Cities, counties unite against initiative + Farm worker protest + Oscar winner writes to Assembly
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
CSAC, LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES OPPOSE PROPOSED BALLOT MEASURE
The California State Association of Counties and the League of California Cities have teamed up to oppose a proposed ballot measure that would restrict voter input by making it more difficult for local voters to pass measures that fund local services and infrastructure.
“This deceptive initiative would undermine the rights of local voters and their elected officials to make decisions on critical local services that residents rely upon,” said CSAC Executive Director Graham Knaus in a statement. “It creates major new tax loopholes at the expense of residents and will weaken our local services and communities.”
“This far-reaching initiative would retroactively cancel measures that were already passed by local voters — effectively undermining their rights to decide what their communities need,” said Carolyn Coleman, executive director and CEO of the League of California Cities in a statement. “In many cases, this will result in devastating cuts to critical services like fire and emergency response, law enforcement, parks, libraries, and resources to support unhoused residents.”
Joining those two groups in opposing the proposed measure, which is currently being circulated for signatures, are groups including California Professional Firefighters, SEIU California and the California State Council of Laborers.
FARM WORKER PROTEST PLANNED AT STATE CAPITOL
California farm workers are set to protest at the Capitol on Thursday, which is Cesar Chavez Day, after Gov. Gavin Newsom declined to meet with them regarding a bill, AB 2183, that would allow farm workers to vote by mail in union elections.
Newsom vetoed a similar bill last year, saying, ”Significant changes to California’s well-defined agricultural labor laws must be carefully crafted to ensure that both agricultural workers’ intent to be represented and the right to collectively bargain is protected, and the state can faithfully enforce those fundamental rights.”
Protesters will form a human billboard, protesting Newsom’s refusal to meet with them.
The protest, at 10th and N Streets, will begin at 9:45 a.m. on Thursday.
“Farm workers feed the nation, but we are denied basic rights other workers have. We deserve to vote where we don’t have supervisors and labor contractors there pressuring us,” vineyard worker Vianey Enriquez said in a statement. “It’s impossible to have a free choice when you have the supervisor who threatened to fire anyone who voted for the union staring at you.”
ANJELICA HUSTON PENS LETTER TO ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE
Oscar winning actor Anjelica Huston has penned a letter to the Assembly Agriculture Committee, urging members to pass AB 2764, a bill that would prohibit the construction of new large factory farms and slaughterhouses in the state.
“This bill would help protect the state from devastating droughts and deadly heat waves. Factory farms and slaughterhouses are a significant contributor to California’s carbon footprint and are sucking the state’s water supply dry, so adding more of them to the mix would be disastrous. A moratorium on building such facilities would also help prevent extreme cruelty to animals — and who wouldn’t support that? Slaughterhouses are also among the most dangerous places on Earth for workers and became even more so when they turned into COVID-19 hotspots due to the unsafe, unsanitary working conditions,” Huston wrote in her letter.
Huston wrote the letter on behalf of PETA, a supporter of the legislation.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“The comprehensive water agreement announced by Governor Newsom this week has the potential to improve populations of salmon runs and other fish species without threatening our water supply, a remarkable feat in the context of our significant drought and perpetual water wars.”
- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, via Twitter.
Best of the Bee:
California state departments are getting serious about forcing employees who have been working remotely for two years to return to their offices, via Wes Venteicher.
California this week took a historic step toward providing reparations to descendants of enslaved people and families who can trace their lineage in America to the 19th century, via Marcus D. Smith.
The 19-year-old man accused of shooting his adoptive mother and her boyfriend at their Loomis home was armed with a replica handgun when he was shot by a Placer County deputy Monday, and authorities still are determining the cause of death for the pair, via Sam Stanton and Rosalio Ahumada.