For COVID-19 updates and resources, please click here
By ELIZABETH CHOU | hchou@scng.com | LA Daily News
San Fernando Valley-based lawmaker Jesse Gabriel has been appointed to a leadership position in the state Assembly.
AB 2236 will also have officers take refresher courses every 5 years
By Evan Symon, May 21, 2020 2:10 pm
On Wednesday, a bill that would have the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) create new hate crime training measures for law enforcement officers was passed unanimously 8 to 0 by the Assembly Public Safety Committee.
Increased hate crime training
Assemblyman Kansen Chu (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe)
Friends-
I hope this note finds you safe and well.
I’m writing to you from Sacramento, where the State Legislature has recently reconvened. We are facing interesting circumstances in the State Capitol, with remote witness testimony and committee hearings being held on the floor of the Assembly Chamber to allow for physical distancing. Despite these challenges, we are continuing to press forward with our legislative agenda and working hard to deliver the best possible constituent services.
The California State Assembly’s Select Committee on Jobs & Innovation in the San Fernando Valley held its first hearing of 2020 on the state of L.A.’s entertainment industry at the American Federation of Musicians Local 47 headquarters in Burbank.
As California grapples with an unprecedented homelessness crisis, there has been much discussion about helping those currently on the streets, with far less focus on how we can prevent homelessness in the first place.
These are desperate times for Los Angeles.
Even as the city, county and state have been pouring money into housing and services, the number of people living on the street has gone steadily up. More and more of them are losing their housing — often for the first time — because of unaffordable rents and evictions.
But are we ready for desperate measures?
Alarmed that the gun used in a mass shooting in Gilroy was bought legally in Nevada, two dozen California legislators on Wednesday asked their counterparts in the neighboring state to meet this fall to discuss strengthening restrictions on firearms.
The unusual proposal was made in a letter to Nevada State Assembly Speaker Jason Frierson, who is a Democrat, and the Democrat-controlled Legislature just weeks after a 19-year-old resident of that state opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in Northern California, killing three people and wounding 13.
“While California has enacted numerous gun safety measures, this tragedy underscores the need for California to work closely with neighboring states to close loopholes and advance common sense gun safety measures,” said the letter signed by 27 Democratic legislators including Assembly members Jesse Gabriel of Encino, Reginald Jones-Sawyer of Los Angeles and Buffy Wicks of Oakland.
It’s no secret that California is facing an affordability crisis. Even with the longest economic expansion in U.S. history powering our economy, more than 40 percent of California voters say they can’t afford to live in the Golden State. For too many, the California Dream is slipping out of reach. But with targeted tax policies and increased housing production we can make a real difference for millions of Californians.
In responding to our affordability crisis, it’s vital that we address the high cost of housing. In recent years, rents have increased between 25 and 50 percent in many of our urban areas, which are already among the most expensive rental markets in the nation. And those wishing to purchase a home in California must compete in a market where the average price is more than half a million dollars. In several Bay Area counties, median home values now exceed $1.3 million.
*as adapted from the LA Times Editorial Board*
Tens of thousands of Californians who otherwise would have been at grave risk of losing their homes, their children, their ability to pursue a living or other basic human rights and needs at least had a fighting chance to defend themselves in court because of landmark 2009 legislation that gave them access to lawyers.
In a rare feat of foresight, the Sargent Shriver Civil Counsel Act that established the pilot program required and provided funding for evaluations. So we know, for example, that providing counsel for low-income tenants facing eviction in Los Angeles County increased the likelihood of tenants responding to eviction actions, of cases being settled, and of tenants retaining their housing or finding new places to live with minimal costly disruption.
Similarly good outcomes in the few other counties involved in the pilot led the Legislature to make the program permanent in 2016. Now lawmakers are considering a bill that would increase court filing fees to expand the number of people served by the program. It’s a good move that deserves to proceed.
AB 330 by Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat representing the west San Fernando Valley, would increase filing fees for some court services, such as issuing a writ to enforce a judgment or taking an affidavit.
