Latest news with #AssemblyBill218
Epoch Times
28-04-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Thousand of LA County Workers Set to Strike Over Alleged Unfair Practices
Thousands of Los Angeles County workers say they've had enough of the county's alleged 'rampant labor law violations' and expect to walk off their jobs at 7 p.m. April 28, the local chapter of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU 721) has The county has pushed back against the union's allegations. Contract The strike is designed to ensure that the union's 'message of solidarity' is heard by the Board of Supervisors and county management, according to the union. 'L.A. County management keeps breaking the law—and we have had enough,' said David Green, the union's executive director and president, and a longtime social worker, in a statement provided to The Epoch Times on Monday. Green alleged that the county has stalled contract negotiations for months and committed multiple labor law violations. Related Stories 4/9/2025 4/5/2025 'Clearly, they thought they were above the law,' he said. 'They thought we would never strike. They thought wrong.' The union alleges the county refuses to bargain in good faith and has surveilled and retaliated against union workers, restricted union organizer access to worksites, and contracted out union positions during contract negotiations. The union also accused the county of allotting $7.7 billion since July 2024 to private firms and not requiring them to pay their workers a living wage. The county's Chief Executive Office disputed the allegations and said the county was 'fully engaged in good faith bargaining' with the union. 'We are disappointed that the union is choosing to announce a work action that, if carried out, will affect residents and impact service delivery at a time of great public need,' the executive office told The Epoch Times in an email Monday. The county also disagrees with the allegations of unfair labor practices, according to the office. The union's claims are being considered by the county's Employee Relations Commission. Damage from the Eaton Fire is seen from the streets of Altadena, Calif., on Jan. 24, 2025. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times 'The union has chosen to go on strike rather than waiting for [the commission] to resolve the large number of claims that SEIU has filed,' the executive office added. 'The county disagrees with these charges—most of which have not yet been adjudicated—and we are looking forward to having these claims resolved; not through unverified statements in press releases but at the Employee Relations Commission.' The county faces 'unprecedented stresses' on its budget, including a tentative $4 billion settlement of thousands of childhood sexual assault claims from generations of children in its juvenile and foster care systems, which were brought under Assembly Bill 218, according to the executive office. The bill, which went into effect in 2020, allows recovery of up to three times the damages against certain defendants if they are found to have willfully concealed the assault. It also extended the time limit of claims that have lapsed under certain circumstances. The county is expected to have long-lasting budgetary impacts from the law. The county also expects to pay $2 billion in recovery costs related to the Palisades and Eaton wildfire disasters in January. County officials also may lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding, according to the executive office. 'We are working hard to make sure our labor partners understand the financial reality of our situation,' the executive office added. 'Despite the severity of our fiscal outlook, the county has made fair and responsible counterproposals that we hope the union will seriously consider.' Beachside homes destroyed in the Palisades Fire along Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, Calif., on Jan. 16, county said it was committed to continuing union negotiations until they reach something they can all agree on, 'which is the county's absolutely essential role in serving the people who rely on us not just for safety net services but to make their lives better.' The union plans to continue providing emergency health services, according to SEIU 721. County workers affected by the strike include health, public health, and mental health care professionals; social workers; parks and recreation staff; eligibility workers; public works personnel; clerical workers; custodians; coroner staff; beaches and harbors staff; traffic and lighting workers; and others. The strike is scheduled to continue until about 7 p.m. Wednesday, the union reported. As the largest public sector union in Southern California, SEIU 721 The members work in hospitals, foster care, mental health, courts, law enforcement, libraries, street services, beach maintenance, sanitation, water treatment, parks services, and watershed management.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Yahoo
Reams of documents related to L.A. County sex abuse cases never turned over, lawyers say
