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Christian Hill, communications manager for Providence of Northern California, called up the Outpost this morning to strongly suggest the publication of a press release he was about to send. Hill argued his case in the following voicemail:

Hill voicemail

Sold! Without further ado, the Outpost proudly presents this important, good news press release from Providence:

Fortuna, Calif. (August 3, 2022) – The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released their Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings for 2022 and Providence Redwood Memorial Hospital (RMH) was one of just 431 hospitals nationwide to receive the highest CMS rating of five stars.

Over 3000 hospitals received star ratings between one star and five stars in the U.S. based on their performance across five quality categories – mortality, safety, readmission, patient experience, and timely and effective care. According to CMS, this year:

• 198 hospitals received a one-star rating
• 702 hospitals received a two-star rating
• 895 hospitals received a three-star rating
• 895 received a four-star rating
• 431 received a five-star rating

Redwood Memorial Hospital’s five-star rating puts them in the top 13% of all hospitals rated by CMS.

“This recognition is a testament to our caregivers at Redwood Memorial who continue to demonstrate their commitment to clinical excellence,” said Laureen Driscoll, regional chief executive, Providence Northern California and interim chief executive, Providence Humboldt County. “I could not be prouder of the care they deliver to our communities in light of the challenges brought by over two years of the pandemic.”

The Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating (Overall Star Rating) summarizes a variety of measures across the five areas of quality into a single star rating for each hospital. Once reporting thresholds are met, a hospital’s Overall Star Rating is calculated using only those measures for which data are available.

Click here to learn more about the CMS Overall Hospital Quality Star Ratings for 2022.

On December 28, 1985, William was born to his mother, Trina R. Byrd, and father, William H. Crutchfield Jr. William was the first born to his parents, Trina being 16 years old and Bill being 17. They all grew up with each other. For the first two years of Williams life, he had lived with his parents at Grandma Marian’s house.

Grandma Marian said, every morning when he woke up, he had a Radar for her and would come out of the room with his eyes barely open and would find her wherever she was at in the house. Grandma Linda said when he was a baby and stayed with her, she would take him to work with her at the mill, where she had his play pen set up while Trina was going to school. She enjoyed spending time with William as he was her first grandbaby.

William was the second born grandchild on his father’s side, and the First-born grandchild on his mother’s side. He brought so much joy and uncontrollable laughter to his family. He was a very happy baby and was so very lovable. He loved his family more then anything else.

William was a very clean person. He always kept everything he had so nice and organized. He loved fashion and always dressed his best. He was always the best-smelling person in the room. William was cherished by his younger siblings and cousins. He was adored by his family.

Being the oldest of his siblings, William had three brothers and three sisters from his father and two brothers and one sister from his mother. His sister Talina said, we all looked up to William because he was the coolest big brother you could ask for. It was an honor to be William’s little sister. He was the funniest and always had everything so put together. When William would call, no matter what time it was, we always answered because it was William. It would always be a great conversation. Some of the best memories are being together at the beach with our brother Mikey and his two nephews and niece who he adored so much. I will always remember laughing so hard when we went on the biggest rides at the amusement parks. I absolutely loved Williams cooking. I would always ask him to cook for me because it was better than going out to eat. William had the best taste in music, it was always upbeat and made you want to dance.

William was raised up with his brother Kason and their best memories go with the both of them.

William was very close with his cousin Loreta. Growing up they had the best of times being mischievous and running around on the beaches of Trinidad together, always laughing at everything. William always being the ringleader, with no fear he did whatever came to his mind.

William enjoyed spending time with his mom whenever he could. He would go pick her up and take her out on the town and always had good time. He was her best friend. He was also her first born.

In 2001 William had gotten the opportunity to go to Germany with his grandma. He loved every minute of sight-seeing and learning new things. One of Williams favorite things was traveling. As a Trinidad Rancheria Tribal member, he got the opportunity to travel with the Tribal Youth program to Sea World, Six Flags, Mount Shasta and Mount Batchelor where he learned how to ski and ice skate.

William had moved down south to Sacramento and got to spend time with his Sacramento side of the family. Cousin Airel said, she always loved visiting with William. He hardly allowed people in his room, his room was sacred. After her tenth time a day asking him to go into his room she would have to agree to sit on the bed and not touch anything and of course she had no problem agreeing because being there in his room, in his presence, was the greatest. Being around William was a gift, whether you got to partake closely in his life or just watched from a distance. He was such a bright soul. William would light up any room and had such an amazing energy to him.

