The Bush Administration has released midnight regulation changes that make it easier for growers to slash the pay of domestic farm workers and hire imported foreign laborers instead of U.S. field workers. They will weaken government protections in an industry known for violating the minimum wage, housing requirements and other rules. We must do everything we can to avoid having these regulations implemented. Please help!

Today’s LA Times describes the situation well.

Los Angeles Times, 12/16/08:

Not content to leave office as the most unpopular president in recent history, Bush is cementing his legacy of hardheaded autocracy by pushing through a record number of last-minute and particularly noxious changes in federal regulations. Bypassing congressional debate and often receiving public comments through government websites, the administration has in recent months issued dozens of “midnight regulations” that in some cases could take years to reverse. This isn’t just leaving a stamp on the country, it’s more like inking a tattoo.

Please join the UFW in appealing to President-Elect Obama to act quickly to reverse these harmful regulatory changes once he is sworn in to office and protect farm workers from these callous regulations. Sign the online petition to his transition team today!

More excerpts from Today’s LA Times editorial:

Los  Angeles Times, 12/16/08:

Bush rewrites the rules-Last-minute changes being pushed through by the administration, such as altering H-2A visa rules, are creating disasters that Barack Obama will have to reverse beginning Jan. 20.

Although other presidents have crafted rules the next administration might not, none has been so aggressive or destructive as Bush. His administration has attacked environmental safeguards, reproductive rights and public safety. It has acted to permit uranium mining near the Grand Canyon, curtail women’s access to birth control, allow visitors to carry loaded guns in national parks — which are among the safest public places in the country — and open millions of acres of unspoiled land to mining.

Last week, the Department of Labor weakenedthe nation’s already flawed agricultural guest worker program. The new H-2A visa rules, which take effect in January, revise the way wages are calculated and will lower them substantially. In California, farmworker advocates say, the current $9.72 hourly wage would drop by 18%. The new rules also reduce requirements for growers to prove they have made a good-faith effort to recruit U.S. workers and limit how much they have to reimburse workers for their trips home. This is precisely what opponents of immigration reform feared: policies that disadvantage citizens and encourage the easy exploitation of migrants…

The LA Times is not the only newspaper that has spoken out. The following excerpts comes from yesterday’s Miami Herald editorial.

Miami Herald, 12/15/08

Rule changes target vulnerable workers.

OUR OPINION: Don’t allow last-minute regulations to erode standards

The torrent of new rules being issued by the Bush administration as it heads out the door is turning into a regulatory fiasco. The changes have lowered the bar on environmental review across the board, from limiting worker exposure to toxins to ignoring provisions of the Clean Water Act and softening, if not gutting, the Endangered Species Act. Late last week, new rules targeted vulnerable members of the labor force — farmworkers.

…Rules that are to be published this week and which would take effect just days before President Bush leaves office would: make it easier to hire foreign ”guest workers” — to the detriment of Americans willing to work in the fields; lower wage standards; and weaken oversight of farm hiring. This revision will hurt those who can least afford any cuts in pay or erosion of job protections…

Yesterday’s New York Times editorial said:

New York Times, 12/15/08

A Cheap Shot at Workers

The Bush administration is doing a last-minute overhaul of the visa program for temporary farmworkers to make it easier to hire foreigners over Americans, to lower workers’ wages and to erode their rights. You would think that after failing for eight years to fix immigration, the administration would pack it in rather than make one last listless stab at a solution. But this plan isn’t even that – it’s just midnight meanness, right in time for the holidays…

There are many more newspaper articles and editorials on this subject, but the bottom line is the same. These regulations are horrific for farm workers and we need the Obama administration to do everything it can to make sure they are not enacted.  

That is why we are asking you to please join the UFW in appealing to President-Elect Obama to act quickly to protect farm workers by reversing these harmful regulatory changes once he is sworn in to office . Sign the UFW’s online petition to his transition team today!

