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First off… The Big News 👇

BREAKING NEWS

Some Democrat Lawmakers Try to Block Effort to Make it a Felony to Buy 16 and 17-year-olds for Sex

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• In a chaotic session in Sacramento, Assembly leaders delayed action on Assembly Bill 379, which aims to protect children from sex trafficking.

• They stripped the bill from its original author, seemingly as retaliation for speaking out, and handed it to another legislator aligned with the public safety committee.

• Lawmakers then refused to fully recognize Denim Day, a day supporting sexual abuse survivors, and accused Governor Newsom and the Lt.

• Governor of spreading misinformation. Amendments were added to weaken the bill, avoiding a clear felony charge for those who buy sex from 16- and 17-year-olds.

• The response has sparked outrage, with critics accusing the legislature of prioritizing politics over protecting vulnerable children.

Read the full story here

Mississippi, Louisiana 4th & 8th grade math scores surpass New York and California in 2024, per NAEP-adjusted results

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The 2024 NAEP-adjusted results show that Mississippi and Louisiana outperformed New York and California in fourth- and eighth-grade math scores.

• This marks a major shift, as historically, states like New York and California have been seen as education leaders.

• Despite this, national math performance overall remains below pre-pandemic levels, with many states experiencing score declines.

• The results also highlight growing achievement gaps, as higher-performing students improved while lower-performing students fell further behind.

• These findings underscore the uneven impact of education policy and the need for targeted support across states.

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Pediatrician Sues CDC, Claims COVID Vaccine Mandate for Medicaid Kids Is Unconstitutional Power Play

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A California pediatrician, Dr. Samara Cardenas, is suing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over its Vaccines for Children (VFC) program, alleging it violates the Fifth Amendment by compelling doctors to administer all CDC-recommended vaccines, including COVID-19 shots, to Medicaid-enrolled children.

• Dr. Cardenas claims she was expelled from the VFC program and lost her Medicaid contract after refusing to administer COVID-19 vaccines to healthy children, leading to the closure of her practice.

• The lawsuit, supported by Children’s Health Defense, argues that the program disproportionately affects low-income families and undermines medical autonomy.

• It also questions the safety and necessity of COVID-19 vaccines for children and highlights potential conflicts of interest within the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

• Dr. Cardenas seeks policy changes rather than monetary compensation, aiming to eliminate mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for Medicaid-covered children.

Read the full story here

California’s ‘First Partner’ One-Ups Maryland Schools’ LGBTQ-Themed Storybooks

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• California’s First Partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, is under scrutiny for promoting “gender justice” content in public schools through her nonprofit, The Representation Project.

• The organization produces films and educational materials focusing on gender and LGBTQ+ themes, which are distributed to schools for a fee.

• Critics argue that these materials contain sexually explicit content and political messaging, raising concerns about age-appropriateness and potential conflicts of interest due to fundraising from state vendors and donors linked to Governor Gavin Newsom.

• This controversy parallels a legal case in Maryland, where parents are challenging the inclusion of LGBTQ-themed storybooks in schools without opt-out provisions, citing First Amendment rights.

• Both situations highlight ongoing debates over educational content, parental rights, and the influence of political figures in school curricula.

Read the full story here

How much do you know about the California Teachers’ Association and what they have been up to?

55,000 Workers Strike — and Somehow, LA Still Feels the Same

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Over 55,000 Los Angeles County employees, represented by SEIU 721, went on a two-day strike starting Monday evening to demand better working conditions and pay.

• This strike involves more than half of the county’s 100,000-person workforce, making it a significant disruption.

• Key public services are being affected, including delays in animal care, victim support services, medical examiner operations, and public works.

• Even essential services like emergency response and customer assistance for taxes are seeing longer wait times

• While some residents may feel these disruptions reflect the usual pace of county services, the scale and coordination of this work stoppage are unprecedented and intended to draw attention to deeper systemic issues.

Guest Contributor:

CA drug spending doubled due to weight loss drugs, illegal immigrants

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• California’s drug spending through its Medi-Cal program has doubled from $4 billion in 2018 to $8 billion in 2024, despite only a 15% increase in enrollment.

• A major driver of this surge is the rising cost of weight loss and diabetes drugs like Ozempic, which alone accounts for 25% of the increase, especially due to high obesity rates among Medi-Cal recipients.

• An unknown but significant portion of the spending is also attributed to undocumented immigrants, whose medications are not eligible for federal rebates — meaning California taxpayers cover the full cost.

• Since 2016, the state has steadily expanded Medi-Cal eligibility to undocumented populations, culminating in full coverage as of 2024.

• Governor Newsom has now requested a $6.2 billion bailout to cover soaring costs, prompting lawmakers to call for an audit of the program.

