California lawmakers scrap crime bills, keep reparations in place

California lawmakers today rejected hundreds of expensive proposals, including high-profile ones on crime and technology.

About a third of the 830 bills were rejected by legislative committees. One bill sought to prohibit broadband providers from charging higher fees or offering slower internet service in low-income areas. Another bill sought to prohibit law enforcement agencies from relying solely on facial recognition to arrest or frisk suspects.

The committees also held up several Republican crime bills, including one that would have required stricter checks before states release sexually violent predators, prompting the author, Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones of San Diego, to say that Assembly Democratic leaders “are now complicit in helping the Newsom administration protect these predators at the expense of families.”

Also on the floor were two bills introduced by the newest Republican in the Senate, Marie Alvarado-Gil of Modesto: one to increase the seriousness of the offense for making threats in schools or places of worship, and one that would make it a crime to possess fentanyl while armed.

But other high-profile bills survived today’s hearings, much to the relief of some advocates who have spent years fighting for their cause.

Chris Lodgson, an organizer with the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, said he barely slept all night in nervous anticipation. He and a handful of others from the Bay Area and Stockton came to the Assembly hearing to see the results of three reparations bills, including Senate Bill 1403 by Democratic Sen. Steve Bradford of Inglewood, which creates the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency.

As each of their bills passed in the rapidly changing pace, the organizers clasped hands and sighed with relief. And when all three bills had survived, some burst into tears.

Lodgson said the bills represented a historic moment: “For reparations to be effective, sustainable and successful, we must not only keep the focus specifically on this unique American descendant community, we also need new institutions, new resources and new ideas. Today, we move one step closer to that reality.”

The suspense file hordle occurs twice a year, when the two budget committees sift through hundreds of pricey bills ($50,000 or more from the general fund, $150,000 or more from a special fund) without discussion and with few recorded votes. In addition to killing costly bills, it’s also a notorious way for lawmakers to kill politically risky bills.

Today, each committee decided the fate of bills passed by the other chamber. The Senate committee held up 174 of the Assembly’s 515 bills, and the Assembly panel held up about 100 of the Senate’s 313 bills — a total of 33 percent.

That compares with the 32% of the 1,009 bills in the May hearings on the suspense dossier, but it is higher than the 25% average of the past decade, according to lobbyist Chris Micheli.

An important consideration this year: the state’s budget crisis.

Assembly Appropriations Chairwoman Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat, began the hearing with that reminder: In June, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature reached a budget deal that closed a $47 billion deficit for next year. Wicks said the budget situation “weighed heavily” on the committee.

Other bills that did not survive:

One of the most closely watched bills — to require Google and Meta to pay publishers for using news content — was sent to the Senate Rules Committee, giving bill author Wicks, proponents and opponents — a powerful coalition of tech companies — more time to negotiate.

The more than 500 bills that did pass today still need to win final approval before the Legislature adjourns on Aug. 31 to reach Newsom’s desk. The cost of the bills he signs will be accounted for in the governor’s January budget proposal.

While the governor’s office declined to comment on the tense issue, his office pointed to his July 18 veto message on AB 1272 — a bill that would have required the State Water Resources Control Board to adopt guidelines for water diversion and use: “It is important to remain disciplined when considering bills with significant fiscal implications that are not included in the budget.”

by CalMatters, CalMatters NetworkAugust 15, 2024. CalMatters reporter Briana Mendez-Padilla contributed to this story.

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