William loved to socialize and always made friends everywhere he went. Nobody was as close to him as his siblings and cousins. William began going to school in Sacramento. He worked at multiple casinos and was a very valued employee and co-worker. In William’s adult life he was always a hard worker and was proud of it. William set an example for the younger generation of what responsibility meant. He worked hard for the nice things he had.

William loved to cook. You could taste the love in his food. William started dating his husband Eddie on February 16, 2006, in Sacramento and they fell madly in love. William and Eddie finally got married February 16, 2016, after 10 years of amazing memories, because that was the date Eddie officially asked William out. William and Eddie spent years together in Sacramento with Eddie’s daughters Alexia and Elexani. They spent so many days at the river bar with family and friends. He loved going to the state fair, amusement/water parks and taking long walks on the river bars of the Sacramento and the American river. He enjoyed going to old town Sac by the pier where they enjoyed eating and drinking at local restaurants. He also enjoyed going to Costco and the mall but was also happy staying home to make dinner with Eddie. William enjoyed his Sacramento life and loved his Sacramento family. Eddie was truly the love of Williams life.

William taught himself how to do woodwork and he taught himself well. He wanted his creations to be authentic. Everything he created with his hands was amazing.

Throughout William’s life he enjoyed laughing, climbing trees, goofing around, camping, traveling, exploring, spending time at the beach, swimming at the rivers, hanging out with his friends and family and listening to music. William was the biggest protector to his family, and we will miss his handsome smile and his precious laugh.

William R. Crutchfield is survived by his husband, Jose Torres, and two step-daughters, Alexia & Elexani Torrez, and their extended family; father William H. Crutchfield Jr. and mother Trina R. Byrd-Taylor; grandmothers Marian Seidner and Linda Cisneros; siblings Talina & David Nelson (Kit-ka, Toh-tet and Taloa); Michael C. Taylor Jr.; Samantha R. Crutchfield (Aaralyn Morris, Aaron Phines and Lana Meyers); Julia (Honeys) & William Simms (Willie, Kepel, and Wyatt); Brendan Crutchfield (Michael); Alex Crutchfield; Megan Crutchfield; Trayce Crutchfield; Aunties: Tracy Cady-Crutchfield (Michael (Riley, Alexis, Avah, Tiah), Nathaniel (MaryJane), Carleen Seidner (James (Josiah, Trinity, and Harmony), Loreta (Tinaya, Vaskak, and Jade), Sheila (Maverick, and Chloe), Justin), Chelsea Simpson (Ashley and Tyler), Uncles: Rick & Kari Byrd, Myriah Viveiros (Airel (Travis and Zola), Ricky & Pearl (Myla and Jasmine), Michael(Michael JR. and Kolton), Jordan, and Logan(Madeline); Bob & Lisa Byrd (Seth, Tristan, Noah, Chase) and Numerous extended family members and of course all the many friends.

Preceded in death by his grandfathers William H. Crutchfield Sr., Richard N. Byrd; brother Kason H. Crutchfield; great-aunts Melva & Don Duclo, Pamela Cisneros, & Linda Byrd.

There will be a celebration of life at Tish Non Village Community Center — 266 Keisner Road, Loleta — on Saturday, Aug. 6 at 1 p.m.

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The obituary above was submitted by William Crutchfield’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

Bruce Allen Black
April 11, 1952-July 8, 2022

Bruce was a proud Marine Corps veteran who served during Vietnam as a jet mechanic, and loved to share his stories of traveling around the world. He was a fighter all the way to the end.

Bruce was a master carpenter, a very intelligent man who enjoyed fixing anything he could. He loved card games, puzzles, movies, but most especially cutting and polishing rocks with his one working hand. A ‘one-hand operation’ he would say.

We would like to thank Arianna McLennan, his primary caregiver for over five years, who made it possible for Bruce to live with dignity and pass in peace with the best quality of life that could be provided. Arianna saved Bruce on multiple occasions, always looked out for him as family, and went so far above and beyond to be the support our family desperately needed.

