“They should go back to the drawing board and give us a cost savings plan that demands more sacrifice from BART management, senior staff, and retirees.”

By Marc Joffe

BART has published a plan to balance its budget in the event voters reject the half-cent additional transit sales tax slated for the November 2026 ballot. BART’s plan appears to be well thought out but imposes far more inconvenience on riders than is necessary to close an expected $376 million deficit.

The most visible change is the station closures. Under its more extreme Phase 2 plan, BART would close 15 stations systemwide, including these five in Contra Costa: Orinda, North Concord, Pittsburg Bay Point, Pittsburg Center, and Antioch. Oakland Airport station would close, but SFO would stay open. Five other stations in Alameda County south of Oakland would be shuttered, as would four stations in San Mateo County south of Daly City. (See related article)

But most of these stations should not close. As BART itself recognizes, the savings from shuttering stations are not that large. And there is an alternative that would achieve a large portion of the expected savings, which is to operate the stations on an unstaffed basis. This idea may seem strange to BART riders expecting to see a station agent, but the fact is that many train stations in California operate without staff, including several on Capitol Corridor and Caltrain. Even Pittsburg Center on e-BART often operates without staff.

That said, both Pittsburg Center and North Concord have very low utilization (less than 1000 riders on an average weekday) and are reasonable candidates for closure. Indeed, BART should demolish the North Concord station and sell the parking lot to a developer for conversion to single family housing, a use consistent with the adjoining neighborhood.

Pittsburg Center, being in the median of Highway 4, does not offer a similar redevelopment option. It is one of three stations on the eBART extension connecting Antioch, Pittsburg and Bay Point using standard-gauge diesel multiple-unit trains which are incompatible with the rest of BART. The BART retrenchment plan envisions closing the whole eBART extension. A better choice would be to find a private operator to take it over.

That operator should be given discretion over fares and the option to convert the line to driverless technology in hopes of achieving a profit or at least minimizing the need for taxpayer subsidies.

As anyone who has visited an airport in the last few decades knows, driverless trains are nothing new. Outside the Bay Area, they are used for non-airport systems such as Honolulu’s Skyline and Vancouver’s Skytrain. Paris, Singapore, and other cities have successfully converted some of their lines to autonomous operation and Washington DC’s Metro is looking into doing the same thing.

Over the longer term, the entire BART system should be driverless: it could achieve large operational cost savings while maintaining or even increasing service frequency. Yet BART is not giving serious consideration to transitioning to driverless trains. When BART Director Matt Rinn spoke to CoCoTax in November I asked him about the idea and saw that he was unfamiliar with it. Staff should be discussing this option with the governing board.

They don’t do so because BART operates primarily for the benefit of staff and the labor unions that collect a portion of their salaries via dues. Riders are second, and taxpayers are a distant third.

Contra Costa taxpayers already pay plenty for transit, and, this November, it is time for us to tell BART and other agencies “no more.” They should go back to the drawing board and give us a cost savings plan that demands more sacrifice from BART management, senior staff, and retirees.

One change that should be considered is a 10% salary reduction for all BART employees receiving over $100,000 per year. Based on my analysis of 2024 wage and overtime data, this option would save $54 million. Costly overtime hours should also be limited: in 2024 alone five BART employees collected over $200,000 in overtime a piece.

BART’s plan defers advanced payments for retiree health benefits. This saves $38 million, but only by pushing the cost onto future taxpayers when the fund holding the advance retiree health funding is exhausted. Instead, the BART retiree health benefit should be eliminated just as it was for Stockton employees when that city went bankrupt in 2012. With BART facing functional bankruptcy in 2026, a similar economy is needed. Retirees can get subsidized healthcare through Covered California or Medicare just as those of us who work in the private sector usually do.

Salary and benefit cuts in addition to the layoffs BART already has planned may seem harsh, but these are the types of reductions companies have to make when they are losing money and there is less demand for their product. Because BART now needs more of our money, we have the power to veto any cost-saving plan that fails to prioritize the needs of beleaguered taxpayers and riders. Let’s exercise that veto. In November, say NO to the transit sales tax.

