Frank Aaron Henry, Jr. — Sonny Boy, Brother, Frank, Frankie, Spank, “D”, Tank —  whatever name you called him, he was a true friend. Frank was a much-loved son, brother, father, uncle, nephew, grandson and cousin.

Frank was a proud Yurok man who cared deeply for his family and friends. He lived his life the best way that he knew how. He didn’t sit around feeling sorry for himself and was always busy. In Wautec, he tried to keep an eye on his kooch, he always helped his Uncle Johnny with making sure he had enough wood on his porch, feeding Virg’s dogs when he was away, and always walking somewhere with the dogs, sister and brother. If you wanted to know where Frank was, all you had to do was look for those two dogs, they followed him everywhere.

Frank loved his job that he held since 2019 working for the Yurok Tribe with the restoration crew in Redding, Hornbrook, Orick, wherever they were, Frank enjoyed it. He was very proud of the work he was taking part in, and I could hear it in his voice when he would tell me his stories about what he was doing when he was working. Josh, Ona, Becca, Ben and crew, just know that he truly enjoyed working with you.

Frank really liked going play volleyball in Nixon these past few years … even if it meant listening to Phil razz him all night long. Phil loved to spike on Frank. When Frank would finally get a block in, the team would get especially loud, “ooooh, take that, Phil.”

He loved getting together with family to celebrate birthdays and just enjoyed everyone being together, trips to Vegas and wherever else his mama would drag him to. His Thursday trips to the Nugget with Rafael when he was in Nevada.

Frank was especially proud of his kids, Isaiah and Kaydence. He definitely thought they were the best of him, even when he thought he wasn’t the best of him at all times. He loved them with a grateful heart.

Frank was the younger brother of Bud, older brother of Lena, Kayla and Kayce. He accepted all of them for who they were and are and was happy for them. If he had any regrets, he never talked about them. Just know that if he thought of you as a friend, he had a lifelong loyalty to you.

Frank is survived by his son, Isaiah Hersey-Henry, and his daughter, Kaydence McCullough. He loved them both with all of his heart.

Frank Aaron Henry, Jr. was born in the early morning on March 6, 1983 and he left us on March 17, 2023. He leaves behind his broken-hearted mama, Jeraldine Magee, his father, Frank Henry, his one and only brother, Bud Henry, his 3 sisters, Lena, Kayla and Kayce Henry. His sister-in-law Louisa, brothers-in-law, Greg and Billy, and his Aunties and Uncles, Jeannette & Kenny, Jill, Jacki & Gus, Julia, Valerie, Vicky & Casey, Madeline, and Tanya. His cousins, Michelle and Mark Mix, Jillie Mix, Kage & Joseph Bain, Bert, Hannah & Holly Snyder, Ronald, Brian & Brandon Richards, Keta, Tashina, Vernon, & Charley, Jennifer, Shawna & Lisa, Sonny, Luci & Tanya.

Frank was proud to be an uncle and he loved his nieces and nephews. He thought it was pretty funny that he had a mini-me, Kenek Poe. He was immensely proud of his nephew Brandon Henry, who he was in the Marines, as that was a dream of Frank’s when he was young. Frank’s nieces and nephews are Brandon Henry, Louisa Henry, SyLenna, Dauwin and Kenek Poe, Ava and Gabe Salas, and his great-nephew, Andrew Henry.

Frank is survived by his two grandmothers, Darlene Magee and Kathleen Henry, and numerous relatives and friends.

Frank was preceded in death by his grandfathers, Gerald Magee and Elliott Henry, his uncle’s Mark Mix and Eldred Norris, his cousins, Ron, Kirks and To-Tehl.

I love you, son, and I will miss you for the rest of my life. You were loved and you will be missed by your family!

Services for Frank Henry Jr., will be at Paul’s Chapel on Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 11 a.m. Bring your best dish and story for eats after the service at Awok Bonnie Green Building in Eureka from 2-5 p.m.

