Los Angeles Times - 25.08.2019

CALIFORNIA

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2019:: LATIMES.COM/CALIFORNIA

B

SACRAMENTO — Tech entrepre- neur Steve Gordon got a glimpse of how wary Californians are of the De- partment of Motor Vehicles when he visited an office near his San Jose home at 6 a.m. one morning and found people waiting in line — even though the doors didn’t open until 8. One man brought a lawn chair for the two-hour wait and told Gordon what others also shared: He was there early to avoid an expected crush of people. News reports last year de- tailed horror stories of packed DMV offices where customers had to wait in line for four to six hours. “This is six in the morning and I’m there with my Starbucks coffee,” Gor- don recalled. “I’m wearing flip flops, an old pair of jeans and a polo shirt and I said, ‘You’re probably not going to believe this. My name is Steve Gor- don and I’m actually interviewing for the job as director of the DMV.’ ”

NEW DIRECTOR Steve Gordon outside DMV headquarters in Sacramento. Among his challenges: “mo-
tor voter” glitches and a decades-old computer system that frequently crashes, adding to customer woes.

Wally SkalijLos Angeles Times

Can he give us the DMV

we’ve been waiting for?

As its new chief, tech expert aims to reboot the troubled agency

THE NEW DMV chief hopes to cut people’s time in lines: “We need to
get it so we can give them a deterministic route to get in and get out.”

Richard VogelAssociated Press

By Patrick McGreevy

[SeeGordon,B8]

SACRAMENTO — The dialysis industry spent about $2.5 million in Califor- nia on lobbying and campaign contributions in the first half of this year in its on- going battle to thwart regulation, according to a Cali- fornia Healthline analysis of campaign finance reports filed with the state. Last year, dialysis companies poured a record- breaking $111 million into a campaign to defeat a ballot initiative, Proposition 8, that would have capped their profits. This year’s political spending, which includes an online and broadcast adver- tising blitz, is aimed at killing a bill in the state Leg- islature that would disrupt the industry’s business model — and probably re- duce its profits. The dialysis industry counters that the bill would threaten some low-income patients’ access to the lifesaving treatment. “Nobody is spending $2.5 million out of the goodness of their hearts,” said David Vance, a spokesman for Common Cause, a nonprofit group that advocates for campaign finance reform. “That kind of money is spent to get the attention of legis- lators and to get results.” And the spending doesn’t appear to be slowing. Since the most recent campaign finance reporting deadline, which showed a total of $2.5 million spent through June, a campaign committee backed by the industry has spent at least $470,000 more. Dialysis filters the blood of people whose kidneys are no longer doing the job. Peo- ple on dialysis, who typically need three treatments a week, usually qualify for Medicare, the federal health

insurance program for people 65 and older, and those with kidney failure and cer- tain disabilities. But dialysis companies can get higher reimburse- ments from private insurers than from Medicare. One way dialysis patients remain on private insurance is by getting financial assistance from the American Kidney Fund, which helps nearly 75,000 low-income dialysis patients, including about 3,700 in California. The American Kidney Fund receives most of its donations from DaVita Inc. and Fresenius Medical Care, the two largest dialysis companies. The fund does not disclose its donors, but an audit of its finances reveals that 82% of its annual fund- ing in 2018 — nearly $250 million — came from two companies. Critics of this system — including some California lawmakers, insurance companies and a powerful nurses union — say it’s a way for the dialysis industry to inflate profits by steering patients away from Medicare and other public insurance coverage to private insurance, which pays higher rates. The measure under consideration in the Legisla- ture, Assembly Bill 290 by Assemblyman Jim Wood (D- Healdsburg), would limit the private insurance reimbursement rate that dialysis companies receive for patients who get assistance from groups such as the American Kidney Fund. The bill would also address a similar dynamic in drug treatment programs. “The minute you try to close one of those loopholes, the folks involved spend millions and millions to fight you,” Wood said. The Assembly approved the bill in May, and the state Senate is now considering it. The Legislature passed a similar measure last year that former Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed, saying that the language was too broad and that the move would

Dialysis firms’

ad blitz aims to

kill oversight bill

LAWMAKERSare studying a plan that would limit the private insurance reimbursement rate to dialysis providers. Above, a dialysis patient in Orange.

Mark BosterLos Angeles Times

Industry has poured

$2.5 million into effort

to avoid regulation,

group’s analysis finds.

By Harriet Blair Rowan

[SeeDialysis,B8]

When I walked into his South Los Angeles barbershop Thursday morning, Lawrence Tolliver had a question. Did I think Donald Trump would be reelected? Yes, I said. His supporters are rabid, no matter what he says or does. We’re looking at a trillion-dollar deficit, and the GOP — the party of fiscal conservatism — just shrugs. Consumer prices are rising because of tariffs and a recession is feared, but Trump’s popu- list supporters don’t mind. We didn’t get the promis- ed cheaper and better healthcare. The national infrastructure program

never happened. The party of family values adores a man who mocked women’s looks and lied about secret payments to a Playboy bunny, and the days of GOP hatred of commies is offi- cially over, because Russia helped elect Trump. Yet for all that, the GOP — or roughly 90% of it, according to polls — is stand- ing by its man. That’s partly because of who Trump is, but largely because of what he isn’t. A Democrat. The Dems, meanwhile, don’t have a single candi- date who’s caught fire. It’s early, and maybe it’ll still happen. But if the nominee is on the left — Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, for instance— it could turn off moderate voters. And if the nominee is more cen- trist — Joe Biden, for

Who’d defeat Trump? Michelle Obama

LAWRENCE TOLLIVERmimics a poster of Michelle Obama as Rosie the Riv- eter on a wall of his barbershop in South L.A. She’s on all four walls, in fact.

Genaro MolinaLos Angeles Times

STEVE LOPEZ

[SeeLopez,B6]

Real estate developer
Mohamed Hadid has been
glimpsed at glitzy galas and
elegant lunches, on reality
television and in magazines,
sometimes squiring his
supermodel daughters be-
fore the cameras.
But neighbors living be-

low the husk of a massive, unfinished mansion he was building in Bel-Air have been preoccupied with whether he ever made a much less glamorous appearance: doing community service at a Los Angeles church. Hadid was sentenced to perform hundreds of hours of community service two years ago after he pleaded no

contest to criminal charges tied to the construction of that Bel-Air mansion, which prosecutors said was far big- ger than allowed. He was also fined and or- dered to come up with a plan to stabilize the hillside where the unfinished mansion is perched. Neighbors have repeat- edly questioned whether

Hadid followed through and did those 200 hours of community service, pointing to Instagram posts that ap- peared to show him jetting to Luxembourg and a Daily Mail story in which a woman said she had met up with him in Europe around the same time he was listed as doing his hours.

Developer accused of skirting punishment

By Emily Alpert Reyes

[SeeHadid,B5]

Visas for highly skilled workers are being denied

Rejection rates for first-time H-1B applicants rose to 24% in 2018, from 6% in 2015, data show. B2

Police dog dies in hot cop car The K-9 and his handler were off duty at the time, and an investigation is underway. B4

Two charged in home burglaries A real estate agent and a Beverly Hills man are accused of targeting open houses in wealthy locales. B7

Chicano history Educator opens a library to share his huge collection. B3

Lottery......................B2 Weather....................B7

Los Angeles Times - 25.08.2019

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