Marc Joffe is the President of the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association

By Patrick McCarran, Real Estate Broker

We off to a good start for the Winter Weather and so “an once of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Mother Nature can be harsh and is often fickle and the weather can change in a week or a day.  Get prepared now so you are ready for what comes next rain or shine, actions you take now can protect your property and prevent major damage.

One of the most important tasks is clean your gutters, often your gardener offers this service or check the Grapevine, the water can back up and leak in your house causing major damage. Check your down spouts to make sure they are clear and pointed away from the house or directed to the gutters in newer homes. Repair or replace roof shingles around any area that allows water to penetrate the roof sheathing. Don’t be fooled to think that tile roofs are maintenance free, the tiles break for various reasons and the rubber collars around vents deteriorate with age. So don’t wait for the leak in middle of a storm, call a roofer today to have them checked out. Check for holes or air leaks in the attic and crawlspace. Check that flashings, a thin metal strip, around the doors, windows, thresholds, chimney and roof are in tact. Apart from major flooding, most damage occurs when water seeps in through cracks and leaks. Make sure that windows and doors are well sealed. Seal any cracks and holes in the foundation and exterior walls.

Homeowners insurance can help protect you financially in case something happens to your property or its contents.  I know I have said this before, but it is very important to keep in mind that standard policies cover standard replacement, If you have significant upgrades see your insurance agent for a rider or increased coverage. Flood and earthquake damage is not covered under the traditional homeowners’ insurance policy and may be purchased separately. Periodically review your homeowner’s insurance policy to make sure that you are adequately covered to rebuild your home and replace its contents.

Now is a good time to call an HVAC company to have a checkup on your heater because we all know they tend to break on a Sunday or New Year’s Eve.

Install a spark arrestor on your chimney, eliminating brush and debris from around your property to prevent fires.

For earthquakes anchor appliances, dressers, TV, computer and other items to the wall you can buy straps at your local hardware store.  You may consider applying a safety film to non-tempered windows and glass doors to protect form shards of glass if broken. Install a gas auto shut-off device, any reputable plumber should be able to do this.

By taking precautions to protect your home, you can possibly help keep damage to a minimum when disasters strike; or in the case of severe damage, make sure that you have the financial means to rebuild.

For more information go to www.ibhs.org or www.fema.gov.

Patrick McCarran is a local Realtor and Broker DRE# 01325072. He can be contacted by phone or text at (925) 899-5536, pmccarran@yahoo.com or www.CallPatrick.com. In association with Realty One Group Elite DRE# 0193160. An independently owned and operated office. Equal Housing Opportunity.

^{Paid column.}

Legal experts warn it’s “A Child Predator’s Dream Bill”

By Greg Burt, Vice President, California Family Council

SACRAMENTO, CA — Governor Gavin Newsom has once again proven his contempt for California parents. Yesterday afternoon, he signed AB 495, a bill that fundamentally undermines parental rights and opens the door for abuse, kidnapping, and government interference in family life, all while claiming it “protects parents and children.”

After months of warnings from parental rights advocates, faith communities, and constitutional attorneys, Newsom ignored every concern. In a calculated act of deception, his office released a statement claiming AB 495 safeguards parental authority. In reality, this law allows any adult, without verification, without parental consent, and without even notifying parents, to make medical and educational decisions for a child.

CFC President: Newsom’s Assault on Parental Rights Endangers Children

“Governor Newsom is deliberately trying to deceive parents by claiming this bill protects them, when in fact it does the opposite,” said Jonathan Keller, President of California Family Council. “AB 495 strips parents of their constitutional rights and hands them over to unverified strangers. It is unconstitutional, it is illegal, and no school or medical facility should recognize or accept the authority of a Caregiver’s Authorization Affidavit without a verified signature from a parent or legal guardian. Newsom knows exactly what this bill does, but he’s hoping the press and the public won’t read it for themselves.”

“AB495 allows…any adult claiming to be a relative within five degrees of kinshipcan sign a Caregiver Authorization Affidavit giving them the ability to ‘authorize any other medical care.’ And all this can be done with no parent signature, no notary, no verification and no parent notification required.”

