Tag: california

California Senate Puts Selective Service Bill ‘In Suspense’

After hearings on its policy and fiscal implications, the California Senate has deferred action on a bill to automatically register draft-age applicants for driver’s licenses and state IDs with the Selective Service System (SSS) for a possible future military draft, by placing the bill on the Senate Appropriations Committee “suspense file”. This means that unless the Senate Appropriations Committee decides by May 17, 2024, to call up the bill and forward it to the state Senate floor, the bill will be dead.

The Acting Director of the Selective Service System (who had been on the West Coast to swear in a new Washington State Director of Selective Service) and the Deputy Associate SSS Director for Legislative Affairs spent several days in Sacramento lobbying state Senators in support of SB-1081. The Acting SSS Director was the lead witness in support of SB-1081 at the Senate Transportation Committee hearing on April 9th.

The Senate Transportation Committee voted 12-2 (with one Democratic and one Republican member in opposition, and another Democratic member not voting) to send SB-1081 on to the Senate Appropriations Committee, which held its own perfunctory hearing on April 22nd before placing SB-1081 on its “suspense file” by unanimous consent.

In California, bills that would result in significant costs to the state are placed on the “suspense file” to allow fiscal priorities for the state budget to be determined. Decisions as to which bills to call up for further action, and which to allow to die “in suspense”, are typically made behind closed doors by State senate leaders – especially the Senate President pro tem – and the Chair and members of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB-1081 could be called up from the suspense file and sent to the state Senate floor at any time, but most likely it will be considered along with all the other bills in the suspense file at a “suspense hearing” shortly before the May 17th deadline.

The lobbying visit to Sacramento by the top national officials of the SSS reflects the existential importance of this bill to the attempt by the SSS to rescue the system from failure and save their agency and their own jobs from elimination. Especially since the repeal of laws that used to condition Federal and California financial aid for higher education on draft registration, the SSS depends primarily on state laws like SB-1081 to coerce or trick young men into signing up for a possible future draft when they think they are merely signing up for a driver’s license, without legal counsel and often without realizing what is happening or its potential life-or-death consequences.

California has rejected bills like this at least seven times since 2000, but the Selective Slavery System and supporters of military conscription won’t give up.

Keep reading

Second California Senate Committee Approves Bill To Legalize Psychedelic Service Centers

A second California Senate committee has approved a bill to legalize psychedelic service centers where adults 21 and older could access psilocybin, MDMA, mescaline and DMT in a supervised environment with trained facilitators.

About a week after an initial panel cleared the legislation, the Senate Public Safety Committee passed the measure from Sen. Scott Wiener (D) in a 3-2 vote on Tuesday. It next heads to the Appropriations Committee.

The “Regulated Therapeutic Access to Psychedelics Act” has been drafted in a way that’s meant to be responsive to concerns voiced by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) last year when he vetoed a broader proposal that included provisions to legalize low-level possession of substances such as psilocybin.

Instead, the new bill that’s now being unveiled would provide regulated access to psychedelics in a facilitated setting, without removing criminal penalties for possession outside of that context. It does not lay out any specific qualifying medical conditions that a person must have in order to access the services.

The measure had already undergone a series of mostly technical amendments before reaching committee. Wiener also agreed to revise the legislation at last week’s hearing to make it so psychedelics facilitators would need to have an existing professional health license, such as those for psychiatrists, social workers, drug and alcohol counselors and nurse practitioners.

Keep reading

California Bill Would Let State Colleges Hire Illegal Immigrant Students

California lawmakers introduced a bill that would allow state universities and colleges to hire students who are illegal immigrants to work on campus.

Assembly Bill 2586, introduced by Assemblyman David Alvarez, came after the University of California’s (UC) regent board decided to table a similar policy for the UC system in January, citing possible legal troubles.

Since then, several immigration law groups have advocated for a bill that allows state colleges and universities to hire illegal immigrant students.

The groups argue that state universities and colleges are exempt from the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, which bans the hiring of illegal immigrants.

One of those groups is the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the UCLA School of Law.

“This bill will put an end to the separate-but-equal educational system that still operates in California’s university systems,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, center co-director, in a press release. “As [Assembly Bill] 2586 recognizes, the University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges have the legal authority to hire any of their students, regardless of immigration status.”