Many thanks to the kind, compassionate and patient staff at Timber Ridge, Hospice, PACE, VA, Agapé and Visiting Angels. Particular thanks to Eva, one of Bruce’s best friends and cherished caregivers, Stormy too. Thank you to his neighbors Kari, John, Mike and his mobile home park manager Chelsea, who have looked out for him over the years and helped our family get through everything.

A big thank you to the amazing hospice staff, to Crystal, Kristen, Chaplain Taylor, and most especially Dr Heidemann and Dr McAtee, whom our community are beyond blessed to have. Thank you to Shannon and Frank at Timber Ridge; Cassie, Fitz and the VA Home Health staff; and Rena and Mike from Humboldt County Veterans Service office.

Thank you to Denise O’Gorman and Valerie Casey who helped support our family throughout the years. And a final thank you to our awesome local firefighters who helped Bruce through his diabetic episodes compassionately and without judgement.

Bruce is survived by his sister Dara Zimmerman, and family best friends Sonia and Earl Bates.

Anyone wishing to donate in his memory can help Hospice of Humboldt or a Veterans organization.

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The obituary above was submitted by Bruce Black’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

Today’s McKinney Fire update.

MCKINNEY FIRE: Two People Found Dead as the Siskiyou County Blaze Surpasses 55,000 Acres; Highway 96 Remains Closed

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Two additional bodies were located in the McKinney Fire zone today, raising the fire’s death toll to four.

The state’s largest active wildfire, burning west of the Highway-96, I-5 interchange in central Siskiyou County, also claimed the lives of two unidentified people found inside a burned-out car over the weekend.

“Search teams located two additional deceased individuals in the McKinneyFire perimeter,” the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office stated today. “Both individuals were located at separate residences along State Route 96. There will be no additional information pending positive identification and notifications to next-of-kin.”

As of this morning, the fire is reported to be 56,165 acres in size and 0 percent contained. Despite today’s tragic news, firefighters say they were able to make progress on the blaze yesterday with the help of lower temperatures, higher humidity levels and some rain.

Fire Integrated Real-time Intelligence System flight video of the McKinneyFire.

“In the absence of the explosive fire behavior observed previously, firefighters were able to take a more direct posture and engage directly on the McKinney, China 2, and Alex Fires,” the McKinney Fire’s incident management team stated.

The adjacent China 2 Fire, Alex Fire and surrounding lightning fires have officially been named the Yeti Complex, which is 2,430 acres in size and also 0 percent contained.

The McKinney Fire incident management team, made up of Calfire’s Siskiyou Unit and Klamath National Forest firefighters, reports that 1,363 firefighters are actively assigned to the McKinney Fire. Approximately 450 firefighters are assigned to the Yeti Complex.

Numerous evacuation orders and warnings remain in effect today. The latest evacuation information can be found on the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office and Siskiyou County Office of Emergency Services Facebook pages. A map of the evacuated zones is viewable on the website Zonehaven. A shelter for evacuees is set up at the Weed Community Center at 161 E. Lincoln Ave. in Weed.

Highway 96 remains closed between Scott River Road and Highway 263.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on international trade networks, and it’s had an unprecedented impact on global food supply chain dynamics. It’s made it more difficult for rural communities like ours to access healthy and affordable food. The North Coast Growers’ Association (NCGA) is trying to enhance food access by establishing better connections between local farmers and buyers.

“One of the best things that COVID did for us was provide a shift to Zoom and the ability to have all of the players in one room and have conversations about food access,” Megan Kenney, NCGA’s director of cooperative distribution, told the Outpost in a recent interview. “We were all talking about these local issues as well as global trends with the food supply chain and the creation of a food hub seemed like a natural next step in addressing shortcomings in our infrastructure.”

The idea for a local food hub came about shortly after the NCGA initiated its Harvest Box program, which provides community members of all income levels with locally grown produce. The program’s success inspired local stakeholders to look for new ways to support local food producers and make it easier for farms and wholesale buyers to do business together.

“At the onset of the pandemic, the Humboldt Food Policy Council and UC Cooperative Extension had many phone conversations with local agencies and tribes that feed our community,” Dorina Espinoza, an advisor with the UC Cooperative Extension for Humboldt and Del Norte counties, told the Outpost. “What we learned added energy to what many people in our community have known for some time, we need a food hub to help fill a gap in and strengthen our food system here on the North Coast.”

