli Hurtado and her son Victor participated in the event. Kelli said she feels the curriculum change is needed because it’s time everyone learned the truth.

“There were a lot of bad things that happened to our ancestors,” she said. “I feel that if the truth had been told a long time ago about our people, there wouldn’t have been so much hate towards us and people wouldn’t have been so frightened to get to know us. We are resilient, we are strong, we are survivors and our culture is beautiful but we were given a bad name in (current) history books.”

Hurtado said the highlight of the trip for her was being there with the Soboba youth, especially her son, and to see them all be so passionate in their support of AB 1703.

Victor is in 11th grade at CFLC Empower Youth/Riverside County Youth Build. He was able to share his experience at school when he returned, providing a PowerPoint presentation to his teacher.

“I support the bill because I believe it’s time to teach the truth about Native American history in California,” Victor said.

Su’la Arviso is President of the Four Directions Native American Club at San Jacinto High School where she is a junior. She was glad to be given the opportunity to show her support for the California Indian Education Act because she feels it will clear up misconceptions about her people.

“The biggest takeaway I had from this experience is that I was honored and allowed to be a part of history in the making and that our voices are finally being heard,” Su’la said. “And if we all stand together, anything is possible.” She was able to share her involvement with two of her teachers, the Four Directions Native American Club advisor and her principal, Courtney Hall. She explained how important the bill was, not only for her generation but for future generations as well.

Su’la’s mother, Melissa Vera-Arviso, works at the Soboba Tribal Preschool and knows the importance of teaching local California Native American history in classrooms. She feels it will help improve the overall knowledge of the state’s history.

“The only history we teach at the preschool is the Luiseño language which to me is part of the Tribe’s history. I feel my curriculum is authentic since the language has been taught to us by Elders, who have had it passed down to them,” she said.

Vera-Arviso said It was a little scary for her and Su’la’s father to let her make the trip since she would be so far away if something were to happen, but they also know this is their daughter’s passion.

“Su’la has always been an advocate for her youth and Tribe when it comes to getting knowledge of her Tribe and Native people into the school system,” she said. “It was an honor to have her invited to be part of such an amazing day, with such an historical event. We are extremely proud of her.”

Iyana Briones is a junior at Noli Indian School where she serves on ASB. She is also president of the Soboba Youth Council. She showed her support of AB 1703 because “our California Indian history needs to be taught the right way and with the right information.”

As a Native American teen, she said she would love to be taught about her people’s history in the school setting. Her school follows the current public high schools’ curriculum with regard to Native American history although she has many cultural outlets in most of her classes.

She was given the opportunity to share her experience with her teachers about testifying in Sacramento. She said they were very proud of her for doing it and told her “this is a big opportunity and a good thing.”

“Another reason it’s important for this bill to pass is because Native Americans have been teased, disrespected and mocked about our culture and I feel like other ethnicities should learn about our culture and history with the right information,” Iyana said. “My biggest takeaway from this experience was that Native Americans matter and we need to be heard.”

Rhianna Lynn Salgado, 14, is Vice President of San Jacinto High’s Four Directions club and supports the bill because she wants Native Americans, as well as non-Native American people, to know the full truth and history about her people.

“I don’t want anyone to lump all Native Tribes into one big Tribe, thinking that we are all the same,” she said. Rhianna enjoyed being in Sacramento with other youth from Soboba and members of the Soboba Tribal Council and getting to meet all the dignitaries there. She said walking the Assembly floor twice and being able to share this experience with her Tribe and representing Soboba and Cahuilla Reservations in their Bird Skirts was really nice.

Rhianna’s sister, Raya Rain Salgado, attends North Mountain Middle School in San Jacinto where she is president of its Four Directions Native American Club.

“The reason why I’m personally supporting the California Indian Education Act is because I feel that the true story about Native Americans and different tribes should be told,” Raya, 12, said. “The information given in the textbooks at schools are usually known as inaccurate and I want to help change that.”

Raya said that as a Native American student, she is criticized for her every action, including the words that she says.

“I’m treated differently than the others; I always get asked questions about being Native, which I don’t mind, but other questions can be meant in a hurtful manner and I’m not in acceptance of that,” she said. “I get called shameful names and people act as if they are ‘Native’ or ‘Indian’ and act out things they are in belief that natives do and even the way we dress when at ceremony or when we’re singing our songs and dancing as a tradition.” Raya said it was nice to have her voice heard and to attend with her fellow Soboba Youth and Tribal Council members.

“It was a pleasure to meet Assemblymember James Ramos, Education Committee Chairman and Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell and Tribal Chairman Michael Hunter of the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians, who was there for support,” she said.

Their mother, Rhonda Valenzuella, said she was honored and proud that her daughters wanted to participate. They are of three Nations: Soboba (Luiseño/Payomkawichum), Cahuilla and Poarch Creek of Alabama. She feels that AB 1703 is a step in the right direction in starting the process of telling the true history, not just as a state, but also setting precedent as a nation.