Frank was a good-hearted person; he always thought the best of people and lived his life like that. He never held a grudge, and he truly loved his family and friends. When he would hear about someone passing or something happening, he would say “I’m going to say prayers.” When he had something and others did not, he would share, always. People took advantage of that. They didn’t care that he was the only person who wasn’t judging them, and so to all of those people in Hoopa, the drug dealers, the losers who prey on people for their next fix, you know who you are, you took away this son, brother, father, uncle, nephew, cousin, loved friend, from the people who loved him. I hope you all rot in jail or hell, I don’t care which.

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Frank Henry Jr.’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here. Email news@lostcoastoutpost.com.

HUMBOLDT TODAY: Did you think we were done with winter? Guess again! We’ve got the latest on what Humboldt’s sky is offering up. Plus, a local woman is appointed to a prestigious state commission, and the Crescent City Council is still trying to deal with youth vaping. Those stories and more on today’s newscast with John Kennedy O’Connor.

FURTHER READING: 

• CONVERSATIONS: Offshore Wind’s Long Game, With Matthew Marshall of the Redwood Coast Energy Authority
• California Workers Can’t Get Timely Hearings on Wage Theft Claims. State Orders Audit.
• Sheriff’s Office Ask for Public’s Help Seeking Out Missing McKinleyville Man

HUMBOLDT TODAY can be viewed on LoCO’s homepage each night starting at 6 p.m.

Want to LISTEN to HUMBOLDT TODAY? Subscribe to the podcast version here.

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In a monumental step that’s taken decades to achieve, work has officially begun on the world’s largest-ever dam-removal project. 

This complex endeavor will entail both removal of the four dams that comprise the Lower Klamath Hydropower Project, formerly owned by PacifiCorp, and major environmental restoration in and around the land that has been sitting at the bottom of man-made reservoirs for more than a century. 

In a Zoom press conference this morning, Craig Tucker, a consultant working with the Klamath River Renewal Corporation, noted that this also represents the world’s largest salmon restoration project to date.

“And as most of you know, this can’t come a moment too soon,” he added, referencing the latest dire population forecasts for salmon in Northern California rivers.

Bransom

The restoration component of the project will return about 38 miles of upstream habitat “to a free-flowing, more natural condition,” Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC) CEO Mark Bransom explained during the press conference. “And the restoration work is every bit as important as removing these dams.”

Following authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), workers broke ground on March 10, building access roads and reinforcing bridges that will allow dam-removal contractor Kiewit Infrastructure West to bring in heavy construction equipment.

This enabling construction work is expected to continue through the rest of this year, preparing for drawdown of the reservoirs and then removal of the dams beginning in January of 2024, Bransom said.

The smallest of the four dams — Copco No. 2, which stands a mere 35 feet tall — will actually come down sooner than that, with demolition work starting in June and continuing through September or thereabouts. 

Crews will employ low-level outlet works, which will be constructed this summer, to draw down the reservoirs and flush the water and accumulated sediment from behind the other three dams — J.C. Boyle (76 feet tall), Iron Gate (173 feet tall) and Copco No. 1 (225 feet tall). 

Bransom said the water release will be very controlled, allowing workers to draw down the reservoirs slowly enough to ensure that there’s no over-bank flooding. With more than 100 years of accumulated sediment behind the dams, regulators and tribes have directed KRRC to undertake the drawdown work in the winter, when there’s the least biological activity and the highest probability of high-volume flows.

“We certainly acknowledge that this is going to have a significant impact on water-quality parameters,” Bransom said, though he said the estimated amount of accumulated material — five to seven million cubic yards of very fine sediment released over the course of three to four months — is roughly equivalent to what the Klamath River transports annually.

KRRC has committed to long-term monitoring and stands ready to address any issues that may result from deposition, Bransom added, noting that the monitoring will extend out to the ocean beyond the mouth of the Klamath.

After the drawdown of the reservoirs, workers will redirect the river around the construction site using diversion tunnels that were part of the original construction of the dams. This will allow the dam infrastructure to be removed from a dry river channel.