The food hub will connect local food producers with restaurants and agencies that feed our community, such as Food for People and the Humboldt County Office of Education (HCOE). 

“By connecting food producers with food businesses, food serving agencies, and consumers we can better match how much local food we produce with how much local food we consume, help expand local food sales and mitigate the risk a food producer would take by increasing food production,” Espinoza added.

Erin Derden-Little is the farm-to-school coordinator for the HCOE. Her job is to find local food to incorporate into high-quality meals for students.

Yum!

“Local sourcing is a challenge in our rural area, especially for our smaller, outlying districts,” Derden-Little wrote in an email to the Outpost. “It is financially infeasible for local farmers to drive long distances to deliver small volumes to individual sites. And of course, the few distributors that serve our schools do not carry local produce either. [We’ve] experimented with different ways to solve the local procurement puzzle. Our greatest success has come from taking a more active role in purchasing and distribution.”

Her team has essentially created a mini food hub for local schools by serving as the go-between for local farmers and school districts. The NCGA’s food hub will serve as a larger version of what HCOE has implemented in local schools for the past year, she said.

The food hub will also streamline the payment process between farmers and buyers. Currently, if a restaurant owner wants to order local produce, they have to contact their farmer each week to find out what is available, make the order and pay each invoice individually. This process can take a lot of time and energy, Kenney said, so only a handful of local chefs are able to source local produce this way.

“I used to work for Christine Silvers at the Humboldt Soup Company and every Saturday she walks around the Arcata Plaza farmer’s market and gets seasonal produce from local farms,” she said. “She has spent a really long time developing those relationships and figuring out who will have certain products at different points in the season and has been able to create almost all of her menus around a seasonal concept.”

On top of that, farmers do not necessarily operate on the same clock as the restaurants they serve. Several deliveries may come in shortly after opening whereas another might come in during the middle of a lunch rush. 

“There are eight cars in the drive-thru, we’re going a mile a minute and a farmer will come in with, like, 10 cabbages. Someone will have to step off of the line to receive it and take the invoice,” Kenney said. “All of those invoices have to be entered into QuickBooks and paid individually. …A lot of business owners don’t have the flexibility in their schedule to do something like that.”

That’s where the food hub comes in. The NCGA plans to simplify the entire process by coordinating orders, deliveries and payments for each farm and wholesale buyer. This means both parties will have one point of contact, one delivery to make or receive and only one invoice to pay.

“Basically, they will be able to visit an online store where they can find out what is available from multiple farms,” Kenney said. “We would receive that order and once ordering closes for the week, we would let each farm how many cases of each item was ordered from them. At that point, the farmer writes one invoice to us that we pay instead of having them write 10 or 15 invoices. Then we would write one invoice to the recipient for exactly what they ordered so they don’t have to pay 10 or 15 invoices. They just pay the food hub.”

The food hub is currently in its pilot phase. One of the program’s participants, Nicholas Kohl, owner of the Oberon Grill in Eureka, said increased access to local food will give him the opportunity to tailor his menu to the local calendar.

“I am excited about the program because, from a restaurant owner’s point of view, it’s difficult to know what we’ll need from the market,” Kohl told the Outpost in a recent interview. “I can give them a wish list of what we’re looking for and they will get it for me. The NCGA has a much better idea of who has what and what can be utilized on a commercial scale. …If developing this relationship can help me get a better view of the growing cycles, I can have a locally sourced menu and be reliant on local farms rather than national and international producers. For me, that’s really important moving forward.”

The NCGA is currently looking for a brick-and-mortar location. Kenney said they have their eye on a space in Eureka that has a warehouse, a commercial kitchen and a retail space. Ideally, they would like to rent out the commercial kitchen to local producers.

“A lot of our farmers need a large kitchen to process all their pickles or their jam, things that need to be done in a commercial kitchen, but they don’t need access year-round,” she said. “If we are able to secure funding for this space, we would have commercial kitchen space and we would build out the rest with some dry storage and cold storage, and an area that could be a staging area for our Harvest Boxes as well.”