* For more specific information on these regulations click here to see Farm Worker Justice’s 2 page Summary of H-2A Regulations, entitled “The Bush Administration’s Shameful Legacy for Farmworkers: Midnight Regulations on the H-2A Guestworker Program” & click here to see their White Paper, “Litany of Abuses: Why we need more–not fewer–labor protections in the H2A Guestworker Program and click here to go to the UFW’s guestworker page where we will be posting the latest information.

(It was disappointing, but not particularly surprising, to see Arnold axe AB 2386. It should have been signed. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

We need to share some very disappointing news with you and then ask you to e-mail Gov. Schwarzenegger and let him know how you feel. Last week, the Governor vetoed AB 2386, a vital bill to reform secret ballot elections for farm workers. With this single stroke of his pen, the governor denied farm workers the tool they need to protect themselves. While we are disappointed with the Governor’s veto, sadly we are not surprised.

When the governor vetoed a bill with similar goals last year, his veto message said:

“I am directing my Labor and Workforce Development Agency to work with the proponents of this bill to ensure that all labor laws and regulations are being vigorously enforced, and to make it absolutely clear to all concerned that my veto is premised on an expectation that agricultural workers receive the full protections of the law.“

Tragically this has not happened. During the black summer of 2008, as many as six farm workers died due to heat-related causes.

Governor Schwarzenegger’s enforcement has not saved lives. And his administration has not “rigorously enforced” the law. In May of this year, 17-year old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez died of heat illness, working for Merced Farm Labor. The Associated Press reported that the state ignored collecting the fine on Merced Farm Labor for not complying with heat regulations back in 2006.

Associated Press – 5/29/08

A division official said Jimenez’s employer, Merced Farm Labor, had been issued three citations in 2006 for exposing workers to heat stroke, failing to train workers on heat stress prevention and not installing toilets at the work site.

The Atwater company has not paid the $2,250 it owes in fines, said agency spokesman Dean Fryer.

Sacramento Bee – May 30, 2008

The labor contractor that employed a teenage farmworker who died after working hours in a hot vineyard was cited in 2006 for failing to provide employees with training to avoid heat stress, Cal-OSHA records show.

California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health also cited Merced Farm Labor contracting services in 2006 for not having an injury-prevention plan for its workers or enough toilets for them to use, agency spokesman Dean Fryer said Thursday.

The company was fined $750 for each of the violations and was told to fix them by December 2006.

Company representatives told Cal-OSHA it had corrected the problems, and staff members “felt comfortable the abatement was done and didn’t make an actual field visit,” Fryer said. “That’s not unusual. Usually, we get great cooperation from employers.”

Consequently, young Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez died while working at a company that provided no shade, did not have adequate water, and had no emergency plan in place. All due to the same type of negligence Cal-OSHA had fined the same company for in 2006.

After Maria Isabel’s death, the Governor boasted that enforcement was at its highest level. Yet sadly, the lives of five more farm workers were lost this past summer.

In last week’s veto message, the Governor says he can enforce the laws.

As I indicated last year in my veto of SB 180, I remain committed to ensuring that agricultural workers receive all the workplace protections that our labor laws afford. To that end, I am calling for the creation of a dedicated funding source to facilitate enhanced oversight and education in the agricultural industry. I am directing my Labor and Workforce Development Agency to work with the proponents of this bill and all stakeholders to develop a proposal which will create such a program in a fiscally responsible way, for the ultimate benefit of both agricultural employees and employers.

Gov. Schwarzenegger words ring hollow after he promised simular things in his veto message last year and still as many as six farm workers died due to heat-related causes.

The support of poor farm workers means so much less to him than the support of big money agricultural interests. We also know that had it not been for the Governor’s fundraising agenda, or had we been a rich organization the Governor may have been willing to sign a bill for farm workers.

Please e-mail the Governor today!

(It is unconscionable that people have to fight for something so basic as safe drinking water. – promoted by Julia Rosen)

Approximately 200 farm workers and their families live in the 49 units at the Rafael L. Silva Migrant Family Housing Center in Los Banos, CA. These workers don’t have access to safe drinking water. Please help.

According to the Merced County Health Department, the water that comes out of their pipes has unacceptable amounts of arsenic, copper and radionuclide. Families get a ration of bottled water. However, they say the amount is not enough to have clean water for household chores and practice good hygiene. Families end up using having to use the contaminated well water.

