What do Californians know about pork, anyway? + A boxer swings for the ballot + Latino PAC
Happy Monday, California! Thanks for starting your day with the Capitol Alert. Andrew Sheeler here, filling in for Hannah Wiley.
PIG LAWSUIT
How much elbow room does a pig need?
California voters, by approving a ballot initiative last fall aimed at treating farm animals more humanely, decreed that pregnant sows should have at least 24 square feet of space to themselves. The initiative bans the sale of pork in California produced under conditions that violate that standard — regardless of where the pigs come from.
Midwest farmers like Randy Spronk, who’s been raising pigs in southwest Minnesota since the 1980s, say they know how to care for their animals, thank you. They argue that California’s minimum-space requirements are unfair and could actually harm the pigs.
“Who made this decision? In my mind, it was people who are not associated with the industry ... and don’t understand what the animal needs,” Spronk said in a phone interview from his farm in Edgerton, Minn. “That should be left, in my mind, to the caretaker such as myself.”
The debate over housing conditions for farm animals is at the heart of a lawsuit over California’s rules. The National Pork Producers Council has joined the American Farm Bureau in suing California to overturn Proposition 12, the 2018 ballot initiative that sets space requirements for pregnant sows, veal calves and egg-laying hens. The rules for pigs are scheduled to take effect in January 2022.
Read the full story from Dale Kasler here.
MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE
A surgery gone wrong ended boxer “Sugar” Shane Mosley’s career. Now he’s fighting to change a California law that caps certain medical negligence lawsuit payouts .
Mosley is headlining a Monday lunch and panel discussion for medical negligence survivors and advocates. He is intended to be the face of the campaign to pass the Fairness for Injured Patients Act at the ballot box next year.
A 1975 California law limits medical negligence quality of life and survivor damages to $250,000. The act proposes to adjust that amount for inflation and, in cases involving death or catastrophic injury, to allow judges and juries to ignore the cap.
The act is championed by the group Consumer Watchdog, whose president, Jamie Court, believes 2020 is the year to get it passed.
“[2020] is the year to beat big money because there’s a blue wave, and we’re surfing the blue wave. If there’s any time in history when we’re going to be able to take on hundreds of millions of dollars from the medical industry and win, it’s [2020],” Court said.
While it would be unusual for an industry to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to defeat a ballot measure, it would not be without precedent. Dialysis companies spent $111 million to defeat Proposition 8 in 2018, and pharmaceutical companies spent $109 million to defeat a measure limiting prescription drug costs in 2016.
Joining Mosley and Court on Monday are retired Sen. Barbara Boxer, author Christine Pelosi, and several medical negligence survivors.
Frank Fat’s Restaurant is hosting the event. Doors open at 11:30 a.m., the panel begins at 11:45 a.m. Afterward, Mosely and others will walk to the Governor’s Office for a 1:30 p.m. meeting about the act.
CALIFORNIA LATINO PAC
The California Latino PAC is gearing up for the 2020 elections, with an emphasis on getting more Latinas into the state Senate.
That includes focusing on senate candidates Susan Eggman in Senate District 5, Nora Campos in Senate District 15, Monique Limon in Senate District 19 and Abigail Medina in Senate District 23. The PAC also is putting its weight behind State Assembly candidates Cathy Murillo of Assembly District 37, Andrew Rodriguez of Assembly District 55 and others.
“We had a great impact on legislative races with our award-winning ads in 2018,” said California Latino PAC Co-President Adriana Sanchez-Ochoa in prepared remarks. “We are expecting a higher Latino turnout in this presidential election year and we will be spending six-figures plus on digital streaming and online advertising to improve voter turnout among Spanish-dominant voters, younger voters and newly-registered voters.”
VOTING REFORMS
How are voting reforms re-shaping California’s electorate? That’s a question that a collection of scholars and policymakers will seek to answer Monday during an hour-long panel discussion hosted by UC Center Sacramento.
Participants on the policy-making side will include James Schwab with the Secretary of State’s Office, Zachary Yeates with Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s office, Astrid Ochoa of Future of California Elections and Courtney Bailey-Kanelos of the Sacramento County Registrar’s Office.
Participants on the academic side will include Cheryl Boudreau and Ben Highton of UC Davis, Jennifer Merolla of UC Riverside, Gabe Lenz of UC Berkeley, Jessica Trounstine of UC Merced, Thad Kousser of UC San Diego, Mindy Romero of USC and Eric McGhee of the Public Policy Institute of California.
The discussion goes from noon to 1 p.m., at 1130 K Street, Room LL3. Lunch will be served.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“If this bill doesn’t work perfectly for you. Say that. Advocate for ongoing work. But stop saying this is a bad bill. It’s not. It’s a great structural reform we’ve needed since the 1940s. I’m not going to repeal it. We will continue to refine it. But educate yourself.”
- Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez via Twitter. Gonzalez was defending Assembly Bill 5, a union-backed law that will change in 2020 how employers classify their workers.
Best of The Bee:
The Sacramento Bee documentary on the legacy of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man killed by Sacramento police officers in March 2018, takes an in-depth look into the lasting impacts of Clark’s death on his family, the Sacramento and legislation, by Alyssa Hodenfield
- It’s been one year since the Camp Fire destroyed 90 percent of Paradise. Now, investors are buying up property there are “bargain” rates, by Tony Bizjak
At least 600 Californians, including lifelong Republicans and Democrats, have had their voter registration unexpectedly changed, and several county elections officials are pinning much of the blame on the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, by Bryan Anderson
Former Gov. Schwarzenegger met his goal of 1 million solar roofs. He celebrated in Clovis, by Joshua Tehee
