Today’s vote in the Senate Education Committee is a make-or-break for SB 277, a bill that would eliminate the personal belief exemption for vaccination of children. The bill nearly faltered in its last appearance before the committee – a no vote today could stall the legislation. From Melody Gutierrez at SFGate:
“The bill’s authors made two amendments in an effort to win committee support. One allows unvaccinated children to be home-schooled with non-family or non-household members, and the other allows students in recognized independent-study programs to skip required vaccinations.
“Sens. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, and Ben Allen, D-Santa Monica, did not incorporate a religious exemption into the bill but said they were open to doing so….
“Public health officials say immunization rates need to be high — at least 90 percent of the population — to prevent the spread of diseases and protect individuals who can’t receive vaccines because of age or illness.
“Parents filed 13,592 personal-belief exceptions this school year for California kindergartners, or 2.5 percent of the total kindergarten population, according to the California Department of Public Health. Some children were given conditional entry when a vaccine was not due yet, making the total vaccination rate 90.4 percent of the 535,332 students enrolled in kindergartens across the state.”
And, for irony’s sake we note that a new study has again disproven a link between vaccines and autism.
Some California municipalities are examining their water rates after a state appeals court struck down a tiered rate structure used by San Juan Capistrano, saying that it violated the dictates of Prop 218. From Christopher Cadelago at the Sacramento Bee:
“Chris McKenzie, executive director of the League of California Cities, said the opinion demonstrates how the ballot initiative could prevent government from responding to a crisis such as the current drought, now in its fourth year and showing no signs of abating.
“The measure was sold to voters as a way ‘to protect the people from their government,’ he said. ‘It is now being used to prevent government from protecting the people’s water resources.’”
A UCLA forum on marijuana legalization yesterday offered one solid conclusion: the road to legalization has many potholes. From Michael Finnegan, LAT:
“To varying degrees, Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska have already legalized recreational pot. But the scale of legalization in California would be far bigger, and it would affect a vast existing patchwork of marijuana crops and medical dispensaries.
“A forum Tuesday at UCLA laid out a panoply of challenges the sponsors face in addressing concerns about stoned drivers, pesticides in marijuana crops, the persistence of a black market for the drug and much more.
“’There are a lot of questions that do need to be asked,’ said Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was presiding over the first public airing of the issues by a marijuana policy commission that he formed with the American Civil Liberties Union of California.”
Meanwhile, a North Coast legislator introduced legislation to deal with many aspects of medical marijuana, from licensing dispensaries to testing of products. Julie Johnson, Santa Rosa Press Democrat:
“State Sen. Mike McGuire’s Medical Marijuana Public Safety and Environmental Protection Act, Senate Bill 643, would essentially give the state’s medical marijuana laws specificity and teeth that have not been in place in the 18 years since California became the first in the nation to allow residents to use pot for medical purposes.
“McGuire called California’s current medical cannabis regulations “impotent” and said that ‘the state has turned its head on this industry.’
“’There are so many regulations governing agriculture in this state but one of our top crops has been left out and that’s marijuana,’ said McGuire, whose district encompasses a western swath of Northern California from Marin County to the Oregon border.”
A state Assembly panel advanced a bill that would phase out the use of racial mascots such as ‘Redskins’ by public schools beginning January 1, 2016. From Patrick Mcgreevy of the Los Angeles Times:
“The California Racial Mascots Act would bar the use of the name by public schools beginning Jan. 1. But to address cost issues, the measure would allow schools to continue to use sports and band uniforms and other materials bearing the name as long as they selected a new name for future use and did not buy all new uniforms bearing the old name….
“’There is obviously a lack of respect when we allow teams to brand themselves with racial slurs,’ said Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D-Watsonville), the bill’s author. ‘The R-word was once used to describe Native American scalps sold for bounty, and in today's society it has become widely recognized as a racial slur.’”
Federal prosecutors have asked that FBI agents be allowed to testify in disguise in the upcoming corruption trial against former state Senator Ron Calderon. From John Howard at Capitol Weekly:
“Federal authorities on Monday asked U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder to agree that the ‘UCEs (undercover officers) may testify using a light disguise, such as changing their facial hair, hairstyle or dress style … (they) shall be permitted to use a non-public entrance/exit to the courthouse and courtroom.’
“They asked that the general public be excluded during the testimony, and that only the judge, the defendant, court personnel and the defendant’s lawyers be present. A live video/sound feed could be provided to a separate room in the courthouse for public viewing, but without any visual images of the FBI personnel, prosecutors added.”
And, finally, The Washington Post’s Philip Bump has a word from Simi Valley Congressman Steve Knight (with video):
“Freshman Rep. Steve Knight (R-Calif.) threatened one of a group of protesters outside his Simi Valley office last week, telling him, ‘If you touch me again, I'll drop your ass.’
“The exchange was captured on video, which even a freshman member of Congress should realize was inevitable…”
"’Mike,’ the man Knight confronts, has a firm grip on the congressman's hand as he says, ‘You told me you didn't vote for amnesty, and you did. I looked it up on the Internet. You lied to me.’ Then Mike forcefully pats him on the shoulder. Knight approaches him. ‘Mike, if you touch me again,’ he says, ‘I'll drop your ass.’ ‘I shook your hand!’ Mike protests, somewhat disingenuously.”