Despite claims to the contrary, AB 495 allows ANY adult to use the new Caregiver Authorization Affidavit as “sufficient to authorize enrollment of a minor in school and authorize school-related medical care.” Then any adult claiming to be a relative within five degrees of kinshipcan sign a Caregiver Authorization Affidavit giving them the ability to “authorize any other medical care.” And all this can be done with no parent signature, no notary, no verification and no parent notification required. This law will allow unvetted adults to make medical decisions, enroll children in school, and act as de facto guardians, even though parents would remain legal guardians.

Legal Experts Warn: “A Child Predator’s Dream Bill”

“Governor Newsom deceptively describes AB 495 as a caregiver planning tool for undocumented immigrant parents. It’s more accurately described as a child trafficker’s and child predator’s dream bill,” said Dean Broyles, Esq., President and Chief Counsel of the National Center for Law & Policy. “Its sweeping application is not limited to immigrant families, does not require any parental notice or consent, and lacks even the most basic safeguards to protect children. Anyone falsely claiming kinship can easily sign the affidavit, access a child, obtain medical care, and enroll them in another school. Even the most basic safeguard of a notary is not required to confirm the true identity of the person accessing your child.  AB 495 violates fundamentally constitutionally protected parental rights, endangers California’s children, and will be appropriately legally challenged and struck down.”

“With AB 495, state-sanctioned kidnapping is now legal,” warned Julianne Fleischer, Senior Legal Counsel at Advocates for Faith & Freedom. “This is more than overreach — it is a betrayal of families and a blatant disregard for parental rights. This unprecedented intrusion into parental rights marks a deeply concerning moment for our state — one for which Gavin Newsom must answer.”

“Governor Newsom’s actions define him, not his smooth talk and 100-watt smile,” added Erin Friday, Esq., President of Our Duty – USA. “Behind that veneer, is a man who consistently signs bills that eviscerate parental rights. Handing a child over to an adult five degrees separated by marriage, divorce, or blood based upon an unverified one-page document with any pre-authorization of the parents, is beyond the pale.”

CFC Calls for Defiance and Parental Vigilance

California Family Council is calling on schools, hospitals, and clinics to refuse to accept any Caregiver Authorization Affidavit that is not verified or notarized by the child’s legal parent or guardian.

“Governor Newsom may have signed this bill into law,” Keller said, “but parents are under no moral or legal obligation to accept its legitimacy. This bill violates both the Constitution and common sense. No one, not a school administrator, not a doctor, not a government bureaucrat, has the right to override a mother or father’s authority.”

CFC urges parents to take immediate action to protect their families:

* Update emergency contact lists at schools and medical offices to include ONLY those adults you trust to make educational and medical decisions for your child.

* Submit written directives stating that NO ONE outside your listed contacts is authorized to pick up or make decisions for your child.

* Support efforts to legally challenge AB 495 and restore parental rights in California law.

“This coalition will not rest,” Keller concluded. “We will work with our partners, our attorneys, and thousands of California parents to overturn this unconstitutional law. Parents, not politicians, are the rightful guardians of their children.”

About California Family Council

California Family Council works to advance God’s design for life, family, and liberty through California’s Church, Capitol, and Culture. By advocating for policies that reinforce the sanctity of life, the strength of traditional marriages, and the essential freedoms of religion, CFC is dedicated to preserving California’s moral and social foundation.

“To put Proposition 50 on the ballot for the voters of California to decide, the California legislature had to violate the California Constitution multiple times.”

By Mark Meuser, Attorney

I am tired of hearing that California is redistricting to combat President Trump and Texas redistricting efforts. Texas was forced to redistrict because the Biden DOJ sued Galveston County and lost which changed the law thus making four Texas Congressional Districts unconstitutional.

When Texas drew its congressional districts in 2021, they created four congressional districts where they combined two minority communities to create a minority-majority district (Coalition minority districts).

On March 24, 2022, the Biden DOJ sued Galveston County Commissioners because Galveston did not draw a coalition minority district for the Black and Latino population.

On October 13, 2023, a Federal Judge agreed with Biden’s DOJ and found that Galveston County was required to draw a Commissioner seat by combining two minority communities.