Thousands of documents that could contain key details about rampant sexual abuse inside a defunct Santa Clarita detention camp — including so-called 'grooming drawings' — were left scattered inside the facility and never turned over to attorneys for those who alleged they had been abused as children, according to a firm suing L.A. County over the decades-old incidents. As part of the preparation for a looming June trial, attorneys with law firm Manly, Stewart & Finaldi had arranged April 15 to visit Camp Scott, a shuttered L.A. County probation camp where many of their clients say they were sexually abused as children. Inside the facility were reams of records that the county should have turned over to the firm more than a year ago through discovery, said attorney Courtney Thom, whose firm has about 150 civil cases alleging sexual abuse by county probation staff. 'You can understand my shock when I'm walking through where my clients got raped as children, and there are documents everywhere,' Thom said at a Monday superior court hearing in downtown Los Angeles. Thom said she discovered thousands of paper grievances, a locked file cabinet labeled 'Personnel Files CAMPS A – W,' and a drawing she believed was signed by Thomas Jackson — a probation deputy accused by at least 20 women of sexually assaulting them at the camp. The drawing, included in a court filing, was of the name 'TAMI' in big, block orange letters and appeared to be signed by a 'Jackson. T.' Attorney James Sargent, who is representing the county and accompanied Thom for the tour last week, called her claims 'inflammatory and incorrect.' 'They want to air what they deem as dirty laundry,' said Sargent, who told L.A. Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff that the personnel files they discovered had nothing to do with the staff named in the lawsuits. Nor did the drawing, he said. Tami Wilson, a former supervisor at the camp, told him she recalled being given the hand-drawn card by a youth, he wrote in a court filing. The county announced earlier this month they planned to pay $4 billion to settle nearly 7,000 claims of alleged sexual abuse inside the county's juvenile facilities and foster homes. The settlement — believed to be the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history — arose from Assembly Bill 218, a 2020 state law that gave victims of childhood sexual abuse a new window to file civil suits against alleged predators and the agencies that employed them. A handful of prominent firms — including Manly, Stewart & Finaldi — declined to participate in the settlement and have ongoing litigation. In the aftermath of AB 218, state legislators have introduced several bills to attempt to make it easier for governments and school districts to deal with the financial fallout from the deluge of suits. One of these bills — SB 577 — is set for a hearing Tuesday. County lawyers claim one reason the state law change has had such a devastating financial toll is because many of the records they need to fight decades-old cases are long gone. Attorney John Manly argued the claim flew in the face of what his firm saw at Camp Scott. The county 'has been telling all of Sacramento that they don't have any documents,' said Manly, who urged the judge to allow his firm to publicize the footage they'd taken of the heaps of documents. 'We need to be able to share this with legislators.' Riff agreed with the county's request that the videos remain confidential for now due to security risks. Though Camp Scott hasn't been used to house youths for years, Sargent wrote in a filing that may soon change. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Miguel Espinoza ordered the county Friday to prepare to shut down Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall — the county's last remaining juvenile hall, where roughly 270 youths are held — due to problems stemming from chronic understaffing. 'The youth presently in Los Padrinos will need to go somewhere, and if some wind up at Camp Scott, the public release of photos and videos could be seriously detrimental,' Sargent wrote. Thom noted that both reporters and television crews have been allowed to broadcast footage taken inside the camp, including a 2001 documentary, "Camp Scott Lock-Up." 'The L.A. Times has been in there to photograph,' said Thom. 'MTV videoed more than we did." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
22-04-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Reams of documents related to L.A. County sex abuse cases never turned over, lawyers say
Thousands of documents that could contain key details about rampant sexual abuse inside a defunct Santa Clarita detention camp — including so-called 'grooming drawings' — were left scattered inside the facility and never turned over to attorneys for those who alleged they had been abused as children, according to a firm suing L.A. County over the decades-old incidents. As part of the preparation for a looming June trial, attorneys with law firm Manly, Stewart & Finaldi had arranged last Tuesday to visit Camp Scott, a shuttered L.A. County probation camp where many of their clients say they were sexually abused as children. Inside the facility were reams of records that the county should have turned over to the firm more than a year ago through discovery, said attorney Courtney Thom, whose firm has about 150 civil cases alleging sexual abuse by county probation staff. 'You can understand my shock when I'm walking through where my clients got raped as children, and there are documents everywhere,' Thom said at a Monday superior court hearing in downtown Los Angeles. Thom said she discovered thousands of paper grievances, a locked file cabinet labeled 'Personnel Files CAMPS A – W,' and a drawing she believed was signed by Thomas Jackson — a probation deputy accused by at least 20 women of sexually assaulting them at the camp. The drawing, included in a court filing, was of the name 'TAMI' in big, block orange letters and appeared to be signed by a 'Jackson. T.' Attorney James Sargent, who's representing the county and accompanied Thom for the tour last week, called her claims 'inflammatory and incorrect.' 