SACRAMENTO – Today, Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher (Yuba City) issued a statement after sending a number of veto request letters to the Governor:
“I oppose these bills because they continue the dangerous Democratic policy of letting everyone out of prison and removing the penalty for crime. They also increase the cost of almost everything from housing to energy to food. They impede your ability to recall politicians who are failing their constituents and abusing their power. And, perhaps most egregiously, AB 2223 removes all civil and criminal liability and, in fact, doesn’t even allow for the investigation of, the deaths of babies who may have been intentionally murdered in late term pregnancy or after their birth. AB 2223 and the rest of these horrendous bills must be vetoed.”
AB 256 (Kalra): Allows for a defendant to overturn their sentence based on a subjective racial bias standard in their proceedings.
AB 1925 (Santiago): Removes the requirement for an individual to be a registered voter of a county or district to serve in an appointed office.
AB 2167 (Kalra): Would require the courts to consider “alternatives to incarceration” in all criminal cases. These “alternatives” are not defined in the bill.
AB 2223 (Wicks): Legalizes late-term abortions and prevents investigations of suspicious infant deaths and immunizes unlicensed abortion providers.
AB 2438 (Friedman): Diverts gas tax money from road maintenance, traffic flow, and safety projects, making roads less safe and increasing traffic along busy corridors.
AB 2582 (Bennett): States the ballot in a local recall election shall not include an election for a successor in the event that the incumbent official is recalled and deprives voters of their right to elect a successor if they recall the incumbent local officer for misconduct in office.
AB 2584 (Berman): Allows recall elections of local officials to be held at the next regularly scheduled election up to 6 months later, instead of at a special election and requires petitions for the recall of school board members to state the cost of the special election. This makes it much more difficult for voters to exercise their constitutional right to recall local officials for misconduct in office, and deprives them of a speedy process to remove such officials.
SB 955 (Leyva): Allows middle and high school students to request and be excused from school to attend various civic or political events, which can include strikes and political rallies, without any guarantee the parents of that student are aware of the student’s absence.
SB 1008 (Becker): Requires a correctional facility operated by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation or any county or city to provide inmates with free voice communications, costing potentially millions of dollars.
SB 1020 (Laird): Accelerates California’s 2045 zero-carbon electricity mandate by setting interim targets for utilities beginning in 2035 and by requiring state agencies to use 100% zero-carbon energy before 2036 (rather than 2046) and forces the state and utilities to secure zero-carbon energy resources years ahead of schedule.
SB 1106 (Wiener): Would permit criminals who have not paid their court-ordered restitution to their victims to be paroled to other states, to have their charges reduced or dismissed, and have their crimes expunged.
SB 1157 (Hertzberg): Restricts the residential indoor water use standards from 52.5 gallons per person/day to 47 gallons per person/day and requires the Department of Water Resources (DWR) to conduct studies on the economic benefits and impacts of this standard on water, wastewater, and recycled water systems.
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