On November 10, 2023, a three Judge panel of the 5th Circuit found that combining two minority groups to create a minority-majority district was unconstitutional and thus asked for an en banc panel to review the issue to overturn prior precedents.

On Aug. 1, 2024, the en banc panel of the Fifth Circuit concluded “that coalition claims do not comport with Section 2’s statutory language or with Supreme Court cases interpreting Section 2.” The Fifth Circuit ruled coalition minority districts are unconstitutional.

On July 7, 2025, President Trump’s DOJ sent a letter to Texas highlighting the 5th Circuit Order, pointing out that there are four coalition minority congressional districts that are now unconstitutional and that Texas needed to fix the problem.

Texas made a prudent choice to redraw the congressional districts so as to save their taxpayers the expense of litigating the losing case of defending minority coalition districts.

Texas did not have to redraw four minority coalitions districts because of President Trump. Texas had to redraw the lines because Biden sued Galveston County and the law was clarified that coalition minority districts were unconstitutional.

It is important to understand that the 2021 lines drawn by the California Independent Redistricting Commission have never been challenged in Court as unconstitutional because districts were drawn to create coalition minority districts.

Since Texas law requires that the Texas legislature draw the congressional districts, the Texas legislature followed the law.

However, the California Constitution prohibits the California legislature from drawing congressional districts and instead places that responsibility on the Independent Redistricting Commission.

To put Proposition 50 on the ballot for the voters of California to decide, the California legislature had to violate the California Constitution multiple times.

The California legislature is asking the voters of California to forgive them for violating the California Constitution when they should have asked the voters for permission to draw the maps.

I was a part of two lawsuits filed before the California Supreme Court asking the Court to stop Proposition 50 before it went to the voters because the California legislature violated the California Constitution. Unfortunately, the California Supreme Court refused to require the California legislature to defend their unconstitutional acts and simply dismissed the Writ without even deciding the merits of the matter

While I am preparing the next lawsuit that will be filed, it is important that the voters of California stand up against the unconstitutional actions of Gavin Newsom and the California legislature by voting No on November 4th to Proposition 50.

The next time someone tells you that Newsom had to Gavinmander the State of California, remind them that the reason Texas had to redraw Congressional Districts is because Biden sued and lost which resulted in Texas having to redraw its lines.

Meuser practices election and constitutional law at the Dhillon Law Group.

Aug. 19th rally in Sacramento

By Greg Burt, California Family Council

SACRAMENTO, CA — In a stirring and impassioned announcement before his congregation last week, Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills (a congregation of over 10,000) issued an urgent call to action for Californians: mark your calendars and make your way to Sacramento on Tuesday, August 19th for a rally and lobby day opposing Assembly Bill 495, a bill critics say obliterates parental rights and creates legal loopholes making child kidnapping easy.

“I have to tell you, if this bill passes, I am going to ask you to leave the state of California,” Pastor Hibbs declared from the pulpit. “You got to get out. You got to run with your kids. You got to go.”

The bill is the first piece of legislation authored by newly elected Assemblywoman Celeste Rodriguez (D–San Fernando). She sold AB 495 as a “compassionate” solution for children of detained immigrant parents. But opponents warn the measure does far more, and far worse, than what its title suggests.

The Threat of AB 495: A Legal Loophole for Kidnapping?

The “Family Preparedness Plan Act of 2025” would allow unrelated adults, broadly defined as an “adult caregiver” with a “mentoring relationship with the child” to assume custody-like control over a child through a one-page Caregiver’s Authorization Affidavit. No court appearance. No notarization. No parental consent or notification. No background check. No verification of identity required.

“Presto, someone walks away with your child,” warned attorney and president of Our Duty-USA Erin Friday, who called AB 495 “a child trafficker’s and kidnapper’s dream bill.”

Attorney Nicole Pearson, founder of Facts Law Truth Justice, testified before the State Senate:

“California wants to let someone that is not related to your child remove her from school, enroll her in any other school in the state, authorize any medical treatment of her, including mental health services and drugs, without the parents’ notice and knowledge or consent. This is not fear-mongering. I’m not being hyperbolic,” she said. “These unintended consequences are terrifying, and they are unavoidable.”

