California
Tired of apartments with no fridges? California bill would require landlords to supply them
Tired of scouring Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace for a decently used refrigerator because your new apartment didn’t come with one?
This headache could become a thing of the past with a new bill in the California Legislature that, if approved, would require landlords to provide refrigerators and stoves in their rentals.
Why are some rentals listed without a refrigerator?
The simple answer is landlords don’t have to provide a refrigerator.
Existing California law requires any building with a dwelling unit to maintain “certain characteristics in order to be tenantable,” which includes maintenance of adequate heating and hot water systems.
Even though cooking and storing food might seem like a necessity in order to live in any kind of housing situation, legally the appliances are categorized as amenities.
The number of Californians who have entered new leases without such luxuries is far greater than any other state, according to a Times analysis in 2022.
Research showed that Los Angeles and Orange counties “offered the fewest number of apartments with refrigerators among nearly two dozen large metropolitan areas nationwide.”
Why is the lack of a fridge such a pain?
It’s the added cost of purchasing the appliance.
The average monthly rent in the city of Los Angeles is $2,347, higher than the national average of $1,995, according to Zillow.
But the highest average rent in the surrounding area is $4,500, in Ladera Heights.
When entering a lease, you’re providing the landlord with the first month’s rent and a security deposit. If a refrigerator isn’t provided, you’re looking at spending on either a new appliance or searching online for a used one.
Product analysts say the average price of a new refrigerator is between $600 and $2,300, the basic one is between $200 and $600 and the high-end one is between $2,300 and $5,000.
If you’re in the market for a used refrigerator, the cheapest listing The Times found on Facebook Marketplace is $25 for a two-door Whirlpool. The seller described it as not “looking so good on the outside but perfect for a garage or even outside.”
What Assembly Bill 628 would do
When Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Hawthorne), whose 61st District covers communities from Inglewood to Marina del Rey, introduced Assembly Bill 628, she realized refrigerators and stoves were legally labeled as amenities. She decided to make it a necessity with the new bill.
The bill, if passed, would add a stove and refrigerator in good working condition and capable of safely generating heat for cooking and storing food, respectively, as a requirement of landlords starting Jan. 1, 2026.
McKinnor said she has regular town halls with her communities and the main topics of concern she’s heard from constituents are affording rent, rising grocery prices and everyday bills.
“We know that people are really struggling out there with the high cost of food, gas, household goods, and on top of that, lots of people spend more than half their income on rent,” she said.
She wants renters to have one less payment to think about when entering a new lease.
If the bill is approved, a landlord “cannot have you in a rental without a refrigerator just like they can’t have you in there without hot running water or a heater” starting next year, McKinnor said.
There are some rentals that come with the appliance, but McKinnor wants everyone to have the much-needed item.
Who will be in charge of the appliance if it breaks down?
Similar to a heater in need of repair or replacement, McKinnor said the landlord will be in charge of fixing or replacing a refrigerator.
Will making an appliance a requirement up rental prices?
In the city of L.A., landlords can increase the rent once every 12 months by the allowable rent increase percentage required by the Rent Stabilization Ordinance.
Rentals that are not subject to the Rent Stabilization Ordinance include:
- Single family homes
- Affordable housing or luxury housing units exempted by the Los Angeles Housing Department
- A rental built after Oct. 1, 1978
- A converted commercial building that converted to rental units after Oct. 1, 1978
California
Death row inmate killed in California prison as guards deploy blast grenades to control violent mob attack
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California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials are investigating after a death row inmate was killed at Kern Valley State Prison in Delano on Friday.
Convicted murderer Mario Renteria, 36, allegedly started beating fellow inmate, Julian Mendez, 46, at about 10:30 a.m. Friday, prompting prison staff to respond.
Officers ordered them to get down, but the men failed to comply, according to a CDCR news release obtained by Fox News Digital.
Chemical agents initially stopped the attack, but more than 30 additional inmates rushed Renteria and began striking him.
Julian Mendez was pronounced dead after the jail attack. (CDCR)
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Orders to stop were ignored, and staff used multiple blast grenades to quell the violence, according to CDCR.
Mendez suffered multiple wounds, and life-saving measures were immediately taken. He was taken to the prison’s triage and treatment area, where a doctor pronounced him dead at 11:05 a.m.