Keep reading

California Fast Food Prices Skyrocket Following Imposition of $20 Minimum Wage

The price of fast food restaurants in California has surged after the state imposed a $20 minimum wage law.

According to an analysis from Kalinowski Equity Research, fast-food restaurants across the Golden State have hiked prices by around eight percent since the law went into effect at the beginning of this month.

The New York Post reports:

Wendy’s raised its menu prices by around 8% while Chipotle Mexican Grill hiked its prices by approximately 7.5%. Starbucks, the Seattle-based coffee chain, raised the prices of its menu items at its California locations by around 7%, while Taco Bell hiked its prices 3%, the report found.

…

It found that Burger King instituted an average price increase of 1.4% for its Whopper Meal and 2.1% for its BK Royal Crispy Chicken Meal at the 25 locations. The report’s authors did the same for Chipotle, which was found to have boosted the price of its Chicken Burrito by 8.3% and its Steak Burrito by 7% at 25 locations in California between Feb. 7 and April 2.

Wendy’s also instituted substantial price hikes on staple menu items such as Dave’s Combo and the Classic Chicken Sandwich Combo. In a comparison of prices from Feb. 12 and April 2 at 25 Wendy’s stores in California, the company raised the price of both items by an average of 8%. McDonald’s appears to be the only fast food chain that has largely held off on raising its menu item prices, according to the report.

Keep reading

California lawmaker unveils ‘Genealogy Office’ to decide who’s REALLY descended from slaves and wins reparations payouts

A California lawmaker has unveiled plans for a ‘Genealogy Office’ to decide which residents are genuine descendants of slaves and could get life-changing benefits payouts.

Steven Bradford, a Democratic state Senator for LA County, proposed bill SB 1403 to create a controversial genealogy unit to ‘confirm reparations eligibility’ of applicants.

The state’s first-in-the-nation reparations task force last year decided that some residents should win $1.2 million payouts as compensation for injustices from the slavery era onwards.

But lawmakers have struggled to turn those plans into reality, and have advanced several bills to devise a working reparations scheme amid fears of spiralling costs in a cash-strapped state. 

Bradford’s bill, which was amended this month, aims to solve the problem of working out who is in line for a payout.

Its planned genealogy team would ‘support potential reparations claimants by providing access to expert genealogical research to confirm reparations eligibility,’ says the bill.

Keep reading

California legislators water down bill making buying child prostitutes a felony

Over the author’s objections, California legislators watered down of a bill that would make soliciting sex from underage prostitutes a felony. Under the amended bill now solicitation of 16 and 17 year-olds will remain a misdemeanor.

State Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, introduced SB 1414, which would make solicitation, attempting to engage or engaging in sex with a minor for money a felony with a prison sentence ranging from 2 to 4 years, a fine not exceeding $25,000, and registration as a sex offender. The bill would punish all those who solicit from a child, regardless of whether or not the person knew or reasonably should have known that the person solicited was a minor.

Under existing law, such crimes are misdemeanors, with felony charges only available for cases involving minors 14 or under, or use of force, but Grove says these loopholes encourage offenders to use older children to avoid consequences.

“In order to sell a child for sex there must be someone willing to purchase a child for sex,” said Grove to the State Senate Public Safety Committee. “That’s why we’re here today.”

Grove authored SB 14 last year, a bill that became law, which made child sex trafficking a serious felony. SB 14 passed unanimously in the state Senate before failing its first vote in the Assembly Public Safety Committee after Assembly Majority Leader Issac Bryan (D—Los Angeles) blocked the bill over concerns that any increase in sentencing would “increase our investment in systems of harm and subjugation.”

Natasha Minsker, a policy advisor for Smart Justice California and the lead speaker in opposition to the bill, focused on the potential harm to other minors making bad decisions.

Keep reading

7th Guard Sentenced for Sexually Abusing Inmates at California’s ‘Rape Club’ Prison

A former correctional officer at a federal women’s prison in Alameda County was sentenced to 72 months in prison for sexually abusing five inmates, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

The low-security Federal Correctional Facility (FCI) in Dublin, California, has been plagued by scandal following a string of lawsuits and federal investigations alleging a “toxic culture” of sexual abuse and retaliation by correctional officers at all levels.

