Senate GOP demands to see test scores + Federal rabies legislation + A new boss at PPIC

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

SENATE REPUBLICANS DEMAND TO SEE STUDENT TEST SCORE DATA

California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and the California Department of Education have thus far declined to release K-12 students’ test scores or even to announce when the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress might become available, beyond saying that it will be sometime in October.

The Senate Republican Caucus has written a letter to Thurmond urging him to make available the data, which will show how students fared during the pandemic.

“The withholding of this information is alarming at a time when we are still trying to assess the educational impacts and learning loss that occurred due to COVID-19, especially when you have not provided a concrete date when the statewide data will be made available,” the Republicans wrote in the letter.

In addition, the Republicans want, by Oct. 14, to see citations of the law or regulations that give Thurmond the authority to withhold test score data.

Thurmond is of course up for re-election, and Republicans suspect he’d like to sit on any bad news until after Nov. 8. For what it’s worth, the last round of scores, for 2020-21, came out on Jan. 7 of this year.

CONGRESSMAN INTRODUCES RABIES LEGISLATION

Via David Lightman...

Wednesday was World Rabies Day, and Rep. Ami Bera understood its importance.

The Sacramento Democrat was bitten on the leg by a fox near the U.S. Capitol in April, and had to receive immunoglobulin and rabies shots.

On Wednesday, he introduced legislation to cover the cost of rabies treatment for uninsured people.

His Affordable Rabies Treatment for Uninsured Act would reimburse health care providers for such treatment. Bera, a physician, is former Sacramento County chief medical officer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 60,000 people in this country are treated annually after potential exposure to rabies. Costs can range from $1,200 to $6,500 per person.

PPIC GETS A NEW PRESIDENT AND CEO — AND SHE’S A FAMILIAR FACE

California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye will serve as the next president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California, the organization announced Wednesday.

The chief justice earlier this year announced that she would be stepping down from the bench rather than seeking another 12-year term.

Cantil-Sakauye will assume her new post Jan. 1, 2023.

“I understand this role will be different from my current one and yet I believe my skillset and experience have prepared me well for this task. I am fully committed to PPIC’s nonpartisan mission and efforts to improve public policy in California through independent research – without a thumb on the scale. After all, who can say ‘no’ to facts?” Cantil-Sakauye said in a statement.

Cantil-Sakauye was appointed to the California Supreme Court by Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2011. She was the first person of color and the second woman ever to serve as chief justice.

Cantil-Sakauye left the Republican Party in 2018 to become a No Party Preference voter. She told CalMatters she made her decision to become an independent after watching the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Cantil-Sakauye replaces outgoing PPIC President and CEO Mark Baldassare, who announced his retirement earlier this year.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Gov. Newsom has signed #AB2183. Sí, se puede.”

- United Farm Workers, via Twitter.

Best of The Bee:

• Kermit Jones says Kevin Kiley would ban all abortions. But is that true? Via David Lightman.

• Gov. Gavin Newsom has shifted his tough political talk to Democrats and President Joe Biden, saying the party has a “messaging problem” and the president is “hardwired for a different world,” via David Lightman.

• Gov. Gavin Newsom says Prop. 30 was devised to benefit one company. Is that actually true? Via Stephen Hobbs.

• California Highway Patrol officers will receive a 6.2% raise this year — more than twice the general salary increase paid to any other group of state workers — under the unique terms of their union contract, via Wes Venteicher.

• Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law on Wednesday that will allow farmworkers to vote by mail in union elections, one year after he vetoed a similar version of the bill, via Mathew Miranda.