“So our schedule has us removing all four of the dams and restoring the Klamath River to a free-flowing condition … by the end of 2024,” Bransom said.

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The restoration work is being managed by Texas-based firm RES (Resource Environmental Solutions), whose director of operations for the Northern California and Southern Oregon region, Dave Coffman, was on hand for today’s press conference.

Coffman

“Dam removal can be a little bit of a messy business,” he said. “So we’re here to get reservoir sediment stabilized through reestablishment of native vegetation, provide some immediate, high-quality habitat for returning salmonids as they make their way through former dam footprints and into river channels where they haven’t been in over 100 years and really jumpstart the recovery of this landscape.”

Since 2019 RES has been working with partners in the Karuk and Yurok tribes, who’ve been onsite collecting seeds of native plants that will provide the foundation for sediment stabilization following dam removal.

“We’re somewhere in the ballpark of 17 billion seeds — native seeds — all either sourced directly from the Klamath Basin or sourced from plants that were grown from seeds that were sourced from the Klamath Basin,” Coffman said. 

He recently moved a 2,000-pound pallet of seed into cold storage, in preparation for planting, and was impressed by the scale of it.

“And then I’m told, ‘Oh, this is just one of 50 pallets,’” he recalled, noting that there are literally tons and tons of seed coming onto the project site, seed that was provided by farms up and down the West Coast.

Restoration work will also be done on priority tributaries. Banks will be graded and habitat features of wood and rock will be installed to collect spawning gravels.

Tucker estimated that roughly 400 miles of fish habitat, including the main stem Klamath, creeks and tributaries, will be restored as a result of dam removal. 

Ferris

Wendy Ferris, KRRC board member appointed by the Karuk Tribe, said it can be difficult to fully articulate the sense of connection that tribes from the Klamath River Basin have with the land. Those tribes have existed for thousands of years, she said, and when European settlers arrived, they took the land away from the type of management that local tribes had passed down through oral teachings.

“And so, through time, [tribe members] were placed on reservations and their land was shrunk to very small land bases, which didn’t allow them to practice the religion fully … ,” Ferris said. “And when I say ‘practice the religion,’ what I mean by that is, the land is the Bible of the native people. So the rules of their religion lie within those ponds, creeks, rivers, animals and all living things around them.”

For local tribe members, restoring the river ecosystem represents “basically the first phase of bringing back our religion to a healthy state and being able to have healthy people and [to] live in balance,” Ferris said.

For more details on the restoration project you can check out the new 15-minute video “Restoring Balance,” which was produced by RES and is embedded at the bottom of this post. 

You can also read the following press release from KRRC:

Yreka, CA – Work has officially begun on removing the four dams that comprise the Lower Klamath Hydropower Project. “Crews are already in the field doing the preliminary work for dam removal,” explained Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC) Chief Executive Officer Mark Bransom. “This work includes bridge upgrades, new road construction to access the dam sites more easily, worksite development, and more.”

The plan to remove the lower four Klamath River dams and restore the 38-mile river reach to a natural free flowing condition stems from an agreement between previous dam owner PacifiCorp, the states of California and Oregon, the Karuk Tribe, the Yurok Tribe, and a host of conservation and fishing organizations. The plan was formally approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission late last year.

“These dams provide no irrigation for agriculture, are not operated for flood control, and generate very little power,” explained KRRC Board president Brian Johnson. “But they do play a huge role in the decline of Pacific salmon. This project aims to fix that.”

The project is funded by $200 million from PacifiCorp and $250 million from a California Water Bond passed in 2014.

“We have several milestones associated with the project to highlight this year,” noted Bransom, “this includes the replacement of a drinking water line for the city of Yreka in May and the removal of Copco 2 Dam by September.”

The three larger dams are to be removed next year with removal of all four dams completed by the end of 2024; however, the restoration of the 38 mile reach of river impacted by the dams will take longer. That restoration process is already underway as well.

