Legislative Report

June 2023

​

 

POLITICAL NEWS & LINKS

 

• A new movie is coming out locally July 3, “Sound of Freedom” This is an action drama based on a true story starring Jim Caviezel. Caviezel plays Tim Ballard a former government agent turned vigilante who embarks on a mission to rescue children from sex traffickers in Columbia. Please support this film and Angel studios if you can. The U.S. is the biggest consumer in the world for sex with children.

• The complete download (and annotated) of Hunter Biden’s laptop is located at https://marcopolousa.org .  Marco Polo is a nonprofit research group dedicated to exposing corruption and blackmail.  

• California is quickly moving forward to eliminate parent’s rights. When you weaken the family unit, you empower the state. While we may be represented by democrats, it still should be incumbent upon us to voice our concerns and call out evil wherever it exists. Oppose AB223 Assuming even democrats have a conscience too, they need to hear from us. 

• Great article: https://jewishworldreview.com/0623/murdock061923.php. We must destroy the left, as there is no middle ground when it comes to pure evil. 

• The Halderman report on Dominion voting machines (used through-out California) had been sealed, but pursuant to discovery in a Georgia lawsuit, was released for the Plaintiffs. It holds truly damning revelations on the vulnerability of the machines (which in California poll-worker training mandates they are not to be called machines, but rather “Ballot Marking Devices”).  The machines are hackable, and the bar codes are not secure (and do not necessarily reflect the voter’s intent). Article with details at https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/06/halderman-report-dominion-machines.com.  Even better is a PowerPoint summary at https://voterga.org

​

​

LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

 

LEGISLATIVE AND APPROPRIATIONS DEADLINES:

May 5th brought the second Legislative Deadline, J.R. 61(a)(3) requiring all Nonfiscal Bills to be out of their policy committees and move to the floor. All bills subject to deadlines must be out of their policy committees. 186 bills failed this deadline. Friday, May 19th was the last day for bills to remain in their first house fiscal committees. The big Appropriations deadline has passed, and 306 bills failed this deadline. This year has a notable increase in failed bills which made it to the Appropriations Committees of the Assembly and Senate. The next Legislative Deadline will require all bills be voted out of their house of origin and move on to their second house, fell on June 2. Some of the worst bills have moved on to the second house.

.

 

AB 957, as amended, Family law: gender identity.

Existing law governs the determination of child custody and visitation in contested proceedings and requires the court, for purposes of deciding custody, to determine the best interests of the child based on certain factors, including, among other things the health, safety, and welfare of the child. Language amended and changed for the court to CONSIDER and changed to INCLUDE a parent’s affirmation of the child’s gender. This bill would require a court, when determining the best interests of a child, to also consider a parent’s affirmation of the child’s gender identity. This bill passed through Assembly and has moved on to the Senate for a vote.

 

SB 615, as amended, Vehicle traction batteries.

Existing law requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection to convene the Lithium-Ion Car Battery Recycling Advisory Group to review, and advise the Legislature on, policies pertaining to the recovery and recycling of lithium-ion vehicle batteries sold with motor vehicles in the state. This amended bill would push all the responsibility to the manufacturers. The bill would require vehicle batteries to be recovered and reused, repurposed, or remanufactured and eventually recycled at the end of their useful life in a motor vehicle or any other application. The bill would also require a vehicle manufacturer, dealer, automobile dismantler, automotive repair dealer, and nonvehicle secondary user to be responsible for ensuring the responsible end-of-life management of a vehicle traction battery once it is removed from a vehicle along with all reporting to the agencies and to the state. This bill may be dead as it has not moved from the Senate to the Assembly. 

 

AB 881, Jury duty.

Existing law pays $15/day for jury duty, regardless of income levels (keep in mind that the legislature wants to pay $22/Hr to fast food workers). This bill would require a juror in a civil or criminal case to be paid a fee of not less than $15 a day for each day’s attendance as a juror after the first day, except as specified, but would increase the daily fee to $100 a day for qualifying low-income trial jurors for criminal cases in the superior court in all counties.

 

SB 846, Voter registration: California New Motor Voter Program. If I am reading this bill correctly, when you get a driver’s license you are automatically sent over to the Secretary of State for voting registration. If you provide proof that you are NOT a citizen, then you would not be eligible to vote. If you attest (not clear on what citizenship documentation may be required, if any) that you are a citizen, then you would be eligible to register. This appears not to have passed either the Senate or the House.

 

SB 94, as amended, Recall and resentencing: special circumstances.

This bill would authorize an individual serving a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for a conviction in which one or more special circumstances were found to be true to petition for recall and resentencing if the offense occurred before June 5, 1990, and the individual has served at least 25 years in custody. The bill would authorize the court to modify the petitioner’s sentence to impose a lesser sentence and apply any changes in law that reduce sentences or provide for judicial discretion, or to vacate the petitioner’s conviction and impose judgment on a lesser included offense, as specified. The bill would require a court to consider and put great weight on evidence offered by the petitioner to prove that specified mitigating circumstances are present.