'They want to air what they deem as dirty laundry,' said Sargent, who told L.A. Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff that the personnel files they discovered had nothing to do with the staff named in the lawsuits. Nor did the drawing, he said. Tami Wilson, a former supervisor at the camp, told him she recalled being given the hand-drawn card by a youth, he wrote in a court filing. The county announced earlier this month they planned to pay $4 billion to settle nearly 7,000 claims of alleged sexual abuse inside the county's juvenile facilities and foster homes. The settlement — believed to be the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history — arose from Assembly Bill 218, a 2020 state law that gave victims of childhood sexual abuse a new window to file civil suits against alleged predators and the agencies that employed them. A handful of prominent firms — including Manly, Stewart & Finaldi — declined to participate in the settlement and have ongoing litigation. In the aftermath of AB 218, state legislators have introduced several bills to attempt to make it easier for governments and school districts to deal with the financial fallout from the deluge of suits. One of these bills — SB 577 — is set for a hearing Tuesday. County lawyers claim one reason the state law change has had such a devastating financial toll is because many of the records they need to fight decades-old cases are long gone. Attorney John Manly argued the claim flew in the face of what his firm saw at Camp Scott. The county 'has been telling all of Sacramento that they don't have any documents,' said Manly, who urged the judge to allow his firm to publicize the footage they'd taken of the heaps of documents. 'We need to be able to share this with legislators.' Riff agreed with the county's request that the videos remain confidential for now due to security risks. Though Camp Scott hasn't been used to house youth for years, Sargent wrote in a filing that may soon change. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Miguel Espinoza ordered the county Friday to prepare to shut down Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall — the county's last remaining juvenile hall where roughly 270 youth are held — due to problems stemming from chronic understaffing. 'The youth presently in Los Padrinos will need to go somewhere, and if some wind up at Camp Scott, the public release of photos and videos could be seriously detrimental,' Sargent wrote. Thom noted that both reporters and television crews have been allowed to broadcast footage taken inside the camp, including a 2001 documentary, 'Camp Scott Lock-Up.' 'The LA Times has been in there to photograph,' said Thom. 'MTV videoed more than we did.'
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
L.A. County faces $2 billion in fire recovery costs, straining budget
Saddled with about $2 billion in fire recovery costs and the largest sex abuse case settlement in U.S. history, the Los Angeles County government is facing about $89 million in budget cuts. To close the budget gap, the county will have to leave hundreds of vacant positions unfilled, but no layoffs are expected, said Fesia Davenport, the county's chief executive, at a news briefing Monday. The fire recovery estimate includes $1 billion in lost revenue, mostly from property taxes, and $1 billion to cover soil testing, debris removal and beach cleanup and other costs, Davenport said. The county can be reimbursed by the federal government for some of those costs, but must front the money. Davenport said the reimbursements for the January fires, which devastated Altadena, Pacific Palisades and surrounding areas, could take years. L.A. County announced this month that it planned to pay $4 billion to settle nearly 7,000 claims of child sexual abuse that occurred in juvenile facilities and foster homes, most from the 1980s through the 2000s. If approved by the Board of Supervisors later this month, it will be the largest sex abuse claims settlement in U.S. history. Read more: In unprecedented payout, L.A. County will settle sex abuse claims for $4 billion 'We knew that the cost of the settlement would be unprecedented, and that it would have a devastating impact on our budget,' Davenport said at the briefing, where she unveiled the county's roughly $48-billion recommended budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The sex abuse claims arose from Assembly Bill 218, a 2020 state law that gave victims of childhood sexual abuse a new window to sue, even though the statue of limitations had passed. Thousands of men and women came forward saying they had been sexually abused as children while in county custody. Davenport said the county expects to pay hundreds of millions of dollars every year until 2030, followed by smaller payments through 2051. In addition to taking out bonds, she said, the county will need to tap into its rainy day fund, which has about $1 billion in it. 