Don’t swear anyone in just yet, Senate Rs say + Bring back nuclear? + Bonta drops SB 1327
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADERS URGE FOR HOLDING OFF SWEARING-IN
Senate Republican leaders are calling on Democratic leadership to hold off on seating anyone in the race for Senate District 16 between Sen. Melissa Hurtado and David Shepard. Hurtado had a lead of just 20 votes on Friday afternoon.
“There reportedly are 14 ‘cured’ ballots that were submitted in Fresno County yesterday, which have yet to be counted. Reports also are swirling that there’s a handful of uncounted ballots in Kings County still remaining and 600 to 800 uncounted ballots in Tulare County still remaining,” Sens. Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, and Brian Jones, R-Santee, said in a statement Friday.
Wilk and Jones go on to accuse the Kern County Registrar of Voter’s Office of lack of transparency and mismanagement of staff.
“Right now, there is no faith that the Kern County vote count is anywhere done nor accurate,” they said.
The two Senate Republican leaders said it would be improper for the Senate to seat either candidate in the race, and that doing so might be reversed through legal action.
MATHIS INTRODUCES BILL TO BRING BACK NUCLEAR
Last session, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 846 to extend the life of the Diablo Canyon nuclear powerplant, leading to the plant getting a reprieve from a planned shutdown of operations in 2025.
Now, a Republican assemblyman has introduced a bill to go a step further, clearing the way for more nuclear plants in the Golden State.
AB 65, by Assemblyman Devon Mathis, R-Visalia, would repeal state provisions which block nuclear fission thermal powerplants from being constructed.
“AB65 will repeal the Small Modular Nuclear Moratorium. This is what the Navy has been doing for decades,” Mathis said in a Friday tweet.
BONTA WON’T DEFEND SB 1327
California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s Department of Justice on Thursday night notified the California Rifle and Pistol Association (CRPA) that it will no longer defend SB 1327, former Sen. Bob Hertzberg’s legislation that copied a Texas law allowing private right of action against people who obtain abortions and applied it to firearms manufacturers instead.
The CRPA has led the legal challenge of the law, specifically the portion that forces parties who challenge gun control measures to pay the state’s legal fees.
“It seems even Governor Newsom’s own attorney general knows this law is indefensible and a losing proposition. Now the AG has abandoned Newsom and is forcing the governor to defend against the law that he championed,” the CRPA said in a press release Friday.
The CRPA had served Bonta with a motion to request monetary sanctions from the court against the state if it continued to defend the law, it said in a statement.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Free bill idea for #caleg folks: Just like sports teams retire jersey numbers, California should retire certain notorious ballot proposition numbers. #Prop8, #Prop13, #Prop98 (and maybe others) all should be retired and never used again.”
- Public affairs specialist Kevin Liao, via Twitter.
“Kyrsten Sinema switching parties to Independent is only about one thing: Kyrsten Sinema. Can’t win, switch. She only became a Democrat when she couldn’t win as a Green Party candidate. Don’t trust candidates who don’t have a core set of values besides wanting to get elected.”
- Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, via Twitter.
Best of The Bee:
The day after California officials announced the state will close its third prison, a top Democratic lawmaker indicated more shutdowns may be in the pipeline, via Lindsey Holden.
Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, a lawmaker who’s made a name for herself as a moderate, announced she is leaving the Democratic party, an uncommon move for prominent politicians, via Brendan Rascius.