The NCGA is seeking $350,000 to launch operations. Kenney said they’ve has applied for several grants and is looking to launch a donation campaign to get things started. She anticipates $400,000 in gross income in the first year of operations. Within five years, she projects $1,400,000 in gross income, which will be reinvested in the local food system.

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A union representing 2,000 Kaiser Northern California mental health workers this morning announced plans for an open-ended strike beginning Aug. 15.

Among the reasons union representatives outlined: high clinician workloads and patients waiting weeks or even months for mental health care. Even as demand for care has surged, frustrated therapists are abandoning the health giant, said union spokesperson Matt Artz.

“We don’t take striking lightly,” Sal Rosselli, president of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which represents the clinicians, said in a prepared statement, “but it’s time to take a stand and make Kaiser spend some of its billions on mental health care.”

CalMatters has reached out to Kaiser for comment. In the past, the health plan has pointed to a shortage of clinicians as an ongoing challenge.

The company has drawn increased scrutiny from lawmakers for its mental health services in recent years. In May, the Department of Managed Health Care announced that it would be conducting a non-routine audit of Kaiser’s mental health services.

The union and Kaiser have one more bargaining session planned for Friday, Artz said. He said Kaiser Northern California’s mental health workers, including psychologists, social workers, therapists and addiction counselors, have gone on strike for short amounts of times six times in the past 4 years. This would be their first open-ended strike, which means the union is not establishing an end date.

Kaiser has 4.6 million enrollees in Northern California, Artz said, though that figure does not reflect how many currently access their mental health benefits.

In a letter sent Sunday to the Department of Managed Health Care, which regulates health plans, the union asked the department to ensure that Kaiser continues providing mental health care to patients during the strike, rather than canceling appointments.

Amanda Levy, deputy director for health policy and stakeholder relations for the Department of Managed Health Care, said the department is continuing to monitor access to services for patients impacted by the strike.

“The law requires health plans provide enrollees with medically necessary care within timely access and clinical standards at all times, which includes during an employee strike,” she said.

Despite growing efforts at the state level to enforce mental health parity laws, Kaiser mental health practitioners say they still struggle to provide adequate and timely care for patients.

Sarah Soroken, who has worked as a therapist at Kaiser Fairfield for six years, said access to treatment has worsened during her time there. She said the pandemic has aggravated the situation, with more patients seeking care, even as more therapists are leaving.

“Right now we’re at a crisis point,” she said. “Things are worse than ever.”

Kaiser is not the only provider facing a shortage of mental health practitioners. Complaints of shortages also have been raised by counties, school districts and non-profit organizations around the state. Artz said some Kaiser providers are being recruited to work at telehealth start-ups, where money is good and work-from-home options abound. Others are entering private practice.

“Right now we’re at a crisis point. Things are worse than ever.”
— Sarah Soroken, Kaiser Fairfield therapist

The union says the rate at which mental health clinicians are leaving Kaiser nearly doubled in the past year, with 668 clinicians leaving between June 2021 and May 2022, compared to 335 clinicians the previous year. In a union survey of 200 of those departing clinicians, 85 percent said they were leaving because their workload was unsustainable or they felt they did not have enough time to complete the work, and 76 percent said they were unable to “treat patients in line with standards of care and medical necessity.”

Some of these concerns are not new, although the pandemic has exacerbated them.

In 2013, the Department of Managed Health Care fined Kaiser $4 million for failure to provide adequate mental health treatment.

In a hearing this spring, lawmakers raised concerns about the state’s plans to move an additional 200,000 Medi-Cal members onto Kaiser, given problems with mental health treatment. Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco has introduced a bill to significantly increase fines for health plans that fail to comply with state laws.

Another bill of Wiener’s, SB 221, which took effect July 1, is intended to ensure patients don’t face long delays for follow-up treatment through commercial providers like Kaiser. Specifically, the new law, which was sponsored by the union, requires that patients receive follow-up mental health care within 10 business days unless a provider determines that a longer wait will not be detrimental to the patient.

At a virtual press conference in late June, Kaiser mental health practitioners said the health giant wasn’t close to meeting those requirements.

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

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When Tulare resident Quentin Nelms heard California was offering a hefty state subsidy to help lower-income residents buy electric cars, he applied right away.

But it wasn’t as easy as he thought it would be.

