The updated proposal unveiled Thursday builds on the $209 billion budget the governor laid out in January. It keeps in place spending to expand health coverage for undocumented immigrants and $1.75 billion to spur housing construction.
Sac Bee
And he has some big plans to help California families, including directing $130 million of the revenue raised from marijuana taxes to childcare.
California’s generational changing of the guard showed in the governor’s office on Tuesday as Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled out proposals to lift taxes on diapers and menstrual products—ideas his predecessor vetoed—and reiterated his desire to spend billions of dollars from the state budget to expand services for kids.
Calmatters
There are also some rather big goals on this front: additional maternity/paternity leave, expanding the EITC, and additional childcare spending. All that being said, he doesn’t have a way to pay for all of his “stretch goals”, apparently speaking in Kickstarter lingo. So the initial goal is to start by dipping a few toes in the water and seeing how he can incorporate something like 6 months of combine leave into a long term budget plan.
Of course, all this will be changed once it passes through the legislature. But Gov. Newsom is probably a bit closer to the center of the Democratic Supermajority than former Gov. Brown, so we may see a little smoother process this time around.
Hello. To date, my Congressional primary race against incumbent U.S. Rep. Ami Bera has received minimal coverage. But that may soon change now that I have unearthed that Bera has taken tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from some of the largest opioid makers and distributors. This includes taking money from one of California’s largest opioid distributors that in 2017 paid a record $150 million fine and is now being investigated again for the same type of suspicious drug transactions (according to a recent Sacramento Bee story).
That Bera has taken money from such companies is especially shameful as 1.) he’s a former doctor, and 2.) Sacramento has suffered through an overdose death rate much higher than much of the rest of the state.
Thus I am calling on Bera to immediately donate all funds he’s received from opioid companies to local addiction recovery programs, as well as the $400,000 in Big Pharma donations he’s taken since 2014. Like the opioid companies, Big Pharma has been found to consistently put windfall profits ahead of the health and financial wherewithal of its customers.
This is just another example of the questionable fund raising practices that has followed Ami Bera throughout his Congressional career, including his 80-year-old father going to jail for campaign-finance fraud. I hope you will help me compel one of our elected leaders to do the right thing and donate these tainted funds. Because Congress is on its summer recess, you may even be able to interview Bera locally. Full details are below in my news release.
Sincerely,
Jeff Burdick
916-200-5165
BurdickForCongress.com
Amid new local opioid report, Rep. Ami Bera challenged to return tainted drug industry donations
As the Sacramento Bee recently reported, McKesson Corp. – California’s largest distributor of the highly addictive opioids oxycodone and hydrocodone – is again being investigated by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) for suspicious drug orders. In light of this, Congressional opponent Jeff Burdick has called on U.S. Rep. Ami Bera to immediately return all tainted donations Bera has taken from McKesson and other opioid manufacturers and distributors.
During the last two election cycles, McKesson was one of U.S. Rep. Ami Bera’s largest contributors, giving Bera $17,500 overall. This includes $4,500 Bera accepted in 2017 after McKesson agreed to pay a record $150 million fine for failing to report suspicious drug orders – the same charges for which the company is again being investigated.
“It’s astonishing how much money Rep. Bera, a former doctor, has taken from some of the largest opioid manufacturers and distributors while California and the entire country has fought the tragic opioid crisis,” said Burdick, a Progressive candidate who will be the first Democrat ever to primary Bera. “Basic decency calls for Bera to donate the full amount of these donations to local addiction recovery organizations, as well as all of the $400,000 since 2014 he’s raised from Big Pharma, which consistently has put windfall profits ahead of patients.”
The report about the new DEA warrant against McKesson comes a week after Burdick released a campaign video detailing Bera’s fundraising from the some of the largest opioid manufacturers and distributors, as well as other medically suspect special interests. Called “The Medical Case Against Ami Bera,” the video also noted that since 2014 Rep. Bera has accepted more than $400,000 in donations from Big Pharma, according to OpenSecrets.org.
“You’d think Bera’s Hippocratic Oath would prevent his taking any of these donations, or at least have prompted a quick return of the money following McKesson’s huge 2017 fine. But even after that fine, Bera took still more McKesson money, plus donations from other large opioid distributors,” said Burdick, who in contrast has taken the nation’s most principled fundraising pledge to take no PAC or corporate donations, as well as no donations from voters outside his district.
FEC records show during the 2016 and 2018 election cycles Bera accepted donations of at least $28,000 to his campaign and personal leadership PAC. This included $1,000 in the 2017-2018 election cycle from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, one of the three largest opioid manufacturers in the nation; a combined $7,500 in 2016 and 2018 from distributor AmerisourceBergen Corp.; and $2,000 in 2016 from distributor Cardinal Health.
According to the DEA database, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health are among the six largest distributors of opioids in the United states.
The recent Bee story also reported that a “DEA review of computer records shows McKesson distributed more oxycodone and hydrocodone in California than any other distributor since 2017, with sales of 6.1 million oxycodone doses and 20.2 million hydrocodone doses so far in 2019.”
A few other opioid stats, according to local and state figures:
In 2017, 1,882 Californians died of opioid overdoses.
Sacramento’s four-county area has been particularly hard hit, accounting for 14% of state deaths (258) while accounting for slightly less than 6% of the overall state population.
Local opioid overdose deaths reached a peak of 350 in 2014.
Burdick said Bera’s donations from the opioid industry are just another example of America’s out-of-control campaign finance system and part of the reason why the political system has been so slow to address the problem at its source: the makers and distributors of the drugs.
He said this is also why he is running on a Constitutional Amendment to reform many aspects of the federal election system. This includes campaign finance reform, reversing the Citizen’s United ruling, ending gerrymandering and ending corporate personhood.
For more information, visit BurdickForCongress.com.