Martin Jimenez and his family use the well water to shower. “Your hair falls out,” he said, describing the experience. Jimenez also said he has a rash from using the water. Other workers wash their dishes in this water. (July 12, Los Banos Enterprise)

Fish and Game has a pipeline that could provide safe water to these families, but they refuse to allow these families to use it. The Housing Authority has been negotiating with them ever since the camp re-opened in 2006 to be allowed to use Fish and Game’s pipeline until the Housing Authority could put in its own. Every excuse that Fish and Game has given has been resolved. However, they still refuse to allow the community to connect to their water line that receives safe water from the City of Los Banos.  

Please help. Sign the online petition TODAY & tell Fish and Game to be a good neighbor and stop forcing kids and their families to use contaminated water.

You can go to: http://www.ufwaction.org/campaign/losbanos

Pat Meagher, Progressive Democratic Candidate for the 41st Congressional District, has received endorsements from multiple Union and Democratic Clubs.  A Forest Falls resident and Principle of Fontana Adult School he has gathered the support of the Mojave Desert Democratic Club, East Valley Democratic Club, Stonewall Democratic Club,

Greater Rialto Dual Endorsement, Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club and The Democratic Club of Big Bear Valley. His Union endorsements include IBEW Local 440, UAW Region 5 Western United States CAP Council, California Labor Federation’s Committee on Political Education (COPE), San Bernardino/Riverside Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, San Bernardino/Riverside Building and Trades Council, and International Union of Operating Engineers Local 12.

This father of nine, seven of whom are adopted, has also gotten the attention of Progressive Democrats of America Dr. Bill Honigman, So CA State Organizer, who was the Keynote speaker at Pat Meagher’s fundraising event held at University of Redlands. Ahjamu Makalani evoked Meagher’s name and sloganas an inspiration to a standing room only crowd at the State Democratic Convention PDA Caucus.  Meagher embraces the entire PDA platform including their current campaign for Healthcare Not Warfare.

The war is real for the Meagher family.  Their newly married son will be returning to Iraq this summer for a second tour, as well as a daughter whose first tour was in Afghanistan.  To thunderous applause at Arlington West Santa Monica following Col. Ann Wright (Ret), Meagher declared “Don’t tell me I don’t support the troops.  Those are my kids. It is time to bring our glorious and victorious troops home!”

Col. Ann Wright, 29 year Army Veteran, 13 year United States Diplomat, was so impressed after meeting with Meagher that she adjusted her schedule in order to share the podium with him when he announced his candidacy to a crowd of community leaders and peace and justice activists from the Inland Empire at the Carriage House in Redlands.

Pat Meagher is proud that his campaign is funded through grassroots supporters who believe he is the best man to represent their concerns in Washington DC.  

   

XPosted 5/23/2008 1:14 AM PDT on MyDesert.com in Blog by BluePalmSpringsBoyz

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 440 has endorsed Pettis in his race to replace Bonnie Garcia.  IBEW Local 440 has long been active in Coachella Valley politics and Progressive Democratic circles.

Chuck McDaniel, an IBEW Local 440 leader and activist, had previously endorsed Pettis for the 80th AD.  McDaniel is also Vice-President of the newly formed Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club and is a member of the Riverside County Democratic Central Committee.

Garcia is termed out and cannot run for re-election.

More below the flip…

The good news for Proud Progressive Democrats is that the Coachella Valley is trending blue with last year’s wins by Steve Pougnet for Mayor of Palm Springs, by Rick Hutcheson in the Palm Springs City Council, by Karl Baker in the Desert Hot Springs City Council, by Greg Pettis in the Cathedral City City Council, by Craig Ewing in the Desert Water Agency, and No on C.  Garcia barely won re-election in the last race against a little-known candidate and poorly-funded, Steve Clute, who did not have the backing of all of the Democratic clubs because of his opposition to Marriage Equality.