Nakie Nunley, 48, is the eighth staff member to be charged and the seventh to be sentenced so far in connection with a sweeping federal probe that has also put a former warden and chaplain behind bars for similar crimes. In addition to the five victims he admitted to sexually abusing, Nunley described engaging in sexual acts with two other inmates and lying to investigators in his plea agreement.

“Nakie Nunley egregiously exploited his authority by sexually abusing multiple incarcerated women and then retaliating against those who blew the whistle,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. “As today’s sentence shows, the Justice Department will hold accountable officials who abuse their authority to harm those they are sworn to protect — and will not tolerate retaliation against victims.”

Dubbed the “rape club” prison, the California facility is notorious, even within the scandal-plagued federal system. The Justice Department estimates Bureau of Prisons employees sexually abused female prisoners in at least two-thirds of federal prisons from 2002 to 2022.

The Justice Department referenced disturbing details of Nunley’s sexual abuse, as well as how the former officer retaliated against prisoners who complained about his conduct by threatening to have them transferred or have their jobs taken away. All of his victims worked at a call center under his supervision in conjunction with UNICOR, the trade name for prison industries.

Keep reading

Google Begins Blocking News From California Outlets Over State Bill

Google has temporarily blocked access to California-based news outlets for some state residents, as the search giant escalates its battle with the state over a landmark bill which would force tech giants to pay online publishers for their content.

In doing so, the company has revived a political tactic used repeatedly by the tech industry to try and derail similar legislation in places like Canada and Australia which require online platforms to pay outlets for articles featured on their websites, Politico reports.

“We have long said that this is the wrong approach to supporting journalism,” said Google’s VP for global news partnership, Jaffer Zaidi, in a Friday blog post. According to Zaidi, the bill could “result in significant changes to the services we can offer Californians and the traffic we can provide to California publishers.”

Sacramento is hosting the latest round of a global fight over the journalism industry’s future in the digital age, and California’s battle has taken on additional resonance because the state is home to tech titans. Advocates for such legislation argue companies like Google and Meta have helped decimate already flagging newsroom revenues through their control over digital advertising, and outlets deserve compensation for content that users may see on their platforms for free.

The companies counter that these laws could stifle vital sources of information — and they’ve fought back by attempting to preview what they say that would look like. -Politico

In Canada, Google similarly threatened to block content before reaching a deal with the government last November, three weeks before the ‘Online News Act’ came into effect. The company agreed to make annual payments to news outlets in the range of $100 million.

Keep reading

Assemblyman Essayli Introduces Bill for Immediate Deportation of Immigrant Sex Offenders Following Arrest of Illegal Immigrant Previously Convicted for Sex Crimes Against Minor

California State Assemblyman Bill Essayli announced on Wednesday his plans to introduce legislation that would require California law enforcement to comply with immigration authorities and allow them to detain and deport illegal immigrants convicted of sex crimes against minors.

Contra Costa News reports,

“It is completely unacceptable that California law currently requires local law enforcement to protect illegal immigrant pedophiles from deportation under our ‘sanctuary state’ policy. I am amending AB 2641 to correct this gross injustice, remarked Assemblyman Bill Essayli.

“As the son of legal immigrants, I was raised to love our country and respect the law. Anyone here in this country illegally who dares commit a sex crime against a minor must be prosecuted and deported expeditiously–this is common sense,” added Assemblyman Bill Essayli.

The language of AB 2641 is currently being amended and will be available in the coming days as it moves through the California Legislature.

This comes after a Colombian illegal immigrant, who was previously convicted for sex crimes against a minor in California, was arrested in Boston, Massachusetts, last week.

Keep reading

How effective are California’s homelessness programs? Audit finds state hasn’t been keeping track

California spent $24 billion to tackle homelessness over the past five years but didn’t consistently track whether the huge outlay of public money actually improved the situation, according to state audit released Tuesday.

With makeshift tents lining the streets and disrupting businesses in cities and towns throughout California, homelessness has become one of the most frustrating and seemingly intractable issues in the country’s most populous state. An estimated 171,000 people are homeless in California, which amounts to roughly 30% of all of the homeless people in the U.S.

Despite the roughly billions of dollars spent on more than 30 homeless and housing programs during the 2018-2023 fiscal years, California doesn’t have reliable data needed to fully understand why the problem didn’t improve in many cities, according to state auditor’s report.

Keep reading