Friday, March 29, 2019
California Federation of Republican Women
Nam-Yong Horn, President
Allison Olson, CFRW Advocate
Bills Bills Bills
We are now in the thick of committee season. This means bills will really start to take shape, with language and amendments from committees added. There are many bills we are following this legislative session, but this week the Capitol Update we will focus on some of the Assembly bills we are tracking. Please keep in mind that many, many bills slip through the legislature virtually unnoticed by Californians. We need to be educating Californians about what is truly going on under the capitol dome.
AB 18 (Levine, D): Firearm Excise Tax- Assemblyman Levine wants to levy a $25 excise tax on every firearm purchase in our state. Every purchase, every time. Assemblyman Levine thinks that too many guns are bought and sold in California and hopes this high tax will curb the purchasing of firearms. Once again, this bill would do nothing to address gun crimes in our state, but only places an undue burden on those purchasing guns legally. What this would do is encourage criminals to buy guns illegally, or worse, steal them, because of the exorbitant tax.
Location: Assembly Public Safety Committee
Hearing: April 9th
AB 134 (Bloom, D): Drinking Water Tax- This bill really comes from Governor Newsom's budget agenda to tax our drinking water. In the current bill form, there is no real language in the bill yet about it's function, but that didn't stop the Democrats on the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee to pass the bill and send it to the Assembly Appropriations committee. Hopefully Californians will be able to know how much water they are planning to tax and at what rate before the next committee passes the bill, but don't count on it.
Location: Assembly Appropriations Committee
Hearing: None Yet
AB 138 (Bloom, D): Soda Tax- Assemblyman Bloom would not only like to tax your water, but also your soda. This bill proposes a 2-cent tax per ounce of soda sold. Apparently, the legislature thinks you can't control your own soda consumption, so they'd like to tax you out of drinking it.
Location: Assembly Health Committee
Hearing: April 9th
AB 392 (Weber, D): Use of Force- Assemblywoman Weber is trying again, but this time with more support. AB 329 wants to change one word in the law but would have vast repercussions for our law enforcement officers. Currently, regarding the use of force for police officers, the law states that a reasonable use of force is allowable in the apprehension of a suspect. This bill would change the word "reasonable" to "necessary", making it more difficult for our officers to do their job. This not only would make the officers themselves less safe because they may be second-guessing their decisions, but that, in turn, would make our communities less safe.
Location: Assembly Public Safety Committee
Hearing: April 9th
AB 755 (Holden, D): Tire Change Tax- If you didn't know it already, you are being taxed each time you change your tires, for each tire. Currently that tax is .75 cents per tire. This bill would increase that tax to $3.25 per tire, per tire change. This is a regressive tax, that mostly effects our state's poor and low-income residents. Those who have to drive further to work who change their tires more often. Those who can't afford the expensive, longer lasting tires so they have to change their tires more often. The liberal Democrats claim to champion the poor and low-income workers. But the majority of the new taxes and tax increases coming out of Sacramento are regressive, meaning they disproportionately affect those they claim to fight for.
Location: Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee
Hearing: April 9th
AB 766 (Chui, D): Soda Ban- More nanny state nonsense. AB 766 will ban soda containers that are larger than 16 ounces at restaurants, gas stations, and mini-marts. Assemblyman Chui is calling it an "unsealed beverage container portion cap", but what is to stop someone from buying three 12 oz cans and downing them in a row? The logic behind the bill is flawed and the "government knows better" mentality is dangerous.
Location: Assembly Health Committee
Hearing: April 9th
And finally, here are a few good bills out of the Assembly. With only 19 Republicans in the Assembly, it is difficult to get any good bill passed. But we hope these two in particular have broad support.
AB 1571 (Kiley, R): Free Speech on Campus Act- First of all, it should be mentioned that even needing a bill that strengthens the First Amendment in our state is concerning. AB 1571 would protect the free speech of our College Republicans, when they bring conservative speakers to their campuses. All Assemblyman Kiley is asking is that our College Republicans are afforded the same rights and privileges as every other student on our state community colleges, CSUs, and UC when asserting their freedom of expression. This bill was killed in committee last legislative session- why would the liberal Democrats in Sacramento want to suppress free speech on our campuses? It's because it's speech they don't agree with. Our state needs to recognize that all speech should be protected on our campuses, unless it incites violence.
Location: Assembly Higher Education Committee
Hearing: April 9th
Which brings us to our last bill of the bunch…
HR 22 (Gallagher, R): Removal of Professor Clover- Would resolve by the Assembly of the State of California supports free speech and the right of professors and students to express different ideas and engage in constructive dialogue in an environment that is free from violence and intimidation, but violent rhetoric that endangers individuals or a group of people should not be tolerated. The Assembly urges University of California, Davis Chancellor Gary S. May, University of California President Janet Napolitano, and the Regents of the University of California to remove Professor Joshua Clover from the classroom and terminate his employment at the University. Some back story is required here. In January of this year, Officer Natalie Corona of Davis Police Department was executed, in cold blood, while performing a routine traffic collision stop. A man walked up to the scene, shot the officer in the back of the head, and then walked away. For the past two years, UC Davis English Professor Joshua Clover has advocated the killing of police officers, even as specifically as "shooting them in the back of the head", on his Twitter account. This was discovered by UC Davis students in the aftermath of Officer Corona's murder. So far, Professor Clover has been put on "administrative leave", has not apologized for his comments, and he is still enjoying a paycheck via the University of California. The UC Regents have been silent on the issue. Professor Clover should be terminated for his comments, and it is abhorrent that this has not occurred yet. If you are an alumni of ANY UC school, if your children or grandchildren are either alumni or currently attending ANY UC school, please contact the UC Regents and let them know they will not be receiving any more funding from you or your family until Joshua Clover is fired! CLICK HERE to contact the UC Regents.
Location: Assembly Printer
Hearing: None Yet