“We wanted to get a running start on this project,” explains Dave Coffman, the Northern California and Southern Oregon Director of Resource Environmental Solutions (RES). “Our crews spent several years collecting thousands of native seeds from plants around the reservoir sites that we propagated at commercial nurseries to become 17 billion seeds and thousands of saplings. As soon as the reservoirs are drawn down, we will immediately start the restoration process by seeding these areas.” This particular project is one of several highlighted in the film Restoring Balance.

RES will be reconnecting critical tributaries and ensuring fish can once again access over 400 miles of historical habitat upstream of the dams. Added Coffman, “we are excited to help bring this reach of the river back to life. RES will be here as long as it takes to make this project successful.”

Local tribes have led the effort to remove the dams for over 20 years and are particularly excited to see the project begin. “Dam removal is the first giant leap towards a restored Klamath River,” noted Wendy Ferris, KRRC Board member appointed by the Karuk Tribe. “We look forward to welcoming the salmon back home to areas they haven’t visited in more than a century.”

Similar sentiments were shared by Karuk Tribal Chairman Russell ‘Buster’ Attebery. “Many people told us this day would never come. Well, it’s here now and the salmon are coming home. I can tell you this is just the beginning - there’s a lot more restoration coming to the Klamath Basin.”

“We want to thank everyone who helped make this dream a reality,” noted Yurok Vice-Chairman Frankie Joe Myers. “It just goes to show what we can accomplish when the Tribes and our allies in the conservation movement join forces in common cause.”

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After 15 years in its current Eureka location, the small and beloved community playhouse Redwood Curtain Theatre (RCT) is soon losing its longtime home at 220 First Street, which is in the process of being sold to a new owner. 

“We have some news to share that is hard to hear,” the theater’s board posted on Facebook on Tuesday. “Our building that we have occupied for the past 15 years is in escrow with another owner and expects to close by June 30, 2023. The new owner has plans for the building that do not include us.” 

Suzy Hendry, board director for RCT, told the Outpost that the theater staff and board have known about the planned sale since the beginning of this year and have already been searching for a new space. But they didn’t think that the building would sell so quickly, and had hoped they would at least have a couple more years.

Hendry said that she didn’t feel that she could divulge the name of the buyer or what the plans are for the space, since nothing is completely set in stone yet. But as stated above, apparently the plans are for something new in the space, and the buyer did not want to extend a lease for the theater. Hendry added that the current landlady Marilyn Andrews has always been very generous to Redwood Curtain. “And we certainly understand her need to sell it,” she said. 

Again, the board and staff had just hoped that it would take more time to sell, and that they would at least be able to finish out their season, which Hendry said included four plays that they were very excited about. The theater just wrapped up its run of Bull in a China Shop and is currently holding rehearsals for The Book of Will, which will open on April 21 and run for four weekends. 

Ruthi Engelke, who is directing The Book of Will, has acted, directed and taught at RCT for more than five years. Engelke told the Outpost that RCT was the first local theater that “really felt like home” to her when she moved to Humboldt. 

The cast of The Book of Will, RCT’s final show in its current space | Photo: Doranna Benker-Gilkey

“[The theater is] small, intimate and usually does plays that are socially relevant, which is what I really like,” Engelke said in a phone interview. “It’s the kind of theater I’m interested in doing and seeing, so it makes me sad that that’s not going to be there.” 

As soon as the upcoming show is finished, Hendry said, the breaking-down and packing-up of the space will begin, and it is going to be a pretty big undertaking. The building was completely empty when RCT began leasing it, so all of the theater seating, the stage, the sets and the lights will need to be removed and, most likely, put into storage until a new space is found. 

And Hendry is worried that finding a new space might take a lot of time. When RCT left its previous space at the backside of the Eureka Mall in 2006, it took four years to find the building the theater is in now. The theater has pretty specific needs for its space – it needs to be roughly between 2,400 and 4,000 square feet in size, and the ceilings need to be at least 16 feet high. 