In addition, Democrats now out-register Republicans by more than 15,000 voters!  The voter registration figures are also trending Democratic across the district from Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs, and Cathedral City in the West Valley to Indio, Coachella, and even Rancho Mirage, La Quinta, and Palm Desert in Down Valley.  Add to this the fact that Palm Springs, Desert Hot Springs, Cathedral City, Coachella, and Indio all went for Kerry/Edwards in 2004 makes the 80th AD ripe for the pickings of an experienced Progressive Democratic candidate with the credentials of Pettis.

Pettis has a well-funded, well-oiled candidacy and has already outraised and outspent all of his competitors combined in FundRace 2008!  in the last reporting period, Pettis also outraised his presumptive Republican opponent, Gary Jeandron.  In addition, Pettis already has endorsements from all of the local Democratic clubs who have endorsed, including the Pass Democratic Club, the Desert Hot Springs Democratic Club, the Desert Stonewall Democrats, Inland Stonewall Democrats, the Palm Springs Democratic Club, the San Diego Democratic Club, and the San Diego Democratic Women’s Club.

Other labor organizations already endorsing Pettis include the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), the Building Trades of California, California AFL-CIO, Cathedral City Professional Firefighters, San Bernardino/Riverside Counties Central Labor Council, San Diego/Imperial Counties Central Labor Council, and Teamsters Joint Council 42.

Much attention has been focused on the lovely town (I’m serious!) of Vallejo as it faces bankruptcy. In a harbinger of things to come for many California cities and counties, Vallejo’s general fund has been hit hard by the housing crash, leaving the city strapped for cash.

A city contemplating bankruptcy has many options. So it’s sad to see Vallejo – and smaller towns like Pacific Grove – blaming workers for their problems. In doing so, they repeat the same destructive policy espoused by Orange County Republicans – choosing to blame public employees and their unions for problems instead of supporting higher taxes, even at the cost of catastrophic disaster.

The first article on the Vallejo cash crunch in the Chronicle set up the dynamic, as city officials blamed workers for the problem:

[Councilwoman Stephanie] Gomes and others have blamed much of the city’s financial woes on police and fire contracts, which she says comprise 80 percent of the city’s $80 million budget.

The starting salary for a Vallejo firefighter is about $70,000 a year, among the highest in the state. Ten firefighters earned more than $200,000 each last year, including overtime, city officials said.

“Of course we value our police and firefighters and the risks they take, but their salaries are simply too high,” Gomes said. “They can afford to live in Marin and Napa, and it’s the very hard-working, blue-collar residents of Vallejo who are bearing the repercussions. It’s unfair.”

Ah, those greedy firefighters. How dare they ask for a middle-class income? What gives them the idea that they can extort such wages?

Firefighters say their earnings are high because the department is so short-staffed they’re forced to work huge amounts of overtime.

Since 2001, 30 firefighters have retired or left the department, and only three have been hired, said Vallejo fire Capt. Jon Riley, vice president of Fire Fighters Union Local 1186. And after rumors of bankruptcy began circulating, 14 more retired, fearing that their benefits and salaries would be cut, he said.

“We’re having to work an extraordinary amount of overtime,” he said. “We make great salaries, but if you’re not able to see your family, what good is it?”

Firefighters typically work 48-hour shifts with four days off between shifts. Many Vallejo firefighters are now forced to work 96-hour shifts with two days off, he said. Sleep deprivation, divorce and child-care complications are common, he said.

“I’d say morale has hit rock bottom,” he said. “But we’re still committed to providing the highest level of service to the citizens of Vallejo.”

Oh. They mean to tell us that firefighting is hard, grueling work, and that they should get fairly compensated for protecting the community?

To most of us, the firefighters’ stand is common sense. Fire protection is something you just don’t skimp on – unless you’re Orange County conservatives (more on them in a moment). And it’s not as if the firefighters are unwilling to help:

Firefighter union President Kurt Hanke told the council that the union reached an agreement late last week with city negotiators for wage cuts that would have reduced Vallejo’s deficit to zero. But he said Tanner on Monday vetoed the deal….Leaders of public safety unions say the salaries of police officers and firefighters are high because they must work large amounts of overtime because of staff shortages. The unions have offered to cut the employees’ pay if more officers and firefighters are hired.