Even medical decisions, including psychiatric drug prescriptions and sex-trait modification procedures, could be authorized by these unvetted adults without the knowledge or consent of the child’s parents.

August 19th Rally: Mobilizing for Parental Rights

Real Impact and Capitol Resource Institute have pulled together a coalition of parental rights advocates, legal experts, pastors, and concerned citizens, to hold the “NO on AB 495 Rally and Lobby Day” featuring Pastor Hibbs as keynote speaker. Other speakers include best-selling author and speaker Heidi St. John and Jonathan Keller, President of California Family Council, with more speakers to be announced soon.

“I’m going to ask all of you to drive, bus, fly, I don’t care how you get there,” Hibbs told his church. “We’re looking for a minimum of 5000 people to be there that day.”

Schedule – Tuesday, August 19, 2025

• 1:00 PM PT – Rally Begins (West Steps of Capitol, 1315 10th Street, Sacramento)
• 2:00 PM PT – Lobby Training
• 2:30 PM PT – Legislative Office Visits

This isn’t the first time Hibbs has rallied thousands to the Capitol. A previous event back in 2022 drew nearly 2000 people to the Capitol to protest a bill to legalize infanticide. Organizers hope to top that turnout this time.

A State in Crisis

Hibbs’ warning is dire, and he isn’t mincing words. “I would not subject my child to one second in this public school system with this new law, AB 495,” he thundered.

California Family Council agrees the bill is incredibly dangerous. “AB 495 is a grave threat to the God-given responsibility of parents to raise and protect their children,” said Greg Burt, CFC’s Vice President. “It undermines every safeguard we have in place for child welfare and does so in the name of compassion. But compassion without guardrails is not mercy, it is madness.”

A Biblical Call to Courage

Pastor Hibbs was clear: this is a line in the sand.

“If you have kids in the state of California and this passes, you gotta go,” he said. “Your child’s safety is number one in your life, and I don’t care if you like the weather, and I never thought that day would ever come when I would encourage you to leave.

Watch Pastor Hibb’s announcement here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMyRHyHPhXb/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=d4429a01-f040-4f0f-9efa-f657888103ec

About California Family Council

California Family Council works to advance God’s design for life, family, and liberty through California’s Church, Capitol, and Culture. By advocating for policies that reinforce the sanctity of life, the strength of traditional marriages, and the essential freedoms of religion, CFC is dedicated to preserving California’s moral and social foundation.

340B Drug Pricing Program costing employee health plans $5B per year

“Hospitals realized they could buy heavily discounted drugs and resell them to insured, middle-class patients at huge markups.”

By Dan Crippen

An obscure, supposedly free federal program is blowing a hole in state budgets — by depriving state governments of billions in corporate tax revenue and inflating costs for their public employee health plans. 

The culprit is the 340B Drug Pricing Program, which Congress established in 1992 to help safety-net hospitals. Once enrolled, qualifying hospitals and clinics and their partner pharmacies — collectively called “covered entities” — can purchase medicines directly from drug manufacturers or wholesalers at roughly 50% discounts. 

Congress expected only about 90 hospitals to participate. Today, more than 2,600 hospitals are enrolled. 

This explosive, unintended growth is the result of the program’s lax requirements. Covered entities are not required to expand charity care or even report how they use their 340B earnings.

Hospitals realized they could buy heavily discounted drugs and resell them to insured, middle-class patients at huge markups. In some cases, hospitals have charged cancer patients nearly ten times what they paid to acquire the drug. 

The opportunity to upcharge patients has proven irresistible and fueled the program’s bloat. In 2023, covered entities purchased $124 billion worth of medicines — but only paid $66 billion, meaning they received roughly $58 billion in discounts. 

Numerous audits have revealed that many hospitals use the funds to subsidize expansion in affluent neighborhoods, rather than support low-income or uninsured patients.

This perverse behavior harms state taxpayers. Because most 340B hospitals are technically non-profits, their earnings aren’t taxed. As a result, states collect about $3.5 billion less in corporate income tax and other tax revenue than they otherwise would. That’s money not available for public health, education, infrastructure, or employee benefits.

The 340B program hurts states in other ways, too.  

The program incentivizes hospital systems to acquire independent clinics — which don’t qualify for 340B — and designate them as “child sites” that subsequently become eligible for 340B. 