Since the theater is a nonprofit organization, it also has a pretty tight budget and has still not recovered financially from the shutdowns due to COVID. Hendry said that the theater was just starting to get back on its feet and now losing the space, which was a very good deal, comes as a big blow. With rental rates on the rise in Humboldt, the theater will need to find someone willing to lease their space for lower than the market rate, which Hendry knows will make the search even more difficult. 

Still, Hendry is hopeful that something will work out and says that the community and other theaters have already been very helpful. The last time the theater had no home, several other local theaters let RCT stage productions and Hendry suspects that is something they will do again. 

For those interested in helping out RCT during this difficult time, the theater is looking for all kinds of assistance – a theater space (of course), financial donations, storage space, help tearing down and packing up, transportation. Hendry said RCT is also open to creative suggestions for how to keep doing what they do. To volunteer whatever resource you have, you can follow this link to fill out a short form and someone will contact you very soon. 

Of course, another great way to support the theater is by going to see its upcoming show. Engelke said that The Book of Will, which focuses on two actors trying to preserve the works of William Shakespeare, has some unbelievably relevant themes. The play touches on the importance of theater and the catharsis that it provides. The play even contains a part about a theater closing and the characters going to some pretty extreme lengths to keep it open. 

Hendry wanted to thank everyone for their continuing support of RCT, a theater that she feels plays an important role in our community. 

“We feel that Redwood Curtain Theatre offers some very diverse and inclusive types of productions that other theaters typically don’t offer,” Hendry said. “We feel very strongly that we’ve found a niche over the last 23 years…So we really want to continue that. Our board really wants to make it work and we’re going to do everything we can to make that happen.” 

How long is it going to take to get electricity from the winds off our coast? Quite a long time, even if everything goes to plan.

But full buildout of the Humboldt Wind Energy Area is going to take even longer. A lot longer. In today’s Conversation, Matthew Marshall of the Redwood Coast Energy Authority talks to us about the current state of play, the potential benefits for local consumers of electricity, and the tortoise-like pace of the project. “A marathon, not a sprint,” Marshall says.

Rough transcript below.

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JOHN KENNEDY O’CONNOR:

Well, welcome to another Humboldt Conversations. I’m here today with Matthew Marshall, who’s the Executive Director of Redwood Coast Energy Authority. Matthew, great to meet you.

MATTHEW MARSHALL:

Yeah, thanks for having me.

O’CONNOR:

Thanks for having a Humboldt Conversation with us. Now, Matthew, there are big plans for the Humboldt Wind Energy Area. And that’s going to be located, I think, about 20 miles off the Humboldt Coast. I think something like 100 floating wind turbines are proposed. What will the energy benefits be from that massive wind farm?

MARSHALL:

Yeah, so from a local perspective, that’s like 10 times as much energy potential as we need for Humboldt County. So we only need like a little chunk of that to meet actually all of Humboldt County’s energy needs. And so really, it’s an opportunity for us to not just meet our own climate goals, but actually to be an exporter of power that can have a contribution to state level goals. Now, there’s a lot of complexity to figuring that out. It’s going to take a lot of time, but I think it’s a great opportunity to really have economic development that’s also supporting our environmental values here as a community.

O’CONNOR:

Now we ran a poll actually on Humboldt Today, and the audience were incredibly enthusiastic about this project and they think it’s really the future of Humboldt County. But there was concern that will the county itself actually benefit? I mean you’re talking about exporting energy. How will the county actually benefit?

MARSHALL:

