Bee Opinionated: The Forgotten Amendment + A Baloney Budget + Not Our California Dream | Opinion
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Hello, it’s Robin Epley with The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board — do you remember the Equal Rights Amendment?
We do, but we’re not so sure about Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Recently, Newsom proposed adding a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to enshrine fundamental, broadly supported gun safety measures into constitutional law. The proposal — a bold, unapologetic and admirable leap toward greater gun control measures nationwide — would raise the federal minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21; mandate universal background checks; institute a waiting period for all gun purchases; and bar civilian purchases of assault weapons.
That sounds great, but there’s already a 28th Amendment waiting to be ratified: The ERA.
“Dormant but definitely not forgotten by a legion of young and progressive voters who are rapidly becoming the county’s most dominant voting bloc, the ERA is a constitutional amendment proposal that would guarantee legal rights for all Americans regardless of sex,” wrote me and my colleague, Opinion Assistant Hannah Holzer, last week.
We think Newsom should reinvigorate support for the actual 28th Amendment — the ERA — and use the momentum to push for a 29th Amendment that proposes more serious, life-saving gun control measures. Both amendments should be given a vote in the Senate.
Because, “how can our country ever expect to solve a problem as seemingly insurmountable as the uniquely American tragedy of mass shootings if we can’t even agree on something as basic and fundamental as equal rights?”
Phony Baloney Budget
“By meeting a constitutional deadline on June 15, Sacramento politicians will continue to get paid even though they have not done their jobs.”
The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board last week discussed the real reason California Democrats passed a fake budget: so they keep getting paid.
The budget for the coming fiscal year adopted by the California Legislature last Thursday will likely not survive, because the approved spending plan is not a viable one.
“The Democrat-controlled Legislature started with a pretty rosy proposal from Newsom on how much money Sacramento can expect to spend starting July 1. Their solution was to make things even rosier. They magically grew general fund revenues by $2 billion, and spending grew by $3 billion.”
The legislature artificially grew the budget in the name of “protecting the progress of recent years and continuing the state’s responsible budgeting practices,” according to a self-serving state senate analysis. But, in truth, the legislature achieved precisely the opposite:
“As The Bee’s Editorial Board said at the beginning of this process, a successful budget has to be far more effective at cutting duplicative spending and taking advantage of revenue opportunities in order to truly be in balance. The Legislature did neither.”
Of course California should be optimistic about its future, the Editorial Board wrote, but Sacramento needs to be realistic about the next state budget.
Supes In Hot Water
“In many jobs, amassing a track record filled with public rebukes and accusations of mismanagement of money could lead to a swift boot out the door. For the Sacramento County Supervisors, it’s led to a 36% pay raise. Which they voted on for themselves.”
“Along with that extra money,” I wrote last week, “the Supes are now earning some much-deserved criticism.
At their May 23 meeting, supervisors Phil Serna, Patrick Kennedy, Rich Desmond and Pat Hume voted to approve their pay raise of more than $46,000 — and then they tried to hide it on the consent calendar with about 50 other items that got approved with a single vote. Supervisor Sue Frost, in a rare, reasonable state of mind, pulled the item for discussion and was the only vote against it.
Now the Sacramento Taxpayers Association has officially denounced the Board of Supervisors’ raise, calling it “just inappropriate and wrong.”
“First, considering the economic challenges the county is currently facing, the timing of the pay raise could not have been more inopportune,” said Association President W. Bruce Lee in a statement. “Second, the process of using the ‘consent calendar’ for the passage of the pay increase in order to avoid public scrutiny is highly inappropriate.”
In addition, the county supervisors have been cited numerous times by the Sacramento County Grand Jury, including a recent report, when the board was warned it could lose control of the county’s two jails to a court-appointed receiver if it doesn’t immediately improve jail conditions.
Last year, the board all but ignored another grand jury report that found the supervisors had “scant interaction” with the county’s Office of Public Health for the first several months of the COVID pandemic until public health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye had to plead for funding in August 2020.
“The chances of getting this raise revoked are slim so let’s at least agree that it shouldn’t ever go down this way again: Supervisors should establish a policy at their next meeting to always place their raises before the public in a formal hearing, and never again on a consent calendar.”
The California Dream
“As Californians, we put up with a lot. High taxes. Exorbitant housing. $6 lattes. Those are the prices we pay for living in the Golden State, right? But raise our utility bills, and we go berserk,” wrote San Luis Obispo Tribune Opinion Editor Stephanie Finucane last week.
Last year, the state legislature quietly passed Assembly Bill 205, which requires investor-owned utilities like PG&E to adopt a new billing structure that will be based not just on how much you use, but also on how much money you earn.
It’s called “income-based utility pricing,” and “To put it in real-world terms,” Finucane wrote. “It’s a 21st-century version of Robin Hood, except based on the program’s proposed tiers, it would steal from the middle class — not the rich.”
“Much of the criticism is from fed-up homeowners who spent — or borrowed — tens of thousands of dollars for solar panels, under the impression that their savings on utility bills would help pay off the debt. Now they face higher electric bills, in addition to paying off their debt on solar panels.”
There may be a way to compromise, perhaps by starting with much lower fixed fees and gradually raising them as the need arises, Finucane suggested; or adjusting the tiers to better reflect the cost of living in California and what it truly means to be high income here.
“It’s hard to say what might be palatable to Californians — perhaps nothing. It may be the system itself that people can’t stomach. And it doesn’t help that this passed as a budget trailer bill, which meant it got little discussion in the Legislature. For those reasons, don’t be surprised if voters strike back in the courtroom or at the ballot box.”
That’s Your Opinion
(I’m trying out a new section here to highlight some of our best op-eds and guest essays from contributing writers. Let me know if you like it!)
“Leslie Van Houten stabbed my stepmother 14 times. California can’t parole her”
“The topic is difficult for me to intellectualize. It is a personal feeling I have, an intuition, an uncertainty about the parole release of a Manson follower, even an ex-follower as one journalist recently reminded me. Although I continue to study the various aspects of the law in order to grasp the situation, doing so always brings back the painful memories of long ago in 1969.”
“This long-time public servant taught thousands of Sacramentans to read. She was also my mom”
“There are countless stories of triumph over the daunting barrier of not being able to read. Mary served as the initial catalyst to inspire individuals to make and continue the monumental effort required to learn to read — a feat which is especially challenging after one has reached adulthood.”
“Hate groups are targeting California’s LGBTQ+ youth. Here is how we can help them”
“While we know mental health treatment can be game-changing for the kids who receive it, most do not have access in the first place. The Trevor Project survey found that 60% of LGBTQ+ youth who wanted mental health care in the past year were not able to get it. By ensuring that our children have easier access to treatment, we’re providing a service they both desperately need and want.”
Opinion of the Week
“Let’s go out on a limb and believe that the House speaker prays for all of us in the Fourth Estate.”— Fresno Bee Opinion Editor Tad Weber upon hearing the news that U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (who represents Fresno in California’s 20th District) prays for the media “despite the constant negativity.”
Got thoughts? What would you like to see in this newsletter every week? Got a story tip or an opinion to tell the world? Let us know what you think about this email and our work in general by emailing us at any time via opinion@sacbee.com.
On a personal note: I’ll be taking a few vacation days this week, so that’s why this week’s newsletter ran pretty long. It also means there’ll be no newsletter next Friday. I hope you have a wonderful and safe Father’s Day and Juneteenth holidays, a lovely rest of your Pride month and I guess you’ll next hear from me at the end of June. Gosh, that went by fast.
Be well,
Robin
