Legislature adjourns just in time for the next session + Wiener shares a hate message
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
LEGISLATURE ADJOURNS SINE DIE
The 2021-22 California legislative session is in the books, as the Legislature Wednesday night formally adjourned sine die.
It marks the end of an at-times contentious session that grappled with topics as diverse as universal health care, a gas tax repeal and abortion.
It also marks the end of service for many senators and assemblymembers.
But while this is the end for one session, the beginning of another is just around the corner; California Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for a Dec. 5 special session to address the state’s high gas prices and his proposal to tax oil and gas companies for their windfall profits.
Lawmakers, including the newly elected Class of 2022, will be sworn in on Monday. Get ready.
WIENER REPORTS THREAT AFTER MISLEADING CHARLIE KIRK TWEET
State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, is accustomed to a fire hose of hateful phone calls and social media messages. The progressive Democrat, who is gay, has drawn considerable oppobrium from conservatives across the nation for his stances on issues including LGBTQ rights and drug policy.
In recent days, those rightwing critics include Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called Wiener a “communist groomer” and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, who has falsely accused Wiener of setting “thousands of pedophiles” free from jail.
Following Kirk’s remarks, Wiener in a tweet Wednesday shared a threat he had received, which told him “You’ll have something coming to you.”
“Words have consequences & Twitter is becoming a cesspool for this crap,” Wiener wrote.
Wiener’s office also released a statement accusing both Kirk and Greene of spreading lies about him and the legislation that he has authored.
The senator said anti-LGBTQ remarks have a price, and that was made clear on the night of Nov. 20, when a gunman entered an LGBTQ club in Colorado Springs and opened fire, killing five and wounding several more before being beaten and restrained by club patrons.
“Kirk and Greene are leading the movement to slander gay men and trans people as ‘pedophiles’ and ‘groomers,’ and these heinous words have consequences,” Wiener said.
He added that “people like Kirk and Greene are a stain on our country, and they should be held accountable for spreading vile, homophobic misinformation.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Today we thank our lucky stars for California State Library spokesman Alex Vassar, who collected zodiac data on the most recent Legislature via Twitter.
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