California Legislature could set a new record for women

From CalMatters Capitol reporter Sameea Kamal:

With Adam Schiff and Steve Garvey advancing to the general election later this year, it’ll be the first time in 32 years that California won’t have a woman representing the state in the U.S. Senate. (That seat is currently held by Laphonza Butler, who was appointed after the death last September of Dianne Feinstein.)

But in the Legislature, at least, representation of women is likely to grow.

The number of women in the state Senate and Assembly is already a record 50 of 120 after the 2022 election. And based on the primary results so far, it’s expected to increase to at least 55 women after the November election, according to Close the Gap California, an advocacy group that seeks to elect women to office.

That would bring representation in the Legislature closer to matching California’s overall population: Women now make up 50% of the state, but only 42% of the Legislature. At 55 lawmakers, that proportion would increase to 46%. 

• Susannah Delano, executive director of Close the Gap, said in a statement: “Women legislative candidates are proving that the historic rise we saw in 2022 was not just a one-cycle wave. That’s fantastic news for California’s pipeline.”

If elected, some firsts would include Jessica Caloza, running for a Los Angeles-area Assembly seat, who could become the first Filipina-American in the Legislature. Tara Sreekrishnan, running for a San Jose-area Assembly seat, could become the first Hindu woman elected to the Assembly. And Lisa Middleton, running in the Coachella Valley, could become the first transgender member of the Legislature.

And according to Close the Gap, of 19 districts that are either guaranteed or likely to elect women, 13 feature at least one woman of color advancing to the general election. 

On LQBTQ+ representation, advocacy group Equality California expects California will, at the minimum, maintain its numbers. In 2022, California became the first state to achieve parity — with 10% LGBTQ+ legislators, the same as estimates of the state’s population.

• Jorge Reyes Salinas, spokesperson for Equality California, via email: “All incumbent LGBTQ+ legislators advanced out of their primaries and will likely be joined in November by out LGBTQ+ candidates running for open seats…. We hope that come November, many of these candidates will emerge victorious and that our LGBTQ+ caucus will continue to grow its size and diversity.”

In the wee hours of Sunday morning, Californians (and most of the rest of the country) will have to move their clocks one hour forward, starting eight months of daylight saving time. The change means we get to experience more daylight later in the day, but the sudden hour of lost sleep can be jarring for some people — and can even increase health risks, experts say.

Didn’t Californians vote on this issue? Yes, sort of, but it isn’t quite that simple. 

In November 2018, voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 7. But the measure only allowed the Legislature to change daylight saving time, either by establishing it year-round or abolishing it. 

A change still requires a two-thirds majority of both the state Assembly and Senate and the governor’s signature. Permanently keeping daylight saving time also requires congressional action — and that hasn’t happened.

California doesn’t have to wait on Congress to use standard time, which is what Hawaii and most of Arizona do. 

So this year Republican Sen. Roger Niello of Roseville introduced legislation to do away with daylight saving time for good and establish standard time year-round. (Westminster Republican Tri Ta is carrying a twin bill in the Assembly.) 

Arguing that standard time makes “the most sense,” Niello says his bill has the backing of the California Medical Association. A large portion of the medical and sleep expert communities also agree that standard time coincides better with people’s natural clocks. 

In its analysis of Prop. 7, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office said continuing to switch between time standards potentially affected “worker productivity and the number of accidents.”

But California lawmakers can’t quite agree what standard we should stick with. In 2021, then-Assemblymember Steven Choi proposed a measure to make daylight saving time permanent (which, again, would still be contingent on changing federal law). The bill died before it reached the Senate. 

Even now with Niello’s bill, other lawmakers expressed their preference for year-round daylight saving time — not standard time. 

Niello, however, says that last fall, lawmakers from Oregon and Washington reached out to him about making standard time permanent, saying that it would be a “good idea” for the West Coast to align their clocks. There are also similar bills in Idaho and Utah.

And while Niello recognizes that not everybody shares his preference for standard time, at least more could agree with doing away with changing clocks altogether.

• Niello: “I have become increasingly tired of making the switch myself on a personal basis.”

At California State University campuses, Black students graduate at lower rates than students overall. To boost graduation and enrollment rates, students and administrators say that providing robust cultural resource centers gives Black students the space and resources they need to feel included and be successful. 

As Briana Mendez-Padilla of CalMatters’ College Journalism Network reports, Black students make up 4% of Cal State’s student population, and within four years 23.4% graduate, compared to 35.1% of students overall.

To increase the success of Black students, the Cal State Chancellor’s Office released a report in June, recommending that Cal State campuses establish “Black-designed and inspired campus spaces” where students “are welcomed and affirmed.” Currently, 18 of 23 Cal State campuses have a Black student resource center. The five campuses that don’t are Bakersfield, Chico, Maritime Academy, Sonoma and Stanislaus. 

Fourth-year Sacramento State student Leila Cormier said the college’s Martin Luther King Jr. Center made her college experience “something I didn’t know that it could be.” Fellow students refer to the center as a “mini HBCU,” or Historically Black Colleges and University.

• Cormier: “Being able to be your authentic self anywhere on campus I think is really difficult. But the MLK Center makes it easy.”

And while Sac State’s four-year graduation rate for Black students is still lower than the overall rate, since the center’s opening in 2015, the rate has risen from 13.1% to 17.4% in 2019.

For more on Black cultural centers at Cal State, as well as the University of California, read Briana’s story.

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