Last ditch move to block recall + Cat de-claw bill on paws, er, pause + Labor’s bid for truckers
Good morning and happy Tuesday! Welcome to the A.M. Alert.
PERATA’S ‘STOP THE STEAL’ CAMPAIGN
Via Sophia Bollag...
Is a recall election for Gov. Gavin Newsom inevitable? Many political observers on both sides think so, but a new group led by former Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata is staging a last-ditch effort to prevent the recall from making the ballot.
Recall proponents say they’ve turned in more than 2.1 million signatures from Californians who want to recall Newsom. They need county elections officials to deem about 1.5 million of those valid to trigger a recall election.
Once Secretary of State Shirley Weber certifies that the effort collected enough signatures, people who signed the petition will have 30 days to remove their signatures. If enough people withdraw their signatures, theoretically, that would prevent a special election.
That’s where Perata, a Democrat, is setting his sights. He announced Monday he’s formed a committee independent of Newsom’s official anti-recall campaign that aims to convince people who signed the petition to change their minds and rescind their signatures.
Perata is calling his effort “Stop the Steal,” a reference to the slogan adopted by people who believe former President Donald Trump was robbed of the 2020 presidential election.
Perata says running an independent committee will give the effort more credibility than Newsom’s campaign because he can argue he’s opposing the recall in the best interest of California, not just because he supports the governor.
Perata says he thinks Newsom has done an “admirable job” handling the pandemic and argues holding a recall election would be an expensive waste of taxpayer money.
“This is just a petty distraction when serious people must focus on recovery,” he said. “It will cost us money that we don’t need to spend.”
Under California election law, recall petitions aren’t public documents, so Perata won’t have a list of those who signed to target. State Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, has introduced a bill that would give those subject to a recall access to those petitions, but as written that bill wouldn’t take effect until next year if it were to pass.
Perata says he hopes Newman amends the bill so it could take effect sooner, but even then he doesn’t know if Democrats in the Legislature could pass it in time to affect the Newsom recall.
CAT DE-CLAW BAN BILL PULLED FOR MORE WORK
A bill to ban the de-clawing of cats has been temporarily pulled at the request of its author.
SB 585, by Sen. Henry Stern, D-Canoga Park, was set to be heard Monday in the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee, but was pulled at Stern’s request, so that Stern can work with the committee on possible amendments to the bill.
SB 585 would ban people from getting their cats de-clawed, except where such a surgery is deemed medically necessary by a veterinarian. Violations of such a ban would be punished with a fine on the cat owner of $1,000 for a first violation, while vets performing such an operation would get hit with a $200 fine and a statement that such a procedure constitutes “unprofessional conduct.”
Stern wrote in support of the bill that “elective declawing is also completely unnecessary. There are multiple humane and effective methods to prevent unwanted scratching, including keeping nails trimmed, providing scratching posts, proper training and soft vinyl caps placed on the nail. With all these safe alternatives, removing a cat’s nail ought to be done only when medically necessary for the cat.”
The bill has the support of such groups as The Paw Project (a sponsor of the bill), the City of West Hollywood, the Humane Society of the United States, and Social Compassion in Legislation.
It is opposed by the California Veterinary Medical Association, which wrote that “veterinarians perform cat declaw procedures far less often than in the past and many veterinarians do not perform the surgery at all. Ultimately, the CVMA believes that the decision to perform a medical procedure should be made on a case-by-case basis between the veterinarian and animal owner...”
Stern’s office hopes to have the bill heard in committee on April 19.
BILLS TO HELP PORT TRUCKERS
Via Jeong Park...
Speaking behind photos of truck drivers who died after contracting the coronavirus, labor advocates and legislators at the north steps of the Capitol introduced a package of bills aiming to address misclassifications and labor law violations in the port trucking industry.
“Wage theft, unsafe working condition, no safety net, this is the reality for thousands of port truckers like us,” said Juan Carlos Giraldo, who has been a truck driver in Southern California for 20 years, at a press conference introducing the bills.
SB 338 would hold companies liable for health and safety violations of their port trucking contractors in some circumstances. AB 794 would require some trucking companies to follow certain workforce standards if they want to get state incentives for buying low-emission vehicles. SB 700 would stipulate that trucking companies are responsible for paying payroll taxes for unemployment insurance.
Sen. María Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles who introduced SB 700, said many drivers are misclassified as independent contractors when their work is controlled by trucking companies. The misclassification meant drivers are denied of protections such as unemployment insurance that are given to employees, she said.
In response, however, the California Trucking Association said those bills would only serve to harm the industry.
“Three years ago, the California Trucking Association worked with the Teamsters to ensure legally owed wage claims were paid,” said Chris Shimoda, the association’s vice president of government affairs, in a statement. “However, these bills target even those companies making good faith efforts to comply with the law, jeopardize the governor’s environmental goals and will only worsen California’s supply chain bottleneck.”
EQUALITY CALIFORNIA HOSTS VACCINE TOWN HALL
Equality California is set to host a first-of-its-kind COVID-19 vaccine virtual town hall on Tuesday evening.
The event will feature Dr. Tomás J. Aragón, director of the California Department of Public Health, and Equality California Managing Director Tony Hoang, as they answer questions and concerns from LGBTQ Californians about the vaccines.
Equality California points out a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study showing that LGBTQ people, especially people of color, have been particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 due to health disparities.
The town hall, which will take place over Zoom, is set to begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday evening. Visit here to RSVP for the event.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“California now has the lowest positivity rate in the country.”
- Gov. Gavin Newsom, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
A California Republican congressman donated campaign contributions given to him by Rep. Matt Gaetz, who is reportedly under investigation related to allegations that he broke federal sex trafficking laws, via Kate Irby.
California taxpayers are hit hard by cap on state, local deductions. Will Biden repeal it?, via David Lightman