This leads to higher healthcare spending, since care at hospital-owned sites is more expensive than at clinics and independent practices. 

Care at 340B hospitals tends to be more expensive than care at competing hospitals, too. The average per-patient prescription spending at 340B hospitals is 150% higher than non-340B hospitals.

All told, large employers and their workers spend over $5 billion more per year on health care as a result of 340B. Every extra dollar that businesses spend on health care is a dollar that’s deducted from their taxable income. 

The program also inflates costs for state employee health plans. Utah recently found that its Public Employees Health Program is losing out on $3.9 million in rebate savings due to 340B.

Some state lawmakers are unwittingly compounding the damage by making it easier for pharmacies to contract with 340B hospitals and clinics. 

Instead of boosting care for poor patients, 340B drains public resources while enriching large hospital systems. Reform is desperately needed.

Dan Crippen is the former Director of the Congressional Budget Office. This piece originally ran in RealClearHealth.

Enter for a chance to win $100!

By Contra Costa Transportation Authority

Every trip matters! No matter if you’re driving to work, catching BART, biking to school, or strolling your neighborhood, we have a plan to make traveling around our county easier, safer, and smarter.

The Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) is updating your Countywide Transportation Plan (CTP), and we’re asking residents to weigh in on the next 25 years of investments that will keep our communities moving smoothly and sustainably.

What’s on the Table?

In 2024, CCTA surveyed residents to find out what transportation solutions were most needed in their Contra Costa community — and thousands of you responded! Public engagement in early 2025 identified strategies for improving transportation

Based on your feedback, CCTA has created a series of Transformative Visions — bold project and program ideas that are visionary and will bring safer streets, more reliable transit, cleaner air, and more access to good transportation options for every corner of Contra Costa County. Your feedback will help us refine these ideas and decide which deserve top priority.

These visions are:

• Create People-First Transportation Spaces: Redesign streets to put people first, making everyday travel safer, easier, and more comfortable.
• Provide a Complete, Reliable Transit Network: Expand fast and reliable bus, shuttle, rail, and ferry services that come more often and connect you to key places.
• Provide Reliable Freeway Travel: Keep freeways moving smoothly by reducing backups from crashes, better using existing travel lanes, and fixing bottlenecks.
• Build Vibrant Communities: Revitalize and create places where people can live, gather, and connect to natural and community destinations.

Learn more about these Transformative Visions. Complete this brief survey to tell us which best fits YOUR vision for Contra Costa County. Your feedback will help us refine and update these Transformative Visions to show what the Plan’s focus should be for transportation investments in the next 25 years.

Why Take the Survey?

• Influence real projects. Your answers guide where billions in transportation funds are spent.
• It’s quick. The survey is mobile-friendly and takes just a few minutes.
• Perks! Complete it and you can enter a drawing to win one of five $100 virtual Visa gift cards—the sooner you participate, the more chances you’ll have to win.
• Survey window. The questionnaire is open through September 30, so don’t wait.

Click to take the survey.

We greatly appreciate your feedback. Individuals who complete this survey may enter a drawing to win one of five $100 virtual VISA gift cards. Winners’ names will be drawn throughout the survey period, so the earlier you take the survey, the more chances you will have to win! The survey is open through September 30.

By Greg Burt, Vice President of the California Family Council

When Kaiser Permanente announced its decision to pause all “gender-affirming” surgeries on minors last week, I held my breath, hoping that California’s media might finally take the opportunity to tell the public what a teen trans surgery is. I hoped they’d finally give voice to the victims, detransitioners like Chloe Cole, Layla Jane, and Luka Hein, whose lives have been permanently scarred by the very procedures Kaiser is now putting on hold.

But out of 18 stories from California main-stream news outlets covering Kaiser’s policy change, only one interviewed a detransitioner. One. 

Only CBS Bay Area’s Andrea Nakano took the courageous and journalistically responsible step of showing both sides of the debate. At a protest in front of a San Francisco Kaiser hospital, she aired the story of Layla Jane, who had her healthy breasts removed at age 13, at that very same Kaiser facility.