Instead Vallejo’s leaders prefer to play hardball and blame public safety employees for the city’s crisis. And unsurprisingly, nobody in Vallejo seems to be discussing a tax increase to stave off these crippling cuts – which will not only compromise public safety, but further damage the city’s economy. Firing workers and cutting everyone else’s pay is not exactly going to help Vallejo’s restaurants and small businesses weather the storm.

Lest we think this is just a Vallejo problem, the blaming of public workers for city problems is something found statewide – a last-ditch, extremist strategy to avoid a tax increase. Here on the Monterey Peninsula, the small town of Pacific Grove has been facing a $2 million budget deficit, and recently responded by enacting drastic cuts to city services, including fire and police. Last fall the city proposed a modest tax hike to close the shortfall – which prompted users of a local discussion forum to denounce the workers in some rather absurd terms:

Why does our small town have so many firemen? I always see them parked somewhere or doing drills by the high school but not much else. Is there a reasonable explanation that I am not aware of?

How many fires does this tiny town have every year? How many tall buildings?

This town is so overstaffed by Bay Area standards (or other responsible standards) that it is truly disgusting. At least some layoffs are in the works, but the point is, PG should ALWAYS be run lean. There is not enought here to justify so many salaries.

It would not hurt to recruit people who actually have a real track record of successful leadership and money management. If you keep hiring inbred failures, you are going to continue to see a lot of red on the balance sheets.

That’s what I mean about our many firemen. I think they need to cut some of them loose. It’s silly when you go to the PG website and look at all the names for the fire dept. They are about as busy as the Maytag repairman!

In fact, a study of fire protection on the Peninsula showed that the city’s fire department is actually understaffed, but that wasn’t enough to convince folks to approve the tax – instead it was easier to blame supposedly lazy, greedy workers for the city’s crisis.

Where might all this lead? The cautionary tale is that of Orange County, where conservatives and Republicans high-fived each other in 2005 when they defeated a measure to shift already collected tax monies to help produce more fire coverage. As I explained it back in October:

Orange County Republicans campaigned hard against Measure D, a 2005 ballot proposal that would have diverted $80 million in surplus public safety funds from Proposition 172 to help properly staff Orange County fire departments. The failure of Measure D leads directly to the OCFA’s inability to quickly contain the Santiago Fire when it broke out Sunday evening….

To Steven Greenhut and the Register editorial board, the firefighters’ union is merely a greedy parasite on the public, using bureaucratic rules to claim they need more fire crews in a cynical ploy to line their own pockets.

Such is the natural outcome of an obsession with low taxes. In order to defend the untenable position that taxes must never go up no matter the need or the situation, anti-taxers have to lash out at anyone or anything that might undermine their position. If that includes public safety workers, so be it. If that means cutting back police and fire protection, so be it. To the anti-tax zealots, every man is an island unto himself.

Orange County’s experience last fall suggested otherwise. Let’s hope that Vallejo, Pacific Grove, and the rest of California learns the lesson and, like Salinas, looks to new revenue sources to provide for essential services.

A weekly update on the goings-on in Sacramento

For the week ending September 29, 2007

Key bills and issues we’ve been following during the

Past week and beyond

With traveling solons returning home from various parts of the world next week, both Healthcare and Water Policy are two special session topics that are heating up.  There are various views on both matters and some new Special Session legislation has been introduced this week.

And, in breaking news, the so-called “Dirty Tricks” initiative to change how California allocates its Electoral College votes appears to be dead, at least for now.

Governor “green” speaks at the United Nations, upstaging the absent President Bush (who held his “own” global warming conference to upstage the U.N.) and gets a chance to sign three major environmental bills.  Let’s see if he puts his pen where his mouth is.

Public Safety bills on the Governor’s desk get support from the former Attorney General.

And now, for the week’s goings-on:

Special Session – Water Policy – three competing sets of proposals, and an Oct. 16th deadline.

