Assemblymember Adam Gray, a Merced Democrat: “The most important takeaway from this announcement … is that there is now a proposal in California to suspend the gas tax with bipartisan support.” But, as Senate Republican Leader Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita was quick to point out, his caucus had proposed the very same idea last year . “While bipartisan support is welcome, it only matters if the Democrats can help us get the proposal across the finish line,” he said. And it’s unclear if they can. Alex Stack, a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom, told me in a statement “there’s no guarantee under this proposal that the benefits will be passed on to Californians who’ve been paying more at the pump, and not just go back to oil companies and corporations.”
To implement Newsom’s proposal to suspend July’s scheduled increase to the gas and diesel excise tax, lawmakers would need to pass it by Sunday. But the Legislature has yet to introduce any bills on the matter. Stack: “It is clear now that the Legislature will not act in time to provide that immediate, limited relief.” Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon told me earlier this week: “We stand ready to act as soon as the governor joins us in supporting a plan that provides stronger relief for California families.”
Senate Democrats’ pitch: $8 billion in cash rebates, in the form of $200 checks to individuals earning less than $125,000 and each taxpayer and child in families earning less than $250,000. Their budget blueprint also projects California will have a whopping $68 billion surplus — significantly more than the record $45.7 billion surplus Newsom’s administration predicted in January. The Associated Press has more details on their spending proposals. Atkins :This budget means “we’re able to help even more people, bolster their ability to achieve their dreams, and ensure there will be both resources and a more equitable system in place now, and for future generations of Californians.”
Legislative Analyst Gabriel Petek wrote this week :“The central implication of our findings is stark and suggests that in the interest of fiscal resilience, the Legislature should consider rejecting a substantial portion of the governor’s January spending proposals.”
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Bonta :“For more than half a century, the plastics industry has engaged in an aggressive campaign to deceive the public, perpetuating a myth that recycling can solve the plastics crisis. The truth is: The vast majority of plastic cannot be recycled, and the recycling rate has never surpassed 9%. Every week, we consume the equivalent of a credit card’s worth of plastic through the water we drink, the food we eat and the air we breathe.” As CalMatters’ environment reporter Nadia Lopez notes, most plastics are sourced from fossil fuel chemicals and don’t fully erode. Instead, they dissolve into smaller pieces called microplastics, which leach toxic chemicals that endanger human health, pollute oceans and natural habitats and poison wildlife . New research published Tuesday by UC Davis scientists found that microplastics also help spread germs, contaminating fish and the humans and other animals that eat them.
The Newsom administration unveiled an “Extreme Heat Action Plan” to help the state respond to increasingly hotter temperatures. And the board of directors for California’s beleaguered high-speed rail project certified the final environmental report for a 90-mile track between San Jose and Merced — bringing that section “closer to being ‘shovel ready’ for when pre-construction and construction funding becomes available.” Nearly 400 miles of the 500 mile-system have now been environmentally cleared, with construction underway along 119 miles in the Central Valley, according to the high-speed rail authority .
As if to drive home the point, Levine touted a legislative committee’s Wednesday passage of his bill to strengthen state disclosure requirements for people paid to influence mergers and acquisitions of domestic insurance companies and health care service plans — an effort he said was “necessitated” by “a pay-to-play scandal” involving Lara. Meanwhile, Lara — who has garnered endorsements from the California Democratic Party ,California Environmental Voters , Newsom, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, labor groups and other state and national officials — announced the sentencing of a former Camarillo insurance agent for stealing insurance premiums from business owners.
2022 Election
Dr. Chelsea Lee, a UC Davis Care Center specialist in infant and early childhood mental health :“The first five years are crucial for setting the foundation for functioning across the lifespan up to teenage years, adolescence, adulthood and everything.”