Yeah, so I think there’s a couple facets to that. One is to make sure that the economic activity that comes with this really creates opportunities for local folks to get involved, and particularly communities that haven’t particularly gotten engaged in these sort of things. And obviously, we’ve had a history of boom and bust economies here. And so something that could be sustainable, I think it’s a good thing. It’s not wind mining. It’s wind farming. So it’s a long-term, long-term commitment. And so if we can have the construction jobs, but also really have those jobs be an opportunity for local businesses, for local residents. And then from the power side of it, I think there’s going to be billions of dollars of investment in infrastructure, both for the project as well as the transmission. And so as folks know, we have infrastructure issues in our community. And so hopefully, we’re going to have to work with state regulators and state decision makers to make sure that when there is those billions of dollars of investment in infrastructure, that we address our local concerns and our local needs, and we’re able to tap into that power and have it be a benefit to us, and not just something that we’re purely exporting. And so I think it’s going to be work to make sure that those things happen. But I think there’s a lot of commitment at the state level. And certainly, I feel like the community is really rallying around, hey, this is a great opportunity for us. It’s big business, but it’s a business that we can get behind because it’s helping address climate change and it’s sustainable long-term opportunity. And so I think we just have to get it right and not repeat the mistakes of the past and learn from that, but then really capitalize on this opportunity as a community.

O’CONNOR:

Now the infrastructure, though, is a big issue, and actually you contributed to a great article with our colleague Izzy Vanderheiden this week because unless it can be transmitted online once the power comes on shore there can be no offshore wind and this is a huge issue.

MARSHALL:

So, you know, we think about just the current wind energy area that’s been identified. We can only use, like I said, about 10% of that power locally. And so you could build 10 turbines and do that, but to actually build it out and reach the economies of scale and the economic development opportunity, you’re going to need transmission infrastructure to get the power out of here. Because like, I think I used the analogy, if you think of highways, it’s like, you know, we have Highway 36 and 299 is like our grid infrastructure is really at that same scale. And for something at this scale, you know, you really need the equivalent of a power like I-5, you know, highway to be able to move that much electricity out of the county. And so that’s going to take billions of dollars of investment to build out that infrastructure. And what we want to make sure is it isn’t just like a flyover where it’s like, well, we’ll just do a main line from, you know, the ocean to San Francisco. And you know, and then we still have, you know, a local grid that’s unreliable. Well, that’s the issue.

O’CONNOR:

Because PG&E have already reached capacity for several areas, Eel River for example, they can’t even get current energy now.

MARSHALL:

Yeah, and the Hoopa Valley and all the communities around there are at the same situation. The distribution lines that go to Cal Poly Humboldt are at capacity. So we’re reaching the critical point of maxing out our local grid capacity, and so we really do need to invest locally. And so it would be a big policy failure if we had billions of dollars of investment in energy infrastructure and we didn’t see these local needs met. Now that said, the transmission upgrades are going to take years and years and years, maybe ten years to get that full build out, and we’re not going to wait ten years to start working on these issues. And that’s something that we’re committed to, and our other local partners, the folks at the Schott Center at Cal Poly Humboldt are looking at ways to build more resilient infrastructure now, and we’re working on it. And so we’re not waiting and holding our breath for offshore wind, but I think it’s an opportunity to capitalize on the momentum that that brings.

O’CONNOR:

The two things very much have to go hand in hand.

MARSHALL:

The investment has to be there. Yeah, I mean, so there’s our local issues and there’s this big picture investment. And so those could converge and be compatible, they could go different directions. And we’re gonna do the local stuff as best we can, but hopefully it’ll be a convergence and not something where it’s like, well, there’s the offshore wind thing and that doesn’t really affect us. That would be not the best case outcome by a long shot. But I think from everything I’ve heard from decision makers at the state level, there’s a commitment to saying, hey, we’re not gonna leave the community behind as this opportunity develops.

O’CONNOR:

And RCEA is very much invested.

MARSHALL:

Yeah, I mean, you know, we’re, we’re, our goal is to serve the community. You know, part of that is economic development in the energy sector. So the, you know, the big picture stuff is exciting and part of our mission, but, you know, first and foremost, we want to address reliability and, you know, that’s some of us not as glamorous, but, you know, we’ve been working with our member jurisdictions, you know, Rio Del that had the earthquake, they had renewable backup power, you know, our, our microgrid system at the county airport has been getting quite the workout with the earthquake and then all the storms, you know, I don’t know how many times I get the text alert. It’s gone into Island mode. And so we’re running the coast guard at the airport off of the microgrid. And so, you know, we want to do more of that kind of work at that local level that really helps with resilience and emergency response and our, and our climate goals, you know, and so that’s for, for RCEA, you know, one of the things that’s really important to us is as we move off of fossil fuels and decarbonize electricity, it’s got to be more resilient and more like responsive to our needs, not less because nobody’s going to be excited if you’re like, Hey, we got to a hundred percent renewables, but the power goes out every day. You know, and so we need to use, you know, the solutions to make us, you know, carbon free also be solutions that make us more resilient and able to respond to emergencies. And so the airport’s one example of that, but I think we really wanted to see those, those kinds of solutions implemented really countywide, you know, across the community.