Water, water, water- the issue that makes energy problems in California look small by comparison- moves to the front and center in Sacramento.  Assembly Democrats introduced three bills by Assembly Member John Laird (D-Santa Cruz), while the Governor’s proposal is carried by Sen. Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto).

Laird’s bills include a different approach to dams which are a major part of the Governor’s staggering $9 billion plan.  Under the Governor’s plan, the state would pay up to half of the cost for three dams to the tune of $5.1 billion.  Democrats have always been suspicious of this part of the proposal, however under one of Laird’s bills, local entities would be required to pay for the bulk of the dams because they are local water projects.  This would save the state almost $5 billion.  Democrats support conservation, recycling, and groundwater storage to boost water supplies and either oppose dams for environmental reasons or believe local projects should be paid for by local water agencies.  For more on this click here to read E. J. Schultz’s Sacramento Bee article.

Then there is the entire Delta part of the Governor’s offerings.  Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, campaign director for Restore the Delta criticizes the SB 3xx which is the Governor’s water bond (carried by Republican Senators Cogdill and Ackerman, and Republican Assembly Member Villines).  SB 3xx would spend $1.9 billion to provide an “alternative conveyance system” by sending the money to water agencies for construction.  She says, “The Delta cannot be restored if the Sacramento River is diverted from the Delta.”  Her organization does support Senator Perata’s bill, SB 1002, which would provide $611 million for levee repair, habitat and infrastructure. 

For more on the Delta issues, and on SB 2xx  (Senator Perata’s water bond) please see Barrigan-Parrilla’s article.

But here’s the rub with all of this.  The legislature and the Governor only have until October 16 to make a deal on water policy in order to get a bond measure to fund any of this on the February 5th ballot.  With the Governor at the U. N. and about twenty state legislators away from the capital on “state business” trips, at their own expense, to China, and other places, how will all of this get down?  Some people are worried that everything will be done by the Governor and the Legislative Leadership of both parties in secret, behind closed doors, and then suddenly there will be bills quickly passed with little or no public scrutiny.  Everyone wants to hurry because of the recent court decision requiring action.  So, there are three sets of proposals, and a deadline.  The last time there was such a deadline (self imposed or externally imposed) we got a massive bill to de-regulate electricity that was passed unanimously in both Houses.  We need an open, careful process with plenty of sunshine on the specific details.  We don’t need a back door, hurry up “compromise” so that the Governor can “look effective.”

Message to Governor “green”:  Sign the environmental bills on your desk!

According to the Bee’s Judy Lin, the Governor has three bills on his desk that will “see how far he’s willing to go to keep his reputation green.” AB 888 and AB 1058 (Ted Lieu, D-Torrance) would require more energy efficient use of water in new homes as well as energy efficient lighting in large office buildings.  We will just have to wait and see if the Governor is indeed a jolly “green” giant.

Healthcare measures on the Governor’s desk, and none of them are from the Special Session.

What do AB 8, SB 275, AB 423, SB 474, SB 472, AB 343, AB 910, AB 1113, AB 1324, AB 1, and SB 350 all have in common?  They are all bills on healthcare reform on the Governor’s desk right now, awaiting his signature or veto.  AB 8, the Assembly alternative to the Governor’s proposal, will be vetoed by Schwarzenegger according to the Governor’s staff.  This bill by both Speaker Nunez and Sen. Pro temp Perata was vetted throughout the legislative session that just ended.  In contrast to that, the Governor’s proposal which could find no author throughout the entire session, is now in the Special Session.

But there are other issues too.  SB 275 (Cedillo) would prevent patient dumping by hospitals, while AB 343 (Solorio) would require the state to disclose the names of employers who use Medi-Cal for their workers instead of providing health care benefits on the job.  AB 1324 (De La Torre) would force health plans to justify to state agencies why they are rescinding health coverage to enrollees unless they can prove fraud by the consumer. 

For an excellent description of the healthcare bills on the Governor’s desk check out Anthony Wright’s excellent and comprehensive article here.

