News of the Month — May 2019

NewsMay 30, 2019

A proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services would prohibit home health aides paid directly by Medicaid from having their union dues automatically deducted from their paychecks, though it doesn’t name the fees explicitly.

Disgraced former Keck Medical School Dean Dr. Carmen Puliafito received nearly $1 million in severance, along with a bonus, according to tax filings disclosed in May. Puliafito was the subject of a 2017 Los Angeles Times investigation that revealed he used drugs and partied with young addicts while running the SOM.

Union filings of unfair labor practice (ULP) charges to the National Labor Relations Board have fallen by nearly 11 percent since President Donald Trump took office, according to NLRB data obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request. The pullback comes at least in part because unions are worried the GOP-majority board will rule against them or that their case could even become a vehicle for the NLRB to establish new legal precedents that would disadvantage workers with a similar case down the road.

Gov. Gavin Newsom recently made his most spirited pitch yet on the single-payer health care commission he is pushing as part of his budget. Launching a statewide tour to promote his health care agenda, Newsom suggested that lawmakers are on his side, despite pushback by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, who told POLITICO he does not support the governor’s vision on single-payer.