O’CONNOR:

Well, it’s very positive. There’s a lot of exciting things happening. It’s quite a long way off though. There’s a lot of things that have to happen, but the future is bright.

MARSHALL:

Right. Yeah, the offshore winds is a marathon, not a sprint. And that’s why I wanted to bring up the, you know, we’re not, we’re not holding our breath for that as far as the, you know, addressing local needs and, you know, and we’re really looking at, you know, right now, how do we do more and more, you know, facility level, community level projects. But hopefully again, these things can converge to really kind of get us where we want to be as far as the sustainable energy future.

O’CONNOR:

Well, Matthew, it’s great to meet you. Thank you so much for joining us for a Humboldt Conversation. And we’ll look forward to the next Humboldt Conversation. Take care.

California’s independent state auditor will investigate the understaffed California Labor Commissioner’s Office over its persistent backlogs in workers’ wage theft claims, issues highlighted in a series of articles last year by CalMatters.

The audit would start Sept. 1 — that is if budget hearings before then don’t first address the agency’s problems to the satisfaction of lawmakers who approved the investigation.

The Joint Legislative Audit Committee on Wednesday called for the audit over the objections of some of the state’s biggest labor unions, who argued the probe was unnecessary.

Labor Commissioner Lilia García-Brower on Wednesday also pushed back against an audit, testifying that her office already is undertaking multiple reforms to address her agency’s backlogs.

The Labor Commissioner’s Office has struggled for years to address wage claims in a timely manner. Wage theft — the failure of employers to pay the minimum wage, overtime premiums, or provide meal and rest breaks — primarily affects low-wage workers who are often immigrants or people of color, studies show.

Each worker’s claims by law are supposed to be heard in 120 days and decided 15 days after that. But CalMatters, in its series, uncovered that between 2017 and 2021, the state averaged 505 days.

After that, back pay can take years to recover, and many who win their claims are never paid. The backlog was exacerbated last year, when new wage theft claims hit a record 38,000 and wait times climbed past 800 days.

“What is it going to take to get to 120 days? Is it additional measures to compel employers to participate, and if that’s the case, in which ways?” asked Assemblymember David Alvarez, a Democrat from Chula Vista who chairs the legislative audit committee.

“I am willing to give an opportunity for those questions to be answered,” he said. “But I’d like to see detailed answers, not just ‘we’re going to do better when we hire more people.’”

Alvarez held out the possibility that the committee could rescind their audit request before September if budget hearings satisfactorily address the issues the audit would target. The Labor Commissioner’s Office is seeking $12 million in the next fiscal year to hire 43 additional employees with the goal of reducing the time to hear a claim to 200 days.

The audit came at the request of State Sen. Steve Glazer, a Walnut Creek Democrat, who agreed to the compromise to delay the audit until Sept. 1. The audit request put Glazer, a moderate Democrat, at odds with labor groups and workers’ advocates.

The California Labor Federation and several unions and worker centers wrote earlier in March that an audit would divert time and attention from an already understaffed agency.

The California Chamber of Commerce testified in favor of the audit. Ashley Hoffman, a lobbyist for the Chamber, told the committee it is important to the state’s employers that bad actors be held to account and that disputes between employees be resolved expediently, out of court.

In addition to wage claims, California workers can also file lawsuits against employers through California’s Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA), a 19-year-old law that gives workers the same powers as the state to sue employers and recover civil penalties on behalf of coworkers. If they win, the workers can get a quarter of the penalties while the rest goes to the state for labor enforcement.

