The $200 to $1,050 rebate is one step closer to getting California’s millions into pockets after state lawmakers in marathon Wednesday night floor sessions outlined a record-breaking $300 billion budget plan for the fiscal year beginning Friday. passed.
Although heated and hours-long, the sessions were proven in many ways: the supremocracy-democratic legislature was guaranteed the signing of the budget deal. Gavin Newsom, Senate Speaker Pro Tem Tony Atkins and Speaker Anthony Rendon made the announcement Sunday night.
- Atkins: “Any year, this will be a good budget. In a world where we are facing issues of global inflation and the ongoing pandemic, this budget is as remarkable as it is responsible.”
Republicans repeated complaints, voiced hastily at Monday’s hearing, about an opaque budget process and controversial policies buried within a lengthy “trailer bill” crafted privately, but their comments were largely ignored. Unheard of: Democrats control enough seats in the Legislature to approve a budget without a single GOP. Vote.
- State Sen. Jim Nielsen, a Roseville Republican whose term ends this year: “I am glad this will be my last budget. … How did the budget come together? Behind closed doors. … I submit it is not a good process, mostly because it does not involve the citizens we belong to represent. … We’re letting them down when we don’t pay attention to them, and we largely don’t. We ignore them.”
- Even some Democrats said the process has drawbacks: “72 hours isn’t a lot of time to read a piece of legislation, and sometimes when the bills come in so quickly we have to play catch-up,” State Sen. Henry Stern, a Calabasas Democrat, said.
Astonishingly, Senate Democrats rejected a Republican proposal to amend the budget for the fifteenth time to suspend California’s gas excise tax, which is set to rise by about 3 cents a gallon, on Friday.
are republicans the same amendment is expected to be introduced In the assembly today – and possibly support will come from Assembly member Adam Gray, a Merced Democrat who said on Wednesday “the budget should have just suspended the gas tax.”
One of the most controversial measures approved Wednesday night was a comprehensive energy trailer bill — as part of a contingency plan to avoid power outages and rolling blackouts as California transitions to clean energy — extending the life of the controversial Might give millions of dollars to PG&E to do this. The Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant is expanding the authority of the state Department of Water Resources and prolonging the use of gas-fired plants.
- Assembly member Al Murasuchi, a Torrance Democrat: “This is a crappy trailer bill that was thrown at us late on Sunday and we have to vote on it three days later. This trailer is a hasty, untested, and fossil-fuel-heavy response. Nevertheless, Muratsuchi voted to support the bill.
- State Sen. Shannon Grove, a Bakersfield Republican: “Even the governor and the person who voted to pass it know … if we don’t have these gas-powered power plants to fire when we need them, you can flip the switch and Will not be able to get electricity. So I was really excited… that a vote on this bill makes it feel like you need fossil fuels. You do. You need them! …but I am opposing it because I think it completely usurps the local authority.”
- State Sen. Bob Wikowski, a Fremont Democrat: “There’s a lot of details here that haven’t been worked out. … But we have to be adults. We’re the adults in the room. If we need to do this to keep the energy sources and the California lights on, we need to This is what needs to be done. I wish it was different, but these are the facts we are facing.”
For more on the contents of California’s huge budget, check out this comprehensive breakdown from the CalMatters team.
Amid the budget debate, lawmakers also sent a plethora of gun control bills to Newsom’s desk, One to ban the sale of firearms on state property, one to crack down on ghost guns, one to prevent companies from advertising certain firearms to minors, and another – inspired by Texas’ abortion ban – to private Californians. To give the right to prosecute the manufacturers. , sellers and distributors of certain illegal firearms and collecting at least $10,000 in civilian damages per weapon.
In other capital updates: Several high-profile bills failed to advance past key committees before Friday’s deadline, leaving them dead for the year. they include:
- A union-backed bill, strongly opposed by the music industry, would have limited the damages a recording company would suffer from music artists if they walked away from their contracts after seven years. (Still alive is a related bill that would prohibit filmmakers from employing actors to work for multiple employers at the same time.)
- A bill that would have created a new state agency for the construction and management of social housing, which the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development defines as “a stock of residential rental housing provided at sub-market prices and in accordance with specific regulations.” market mechanism.” Assembly member Alex Lee, the San Jose Democrat who wrote the bill, wrote on twitter“As we see a recession on the horizon, private capital will slump, and home construction and construction work will decrease. That’s why I am committed to social housing – its mission to fix our housing crisis and provide strong middle-class jobs.” There is a need more than ever.”