Prisoner Mario Renteria was allegedly the first to attack the death row inmate. (CDCR)
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Officials said an improvised weapon was found at the scene, though the type of weapon was unclear.
Renteria remains in restricted housing pending investigation, according to CDCR.
Officials limited population movement to facilitate the investigation by the prison’s Investigative Services Unit and the Kern County District Attorney’s Office.
The Office of the Inspector General was notified, and the Kern County Coroner will determine Mendez’s official cause of death.
The Kern Valley State Prison attack involved more than 30 inmates in Delano, Calif., on Friday. (Kern Valley State Prison)
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Mendez was received from Riverside County on Dec. 2, 2004, according to CDCR. He received a condemned sentence in 2002 for the first-degree murder of two teenagers.
CDCR said Renteria was received from Riverside County on April 27, 2022, and was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for first-degree murder (a third-strike offense) and arson.
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Kern Valley State Prison opened in 2005 and houses over 3,100 minimum- and high-security-custody inmates.
Labor leader David Huerta was detained while observing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids taking place in Los Angeles.
The Service Employees International Union California (SEIU) says that its president was injured during the ICE raids and is calling for his release, NBC4 Los Angeles reports.
“SEIU California members call for the immediate release of our President, David Huerta, who was injured and detained at the site of one of today’s ICE raids in Los Angeles. He is now receiving medical attention while in custody,” Tia Orr, Executive Director of SEIU California, said.
Mayor Karen Bass told NBC4 that Huerta had been pepper-sprayed during the incident.
“He is doing ok physically, but I know what really impacted him the most was the emotional trauma of watching parents and kids being separated,” Bass said. “He’s going into ICE custody and we hope to get him out very soon.”
The mayor said she does not know why Huerta is being detained.
The SEIU issued a statement supporting Huerta, insisting that he was “exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity.”
“We are proud of President Huerta’s righteous participation as a community observer, in keeping with his long history of advocating for immigrant workers and with the highest values of our movement: standing up to injustice, regardless of personal risk or the power of those perpetrating it,” the union said.
Orr also condemned the ICE raids.
“We call for an end to the cruel, destructive, and indiscriminate ICE raids that are tearing apart our communities, disrupting our economy, and hurting all working people. Immigrant workers are essential to our society: feeding our nation, caring for our elders, cleaning our workplaces, and building our homes,” she said.
Bass said she is going to meet with immigrant support groups to discuss plans for responding to situations like the mass ICE raids in the future.
“My message to them is that we are going to fight for all Angelenos regardless of when they got here, whether they have papers or not,” she said. “We are a city of immigrants, and this impacts hundreds of thousands of Angelenos.”
ICE arrested approximately 44 people in Friday’s raid, according to Homeland Security Investigations.
“Today, ICE officers and agents alongside partner law enforcement agencies, executed four federal search warrants at three location in central Los Angeles. Approximately 44 people were administratively arrested and one arrest for obstruction. The investigation remains ongoing, updates will follow as appropriate,” HSI spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe said in a statement.
COMPTON, Calif. (KABC) — Governor Gavin Newsom toured Clinton Elementary School in Compton Thursday, recognizing Compton Unified School District’s recent gains in academic scores, while also pushing his statewide education goals.
“We have seen academic growth that outpaces almost all districts in the state of California and across the nation,” said Dr. Darin Brawley, the Compton Unified School District Superintendent.
Brawley hosted Newsom, who was pushing his Golden State Literacy Plan, a promise to continue increasing California’s rising reading skills.
The price tag is well into the billions of dollars, a bold move during a time when California is facing a $12 billion drop in state revenues.
Among the programs Newsom is funding, there is one that would reduce the student-teacher ratio from 12-to-1 to 10-to-1. Another program funds Transitional Kindergarten classes in every school district. And at the cost of $4.4 billion, Newsom wants “After School for All” and “Summer School for All” programs to begin.
“Nine hours a day of enriched learning opportunity and a minimum of 30 days during the summer of subsidized learning,” Newsom touted. “Unprecedented in California history.”
Newsom mentioned that his own struggles with dyslexia have spurred his determination to increase literacy in California.
“People were persistent and had my back, and people didn’t give up on me,” Newsom said about how he was able to overcome the learning disability. “I struggle with it every single day. There’s not a day where my dyslexia does not expose itself.”
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