Cox campaigns with a ball of trash + Psychedelics: Yay or nay? + Sunrise at Feinstein’s home

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COX ON THE ROAD WITH TRASH BALL

Via Lara Korte...

What better way to campaign for California governor than with a giant, 8-foot tall ball of trash?

Republican businessman and recall election hopeful John Cox, who you might remember as the guy with the bear, debuted his new roadshow sidekick on Monday afternoon to go along with his four-step homelessness problem.

The 8-foot ball of trash is meant to symbolize the “damage done by homelessness in California,” Cox’s team said in a release. He will continue to campaign with the ball of trash throughout his tour of California, discussing homelessness.

Cox’s plan would prioritize treatment for mental health and addiction before housing, then, increase enforcement of public camping laws (a strategy he calls “Compliance Born of Compassion.”) He also wants to focus spending on solutions, and lower the cost of housing.

“People suffering with mental health or drug addiction don’t always ask for help, we have to go to them,” Cox said in an accompanying video spot. “California’s homeless problem is a threat to public safety and sanitation.”

FYI - Lawmakers on Monday took up Assembly Bill 152, which could speed up the timeline for a Gov. Gavin Newsom recall election. Here’s how it works and why they’re doing it.

DUELING SB 519 CONFERENCES

Today, SB 519 — to decriminalize possession of many psychedelic drugs — is set to be heard by the Assembly Committee on Public Safety, the first time the contentious bill has been heard since it passed on the Senate floor, 21-16.

It’s sure to be a lively hearing, especially if Monday’s two press conferences — one for the bill and one opposed to it — are anything to go by.

First up Monday was a press conference featuring several critics of the bill, including Tak Allen, president of the International Faith-based Coalition and the Congress of Racial Equality; Nina Salarno Besselman, president of Crime Victims United; Chief Ron Lawrence of the Citrus Heights Police Department; Frank Lee, president of the Organization for Justice and Equality; John Lovell, a lobbyist speaking on behalf of the California Narcotics Officers’ Association; Sacramento District Attorney (and attorney general candidate) Anne Marie Schubert; and Patricia Wenskunas, president of Crime Survivors Inc.

The speakers painted a dire picture of a California where psychedelic drugs were decriminalized — one where children are placed in danger by adults using LSD or other mind-altering substances, where the homelessness crisis is exacerbated by the newfound availability of psychedelic drugs, where date rape victims will be re-traumatized by the decriminalization of the drugs that were used against them.

“I don’t need signs to tell me that this is a stupid and dangerous piece of legislation,” Salarno Besselman said during the conference.

Also holding a press conference Monday was SB 519’s author, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco. Unsurprisingly, his conference took a more upbeat tone toward a future with decriminalization.

Joining Wiener was Jesse Gould, an Army veteran and founder of the veterans group Heroic Hearts Project; Juliana Mercer, a Marine Corps veteran; Dr. Mellody Hayes, bill co-authors Sen. Josh Becker, D-San Mateo, and Assemblyman Evan Low, D-San Jose; and retired Lt. Diane Goldstein, executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership.

They discussed the powerful impact that psychedelic drug treatment can have for veterans and other individuals dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder or burnout, and pointed to efforts by countries like Portugal and states like Oregon to decriminalize drugs and move away from a carceral model when it comes to dealing with drug addiction.

“People are using drugs right now, and we want them to be able to use drugs in a safe way, where they’re not in the shadows and they’re not being stigmatized,” Wiener said.

Few bills make it through the legislative process without amendments, and SB 519 is no exception. Wiener’s office said the bill is set to be amended in the near future to remove ketamine — which critics of the bill have called a date rape drug — from the list of psychedelics that would be decriminalized.

The Assembly Public Safety Committee hearing begins at 9 a.m.

SUNRISE ACTIVISTS TO MARCH ON FEINSTEIN’S DC HOME

Sen. Dianne Feinstein has a complicated relationship with the Sunrise Movement. Now, the senior Democratic senator from California is about to receive a housecall from the upstart progressive group.

The march to Feinstein’s abode comes as part of a larger campaign, that has seen marches from New Orleans to Houston, from Paradise to San Francisco, and from Harrisburg, Virginia, to Washington, D.C.

The young climate activists are calling on Feinstein and other members of the narrowly held Democratic majority to include a Civilian Climate Corps — a modern iteration of the 30s-era Civilian Conservation Corps — in the federal infrastructure package currently being negotiated in Congress.

“Sen. Feinstein represents the state of California in the federal government, and has the power to pass policy that will fight the wildfires, heatwaves, and rising seas while employing thousands of Californians with good jobs. The activists demand that Feinstein pass the federal infrastructure package that includes bold and transformative action against the climate crisis, including the Civilian Climate Corps. No compromise, no excuses,” according to a statement from the group.

Among the protesters Tuesday will be several under the age of 18 “who plan to risk arrest.”

Eight Sunrise activists were arrested last week as part of a protest at the home of Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“California has announced a boycott of five states for civil rights violations, just hours before itself violating UN human rights standards by changing rules in the middle of an election.”

- Assemblyman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, via Twitter.

Best of the Bee:

• California is banning taxpayer-funded travel to five more states as a response to a wave of new state laws that restrict transgender youth from playing sports and block access to life-saving care for members of the LGBTQ+ community, Attorney General Rob Bonta said on Monday, via Isabella Bloom.

• California lawmakers on Monday are expected to pass a bill that will change portions of the state elections code in an effort to benefit Gov. Gavin Newsom in the all-but-certain recall election to be held later this year, via Lara Korte.

• California wants to invest $180 million to increase the enrollment of in-state students at the University of California and California State University by more than 15,000, under a budget proposal released last week, via Jeong Park and Kim Bojórquez.