California Lawmakers Returning To Capitol With Unfinished Business

SACRAMENTO (CBS13/AP) — California lawmakers are flush with wealth and unfinished concern from past twelvemonth arsenic they instrumentality to the authorities Capitol connected Monday, but they caput into an predetermination twelvemonth rife with uncertainty owed to the redrawing of legislative districts aft the 2020 census.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said helium anticipates different “historic” fund surplus months aft helium approved a grounds spending program that topped a quarter-trillion dollars including a $75 cardinal surplus. Legislative analysts foretell the authorities volition person different $31 cardinal surplus for the fiscal twelvemonth starting July 1.

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Newsom, a Democrat, promised that the projected fund helium indispensable contiguous by Jan. 10 volition question much wealth to deter a caller surge successful ample scale smash-and-grab robberies, $100 cardinal to cleanable up areas associated with homeless encampments, and backing for dyslexia programs aft the politician wrote a children’s book based connected his ain struggles.

Democrats who power the Legislature person their ain priorities, with Senate person Toni Atkins promising to walk the wealthiness connected “those who request it astir — the mediate people and families struggling to get by.” That includes connected affordable housing, indispensable workers, schools and colleges and protecting the climate, senators said.

Assembly fund president Phil Ting set akin priorities but does not expect the Legislature to instantly allocate billions of dollars this twelvemonth arsenic it did past twelvemonth to code the coronavirus pandemic and successful anticipation of a terrible wildfire season.

“It’s absorbing the system continues to bash good (but) radical don’t consciousness it,” Ting said. “And truthful I deliberation we person to get a consciousness of precisely wherever the symptom points are, and what the champion ways to assistance them out.”

Newsom runs for re-election this twelvemonth on with different statewide officeholders, but helium handily defeated a mid-term callback effort past fall.

Lawmakers, however, are engaged successful a crippled of “musical chairs mixed successful with chicken” to find who survives the legislative remapping that often lumped incumbents into the aforesaid district, said Rob Pyers, probe manager of the nonpartisan California Target Book, which intimately tracks redistricting.

Individual battles aside, Democrats are the large winners successful the remapping that volition fastener successful their supermajorities for the adjacent decade, said Pyers and Paul Mitchell of Redistricting Partners. The vantage doesn’t alteration overmuch successful the 40-member Senate, but nether the caller maps Republicans are improbable to apical 18 members successful the 80-member Assembly, said Pyers, and could autumn to astir a dozen, Mitchell said.

“In these maps, could they adjacent get to 20 Assembly members? It’s inconceivable,” said Mitchell. “So they are truly firmly ensconced successful the super-minority that they have, and that’s astir apt going to beryllium existent for the full decade.”

In the meantime, lawmakers look a Jan. 31 deadline to beforehand bills held implicit from past twelvemonth that ne'er cleared their location of origin.

But galore of the higher illustration leftovers astatine slightest passed their archetypal chamber, giving their proponents much clip to question consensus.

They see a measure to overhaul California’s cash bail system, aft voters successful 2020 blocked a much sweeping effort to extremity currency bail; measures to decriminalize some psychedelic drugs and springiness opioid users a spot to inject drugs while supervised; and a prohibition connected turning immigrants who implicit their transgression sentences implicit to national authorities for possible deportation.

Lawmakers past twelvemonth passed a measure to extremity the transgression of loitering for the intent of prostitution, but Sen. Scott Wiener took the antithetic measurement of withholding it from Newsom until aboriginal this year.

Meanwhile, lawmakers whitethorn see respective measures designed to promote radical to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, a volatile contented that drew much than a 1000 radical to the Capitol successful September to protestation vaccine mandates.

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A bill initially floated past year by Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks would person required each workers to either person the coronavirus vaccine oregon taxable to play testing. A business-backed measure by Assemblyman Evan Low would support employers who necessitate their workers to beryllium vaccinated.

And Sen. Richard Pan, a pediatrician and starring vaccine advocate, suggested helium mightiness question to bounds aesculapian and idiosyncratic content exemptions successful pending regulations requiring K-12 students successful nationalist and backstage schools to beryllium vaccinated against COVID-19 successful bid to be classes in-person.

Democratic lawmakers besides expect to suggest law amendments that would marque aboriginal efforts to callback the politician and different officials more difficult.

More enactment connected clime alteration is expected, with Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon among lawmakers saying California is falling down arsenic a satellite person with goals that neglect to admit that planetary warming is happening much swiftly than galore had imagined.

For instance, 7 Democratic lawmakers said they learned from past fall’s United Nations clime league that “the satellite is surpassing California connected clime alteration education.”

So they introduced authorities requiring that clime alteration beryllium taught arsenic portion of the K-12 subject curriculum, pursuing the pb of Italy, New Zealand and New Jersey.

Legislators besides are attuned arsenic ever to ascendant headlines.

Democratic Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin is promising authorities making it easer for territory attorneys to prosecute organized retail thefts that transverse region lines, responding to the caller wide smash-and-grab thefts successful California and elsewhere.

Ting and chap Democratic Assemblyman Mike Gipson committedness authorities responding to Newsom’s telephone for a Texas-style law that would let individuals to writer manufactures of amerciable shade guns and battle weapons.

Democratic Sen. Mike McGuire wants to walk much than $200 cardinal to prosecute much than 1,100 caller wildland firefighters.

And lawmakers whitethorn determine to wage for radical from different states to come to California for abortions if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, pursuing the recommendations of a sheet formed by Newsom that includes Senate person Atkins.

Democrats commencement the twelvemonth with somewhat depleted ranks, though not capable to situation their overwhelming majority.

Democratic Assemblymen David Chiu, Ed Chau and Jim Frazier each resigned, forcing upcoming peculiar elections. Chiu near to go San Francisco metropolis attorney, Chau to go a Los Angeles County justice and Frazier to question unspecified enactment successful the proscription sector.

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