Nelms spent four months on a waitlist before he was accepted into one of the state’s clean-car incentive programs in January. He qualified for $9,500 that he planned to use to buy a 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E. But after discovering that several dealerships had raised the car’s price by more than $10,000 during the time it took to get the grant, he could no longer afford the roughly $53,000 cost.

Quentin Nelms, who lives in Tulare, qualified for a state subsidy but the electric car’s cost rose too fast. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local

“We got into this program and it’s not helping like it’s supposed to,” Nelms said. “It’s useless at this time because there’s nothing out there and the cars that you do find, everything’s gone up in price.”

Affordable and efficient electric vehicles are critical to California’s efforts to tackle climate change and clean up its polluted air — by 2035, the state plans to ban all new sales of gas-powered cars.

But the state’s incentives and rebates for lower-income people who purchase electric cars have suffered from inconsistent and inadequate funding.

This year’s funding for some of the programs ran out in April — the waitlists have been shut down because of the backlogs. And even for the rebates that are still available, the obstacles are substantial: Program administrators are inundated with requests for the money, resulting in months-long waits — at the same time that prices are surging and electric cars are in short supply.

The troubled state subsidy programs raise a crucial question: Can California enact a mandate that requires 100% of all new cars to be zero emissions when a large portion of the population can’t buy them?

If most Californians can’t afford to replace their old, higher-polluting gas-powered cars, many of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s climate goals are in jeopardy, along with statewide efforts to clean up the nation’s worst air pollution.

New electric cars range in price from $25,000 to $180,000. Many models, including Ford’s popular Mustang and F150 Lightning electric truck, are sold out, with long waiting lists.

“As California transitions to an electric future, these vehicle markups are definitely pricing our clients out,” said Maria Ruiz, a supervisor at the EV Equity Program, which was launched by a Central Valley coalition of clean-air advocacy organizations. “We’ve seen markups as high as $15,000. So that sadly has been a big challenge.”

So far, it’s unclear how successful the state’s subsidy programs have been in cutting greenhouse gases because the Air Resources Board has failed to adequately measure it, according to an audit by the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office.

“As California transitions to an electric future, these vehicle markups are definitely pricing our clients out. We’ve seen markups as high as $15,000.”
— Maria Ruiz, the EV Equity Program

Since 2010, California has allocated more than $1.84 billion to a hodgepodge of three programs: the Clean Cars 4 All Program, the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project and the Clean Vehicle Assistance Program, according to Air Resources Board data. In exchange, over those 12 years, about half a million Californians have received grants or rebates for buying cleaner cars or replacing older cars.

The Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, which receives the bulk of the state’s funding, has distributed 478,364 rebates since its launch in 2010, while the Clean Vehicle Assistance program has assisted buyers in purchasing 4,438 clean vehicles since 2018. Clean Cars 4 All, which only serves residents in the state’s most polluted regions, has taken 12,800 pre-2007 model year cars off the road since its launch in 2015.

All of the programs, which award up to $7,000 or $9,500 toward the purchase of an electric car, have income limits. The rebate project is for residents with incomes up to $135,000. Clean Vehicle Assistance and most Clean Cars 4 All programs accept applications from residents with incomes at or below 400% of the federal poverty level — equivalent to $54,360 for an individual. (The U.S. Senate also appears poised to enact a $7,500 federal tax credit for individuals with incomes less than $150,000.)

“Before the pandemic and the rise in prices, we do have evidence that these (state) programs were sort of effective and encouraged people to buy electric vehicles,” said Erich Muehlegger, an associate professor of economics at University of California, Davis. “But the challenge right now is that these programs are facing really, really strong headwinds because of the high prices of electric vehicles.”

Muehlegger said supply chain delays and high demand have triggered a widespread shortage of new and used cars.

While pandemic-induced price hikes have hit both gas-powered and electric cars, he said the sticker shock is likely most extreme in the electric vehicle market due to higher demand and shortages of components, like microchips. Fewer electric cars are in supply, straining the market, creating long wait lists for new models and driving up prices for the new and used vehicles that remain on dealers’ lots.

“We have to make sure there’s a whole range of vehicles that are zero emission, and we’ve essentially got just a little over a decade to try to get there,” said Ethan Elkind, an attorney who directs the climate program at the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment at UC Berkeley Law.

