Capitol Update Thursday, January 04, 2018

New Year, New Laws

January 1st has come and gone, and with it, a bevvy of new laws for Californians to get used to. First among them, legalized, recreational marijuana. Despite U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions threatening to crack down on states like CA, WA, CO, and OR, our state says it will defend it's right to grow, sell, and use marijuana. The state of California is also now officially a sanctuary state, meaning local and state law enforcement may not investigate, detain, or arrest people for immigration purposes. Another bill will require shopping malls, arenas, and public bathrooms to provide baby changing tables in the men's rooms, as they currently exist in women's restrooms. Our elections will be dramatically different this year as well. Counties may now issue mail-only ballots, doing away with neighborhood polling places, and instead providing ballot drop-boxes to be available four weeks before an election and "temporary voting centers" ten days prior to the election. Also, college tuition may be free for full-time freshman at on of California's 114 Community Colleges- if the legislature can put away enough money in the 2018-19 budget to fund it. And finally, Californians can choose "no gender" or "nonbinary" on their birth certificates and driver's licenses (starting in 2019). If all these new bills are overwhelming for you, just wait. The second year of a legislative session is always more exciting. Get ready for what's to come!
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Introducing... 2018 Bills

With last session's bills becoming law January 1st behind them, the Legislature returned to the Capitol on Wednesday to begin introducing this session's bill-fest. As always with the start of legislative session, there are some very good bills introduced by our Republican representatives. Many of those bills are likely to see an early defeat, yet we fight hard to support them anyway. Here are a couple early bills that have already caught our attention:

AB 403 (Melendez, R): Legislative Whistleblower Protection Act- not surprisingly, this bill is finally receiving bi-partisan support. This bill, which has been killed in the Senate every prior session it has been introduced, would protect legislative staff who report improper or unethical behavior. Seems like a no-brainer, right? But since 2012, this simple bill has been stalled and killed in the Senate, which is currently dealing with multiple sexual harassment scandals. Coincidence? We think not.

AB 1756 (Brough, R): Repeal of the Gas Tax- Republicans are trying every avenue to repeal SB 1, the sneaky Gas Tax that came into effect November. This bill would simply repeal SB 1, the 12 cent per gallon increase on our gasoline tax, the 20 cent diesel tax increase, and the $75-$175 increase in vehicle registration fees.
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June Ballot Measures

There are four ballot measures on our June Primary Election ballot. Remember, only the legislature or the Governor can place measures on our June ballot. Any and all citizen driven initiatives are forced to the November ballot. Here are the June measures- we will go over them more thoroughly in subsequent Capitol Updates as well as release our official CFRW positions on each measure.

ACA 5 (Frazier, D): Motor vehicle fees and taxes: restriction on expenditures: appropriations limit

ACA 1 (Mayes, R): Greenhouse Gas Reduction Reserve Fund

SB 5 (De León, D): California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access For All Act of 2018

ACA 17 (Mullin, D): Ballot measures: effective date
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CFRW Winter BOD

Our Winter Board of Directors Meeting is just around the corner! Join us in sunny Long Beach as we work to take back our state! We have exciting workshops, speakers, and a sisterhood of Republican Women that can't be beat! Our speakers include TV and YouTube personality, Anna Khait, as well as our banquet speaker, Project Veritas Founder, James O'Keefe. Registration is open and there are still rooms available at the beautiful Renaissance Hotel, for February 9-11th, at our 2018 Winter BOD Meeting! CLICK HERE to register and for more information!

Disclaimer: The Capitol Update is an activity of the CFRW Advocate's Office. The update is for information only. CFRW official positions on legislation are stated immediately preceding the stated legislation or immediately following the stated legislation in this report.
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Disclaimer: The Capitol Update is an activity of the CFRW Advocate's Office. The update is for information only. CFRW official positions on legislation are stated immediately preceding the stated legislation or immediately following the stated legislation in this report.