Dear CalMatters reader,

Hi, I’m Cal Matters reporter Deborah Brennan. Every Wednesday I’ll share news about interesting people and places in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Assemblymember Kate Sanchez played volleyball as a student, and members of her Capitol team were also high school jocks who competed in soccer, lacrosse and tennis.

So when the Rancho Santa Margarita Republican learned how common heat-related deaths and illness among student athletes are, she passed a law to prevent them.

Her law to expand heat-related protections for high school athletes took effect this July, when the California Interscholastic Federation rolled out new rules that require coaches to monitor extreme heat and restrict practice and games when temperatures soar.

“She came at it with the goal of keeping student athletes safe, which I don’t think any parent or coach would disagree with,” said Griffin Bovée, Capitol director for Sanchez, whose district also includes parts of western Riverside County.

The new heat safety rules, which passed unanimously in the Assembly, will be a game-changer for many schools in California. But for those in the hottest parts of the state, including Inland Empire school districts in the Coachella Valley and Riverside, they’re an expansion of existing protocols for extreme heat conditions. 

Estevan Valencia, athletic director for Palm Desert High, said student athletes at his school already practice early in the morning or after sunset, and move to indoor workouts on the hottest days.

“Now you have something of a monitor to make sure this is being done,” he said.

At the heart of the new rules is a device called the wet bulb that’s designed to approximate the effect of heat on human bodies, accounting for air flow, sunlight and evaporative cooling.

Escalating restrictions kick in as the wet bulb soars above specific temperatures. At the first level teams must shorten practice times and add more water breaks. As it gets hotter they have to shed protective gear. And at the highest temperatures outdoor practice is forbidden.

“We use our wet bulb to take our temperature daily and check our air quality daily as well,” Valencia said. “Those are the determining favors in whether we can practice, and for how long.”

Game times may be shifted too. All the Palm Desert football games are scheduled at 6 p.m. and may be shifted later if the wet bulb reading comes in hot, Valencia said.

The rules divide schools into three zones, with lower temperature thresholds for cooler, coastal areas and higher thresholds for the hottest, inland districts. Even so, some coaches say the rules may pose a disadvantage to schools in desert climates, which have many more extreme heat days and may have to cancel more practice sessions.

But they acknowledge the health of student athletes takes priority.

“For me I’d just rather them be safe than get another day of workout  in,” said Rafael Perez, Rafael Perez, cross-country coach at Norte Vista High in Riverside.

While the Bridge, Airport and Line Fires burned tens of thousands of acres in the Inland Empire and adjacent areas, another crisis was smoldering — the threat of homeowners insurance cancellations spurred by the blazes. Last week California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced a moratorium on home insurance cancellations and non-renewals for 750,000 policyholders in Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange and Los Angeles Counties. “Wildfire survivors should not have to worry about insurance while they are recovering,” Lara said in a statement. The hiatus is intended to provide breathing room while the state revises its home insurance regulations to stem the flight of insurers from California, he said.

Plans to make Riverside an electric vehicle manufacturing center in California got derailed last weekend, when Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill by Assemblymember Corey Jackson, a Moreno Valley Democrat, to spur EV manufacturing in the region. The bill aimed to jumpstart the region’s economy with highly-paid trade and technical jobs, while tackling persistent air pollution — both long-standing goals of regional leaders. Jackson called for boosting educational support for EV trade jobs and engineering positions and extending tax breaks and incentives to manufacturers. Moreno Valley is home to an existing EV manufacturer, and Jackson and his allies expected his plan to draw others. He was hopeful the EV bill would pass, despite a price tag of several million dollars. But Newsom nixed it Sunday, citing “general fund cost pressures” in a budget deficit year.

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For more Inland Empire news and live updates on the upcoming election, make sure to join us in Riverside next month as we bring our Voter Guide to life. We'll break down, analyze, and answer your questions about this year’s ballot propositions. The event takes place at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9, at the Cheech, 3581 Mission Inn Avenue Riverside. You can register here. 

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