California’s newest senator defends her record of advising Uber as it fought AB 5
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BUTLER DEFENDS WORKING FOR UBER
Newly-minted California Sen. Laphonza Butler is defending her record of consulting for Uber as that company lobbied against AB 5, the labor-backed 2019 California law that re-classified many independent contractors as employees eligible subject to state wage and benefit requirements.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s decision to appoint Butler drew criticism from some on the left because of her record with Uber.
“I’ve been very clear that they should have the protections of employment,” Butler told the San Francisco Chronicle in an interview published Wednesday. “I’ve spent my entire career, nearly 20 years, in the labor movement, working to make sure that workers who wanted a union have the opportunity to have a fair shot to build one. My work on AB5 was exactly that.”
The Chronicle noted that Butler declined to discuss the nature of her work on AB 5.
“My role was one that was consistent with my resume. There was no inconsistency in my work or my engagement,” she told the Chronicle.
SCHUMER REMEMBERS FEINSTEIN IN SENATE CHAMBER REMARKS
Via David Lightman...
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said farewell Wednesday in the Senate chamber to his longtime colleague Dianne Feinstein.
“It will be a long time until the Senate sees someone as consequential as Dianne Feinstein,” the New York Democrat told colleagues.
Schumer is scheduled to speak Thursday at Feinstein’s San Francisco funeral. The veteran California senator died last week.
Schumer opened the Senate Wednesday by noting the Senate will not meet Thursday “in observance of the memorial of our late friend and colleague.”
Sdhumer said that in the last few days, “I’ve been coming back to the same thought again and again–Dianne Feinstein was a public servant of uncommon integrity.”
While “many of us here try our best to pursue the common good,” he said, “Dianne was on another level. When she thought something was right, when she had a cause she believed in, she pursued it until the end.”
He recalled her long effort to win support for an assault weapons ban — which she did for 10 years in the 1990s and early 2000s. The National Rifle Association, Schumer said, “launched horrible, vitriolic, arguably chauvinistic attacks. She remained undeterred. In the end, her cause won the day.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg files statement of intention to run for California Attorney General in 2030, giving him a short window of 2,435 days to stand up a statewide campaign before polls open on primary day.”
- California Target Book’s Rob Pyers, via X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
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The city of Davis is violating state housing law by failing to adopt an acceptable plan for how it intends to encourage enough housing development this decade to meet demand, state housing officials said, via Ryan Lillis.