In 2022 the Department of Industrial Relations, the agency that houses the Labor Commissioner’s Office, received 5,813 notices of new PAGA suits, according to state data.

The Chamber is among several business groups that succeeded in getting a measure to repeal the private enforcement law on the 2024 ballot.

Hoffman told the committee that workers get more of their back wages when they go through the Labor Commissioner’s process instead of filing a lawsuit with a private attorney.

In her testimony Wednesday, García-Brower said she is working to overhaul her office’s wage claims staff by recruiting recent graduates from the University of California, filling key managerial positions and implementing new pilot initiatives in certain offices, among other measures.

García-Brower, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, is the former director of a group that helped the state investigate wage theft in the janitorial industry before she became labor commissioner and is considered an ally of the unions and worker advocates who opposed the audit.

The labor and worker groups advocated instead for increased funding for García-Brower’s office, higher penalties for employers who violate labor law and an expedited hiring process for the Department of Industrial Relations. They also argued for boosting the use of criminal charges against problem employers and expanding local officials’ abilities to sue businesses on behalf of workers to relieve pressure on the state.

Lorena Gonzalez, the former assembly member who heads the California Labor Federation, told CalMatters in an interview before the hearing that an audit would be a distraction.

“Everyone knows there’s a problem, including the labor commissioner,” Gonzalez Fletcher said. “I don’t think an audit is going to tell us anything we don’t know already.”

But at the hearing García-Brower conceded that the issues in her office went beyond a staffing shortage.

Assemblymember Jim Wood, a Democrat from Ukiah, and a member of the legislative audit committee, said his office had considered proposing an audit of the Labor Commissioner’s wage claim issues.

He told García-Brower that his office struggled to get data on wage claims from her office, and that some of his constituents had faced people who worked for her who “are not always terribly friendly and very dismissive sometimes.” That prompted García-Brower to agree.

“I sat across six different labor commissioners, and most of them were dismissive,” García-Brower said, referring to her time as a labor activist. “So this is a deep, systemic problem within the culture of this agency, which is why we’re digging down deep to ensure that people understand we are a public facing agency. We were created to serve the public.”

Senator John Laird, a Democrat from Salinas who sits on the committee, said García-Brower’s acknowledgement that the office’s problems went beyond staffing issues swayed him in favor of the audit.

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

Nancy Carol Woodward of Ferndale passed away unexpectedly February 27 at her home.

She is survived by three sons: Aaron Hutsch of Highlands Ranch, Colo., Eli Woodward of Fortuna and Miley Betts, also of Highlands Ranch, Colo.; two siblings, Richard Woodward of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Janet May of Flagstaff, Ariz.; four grandchildren Vance and Olivia Betts, Lauren Hutsch and Lexie Swanson; and one great-grandson, Wyatt Swanson. Nancy was predeceased by her parents, Robert and Elaine Woodward of Belleville, Illinois.

Born April 18,1945 in Woodbury, N.J., Nancy was raised in Belleville, Illinois. Her late teens and early 20s brought her to various spots in the country before she and her sons settled into the scene in San Francisco in the 1960s.

After decades working as a decorated seamstress and costume designer in the San Francisco Theatre scene, she was lured to Blue Lake in the mid 1980s by the Dell’Arte Players Company for a quieter life and better schools. She lived just a block from the gymkhana in Blue Lake, where she rediscovered her love of horses. Her first horse, Nugget, lived on Jackson Hill until she traded up for her “river house” off Rancheria Road. There she began acquiring several animals and found a new passion in the Alpaca breeding business. In 2008 she and her brood moved out to Oeschger Road outside of Ferndale, where she spent her remaining years farming in a quiet valley with a peek-a-view of the Pacific Ocean.

A virtual celebration of her life is being planned.

Throughout her life she was an accomplished reader, gardener and an amazing chef. Nancy truly excelled in everything she tried. Loved by so many, she will forever be dearly missed.

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