Who’s in charge at CPUC? + Lawsuit challenges trans inmate law + Planned Parenthood rates lawmakers

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

NEWSOM NAMES NEW CPUC HEAD

On Dec. 30, Marybel Batjer will retire from her position as president of the California Public Utilities Commission. On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom named her replacement: senior adviser Alice Reynolds.

“As my lead energy policy expert, Alice has been indispensable in our work to move California toward a cleaner, affordable and reliable energy future, navigate the bankruptcy of the state’s largest investor-owned utility and accelerate the state’s progress toward meeting our clean energy goals, among other critical issues. I look forward to her leadership as President of the California Public Utilities Commission,” Newsom said in a statement announcing the appointment.

Reynolds, a Democrat, has served as senior adviser to Newsom since 2019, and prior to that she served as an adviser to then-Gov. Jerry Brown.

Reynolds will take over an organization wrestling with instability in the power grid and investigations into the state’s largest utility, PG&E, over its role in California wildfires.

Reynolds’ appointment is subject to Senate confirmation; if it is approved, she would earn $228,964 annually.

Gov. Newsom offered praise for the outgoing Batjer, saying she stepped up with “exemplary leadership, smarts, humility and commitment to public service” to head the CPUC.

“I thank Marybel for her distinguished service to the people of our state and wish her well in her next chapter,” Newsom said in a statement.

ADVOCACY GROUP SUES TO KEEP TRANS WOMEN OUT OF WOMEN’S PRISONS

The Women’s Liberation Front is challenging a 2020 California law allowing transgender women and nonbinary people to be housed in correctional facilities matching their gender identities.

The group filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, alleging that the law has placed the existing female inmates at such institutions in danger. The lawsuit alleges that some inmates have been sexually assaulted by transgender inmates as a result of the law, SB 132.

You can review the complaint by visiting here.

“Everything we warned legislators about SB 132 is coming true,” said California Family Council’s Greg Burt of the California Family Council, which promoted the lawsuit this week. The conservative group is not a part of the lawsuit. “Women inmates are being assaulted and sexually harassed. Women inmates are being traumatized over violations of their privacy. Fear and tread now occupy the minds of every California female inmate, because our legislators and governor care more about the desires of trans-identified males than they do the safety of vulnerable women.“

Amie Ichikawa, a former incarcerated person and founder of the nonprofit group Woman II Woman, a litigant in the case, said in a statement that she has received “hundreds of distressed messages from our sisters inside” as a result of SB 132 becoming law.

“They are scared, angry, confused, and in disbelief that legislators completely left them out of a decision that affects their mental health and safety 24 hours a day,” Ichikawa said in a statement.

SB 132, which passed through both the Assembly and the Senate with broad Democratic support, was authored and championed by San Francisco Democrat Sen. Scott Wiener.

In an interview with The Bee, Wiener said that both the California Family Council and the Women’s Liberation Front are transphobic organizations resorting to rhetoric commonly used to oppose LGBTQ civil rights bills.

“To broad brush the trans community and claim that basically all trans women are sexual predators is false, it’s completely slanderous, but it’s out of the rightwing playbook in terms of attacking trans people,” Wiener said.

Wiener said he couldn’t comment about specific allegations of assault in the prison system, but said that sexual assaults are nothing new to either male or female correctional institutions and that California prison system has a process in place for handling those allegations.

Wiener added that rhetoric like that from the California Family Council and the Women’s Liberation Front contributes to both the rate of suicide among transgender youths and the epidemic of violence against trans people.

“It’s no wonder that we’re seeing record numbers of trans women being murdered in this country, particularly trans women of color,” Wiener said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office referred a Bee media inquiry to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Department spokeswoman Terry Thornton said in a statement that the department cannot comment on pending litigation.

“However, the department is committed to providing a safe, humane, rehabilitative and secure environment for all people in its custody. Federal and state laws impose legal obligations related to the treatment of people in custody with specific provisions for gender non-conforming people,” she said.

As of Nov. 17, 291 people housed at male institutions have requested to be housed in a female institution. Of those, six requests have been denied and 10 people have changed their minds, while the remaining requests are under review. As of Nov. 17, seven people housed in a female institution have requested to be housed in a male institution.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD RELEASES LEGISLATIVE SCORECARD

As the year draws to a close, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California has come out with a new scorecard, rating lawmakers’ performance over the previous legislative session as a measure of percentages.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Democrats generally scored highly while Republicans did not.

In the Senate, every Democrat scored a 100% with the exceptions of Sens. Melissa Hurtado (80%) and Bob Wieckowski (67%). Republican Sen. Andreas Borgeas scored a 25%, while every other Senate Republican got 0%.

In the Assembly, on the Democratic side it was 100% all around, with the exceptions of Assemblymembers Jim Frazier (75%), Lorena Gonzalez (88%) and Cottie Petrie-Norris (75%). No Republican scored below a 17% (Assemblyman James Gallagher), while Assemblyman Devon Mathis scored the highest with a 75%.

“As access to abortion continues to come under attack like never before, including multiple cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, we applaud the 86 legislative champions who took repeated actions this year to increase access and affordability for sexual and reproductive health care, including abortion, across California. We are especially thankful for the legislative champions who authored our sponsored legislation this year, Assemblymembers David Chiu, Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, and Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, and Senator Gonzalez,” PPAC President Jodi Hicks said in a statement. “As we continue to work towards increased access and health equity, Californians expect policymakers to stand up, speak out, and take definitive action on Planned Parenthood’s priority issues, including additional investments and updated or expanded policies. We look forward to continuing to work with our legislative champions in the coming legislative session.”

View the scorecard for yourself by visiting here.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The Bay Area’s new policy is that either a vaccine card or a hammer is required to enter retail establishments.”

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

Best of the Bee:

• Gov. Gavin Newsom called a spate of retail thefts over the weekend “unacceptable” and said he would increase money for cities to address them in next year’s budget, via Sophia Bollag.

• A focus on education helped Republicans secure victory in Virginia earlier this month, a state that, a year earlier, had swung for Democrat Joe Biden by more than 10 points. Could the same focus on parents’ rights in schools motivate voters in California? State Republicans are betting on it, via Lara Korte.

• Many Latino and Asian immigrants in California feel discrimination at work, in health care, when using government benefits and when encountering law or immigration enforcement, a study co-authored by a UC Merced faculty member found. And those experiences can take a toll on health and overall well-being, a lead researcher says, via Andrea Briseño.

This story was originally published November 23, 2021 at 4:55 AM.