The lack of inventory and high prices have forced some program participants like Nelms to give up the state money they qualified for. Nelms is no longer planning to buy a car anytime soon; he will keep using his 2016 Honda Civic for now — which means California lost the opportunity to replace a higher-polluting car with a zero-emission one.

Since 2010, California has allocated more than $1.84 billion to three programs. In exchange, about half a million Californians have received subsidies for cleaner cars.

“This program is what I was hoping to count on, but once all the prices were going up, that hope just kind of disappeared,” Nelms said. “Right now I’m not able to do anything, so I just had to let the grant go.”

In addition to the $9,500 in state money that would have gone to a dealer, Nelms knew he needed to scrape together other funds to afford the roughly $800 in monthly payments for a Mach-E. He was approved for a loan and planned on applying for another federal rebate program. His 20-year old son also picked up a part-time job to help with the payments.

But the dealership markups quickly changed Nelms’ mind. He didn’t want to risk having negative equity – when the amount of money owed on a car is more than the amount that it’s worth.

Though he had to forfeit the grant, he said he’d consider applying to the Clean Vehicle Assistance program again when the car market stabilizes.

For now, he said, he’ll have to pay high gas prices.

“Inflation, it’s never been this bad,” Nelms said. “There’s always things that happen in life that can hold you back, but that’s what growth is, having to work harder and push yourself and get through these tough things.”

Programs run out of funding

Following a 2020 executive order from Newsom, the Air Resources Board has drafted a proposed regulation that would phase out gas cars, beginning with 35% of 2026 models. The aim is to put 5 million zero-emission cars on California’s roads by 2030 and slash tailpipe emissions, California’s largest source of planet-warming pollutants.

But one of the biggest challenges with the transition to electrification is the financial obstacles faced by lower-income households.

The state’s programs designed to help them have been plagued with inconsistent and inadequate funding ever since they were launched years ago.

Most of the funding — $1.27 billion of the total $1.84 billion over the past decade — has come from the state’s cap-and-trade program, a market for buying and selling greenhouse gas credits that fluctuates in quarterly earnings. The rest is supplied in the state budget, which is approved by the Legislature and governor.

Lisa Macumber, an Air Resources Board official who oversees vehicle incentive programs, said insufficient funding has shut down the programs several times throughout the years. Some years, there are so many applicants that there’s barely enough money to keep the programs open for six months, let alone an entire year, she said.

While applications for the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, the biggest of the programs, are still being accepted, the volumes are high and the delays substantial: People must wait on average more than two months to be notified if they’re selected or rejected, and then they must wait longer to receive the money.

Last fall and winter, it was even worse because of the pandemic. People were waiting an average of eight months before their requests were processed, Macumber said.

Another program, Clean Vehicle Assistance, closed in April because funds ran out; the waitlist is closed to new applicants due to backlogs. The San Joaquin Valley’s and San Diego’s Clean Cars 4 All programs also are shut down due to depleted funds, although those programs in the Los Angeles basin, Bay Area and Sacramento recently reopened for applications.

Macumber said more funding from a $10 billion zero-emission vehicle investment in the state budget is on the way, but it’s unclear when that money will come through.

“It’s a very challenging landscape,” Macumber said. “Our programs have to be able to adjust based on the funding we receive each year.” That leads to confusion for residents, she said.

Californians who need the funds the most — those with incomes below 225% of the federal poverty level — are not accessing the program as quickly as other income groups. (The federal poverty level is $13,590 for an individual.)

“Higher income groups were able to go through the process and purchase new zero emission vehicles faster, resulting in depleting funds quickly,” Macumber said. “The majority of very low-income consumers need help through the application process and need more time to find proper, mostly used, vehicles. By the time they’re at the point to purchase their vehicles, funds were not available.”

Efforts to streamline subsidies

Some lawmakers worry that these problems are standing in the way of making cars accessible to those who would benefit the most because they live in regions with some of the poorest air quality.

State Sen. Monique Limón, a Democrat from Santa Barbara, said a bureaucratic application process is creating obstacles for the state’s neediest residents.

This year, Limón introduced a bill, SB 1230, that would streamline the application process and expand Clean Cars 4 All to residents who don’t live in the participating regional air districts. An online portal would allow people to submit one application for all of the programs.

The bill will be heard by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on Aug. 3.

