• Outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press on Dec. 21 and discussed California’s deadly and unprecedented wildfire season, pointing to the role climate change has played in the fight against wildfires. “It’s bigger because fire season, instead of being a few months around the summer, a little bit in the fall, is yearlong,” Brown said. “And we saw that with the fires both in the north and southern part of the state at the same time. That hasn’t happened before.” Brown challenged President Donald Trump and Congress to address the issue of climate change directly, with “tens of billions in renewable energy, in more efficient batteries, to get us off fossil fuel as quickly as we can.” “I would point to the fact that it took Roosevelt many, many years to get America willing to go into World War II and fight the Nazis,” Brown said. “Well, we have an enemy, though different, but perhaps, very much devastating in a similar way. And we’ve got to fight climate change. And the president’s got to lead on that.”
• The Senate Judiciary Committee’s ranking member, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), wrote a letter to incoming committee chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), on Dec. 27 asking Graham to hold a hearing on the treatment of immigrant children by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The request came after two young children died in Border Patrol custody in December. “These heartbreaking incidents are sadly consistent with previous reports of widespread abuse of children in immigration custody and the judgement of medical and mental health organizations that Border Patrol facilities are not adequately staffed or equipped to properly care for children,” Feinstein wrote. “Our committee is uniquely situated to examine these issues and I hope we can schedule a hearing immediately in the new year.”
• U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (D-California) posted to Twitter on Dec. 29 regarding the partial shutdown of the federal government, writing, “It’s that time of the month when the bills start piling up. Rent. Credit cards. Car insurance. Student loans. And for the federal workers and government contractors affected by the #TrumpShutdown who are living paycheck-to-paycheck, any disruption in pay will have consequences.”
• The office of state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) joined lawmakers, advocates, and actresses Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette on Dec. 20, to celebrate “new #metoo laws taking effect” in the new year. Two of those included Jackson’s own Senate Bill 224, which expands sexual harassment protections to prohibit harassment by investors, elected officials, lobbyists, directors, and producers, and Senate Bill 1300, which closes “loopholes in the law that allow employers to avoid sexual harassment and discrimination laws,” according to a press release. Other bills celebrated were Senate Bill 820, known as the STAND Act, authored by state Sen. Connie Leyva (D-Pomona), which bans confidentiality provisions in settlement agreements in cases of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and sex discrimination, and Assembly Bill 3082 authored by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), which will develop a policy to report, document, and investigate sexual harassment claims made by in-home supportive services employees. “The #metoo movement exposed the rampant culture of sexual assault and harassment many women and some men have endured for decades. This legislation represents a major step forward as California begins to address the loopholes in law that have allowed such behavior to persist for so long,” Jackson stated. “We owe a debt of gratitude to all who bravely shared their stories, often in the face of intimidation and fear or retaliation. Without them, we would not have the reforms we are celebrating here today.”
This article appears in Jan 3-10, 2019.