Read the full story here

Guest Contributor 2:

Brazenly Barreling to Bankruptcy?
by Elliot Cohen

Remarkable isn’t it how little attention is being devoted to Los Angeles’s $1 billion
deficit? Shouldn’t the claxons, alarms, sirens, and strobe lights be going off? Especially
considering Karen (smiley face) Bass failed to secure a $1.9 billion bailout from her
Democratic sisters and brothers in Sacramento? Why isn’t the City Controller and City
Treasurer demanding that Mayor Bass and the statists on the City Council and the
contingent of Democratic Socialists haul in the unions to renegotiate their budget-
busting contracts?
Of course, nobody in authority in LA would dare blame themselves for the enormous
deficit they helped create. No politician would dare castigate the Unions for forcing
wage and pension increases that the City cannot afford because they hold the keys to
power and fund the campaigns. This perfectly circular firing squad is never mentioned in
polite company. So, the usual suspects get blamed, like lower-than-expected tax
revenue, wildfires, a slowing economy, legal liabilities, and the exodus of middle-class
and high-income earners leaving LA.
The $1.9 billion bailout, if it arrives like manna from heaven, is merely a Band-Aid on a
shotgun wound. The City of Angels must strike a deal to address its unfunded pension
liabilities with the kingmakers, the unions. The most recent accurate information we
have, from the Reason Foundation report in 2016 (10 years ago), indicates that LA had
an unfunded pension liability of $10.2 billion. This figure pertains to the three main city
retirement funds: the Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System (LACERS), the
Los Angeles Fire and Police Pensions (LAFPP), and the Water and Power Employees'
Retirement Plan (WPERP), which are now large Ponzi schemes. By the end of fiscal
2025, we will have an estimated $15 billion in unfunded retirement liabilities.
The actual number by the LA fiscal year ending in June may be worse than that, given
the stock market's nervous breakdown over tariffs and a feared slowdown in data center
spending. For instance, in the fiscal year 2023-24, the city’s pension contributions were
reported to exceed $1.2 billion, a figure that increases annually due to unfunded liabilities
and actuarial assumptions—further crippling the city's ability to provide a decent quality of
life.
In what is emblematic of fiscal mismanagement in LA, the Parking Enforcement Bureau
cannot even break even, handing out over $100 million in parking tickets, according to
Crosstown, an online local newspaper. When adding in all the costs for salaries,
equipment, processing, vehicle repair, and pensions, the total cost of collecting $100

million in parking fines jumps to $176 million. This means that we're losing about $76
million a year on parking meter enforcement. Another reason to dislike this “City
service.”
With the LA budget resembling a giant sinkhole of woe, maybe it’s time to call the
Unions on the carpet for their part in this tsunami of red ink. California has strong labor
laws that protect the rights of public employees to organize and collectively bargain. The
Meyers-Milias-Brown Act (MMBA), enacted in 1968, governs labor relations for local
government employees in California, including those in cities like Los Angeles. The
MMBA mandates that municipalities and state agencies, such as the City of LA, must
negotiate in good faith with recognized employee unions regarding wages, hours, and
other terms and conditions of employment. This is state law.
Excluding the Police Protective League and the United Firefighters Unions, which have
received significant pay raises and undoubtedly deserve them, most of the blame for
our financial turmoil falls on SEIU Local 721 and other labor unions. Labor expenses in
the City of Los Angeles account for approximately 80% of the General Fund expenditures
and are a primary factor in its current financial situation. This figure sharply contrasts with
the private sector, where labor costs generally hover around 30% of total operating
expenses. Featherbedding is a term that is not used much anymore, but might be
appropriate to the current situation. Featherbedding is the unfair labor practice of causing
employers to hire more workers than needed for a given job and to pay for services that
are not required.
Public sector employees in LA, particularly those represented by powerful unions, have
secured compensation packages that include excessively generous salaries. This is even
more evident if you’re a high-level Didn’t Earn It (DEI) hire. These contracts include
imprudent pension plans and comprehensive health benefits. Over the past two years,
Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council have approved significant pay raises to maintain
labor peace through the 2026 election cycle. These increases are projected to add $250
million to the budget in July 2025, further escalating labor costs.
Unions significantly contribute to Los Angeles's budget problems due to the substantial
costs associated with salary increases and benefits negotiated in their contracts. Union
leaders maintain that the City should not look to them for cost savings. Unions oppose
reducing the number of employees on the city payroll and are inflexible regarding
automation or spending on private contractors to decrease the union’s current workforce.
Unions present the biggest obstacle to reducing waste, to outsourcing to cheaper
providers, utilizing automation and technology, and discovering ways to make City
services cheaper, faster, and more reliable.