'I cannot remember the last time we tapped into a rainy day fund,' she said. Davenport added that home sales in L.A. County have declined by 41% since 2021, putting more pressure on the county budget, which relies heavily on property taxes. In the city of Los Angeles, the top budget official has said that layoffs are 'nearly inevitable,' with a budget shortfall of nearly $1 billion due in part to ballooning legal payouts, weaker than expected tax revenue and pay raises for city employees. Read more: L.A. city budget shortfall grows to nearly $1 billion, with layoffs 'nearly inevitable' Under Davenport's recommended spending plan, most county departments would make a 3% budget cut, and 310 vacant positions, out of about 117,000 budgeted positions, would be eliminated countywide. Davenport declined to say whether layoffs were anticipated in future years. 'When you start talking about layoffs prematurely, it makes people very nervous,' she said. 'You start a rumor mill.' The public works, regional planning and mental health departments, as well as the Sheriff's Department, would be exempt from the cuts, according to a county spokesperson. The Trump administration has further complicated the financial picture for L.A. County, which receives at least 13% of its budget from the federal government. The county Department of Public Health was recently notified that it would lose about $45 million in federal grants related to COVID-19, a decision that Davenport said has been blocked by a temporary restraining order, for now. 'The potential for federal funding cuts is very real and could destabilize the county's budget,' she said. Davenport said the recommended budget includes $1.1 billion in spending for homeless services through Measure A, a half-cent sales tax that voters approved in November, and $11.9 million for county government reform approved by voters last year through Measure G. The Board of Supervisors will discuss the recommendations Tuesday, with the final budget to be adopted in September. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
L.A. County faces $2 billion in fire recovery costs, straining budget
Saddled with about $2 billion in fire recovery costs and the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history, the L.A. County government is facing about $89 million in budget cuts. To close the budget gap, the county will have to leave hundreds of vacant positions unfilled, but no layoffs are expected, said Fesia Davenport, the county's chief executive officer, at a press briefing on Monday. The fire recovery estimate includes $1 billion in lost revenue, mostly from property taxes, and $1 billion for costs such as soil testing, debris removal and beach cleanup, Davenport said. The county can be reimbursed by the federal government for some of those costs, but must front the money. Davenport said the reimbursements for the January fires, which devastated Altadena, Pacific Palisades and surrounding areas, could take years. Earlier this month, L.A. County announced that it planned to pay $4 billion to settle nearly 7,000 claims of child sexual abuse that occurred inside juvenile facilities and foster homes, most from the 1980s through the 2000s. If approved by the Board of Supervisors later this month, it will be the largest sex abuse settlement in U.S. history. 'We knew that the cost of the settlement would be unprecedented, and that it would have a devastating impact on our budget,' Davenport said at the briefing, where she unveiled the county's roughly $48 billion recommended budget for the upcoming fiscal year. The sex abuse claims arose from Assembly Bill 218, a 2020 state law that gave victims of childhood sexual abuse a new window to sue, even though the statue of limitations had passed. Thousands of men and women came forward saying they had been sexually abused as children while in county custody. Davenport said the county expects to pay hundreds of millions of dollars every year until 2030, followed by smaller payments through 2051. In addition to taking out bonds, she said the county will need to tap into its rainy day fund, which has about $1 billion in it. 'I cannot remember the last time we tapped into a rainy day fund,' she said. Davenport added that home sales in L.A. County have declined by 41% since 2021, putting more pressure on the county budget, which relies heavily on property taxes. In the city of Los Angeles, the top budget official has said that layoffs are 'nearly inevitable,' with a budget shortfall of nearly $1 billion due in part to ballooning legal payouts, weaker than expected tax revenue and pay raises for city employees. Under Davenport's recommended spending plan, every county department would make a 3% budget cut, and 310 vacant positions, out of about 117,000 budgeted positions, would be eliminated countywide. Davenport declined to say whether layoffs were anticipated in future years. 'When you start talking about layoffs prematurely, it makes people very nervous,' she said. 'You start a rumor mill.' The Trump administration has further complicated the financial picture for L.A. County, which receives at least 13% of its budget from the federal government. The county Department of Public Health was recently notified that it would lose about $45 million in federal grants related to COVID, a decision that Davenport said has been blocked by a temporary restraining order, for now. 'The potential for federal funding cuts is very real and could destabilize the county's budget,' she said. Davenport said the recommended budget includes $1.1 billion in spending for homeless services through Measure A, a half-cent sales tax that voters approved last November, and $11.9 million for county government reform approved by voters last year through Measure G. The Board of Supervisors will discuss the recommendations Tuesday, with the final budget adopted in September.