Finally, on the healthcare matter, there is growing concern that either the Democrats’ plan or the Governor’s plan, or some compromise, will not affect all Californians in an equal or similar manner.  Certainly those with the lowest incomes will get some state subsidy for healthcare insurance.  And those in jobs where the skill level of the employee is high, will probably see little change, as healthcare benefits are often part of the draw to hire and retain such highly skilled employees.  But for most of the rest of Californians with a variety of current coverage, there may be hidden danger in either plan currently under consideration.  If an employer is paying around 10% of payroll now to cover employees, the new plans allow an employer to drop coverage and pay into a state fund to have their employees pay for their own coverage.  Under the Governor’s proposal the pay-or-play amount is 4% of payroll, while the Democrats require a 7.5% amount.  Both those amounts are under 10%, and many companies might actually see either plan as a way to reduce costs for healthcare benefits.  This could lead to fewer employers providing health insurance to their employees. 

For more on this see Make Zapler’s take on this matter here.

And speaking of healthcare and family values…

While all the hubbub about healthcare is going on in Sacramento, only California Republican Congressional delegation member Mary Bono voted for the SCHIP Reauthorization Bill, H.R. 976.  Nationally 45 Republicans voted for the bill that funds health care for children.  But here in California, 18 of 19 in the California delegation- those who care so much about family values- could not see their way clear to support the measure that would bring more federal dollars to help California children get health coverage.  What do they mean by “family values”?

And speaking of the California Congressional delegation…

While the War on Iraq continues unabated, and while housing foreclosures continue to rise, and while Blackwater mercenaries continue to kill Iraqi civilians with impunity, and while more Americans than ever have lost their health insurance or cannot afford to pay the premiums, and while global warming remains unaddressed by Congress, our nation’s elected officials had time to debate and pass a condemnation of MoveOn.org’s advertisement regarding the veracity of General Petraeus’ testimony to Congress.  It is appalling that the Democratic leadership in both houses permitted this measure to even come to a vote.  Not only did they fail to speak up for the 1st amendment right all of us have to “free speech”, but they also allowed the President and Republicans in general to completely divert the nation’s attention from all of the above mentioned critical issues facing our national government.  But the most appalling thing about this entire debacle is that the Democrats in the California delegation split 50/50 on this issue. 

Here is the roll call of those who voted to condemn MoveOn’s ad:
Senator Diane Feinstein, and Congressmembers:  Joe Baca (CA-43), Dennis Cardoza (CA-18), Jim Costa (CA-20), Susan Davis (CA-53), Anna Eshoo (CA-14), Sam Farr (CA-17),  Jane Harmon (CA-36), Tom Lantos (CA-12), Jerry McNerney (CA-11), Grace Napolitano (CA-38), Laura Richardson (CA-37), Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34), Loretta Sanchez (CA-47), Adam Schiff (CA-29), Ellen Tauscher (CA-10, and Mike Thompson (CA-1).

You might want to call or write these fine Democrats and ask them, “What could you possibly have been thinking?”

Good Bills Awaiting Action by the Governor

There are many important bills on the Governor’s desk.  This week three of them got a boost by former Attorney General John Van de Kamp.  He is urging the Governor to sign Senate Bill 511 (Alquist), Senate Bill 756 (Ridley-Thomas) and Senate Bill 609 (Romero) which taken together “will help law enforcement solve and prosecute crimes, while also protecting the innocent from wrongful conviction.”

In 2006 the California Senate established The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice, with Van de Kamp as the Chair.  These three bills were recommended from a series of reports that have come from the Commission which included members from law enforcement, prosecutors, defense attorneys, a victim advocate, and public members.  SB 511 requires the electronic recording of police interrogation in cases involving homicides and other violent felonies.  SB 756 calls for a task forced to set up voluntary guidelines for the conduct of police line-ups and photo arrays to increase the accuracy of eyewitness identifications.  And SB 609 will require the corroboration of testimony by jailhouse informants.  All three should be signed by the Governor.  Please write or call and tell the Governor to sign these important bills.  The Governor vetoed similar measures last year, but these have been revised to meet his objections.

To tell the Governor you support these three public safety measures, look forward to an action alert coming soon!

