Legislative Report
April 2024​
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LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
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CALIFORNIA PRIMARY ELECTION:
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The California SOS has finally certified the primary election on April 12. 7,719.218 Californians voted (6,842,984 By Mail; 877,234 At Location). Only 34.96% of Registered Voters Cast Ballots in the March 5 Primary
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CALIFORNIA UPDATE:
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CALIFORNIA’S HIGH-SPEED TRAIN TO NOWHERE: California High Speed Rail now estimates they need $100 Billion to complete this boondoggle sometime in the 2030’s. Today, we are fifteen years past the original bond issue and three years after the original expected completion date and not one train has left the station and not one route has been completed, even though nearly all the $9.95 billion seed money has been spent. If we only had good stewards to manage our tax dollars. https://blog.independent.org/2024/03/29/californias-high-speed-rail-continues-to-be-a-trainwreck/?omhide=true.
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NEWSOM TAPS CALTRANS TO HELP CLEAN UP HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS IN OAKLAND. This is just the latest Oakland news but add to that the departure of business on a massive scale, the crime and filth, at some point you must question the state’s policies. In 2020, Newsom spearheaded a multi-billion dollar “Homekey Program” to create new homeless housing & shelters. In 2021, Newsom created a $750 Million program to help California cities clean up encampments and add shelter beds. Oakland was a recipient of many of these dollars. More details: https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2024/03/30/gov-newsom-taps-caltrans-to-help-clear-oakland-homeless-encampments/
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BLOOMBERG CALLS OUT NEWSOM AND HIS “HALF-BAKED” MINIMUM WAGE LAW. Interesting to read a traditionally left editorial board call out the stupidity of Newsom and the California Legislators for not thinking through the downstream effects of increasing the minimum wage of fast-food workers to $20/hr beginning April 1. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-03-28/gavin-newsom-s-minimum-wage-law-is-half-baked?srnd=undefined. More at Breitbart: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/03/26/wsj-california-restaurants-lay-off-workers-as-20-minimum-wage-arrives/
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LOS ANGELES TIMES ADVOCATES FOR MORE PROGRAMS TO AID THE “UNHOUSED”. For some reason this is a perplexing problem for our great elites, who never acknowledge the link between housing shortfalls with allowing 10 million illegal aliens into our country, the release of prisoners, prison closures, or the drug addiction epidemic. They may want to consider also that if you subsidize housing for the poor, you incentivize more to come. Strange, how the homeless population continues to grow. https://news.yahoo.com/editorial-game-changer-solve-homelessness-130027101.html
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CALIFORNIA HAS NO IDEA HOW MUCH THE HOMELESS PROGRAMS ARE COSTING. The California Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) is responsible for coordinating and evaluating the programs and effectiveness of expenditures, but the California State Auditor found that they are clueless. California has allocated about $24 Billion over the last 5 years, over which we have seen a significant increase in “homelessness”. Follow the money, as most seems to be going to administration. And did you even know there was a California Interagency Council on Homelessness? Our tax dollars are paying for 27 Staff Members for this “Counsel” according to their website.
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CALIFORNIA AG BONTA IS SUING CHINO SCHOOL DISTRICT. Chino instituted a policy that would inform parents if their child is identifying as a gender other than his/her biological gender. Bonta is suing the school district to protect the children from their parents or guardians. Bonta and Newsom (along with the democrat legislators) are pure evil. https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/03/bontasaurus-wrecks.php
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CALIFORNIA CLIMATE RULE PROTECTIONS: Newsom is concerned that Trump will attempt to disrupt or negate California’s “environmental” policies. The state sued the Trump administration 136 times during his first term with some partial wins, however Trump has become savvier and will not make the same administrative mistakes his second term. In an attempt to bureaucratically bullet-proof California, Newsom is signing emission agreements with automakers and climate agreements with other countries. In the first term, Trump’s EPA and Interior Department revoked California’s authority to set separate standards. Biden re-instated that authority. What Newsom completely discounts is the will of the people who never voted for these emission standards. Additionally, he has completely ignored the fact that his clean energy standards and push to renewables are not feasible, unless Californian’s want to live in a third world hell-hole worse than we are experiencing now. More details at: https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/26/california-trump-climate-policies-00149225
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STATE FARM INSURANCE WILL NOT BE RENEWING 72,000 INSURANCE POLICIES: Approximately 72,000 home, commercial and rental property insurance policies in California will not be renewed. The company sites several issues, but bottom line appears to be the regulatory difficulties in the state. Supposedly the state is working on changing/improving some of the regulations, but that remains to be seen. More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/major-california-property-insurer-decides-180609026.html
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WE WON! POWER RATES WON’T BE TIED TO INCOMES. Jim Desmond provided us with good news on April 8, Eclipse Day – The Public Utilities Commission has reacted to the overwhelming pressure by consumers and has abandoned the idea of tying rates to income levels, regardless of power usage. They are now looking to attach a fixed rate of $24/Month for all users (however this also includes consumers with solar panels).
