California responds to proposed abortion ban + Would Prop. 30 lead to smaller wildfires?

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

AS SENATE REPUBLICANS WEIGH AN ABORTION BAN, CALIFORNIA DOUBLES DOWN ON IT

On Tuesday, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham introduced a bill to ban abortions nationwide after 15 weeks of pregnancy. If that were to become law, it would supersede laws in California and other states that protect reproductive rights.

“We should have a law at the federal level,” Graham said Tuesday, according to The Hill. “If we take the House and Senate, I can assure you we’ll have a vote.”

California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is vowing a fight, sending out a tweet Tuesday reading, “Make no mistake — Lindsey Graham’s new national ban on abortion is about controlling women. That’s their agenda. CA’s fighting back. Today, we’re launching a NEW website to provide resources for women to get reproductive care — no matter where they live.”

That website, abortion.ca.gov, is available in English and Spanish and is aimed at providing people both inside and outside the state with information about abortions. That includes their legal rights to obtain one, where to find providers, payment information and financial aid, ways to locate emotional support and more, according to a statement from the governor’s office.

Graham’s bill introduction comes as Californians are preparing to vote on whether to enshrine abortion in the state constitution. Proposition 1 is a direct response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending decades of federal protection of the right to get an abortion.

If Proposition 1 passed, it would likely not be enough to fend off a national abortion ban. The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution usually gives federal law precedence over state statutes and even state constitutions.

Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California CEO Jodi Hicks released a joint statement in response to Graham’s legislation.

“News of Senator Graham’s federal abortion ban, while despicable, comes as no surprise. This is nothing other than a desperate power grab to outlaw abortion in states like California, that stand strong in our convictions to offer safe and reproductive health care to those who need it most. California will not be bullied by right wing extremists looking to chip away at our fundamental rights,” they said in the statement.

WILDFIRE CONSERVANCY SAYS PROP. 30 COULD HELP REDUCE CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES

On Monday, Newsom released an ad opposing Proposition 30, the Lyft-funded ballot measure to tax the well-to-do to pay for electric car and wildfire response infrastructure. On Tuesday, supporters of the measure announced a report from the Wildfire Conservancy which found that if passed by voters it could lead to fewer and smaller wildfires.

The Wildfire Conservanacy hasn’t taken an official position on the ballot measure. But the nonprofit, made up of academics, firefighters and forestry officials, said in its report that “the level of additional funding proposed can potentially provide significant and meaningful changes to wildland and wildland urban interface fires in California.”

Prop. 30 would generate an estimated $1 billion in annual wildfire funding — a substantial increase for Cal Fire, whose budgets have ranged from $2 billion to $4 billion in recent years.

The study, which can be found here, found that the ballot measure would increase the number of firefighters in the state and reduce the number of large (rated as more than 10 acres) wildfires by 150 a year, preventing up to 500,000 acres annually from being burned and avoiding up to 12 million metric tons of carbon emissions.

“With wildfires raging across the state, it is clear we need to invest heavily in resources in preventing and managing firefighters and getting more boots on the ground,” Wildfire Conservancy President Tim Edwards said in a statement. “The innovative approach of the Clean Air Initiative can significantly reduce carbon emissions and particulate pollution and help us more effectively fight wildfires at the same time. It is real climate action that will benefit our families, our firefighters and our forests.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I’ve offered to host a debate between @GavinNewsom & @BrianDahleCA on multiple statewide platforms. So far, the Gov’s political team has turned down all of our requests & indicated he doesn’t have any current plans to debate. I hope they’ll change their minds. We’re ready.”

- Fox LA reporter Elex Michaelson, via Twitter.

Best of The Bee:

• California’s drought regulators have lost a major lawsuit that could undermine their legal authority to stop farms and cities from pulling water from rivers and streams, via Dale Kasler and Ryan Sabalow.

• A bill before Gov. Gavin Newsom would bar anyone under 18 in California from buying over-the-counter weight loss supplements — whether online or in shops — without a prescription, via Laurie Udesky, California Healthline.

• It was a 10-day test of California’s ability to keep the lights on and maintain its green-energy crusade, an unprecedented heat wave that pushed the state’s power grid to the brink of rolling blackouts. And as far as California policymakers are concerned, the state did just fine. Despite one close call on the worst night, the Independent System Operator, which manages the grid, got through the relentless 110-degree weather without ever running out of electricity, via Dale Kasler.

• Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, or SEIU-UHW, evolved into one of California’s fiercest political players in 2018 when it bankrolled a ballot initiative to more stringently regulate the state’s for-profit dialysis industry. California voters rejected it by a wide margin, and did so again in 2020. Both sides spent a total of nearly $300 million for what union leaders called a fight for reform, and what the industry says is a strategy of economic attrition to force it to the bargaining table. In November, UHW will return to the ballot, this time in the form of Proposition 29, via Owen Tucker-Smith.