“I feel that there’s such a misconception when it comes to Native Peoples/Tribes in our school systems,” she said. “With not knowing the origins and full truths of our local Native communities, it leaves such a gap for misinterpretation and stereotypes. I believe this may be the catalyst that starts the trend of getting to know full truths of our vastly diverse Nation; as other minorities are also plagued with the lack of their real history. All Natives shouldn’t be stereotyped as living in teepees, etc. We are Birds and our local community should be allowed to learn about us in school. It paves the way for change.”

Valenzuella found several highlights to the trip, starting with meeting the Chairman of the Education Committee, Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell, who gave them a private tour of the Assembly floor prior to the hearing. “Being able to take pictures of our Birds Skirts at the State Seal, all together, was a special moment for us ladies,” she said.

They met Assemblymember Ramos for a tour of his office and then got to explore the back hallways and shortcuts of the building on their way back to the Assembly floor, where he gave them a tour and “truly spoke to our youth and related to them as individuals.”

She said he also spoke words of encouragement, inspiration and motivation to them, letting them know that more Native representation is needed in government positions.

“Our youth are paving the way for their future,” Valenzuella said. “It truly does take a village and I fully support them.”

Daniel Salgado, Chairman of the Cahuilla Band of Indians in Anza, said he was glad his daughters, Rhianna and Raya, had the opportunity to participate in such an important event.

Janessa Mojado is a student at St. John’s School and she said attending the event helped her learn more about where she came from and a lot more about how she can help. A highlight was being able to meet Assemblymember James Ramos and hear him explain how important this bill was.

“I was honored to be able to testify for AB 1703,” she said. “This educational act will help not only me, but many Native American kids learn more about our culture. I feel like being able to learn about my ancestors and where I come from helps me become closer to family.”

She said being able to experience what happens during the Legislative process and being inside the state capitol was an unforgettable experience.

Noli Indian School Principal Donovan Post said the behind-the-scenes tour of the capitol building and the Assembly floor made a big impact on those who attended. He said having young people from many different schools in the San Jacinto Valley show support of this bill, along with other Soboba Tribal members, was very significant.

Post said there will be sweeping changes when this bill is passed and he is eager to see that happen. He was pleased that Chairman Vivanco and Assemblymember Ramos were able to arrange such an extensive tour since most young people don’t get that kind of access.

“It really made an impression on them because they got to see the enormity of it all,” Post said. “Having Chairman and Mr. Ramos talk with the kids afterwards was great, too. They talked about other issues that face Tribes.”

Ramos shared how he worked his way up from Chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians to the state Assembly. Post said he is an inspiration to all young people.

“Even though Native issues are near and dear to him, he has to work on all different things that affect the area of San Bernardino that he serves; he has a huge job,” Post said.

Ramos, a longstanding member of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, has tried unsuccessfully to pass this type of legislation in the past. Vivanco said Soboba provided letters of support for his 2021 AB 1554.

However, the current bill is moving along.

“The day we were in Sacramento for support, the bill was voted on and approved to pass through the education committee,” Vivanco said. “It’s going to take the same lobbying effort to get it passed at the next level. With continued effort and support, the bill will ultimately get to the governor’s desk for approval.”

Michael Chen, who is part of Ramos’ staff, said that AB 1703 has been referred to Assembly Appropriations and will most likely remain there until the end of April or early May. The next step after that is a floor vote on the Assembly floor, then it will start all over again on the Senate floor in June. If passed there, it will go into effect Jan. 1, 2023.

Chen said this issue is very much personal for Ramos who feels that California has a lot of work to do in this space, and this is only the first step.

An overview of AB 1703, provided by Assemblymember Ramos’ office, included the following detailed information.

Background

California students receive instruction on California state history in both 4th grade and high school. Native American educational advocates have long expressed concerns that the history taught during these instructional periods is inaccurate or misleading, focusing attention away from the history and contributions of the people native to the State of California.

Concerns of this kind are regularly expressed about “mission projects” completed by students during the third and/or fourth grades. The mission era of Spanish occupation was perhaps the most devastating and sensitive period in the history of California’s native peoples and the lasting impact of that epoch is lost by the current curriculum.

Problem

California lacks high quality curriculum materials that highlight the history, culture and government of local Tribes. Although California students are instructed in Native American history, grave concerns remain about how this instruction is developed and offered. The existing framework focuses on some major lessons such as the mission diorama, which is still taught at teachers’ discretion. However, this ignores and overlooks the experiences of California Indians before, during and after the mission era and Spanish occupation.

Solution

Assembly Bill 1703 would establish the California Indian Education Act and encourage task force participants to discuss issues of mutual concern and to undertake certain work. The bill would require California Indian Education Task Forces to submit, within one year of formation and annually thereafter, a report of findings to the State Department of Education.

Additionally, the bill would require the department to submit, within one year of receiving task force reports and annually thereafter, a report to certain education committees of both houses of the Legislature regarding the narrowing of the achievement gap and the adoption of curriculum.

For more information, https://a40.asmdc.org/.

Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians | Contributed

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