California threatened with funds loss over abortion coverage

WASHINGTON —The Trump administration on Friday threatened California with a potential loss of federal health care funds over the state's requirement that insurance plans cover abortions.

The federal Health and Human Services Department said it is issuing a "notice of violation," giving California 30 days to comply with a federal law known as the Weldon amendment. That law bars federal health care funding from being provided to states or entities that practice "discrimination" against a health care organization on the basis that it "does not provide, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for abortions."

The head of the HHS Office for Civil Rights, Roger Severino, said California is violating that restriction by requiring insurance plans to cover abortions. According to Severino, 28,000 Californians had abortion-free plans prior to the state's requirements and have now lost that option. The federal government has received complaints from an order of nuns - the Missionary Guadalupanas of the Holy Spirit - as well as a church.

"If states receive federal funds … they cannot discriminate against a health plan that declines to cover abortions," said Severino.

https://www.ksbw.com/article/california-threatened-funds-loss-abortion-coverage/30656358

Garcetti Huddles With Trump Team For Homeless Help

LOS ANGELES, CA — Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti says he hopes to reach a preliminary agreement with the Trump administration on a joint plan to help combat the city's swelling homelessness crisis when he meets with Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson Friday, it was reported.

Garcetti said Thursday a final deal was still days or weeks away but expressed optimism that the two sides were making progress toward an agreement to provide federal resources, including land, to augment local efforts to erect more shelter space for people living on the streets, the Los Angeles Times reported from Washington D.C.

"I hope we'll get very close," Garcetti said on the sidelines of the U.S. Conference of Mayors' annual meeting in Washington.

Citing the negotiations, Garcetti would not say how much money the Trump administration might contribute. But he said the federal aid would not match the hundreds of millions of dollars spent at the local level.

Garcetti also said he could not yet publicly say where temporary shelters would be located. But he added that federal officials had visited sites in L.A. County including property owned by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

https://patch.com/california/northhollywood/garcetti-huddles-trump-team-homeless-help