DNC coming to a Zoom near you + CalPERS, PUC on hot seat + Black drivers stopped more often
Good morning and happy Monday! Let’s get right into the news.
DNC, ZOOM STYLE
Sick of all your Zoom meetings? Too bad. Get ready a full week of them with the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
The DNC announced earlier this month that key speakers, including presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden, won’t be going to Milwaukee as planned for the festivities because of the coronavirus outbreak. Instead, you can follow along from the comfort of your home.
The events actually began yesterday, Sunday, with a California delegation welcome event co-chaired by Reps. Barbara Lee and Ro Khanna as well as Los Angeles County Supervisor (and former Secretary of Labor) Hilda Solis.
Throughout the week, the California Democratic Party will have special guests that will speak, including Solis, Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, actor Danny Glover, Secretary of State Alex Padilla, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Rep. Adam Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
You can sign up to attend the Zoom sessions by visiting here.
Though California ultimately went for Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic Primary, there’s sure to be a great deal of enthusiasm for this year’s convention, which will feature some prominent California voices, including Pelosi, Gov. Gavin Newsom and, of course, vice presidential nominee Sen. Kamala Harris.
BIG JOBS AT CALPERS, PUC
CalPERS and the California Public Utilities Commission today are meeting to handle separate, thorny leadership challenges.
The CalPERS Board of Administration is meeting this morning to figure out what to do following Chief Investment Officer Yu Ben Meng’s sudden resignation from the pension fund.
He stepped down after a challenging nearly two-year stint in which a Republican congressman skewered him and the pension plan over his past work for the government of China. He resigned shortly after someone filed an anonymous complaint at the Fair Political Practices Commission drawing attention to his personal investment in a private equity firm that received $1 billion contract from CalPERS, The Bee’s Dale Kasler reported last week.
Meanwhile, the PUC is meeting to discuss whether to dismiss Executive Director Alice Stebbins. She’s on the hot seat after a State Personnel Board investigation found she improperly influenced hiring decisions, although she’s contesting the findings and countering that she’s being run out of the regulator after blowing the whistle on its failure to collect fees owed to it.
BLACK PEOPLE OVER-REPRESENTED IN POLICE STOPS
A Public Policy Institute of California analysis of police stop data in California’s major metropolitan areas shows that Black people are significantly over-represented in such stops.
The PPIC examined data collected as part of the Racial and Identity Profiling Act, which by 2022 will require all law enforcement in the state to collect information on race and other characteristics when making police stops.
Last year, the state’s eight largest agencies published the first wave of data, showing more than 1.8 million stops taking place between July 1 and Dec. 31 of 2018. That data came from the California Highway Patrol, the police departments of Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco and the sheriff departments of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and San Diego counties.
Though Black people make up just 6% of the population in those jurisdictions, they accounted for slightly more than 15% of all stops, according to a PPIC analysis of the data. Those perceived to be Middle Eastern or South Asian, making up just 1.8% of the population, accounted for 4.4% of the stops.
Meanwhile, whites and Latinos, making up 35% and 41% of the population respectively, made up 33% and 40% of all stops. Asian Americans were even less represented, with 12% of the population making up just 5.5% of all stops.
You can read the full report from PPIC here.
NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURAL AWARENESS CELEBRATION
On Monday evening, the west side of the Capitol will play host to a celebration of Californian Indian culture, sponsored by the Assembly Select Committee on Native American Affairs.
The event begins at 6:30 p.m. and will include performances by the Tuolumne Mewuk Dancers and the Southern California Intertribal Bird Singers.
Can’t make it in person? You can watch online by visiting here.
SEN. JERRY HILL IS HONORED
Outgoing Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, is being honored for his work championing anti-tobacco legislation, including SB 793, which would ban the sale of flavored tobacco, with a number of exceptions, in the state.
The American Cancer Society - Cancer Action Network named Hill “State Legislator of the Year.”
“Senator Hill is a fierce advocate for protecting Californians from the ravages of tobacco-related diseases,” said managing director Jim Knox in a statement. “His legislation to rid store shelves of flavored tobacco products will save lives in California and set an example for the rest of the country to follow.”
In a statement, Hill said that he is “grateful beyond measure” to be honored by the American Cancer Society - Cancer Action Network.
Other honorees this year include Sacramento City Councilman Steve Hansen and Sen. Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Every one of these Post Office stories is sucking air out of the Republican campaign. We’re the party that claims to run government better — the Postal Service should work, and it should work better under Republicans if our claim is true. #USPS”
- Ron Nehring, former California GOP chairman and lieutenant governor candidate, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday likened the Trump administration’s handling of the United States Postal Service to “sabotage” as the country prepares for an election in a pandemic in which tens of millions of votes will be cast by mail, via Hannah Wiley.
In a blow to one of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature gun-control laws, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday overturned California’s ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines, via Andrew Sheeler, Ryan Sabalow and Hannah Wiley.
The U.S. Capitol is mostly dark and quiet these days, and is likely to stay that way until after Labor Day. Even though millions of people like Brianne Torres remain out of work and are getting far less in unemployment payments than they were two weeks ago, via David Lightman.