Speaking of public safety, Assembly Member Paul Krekorian (D-Glendale) puts AB 1539 on the Governor’s desk as well.  His bill would save state money by allowing for “compassionate release” from prison those who are “permanently medically incapacitated” which the bill defines as those inmates “who are permanently unable to perform activities of daily living and require 24-hour total care due to irreversible medical conditions such as being in a coma, a persistent vegetative state, brain death, ventilator-dependency, and loss of control of muscular/neurological function.”  These conditions prevent any risk to the public, but currently can cost $120,000 per inmate to keep in prison.  There is a better way, and it is AB 1539.  Please see Krekorian’s article here on our website.

On Worker’s Compensation:

Expect the Governor to veto another bill, this one by Senator Perata – SB 936 – which the California Chamber has called a “job killer.”  That usually means that it would help working people and their families.  In this case the bill would increase payments to the permanently disabled workers in the state.  But Schwarzenegger, the ever popular business guy will most likely say “no” to helping those permanently disabled while at work.

Nonetheless we do hope that the Governor will at least sign AB 338 (Coto-D-San Jose) whose bill drew support from both sides of the aisle.  This bill would extend the eligibility window for temporary disability benefits from two years to fours years, while keeping the cap at 104 weeks of payments.  But Schwarzenegger may veto this bi-partisan bill because he thinks his original ideas were “absolutely fantastic.”

P.S. on Worker’s Comp – the Rating Bureau for Worker’s Compensation has recommended an increase in insurance premiums to reflect the “increased cost of processing claims even though the payouts themselves continue to fall.”

Quick Notes:

AB 1413 (Portantino, D-Pasadena) and SB 190 (Yee, D-San Francisco) are two bills that attempt to curb “runaway salary increases and sweetheart deals for state university administrators.”  After raising tuition by almost 100% over the past four years, state university executives received hefty salary increases this year, while faculty and students screamed in horror.  These bills would ensure that there would be public discussion of administrative compensation.  Let’s shine some light here.

A struggle over gambling in California has created a strange alliance between Hollywood Park racetrack owner Terry Fancher and the Pala Band of Mission Indians and the United Auburn Indian Community.  They have been fighting in court for more than three years in a suit brought by the racetrack over the validity of the gaming deals those two tribes signed with the Governor.  But all three groups have entered into a “marriage of convenience” to oppose the 2006 compacts signed by Schwarzenegger for some of the state’s largest tribes.  Stay tuned for what will probably be a very, very, very expensive pro- and anti-initiative campaign on the most recent tribal pacts.

Sadly we report that Stockton may be the nation’s home-foreclosure capital with about 25% of those who bought homes with so-called sub-prime mortgages now in default by at least 60 days.

Hypocrisy continues as Congressmember Jeffrey Craig (R-Idaho) most famous for “I am not gay”, this week voted “no” on the hate crimes bill because it would add gay people to the list protected by the legislation.  Chutzpah award of the week goes to Congressman Craig!

The Governor’s Scorecard

So far this year, the Governor has signed 254 bills into law.  And he has vetoed only 10 bills.  This is quite a contrast to his first year as Governor where he vetoed the vast majority of bills placed on his desk.  But looking at the Bills he has signed, it appears that very little passed this year that was controversial.  It is not particularly clear whether the legislative leadership has moved toward the Governor, or the Governor has moved toward the legislative leadership.  Or maybe they moved toward each other.  But stay tuned.  Unfortunately we think that more vetoes are yet to come. 

To see a complete list of Governor vetoes and signatures so far, please click here.

Last and certainly by no means least: 

Governor, sign SB 94 (Kuehl, D-Santa Monica) which will add a few million dollars for family planning so that clinics can serve the more than 10,000 women and men who are now turned away and who need access to pre-natal care, contraception, and prevention education for STDs as well as other family planning needs!

To send a letter to the Governor, please participate in our action alert here on our website

The Rest of the Story

Our blogging offerings for the week:

Working to repair a dangerously broken prison system- Paul Krekorian’s AB 1539

Hooray for the First Amendment!

To read and comment on these entries just go to:  www.speakoutca.org/weblog/

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Until next week,

Jackie Goldberg and the Speak Out California Team