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CALIFORNIA COMMISSION ON THE STATE OF HATE: Your tax dollars at work, paying for 9 Commissioners. From their website: “In response to a wave of hate crime reports in California, the Commission was established by Assembly Bill 1126 and funding was appropriated in the Budget Act of 2022. Authored by Assembly member Bloom and signed into law by Governor Newsom in 2021, AB 1126 tasks the Commission with understanding the state of hate in California and developing recommendations for preventing and responding to hate activity.”
LEGISLATIVE UPDATE:
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So many bills. The 2023 legislative session recorded the most bills proposed in a decade at 2,600. The democrat super-majority passed 1,046 and Newsom signed 890 into law. But now, they realize we have a massive deficit, so this Legislative session, ONLY? 2,124 have been submitted (1505 in the State Assembly and 619 in the Senate).
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AB2209. This bill, introduced by Assembly woman Kate Sanchez would strip felony fentanyl dealers of sanctuary state protections. The Democrats voted against it in committee (or didn’t vote – see below), so effectively it is dead. Democrats should have to defend their love of sanctuary status over the lives of Americans (and why we want felony fentanyl dealers as neighbors).
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California Democrats kill bills without voting against them. That’s how the felony fentanyl bill above was dropped. There were 22 bipartisan cosponsors, but committee members, Scott Wiener, Aisha Wahab, Nancy Skinner and Steven Bradford declined to vote. SO, no accountability for a “No” vote. More at: https://calmatters.org/digital-democracy/2024/04/california-democrats-no-votes/.
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FELONY FOR CHILD TRAFFICKING? An anomaly occurred in the California Legislature when the public outcry was overwhelming. Chris Bray authored a great article on substack referencing CalMatters, but perhaps the best part of the article in reference to the child trafficking bill and the vote abstaining maneuver: “These maneuvers very, very, very rarely fail. A famous example of the opposite came last year with a bill from Republican Senator Shannon Grove that classified child sex trafficking as a serious felony under the state’s “three strikes” law, adding to the list of crimes eligible for extra sentencing after repeat offenses. Few things are dearer to the heart of California Democrats than the sexualization of a delicious 12 year-old.” so Democrats withheld votes in committee, stalling the bill. But protecting pimps who repeatedly sell children for sex was a bridge too far, amazingly enough, and a wave of public pressure forced even Scott Wiener to pretend to oppose sex with children. The bill returned, committee members actually voted, the bill reached the floor, and the thing was signed into law.
POLITICAL BITS & PIECES​
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WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION. Scott Peters (CA-50) wanted to remind us on X (Twitter) that World Health Day “reaffirms the importance of access to healthcare for all. From preventative services to mental well-being, let’s build a healthier world together.” He wants you to learn more about the 2024 theme “My health, my right” and how we can act – while promoting the W.H.O. website. In the meantime, the WHO is quickly moving forward to forge a “treaty” to take away the sovereignty of American citizens and turning authority over to the WHO at the end of May (Yes! Next month!).
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SHAKE UP WITHIN SAN DIEGO COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY. Corey Gustafson is the new leader of the county party. Some more details in the Sann Diego Union Tribune: https://enewspaper.sandiegouniontribune.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=f5a86475-6a3b-40cf-83e9-a17f24732b1c&share=true
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CA AG BONTA SUING HUNTINGTON BEACH “over its unlawful voter ID charter amendment. He tweeted: CA election law already contains strong protections against voter fraud while ensuring that eligible voters can cast a ballot. We stand ready to defend the voting rights that make our democracy strong.”
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