 

This bill continues the trend from the Democrats supporting the perpetrator of a crime rather than the victim.  It passed through various Senate committee hearings with no Republican votes, passed the Senate with 22 yes votes, 12 noes and 6 abstentions and has been sent to the House for a vote. This begs for a “call to action” to voice our opposition to this legislation which not only orders the recall and resentencing of those individuals facing life imprisonment without the possibility of parole but order the appointment of legal counsel for the “indigent petitioner.”

​

In a written argument against the bill, the California District Attorneys Association said SB 94 would subvert the will of the people with Proposition 115 and would also impose a substantial and unwarranted burden on the judicial system. 

​

§  “This measure makes no distinction between those who have demonstrated some indicators of redemption or rehabilitation and those who have not,” the association wrote. “Instead, it would burden the states already overburdened judicial system and retraumatize the families of murder victims with resentencing hearings for individuals who have shown few or no signs of redemption, and who jurors did not believe were worthy of the opportunity for parole based on the nature of their crimes.”

 

AB 1539, as amended, Elections: double voting.

Existing law permits a person to vote at any election held within the territory within which the person resides, and the election is held if the person is qualified and registered to vote. If a person is entitled to vote in an election, existing law makes voting more than once, or attempting to vote more than once, a crime. This bill would make it a misdemeanor for any person to vote or to attempt to vote both in an election held in this state and in an election held in another state on the same date. The bill would not prohibit a voter from voting in an election held in this state and in another state if one of the elections is an election held in a landowner voting district or any other district for which an elector is not required to be a resident of the district.

 

AB 257 Encampment Penalties

This bill would prohibit a person from camping as defined, in a street, sidewalk, or other public property within 500 feet of a school, daycare center, playground, or youth center. The bill would make a violation of the prohibition an infraction or misdemeanor. By imposing criminal penalties for a violation of these provisions, this bill would impose a state mandated local program. This bill was introduced by Republicans and has not passed either house, so at this juncture, appears to be dead.

 

AB 1228 Fast Food Restaurant Franchisors and Franchisees, joint liability

Existing law, which is suspended pursuant to a referendum petition, establishes, until January 1, 2029, the Fast-Food Council within the Department of Industrial Relations and prescribes its powers. Existing law requires the Fast Food Council to promulgate minimum fast food restaurant employment standards, including standards on wages, working conditions, and training, and to issue, amend and repeal any other rules and regulations, as necessary to carry out its duties, subject to a petition signed by 10,000 fast food restaurant employees approving the creation of the council.

This bill would require that a fast-food restaurant franchisor share with the fast-food restaurant franchisee all civil legal responsibility and civil liability or the franchisee’s violations of prescribed laws and orders or their implementing rules or regulations. The bill would authorize enforcement of those provisions against a franchisor, including administratively or by civil action, to the same extent that they may be enforced against the franchisee. The bill would require that a franchisor have the opportunity to cure a violation after written notice before civil action commences.  This bill would not allow the franchisee to indemnify its franchisor for liability.

This is brought to your attention because you may get a mailer from StopAB1228.com. The franchise owner, per the mailer, would force more corporate control over franchised restaurants; strip local restaurant owners of their rights as independent business owners; create a whole new class of frivolous lawsuits and lead to the shutdown of locally owned restaurants destroying small businesses and eliminating jobs. This bill passed through the Assembly and is moving to the House.

 

AB 23 – Theft: shoplifting: amount

Existing law, the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, enacted as an initiative statute by Proposition 47, as approved by the electors at the November 4, 2014,statewide general election, makes the theft of money, labor, or property petty theft punishable as a misdemeanor, whenever the value of the property taken punishable as a misdemeanor, whenever the value of the property taken does not exceed $950. Under existing law, if the value of the property taken exceeds $950, the theft is grand theft, punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. The new bill would have sent Prop 47 back to the voters to reduce the amount o $400 (introduced by Republicans). Appears to be dead, not having passed through either house.

 

UPDATES ON BILLS OUTLINED IN MAY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE:

AB 252 Shakedown of the Oil and Gas Industry. Passed Senate and Moving to House

AB460 Legislating More Power to California’s State Water Board (Can impose substantial fines on its own authority to individuals and businesses). Passed through the Assembly and moved to Senate.

AB799 Expanding Homeless Grants – Passed Assembly and moved on to Senate.

SB553 Makes it illegal to confront shoplifters (Carl DeMaio has spoken frequently on this in recent weeks). Passed through the Senate and moved to the Assembly.

AB 1314 – Gender Identity:  Parental Notification. Written by Republicans – did not go to vote in either chamber.

AB1306 State government:  immigration enforcement (HOME). Makes it unlawful for California law enforcement to turn over illegal aliens to ICE after released from jail/detention. Passed through Assembly and moved on to Senate.

​

UPCOMING EVENTS

 

Mike Levin, US Rep California’s 49th District:  Virtual Town Hall Thursday, May 18th at 10:00 AM through his website LevinHouseGove/live. I submitted the following question:  Why did you vote against HR734, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act?

​

​