Kaiser Permanente, mental health workers reach tentative agreement

After striking for nearly half a year, the union representing Kaiser Permanente mental health workers in Southern California said earlier this week that it has reached a tentative agreement with the company, and expects to vote on the new labor contract Thursday. 

But the possible conclusion of a record-breaking work stoppage is not the only thing on Kaiser’s plate: On Tuesday the Assemby’s health committee held an oversight hearing scrutinizing the company’s behavioral health services, writes CalMatters’ Jocelyn Wiener.

The hearing included testimony from union representatives, lawmakers and patients detailing Kaiser’s shortcomings in providing sufficient and timely care. Two years ago, following an investigation by regulators, the company agreed to a historic $200 million settlement to resolve problems with its services, such as delays in patient care.

Kaiser, however, was absent at Tuesday’s hearing. Instead, it sent a two-page letter that said it did not attend because it believed “it would not have been a productive or balanced discussion.” The letter also said the company has invested more than $1 billion in improving behavioral health care since 2020.

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But even outside Kaiser, residents across California — particularly in rural areas — struggle to find mental health treatment due to a shortage of licensed mental health professionals.

As CalMatters’ Adam Echelman explains, a 2022 survey commissioned by the state reported that one-third of Californians were living in an area that had an inadequate number of providers compared to patients. 

That’s partially because it takes a long time to become a licensed therapist. On top of earning a master’s degree, which takes about two years, students must often clock in hundreds of hours in unpaid internships to graduate. It can take up to six years to do that and start to make a regular salary as a therapist. 

Separately, becoming a psychologist requires a doctorate, and being a psychiatrist to prescribe medication requires a medical degree.

Solano County, for example, which includes rural farming towns, must compete with private hospitals and nearby Bay Area counties for mental health workers. The director for the county’s behavioral health department said it has nearly 290 positions, but about 20% remain vacant.

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In a minor win for Democratic lawmakers who want to accelerate public infrastructure and housing projects, a bill that would waive certain environmental protections in order to speed up the expansion of a busy Northern California highway advanced out of committee last week, reports CalMatters’ Ryan Sabalow.

In 2027 construction is expected to kick off to add more lanes to a stretch of Highway 37 in the Napa-Sonoma Valley corridor. To quicken the $500 million project, the Assembly’s committee on water, parks and wildlife voted to pass a measure that would lift endangered species protections for the salt marsh harvest mouse and three other protected birds.

Critics of the bill argue that adding more lanes doesn’t ease congestion and that the project could be literally underwater as early as 2040 due to sea level rise. 

As many as 40,000 motorists traverse the highway everyday. Where the highway shrinks from four lanes to one in each direction, traffic becomes so jammed that it can add up to an hour and a half to a round-trip commute. Public buses also don’t run along that highway because they’re unable to plan consistent schedules, according to the bill’s author.

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In a move that some critics say bows to Big Tech, the state agency that ensures privacy rights are enforced softened its own proposed rules regulating certain uses of artificial intelligence, writes CalMatters’ Khari Johnson.

The California Privacy Protection Agency Board voted last week to revise some of its AI draft rules, which it first began developing two years ago. Following that vote, the rules no longer regulate behavioral advertising, which tech companies use to target people based on their online activity and personal information. 

The agency also limited the rules’ scope so that they just apply to companies that carry out “automated decisionmaking” — or technology that substantially replaces human decisionmaking — scrubbing any reference to the term “artificial intelligence.” 

With the changes, the agency estimates that it will cost companies $143 million to comply in the first year of enforcement, instead of the $834 million initially estimated.

But proponents of stricter AI regulation say the new rules make it easier for companies to opt out of complying, and the agency itself estimated that 90 percent of businesses initially required to comply will no longer have to do so.

Public comment to the draft rules is open until June 2. Companies must comply with the rules by 2027.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed legislation that allocates $170 million for wildfire prevention and eases environmental rules to fast-track critical projects. CalMatters’ Alejandro Lazo and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on how the measure aims to thin forests and remove vegetation as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.