“Often people will have an urgent need for a new vehicle and it can take up to several weeks to months to get approved through some of these programs,” Limón said. “We are trying to speed up that application process. Getting more zero emission vehicles on the road will help us equitably reach our climate goals while also correcting systemic problems that have allowed communities of color to bear the brunt of the climate crisis.”

The air board also is working on combining the Clean Vehicle Assistance and Clean Cars 4 All programs and expanding them statewide to provide access to 4 million more residents in or near low-income communities outside of the regions that already participate.

Eligibility criteria also will change. They currently operate on a first-come, first-served basis for income-eligible residents in ZIP codes considered disadvantaged. The board plans to change to a “needs-based” approach that also prioritizes applicants who qualify for public assistance programs, such as Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income, CalWorks or Section 8 housing.

“There are so many low-income consumers that don’t reside in a disadvantaged community,” Turner said. “If you live in a disadvantaged community, you’re immediately prioritized. It’s also important to ensure that low-income consumers that reside right outside still have opportunities to access these funds.”

The statewide program will not replace the regional Clean Cars 4 All programs and instead work in tandem with them, Turner said.

“We know now that when you move really fast….there’s a lot of opportunity for people to slip through the cracks or for certain populations to get left behind.”
— Jessica James, General Motors

However, environmentalists and community grassroots organizations worry it could harm their efforts to assist people in disadvantaged areas and create more confusion.

“The number one priority for us is making sure that we’re not disrupting and not overriding the community partnerships that are currently in place,” said Chris Chavez, deputy policy director at the Coalition for Clean Air, an environmental advocacy group. “What we want to make sure is, as we’re expanding throughout the state, that we don’t lose sight and don’t lose focus on disadvantaged communities because those are the ones with the greatest burdens, the greatest vulnerabilities and greatest barriers to clean transportation.”

Chavez worries that the statewide program could “compete” with regional incentive programs. If that happens, he said the regional programs could potentially lose funding and no longer be able to operate in the areas that they’re currently serving.

Charging is a big obstacle, too

The lack of rebates and long waitlists aren’t the only obstacles in getting Californians to universally buy electric vehicles. For many, a lack of charging infrastructure in their homes and communities is a big hurdle.

Most public charging stations are clustered in urban, coastal areas. About 1.2 million chargers will be needed for the 8 million zero-emission cars expected by 2030. State data shows that currently there are only about 80,000 with another 123,000 on the way – falling far short.

Elkind, of UC Berkeley Law, said the lack of available charging stations is particularly tough for renters and people in rural areas.

“It’s a huge advantage to have an electric vehicle, especially with the rising gas prices,” he said. “It’s just a question of what public charging infrastructure is out there.”

Many renters don’t have a dedicated place to park their vehicle and plug it in, especially if they’re in an apartment building without a parking garage, Elkind said. He said more chargers at workplaces and more superchargers in communities could be a good alternative for people who lack home chargers.

Building more charging infrastructure in rural areas is especially important because residents tend to drive many more miles than people in suburban or urban areas. They need longer-range vehicles with powerful chargers.

Lack of inventory at dealerships

Jessica James, General Motors’ program manager of its climate equity fund, said the automaker has made it a priority to eliminate gas cars in the next decade, but acknowledged that the rapid move towards electrification could leave many vulnerable communities behind. Though General Motors is trying to expand its fleet of new vehicles, supply chain problems are making it difficult.

“We know now that when you move really fast — or take an entire industry and kind of rebuild it — that there’s a lot of opportunity for people to slip through the cracks or for certain populations to get left behind,” James said. “We’re doing everything we can to bring new EV products to market as fast as we possibly can, but those product development timelines are a little longer than we all wish they were.”

Tom Knox, executive director of Valley Clean Air Now, works with the region’s air district to help low-income and disadvantaged residents like Nelms apply for state rebates. Some nonprofit organizations are negotiating with dealers to lower used car prices for people who qualify for state incentives. But dealerships struggled during the pandemic and their supplies of electric cars are low.

“Solving the inventory problem is the single most valuable thing that could happen within the equity programs,” he said, adding that he’s optimistic that the market will improve in 12 to 18 months. “It’s starting to head in the right direction, but it’s still an enormous challenge for our customers.”

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