Union contracts often bake in rigid work rules, like mandatory staffing levels or limits on
tech replacing labor, which slows down the adoption of automation. In 2018, AFSCME
District Council 36, covering thousands of municipal workers, joined SEIU 721 to
pressure the LA City Council to prioritize hiring over efficiency measures, citing
crumbling infrastructure as proof of underinvestment. One could easily argue that the
union’s expensive contracts are one of the reasons why we have deteriorating
infrastructure. Studies by the National Bureau of Economic Research peg unionized
public sector labor costs 15-20% higher than non-union, and AFSCME’s presence
correlates with slower tech adoption in cities like LA.
Of course, the real responsibility lies in City Hall, which has approved these inflationary
budget-busting contracts without looking for revenue to fund such agreements. David
Green, who is the president of SEIU Local 721, which represents over 95,000 public
sector workers across Southern California, continuously advocates for maintaining or
expanding worker protections, opposing furloughs, layoffs, or benefit cuts as might be
proposed by city officials to mitigate the deficits.
Union contracts are usually finalized in LA during closed-door sessions with politicians
indebted to the unions who funded their campaigns. These agreements typically have
multi-year terms and push the city into long-term spending commitments without
appropriate revenue increases to match or performance monitoring benchmarks. The
2024 City deal with the unions is costly—$3 billion over five years, by some
estimates—and the credit rating agencies are slowly noticing some credit deterioration.
Credit rating agencies have put LA on CreditWatch with negative implications. Critics
say the current budget is unsustainable, risking layoffs or service cuts later. Union boss
Green’s defenders argue that it’s fair pay for essential workers in a high-cost city, and
vacancies were crippling services.
Finding revenue increases in an already overtaxed city is certainly very challenging.
Green’s political influence has made it difficult to privatize numerous city functions, which
deprives the City of an opportunity to control its costs. His frequent campaigns against
privatization divert much-needed cost-saving reforms. His insistence on resisting
concessions and prioritizing worker salaries and benefits over necessary financial
flexibility in a cash-strapped City contributes to the looming crisis of Los Angeles's billion-
dollar and growing deficit.
Ultimately, the city's labor mess may lead to a Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing, and then all
these exorbitant gains and significant benefit awards will be renegotiated. While it is rare
and risky for a city or county to go bankrupt, there are precedents, and we might have to
take extraordinary measures to save the city from itself. Orange County, California, filed
for bankruptcy in 1994 to the tune of $1.6 billion due to the county's treasurer and tax
collector, Robert Citron, making poor bets on interest rate futures. Over 3,000 Orange

County workers were laid off, and budgets for schools, roads, healthcare, and all public
services were slashed. Wall Street treated Orange County’s bonds as toxic waste, which
they were. It took Orange County’s taxpayers 20 years to pay off the bonds issued to pay
off the creditors.
There is a strong need to provide relief because every taxpayer in the city has been
overcharged and has had their tax payments mismanaged through substandard city
service contracts that have never been fulfilled or successfully completed. All we have to
show for the wasted efforts is deteriorating roads, miles of red tape, high crime rates, a
fire department that cannot carry out its mission, an endless homeless crisis, and a lack
of affordable apartments. It's only a matter of time before something must give.
With Los Angeles’s budget now a billion dollars in the red - likely an underestimate by
50%- one might wonder why a blue city like LA isn't seeking a DOGE team to eliminate
fraud, waste, and abuse. The terms " fraud, waste, and abuse “ are euphemisms for our
money - our tax dollars - being stolen and funneled to unions for absurdly generous
contracts and awarded to NGOs, and don’t forget sweetheart deals, such as the Los
Angeles Housing Services Authority giving the CEO’s husband $4,300,000 for
contracts for questionable services, with no accountability and certainly no
consequences for underperformance. We suffer from poor city services, leading to a
poorer quality of life.
Cities with a weaker union presence—like Phoenix—have adopted automated trash
collection and outsourced maintenance, cutting costs by 20-30%, according to a 2021
study from the Reason Foundation. Ultimately, you run out of tax dollars and other
people’s money. LA can’t keep kicking the can down the road indefinitely.
At some point in 2025, the Federal Government will likely withhold over $500,000,000 in
grants for city programs, probably due to LA’s sanctuary city status and Title IX
violations, which will cause more howls of protest and considerable financial pain.
Seeing all this red ink, the Los Angeles Unified School District is saying, "Hold my beer.”
The LAUSD is projected to have a budget deficit of $1,300,000,000 by 2028, as parents
flee the system, and they add overhead.
That day of reckoning is probably closer than any of our “elites” wants to admit.

Eliot Cohen has been on the Neighborhood Council, serves on the Van Nuys
Airport Citizens Advisory Council, and is on the Board of Homeowners of Encino
and was the president of HOME for over seven years.

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