from Mark Smith, Advocate, California Builders Alliance
César Chávez Day is no more. California lawmakers officially scrap the holiday name
Just one week after damaging sex abuse allegations surfaced against the iconic labor leader César Chávez, California lawmakers unanimously passed a bill Thursday to rename the holiday named for him to Farmworkers Day, capping off a series of rapid-fire moves to expunge his legacy from public places. The governor is expected to sign Assembly Bill 2156. It will take effect immediately, in time for the March 31 holiday. “Our farmworkers remind us that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect,” Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón said on the Senate floor. “Their days and their lives inspire us to push for a better California.” It is the latest development in a nationwide backlash against Chávez, who Democrats and Republicans quickly renounced last week after a New York Times investigation found he sexually abused young girls while president of the United Farm Workers union in the 1960s and 70s. One by one, lawmakers described feeling stunned by last week’s allegations, as those who once admired Chávez reckoned with his now-complicated legacy. Quiet fell over the chamber floors as legislators from the Central Valley spoke about their backgrounds growing up in farmworker households and the importance of those workers to the labor movement and California’s economy. “This recognition is deeply personal to me,” Republican Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares said, and that her family worked as farm laborers in Bakersfield for years. “For generations, farmworkers were excluded from basic labor protections” Legislative leaders began the process to rename the holiday just one day after the reporting, in which prominent labor activist Dolores Huerta, 95, also said Chávez sexually abused her nearly 60 years ago.
As Gas Prices Spike, California Is Hit Hardest
As gasoline prices have risen since the war in Iran began, no state has felt the pinch at the pump more than California, where a gallon costs nearly $2 more than the national average. Ivan Penn and Kurtis Lee in the New York Times
California governor’s race gets weirder with debate cancellation, new poll
Just when we thought the campaign for California’s governorship couldn’t get any weirder, it did. A Tuesday night debate at the University of Southern California was cancelled late Monday amid allegations of racism because all the candidates invited to participate are white while the four Democrats who were left out are Latino, Black or Asian. USC chose debaters on the basis of their standing in the polls or the amounts of money raised or being spent. It meant, for example, that San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan was included because of his heavy financial support from Silicon Valley, even though he is in the lower tier of candidates as measured by polling.
Cancellation was a rare bit of good news for those in the lower tier, former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state schools Superintendent Tony Thurmond and former state Controller Betty Yee, all of whom had been mired in single-digit positions in the latest polls, along with Mahan. Their euphoria was short-lived, however. Twelve hours after the debate cancellation, Democratic state chairman Rusty Hicks released a party-sponsored poll that confirmed what other surveys had shown. The two Republicans, Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, are still leading the field at 16% and 14% respectively while Porter, Swalwell and Steyer are tied at 10% and every other Democrat is still mired in low single digits, from 3% to as low as 1%, with 24% undecided. Hicks commissioned the series of polls after urging those in the lower tier to drop out, worrying aloud that the two Republicans could finish 1-2 in the June 2 primary, thus guaranteeing that one would win the governorship in November. While that would seem to be nearly impossible in a state that’s utterly dominated by Democrats, voting by mail will begin in just six weeks, and so far the two Republicans are still on top and the eight Democrats are still failing to catch fire with voters.
Supreme Court ruling on mail-in ballot could change voting practice nationwide
A pending U.S. Supreme Court ruling could reshape how mail-in ballots are counted in federal elections, raising concerns among California officials and election experts about voter access and election administration. The court is considering a case centered on a Mississippi law that questions whether mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day but received afterward should be counted. Experts and state leaders say the implications could be significant, particularly in California, where all registered voters receive mail-in ballots since the COVID-19 pandemic. Under California law, ballots received up to seven days after Election Day are counted, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. More than a dozen other states have similar grace periods. The Supreme Court’s decision would apply only to federal elections, including presidential and congressional races, potentially creating new challenges for election officials. “Essentially you would create two sets of ballots with the federal officials on a separate one, or on the existing one, you simply do not count those votes cast for a federal ballot after the election day,” Micheli said of the potential for higher costs and timeliness, especially with California already so often under fire for lengthy ballot counting times. Micheli added that because the ruling would come from the nation’s highest court, California would not be able to appeal.
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MARK SMITH
Smith Policy Group
1001 K Street, 6th Floor
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 335-5072
mark@smithpolicygroup.com
smithpolicygroup.com