Layla stood feet away from a transgender Kaiser nurse protesting the pause. Nakano gave both of them a voice. That’s journalism. That’s truth-seeking. Sadly, it was the exception, not the rule.

The rest of California’s media? Silence and censorship.

Of the 18 stories reviewed:

• Only four mentioned that “gender-affirming surgery” often means double mastectomies on teenage girls.
• None investigated how many minors had these surgeries, despite Kaiser vaguely calling them “rare.”
• Only one mentioned Chloe Cole’s malpractice lawsuit against Kaiser, even though Chloe is arguably the most well-known detransitioner in the nation, and Kaiser is the defendant. No one mentioned Layla Jane’s lawsuit against Kaiser. 
• Not a single story explored why 20+ U.S. states have now banned these surgeries for minors, or why Sweden, the UK, and Finland have reversed course and are now severely restricting them for youth.

Instead, the overwhelming narrative was this:

Kaiser is under political pressure from the Trump administration. Transgender youth are being denied “life-saving care.” And anyone who disagrees is probably motivated by religious bigotry or animus. Some of that tone can be heard in an interview by CBS News reporter Steve Large out of Sacramento. I know because I was his on-camera interview.

I gave Steve detailed information about Chloe Cole and Layla Jane. I shared video footage of their Capitol testimony. I explained how Chloe’s lawsuit accused Kaiser of pressuring her parents with false suicide warnings to approve surgery when she was just 15 years old. I laid out our position, not just our Christian beliefs, but our moral and medical objections to giving sterilizing drugs and mutilating surgeries to children struggling with gender confusion.

None of it made the final cut.

Instead, Steve chose to focus on the supposed theological motivations of California Family Council. The fact that we oppose telling kids they’re “born in the wrong body”? That we think cutting off the healthy breasts of 13-year-old girls is a tragedy, not a treatment? That this is a medical scandal, not a political issue?

Ignored.

His story, like so many others, was dominated by activists and so-called experts lamenting the loss of “life-saving gender care.” Not one mention of what those surgeries actually are, why they are controversial, or how many European countries have reversed course out of concern for the growing number of regretful detransitioners.

Why is this happening?

Because many in the media have adopted an ideological commitment to protect “trans identity” at all costs, even if it means silencing those who have been harmed by it.

It is my suspicion many reporter have been convinced that giving a platform to detransitioners like Chloe Cole and Layla Jane causes “emotional harm” to trans identified people. That airing dissent “spreads hate.” So instead of reporting, they suppress. Instead of asking questions, they protect the narrative.

But this isn’t journalism. It’s activism dressed up in a press pass.

Let’s be clear: What’s being hidden from the public is one of the largest medical scandals of our time.

• Teenage girls are having their healthy breasts cut off to cope with internal distress. In rarer occasions “lower-genital procedures” are done including: Vaginoplasty: Constructs a neovagina using the penile and scrotal tissue. Orchiectomy: Surgical removal of the testicles, often performed prior to or instead of vaginoplasty. Labiaplasty: Additional procedure to refine the external appearance of the labia.
• Minors are being put on puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones that sterilize, weaken bone density, and stunt brain development.
• Parents are told that if they don’t go along, their child will die by suicide, a claim not backed by long-term evidence.
  
• And anyone who speaks up, especially those who’ve lived through it and now regret it, is shoved off camera, their stories erased or ignored.

This is not compassion. This is a cover-up.

As a representative of California Family Council, I want to make our stance crystal clear: We will not be silent on this issue. We will continue to amplify the voices the media tries to mute. Voices like Chloe’s and Layla’s. Voices of truth, even when uncomfortable. Especially when uncomfortable.

And we ask journalists across California: Do your job. Ask the hard questions. Investigate both sides. And for heaven’s sake—stop pretending these kids don’t exist just because their stories contradict your worldview.

The public deserves better. And the victims deserve to be heard.

Read the 18 stories referenced above…

About California Family Council

California Family Council works to advance God’s design for life, family, and liberty through California’s Church, Capitol, and Culture. By advocating for policies that reinforce the sanctity of life, the strength of traditional marriages, and the essential freedoms of religion, CFC is dedicated to preserving California’s moral and social foundation.