SACRAMENTO — As the aftermath of Hurricane Helene unfolds, California’s first responders are stepping up to help those affected in Florida.

Approximately 120 first responders from across the Golden State, including Sacramento, are helping in various roles. Sacramento is teaming up with other federal response members from across the nation in a management position.

Larry Collins, deputy chief of Special Ops HazMat with the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), emphasized the importance of this nationwide response, stating: “We go there because it’s about neighbor helping neighbor. They would help us if we had a big disaster.”

It’s part of a plan that launched in the 90s, with rotational system of emergency responders organized to go where they are needed most. Collins calls this mutual aid is essential.

“When it happens here in California and we need the help, we can rely on these other 20 urban search and rescue teams from other states to help us,” Collins said.

Deployed on Friday were crews from Southern California including from Los Angeles, Orange County, Riverside, and San Diego.

Sacramento personnel were pre-positioned on Tuesday, driving to Orlando to be ready to respond as the weather conditions and storm track changed.

“We’re coordinating the movement of all these search and rescue and swift water assets,” Collins explained. “It’s intense. They’re working in the rain. They are in the darkness, in some cases. They have trees falling down power lines falling down.”

The public information officer deployed with the Sacramento crew is Charlie Lubowicki, of the FEMA US&R Incident Support Team. He explained the importance of everyone bringing their own expertise to the table during times like this.

“It’s a testament to the system that has been built here in the United States,” Lubowicki said. “Those who go to wildfires and are in these large dynamic events all the time, and so they have a very special skill set that when they come out east, they are able to bring to the planning process.”

Federal support and resources

A crucial element of this operation is the backing provided by FEMA, which will reimburse California for the costs associated with sending these teams, given that this is a federally declared disaster. This support enables the state to deploy its resources without jeopardizing local emergency response capabilities.

Officials have reassured the public that despite the ongoing wildfire season, California maintains a robust set of resources ready for “no notice emergencies,” such as earthquakes. The state’s ability to respond to local emergencies remains unaffected by its commitments to national disaster relief.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a new bill that would protect Social Security benefits for tens of thousands of residents in the state.

By signing AB 2906 into law on Thursday, Newsom will now ensure that Social Security survivor benefits go to the foster youth they are intended for.

Under the new bill, it would now be required for foster youth and their legal guardians be notified if anyone is applying as a payee of Social Security survivor benefits. For years, these benefits were intercepted by the state despite being intended for foster children when they turn 18. The bill passed unanimously in the state legislature before it went to Newsom’s desk last month.

Newsweek has reached out to the Social Security Administration and Newsom via email for comment.

While Newsom vetoed a similar legislation last year that included both foster youth survivor and disability benefits, the pressure from the public may have pushed him to approve the bill this time around.

Around 70 California judges signed a letter asking the governor to sign the bill earlier this month, and both the Los Angeles and San Diego Boards of Supervisors approved of the law.

“For some of California’s foster children, having access to these previously pilfered assets may be the difference between aging out of care into homelessness or with a roof over their heads,” Amy Harfeld, national policy director at the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law (CAI), said in a statement. “We are grateful for Governor Newsom placing California among the growing number of states that are acting to end this shameful practice while helping address California’s homeless challenge to boot.”

Somewhere between 40,000 and 80,000 children in California are eligible for Social Security benefits, but they often face poverty or outright homelessness after reaching 18 years of age. Between the ages of 19 and 21, 29 percent of former foster youth experienced homelessness, according to the Children’s Advocacy Institute.

The payments they were owed could have prevented this, but for years, California counties would divert the Social Security benefits into their own funds.

While federal law requires county foster care agencies to put the best interests of foster children first regarding the Social Security money, counties have been sidestepping these requirements without consulting the children set to receive the benefits.

Previously in California, counties could apply for foster kids’ benefits without telling the child or their representative, and a judge was not required to oversee the child’s care.

Foster children qualify for Social Security if they either have a disability or had a parent pay a certain amount of money into the Social Security system before retiring, becoming disabled or dying. But due to prior rules, many never saw the money they were owed.

“These funds amount to a rounding error for counties,” said Robert Fellmeth, founder and executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Institute, in a statement. “For eligible foster youth, having access to their money could mean an entirely different life, one in which they have a real shot at stable housing, food security, transportation, and education.”

California is one of many states that are looking to create more substantial protections for these foster kids’ Social Security payments.

As of this summer, 30 states and jurisdictions have taken action to protect foster youth benefits. Arizona, Washington, D.C., Oregon and Massachusetts have abolished holding payments from foster system beneficiaries entirely.

“The push Governor Newsom and other lawmakers are in California are making to cover this often-neglected group mimics what we’ve seen in some other states,” Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek.

He added: “Those who find themselves as beneficiaries of Social Security under foster care survivor status aren’t often mentioned when we speak about protecting Social Security benefits in general, but they are a subgroup that is overlooked and one that heavily relies on this funding. The passing of this bill would be pivotal in making sure they are financially supported through the system for the years to come in a meaningful way.”

After Click to Cancel legislation for subscriptions, California has introduced another piece of consumer protection legislation for buying digital content.

It will force companies to tell you when you won’t actually own the content you think you’re buying – something which has occasionally been true for iTunes purchases …

The problem with ‘buying’ digital content

There have been numerous examples of consumers thinking they are buying digital content, which remains theirs for life, only to find it unceremoniously removed – sometimes years later.

For example, two class action lawsuits were filed against Apple back in 2021 for using the word “buy” for iTunes movies when these can, in rare circumstances, be later removed from your library.

Both lawsuits make the same complaint: that the iTunes store wording says that you can “buy” or “rent” movies, while the reality is that you can only license them – and that license can be later withdrawn.

There have been examples of people losing access to content purchased from iTunes, though these do appear to be edge cases. Similar complaints have been made about the fact that you don’t actually own e-books purchased from Amazon.

Apple continues to use a “Buy” button in the Apple TV app today.

A similar thing happened earlier this year when Ubisoft revoked access to the online-only racing game The Crew after people had bought it.

California law on digital content purchases

California has introduced AB 2426: Consumer protection: false advertising: digital goods. This says that companies aren’t allowed to use the words “buy” or “purchase” unless they clearly state exactly what is meant by this, and tell you if there is a risk that you might someday lose access.

Existing law makes a person who violates specified false advertising provisions liable for a civil penalty, as specified, and provides that a person who violates those false advertising provisions is guilty of a misdemeanor.

This bill would, subject to specified exceptions, additionally prohibit a seller of a digital good from advertising or offering for sale a digital good, as defined, to a purchaser with the terms buy, purchase, or any other term which a reasonable person would understand to confer an unrestricted ownership interest in the digital good, or alongside an option for a time-limited rental, unless the seller receives at the time of each transaction an affirmative acknowledgment from the purchaser, or the seller provides to the consumer before executing each transaction a clear and conspicuous statement, as specified.

Image: 9to5Mac collage using Fruit Basket on Unsplash