• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) hosted a roundtable with Central Coast chambers of commerce and business owners to discuss the impact of inflation on local communities and highlight his recently announced Inflation Action Plan and Inflation Resources Guide, according to a July 21 statement from the congressman’s office. The action plan was developed with Carbajal and his colleagues in the New Democrat Coalition in consultation with key economists and policy experts to tackle short- and long-term inflationary pressures, according to Carbajal’s office. The Inflation Action Plan calls for passing investments in domestic manufacturing, expanding tax credits to support lower health care premiums, supporting funding and legislation for affordable housing, investing in clean energy technology, and passing prescription drug pricing reforms. The roundtable was hosted at WorkZones in Santa Barbara and attended by representatives of the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce, Santa Maria Chamber of Commerce, Greater Santa Barbara Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and local business owners.
• Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on July 21 that he had signed additional legislation to bolster California’s gun safety laws, according a statement from his office. He recently signed Assembly Bill 1594, which allows state and local governments and Californians to sue gunmakers for the harm caused by their products; AB 2571 to prohibit marketing of firearms to minors; and AB 1621 to further restrict ghost guns. He also sponsored SB 1327—a bill modeled after the Texas anti-abortion bill recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing private individuals to sue abortion doctors, providers, and others for damages. California’s bill allows individuals to sue those making, selling, transporting, or distributing illegal assault weapons and ghost guns for damages of up to $10,000 per gun. “California has the toughest gun safety laws in the nation, but none of us can afford to be complacent in tackling the gun violence crisis ravaging our country,” Newsom said in the statement. “These new measures will help keep children safe at school, keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and responsibly regulate the sale of firearms in our communities. California will continue to lead on lifesaving polices that provide a model for action by other states and the nation.”
• U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-California) and Dianne Feinstein (D-California) along with several representatives wrote a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan, urging the EPA to grant the unconditional approval for a waiver request regarding California’s heavy-duty-truck regulations, according to a July 21 announcement from Padilla’s office. Amid reports that the agency is considering denying the state’s request for a waiver to have more stringent rules than the EPA, the letter outlines how California’s truck regulations are designed to significantly reduce emissions from heavy-duty vehicles while highlighting that any delay in implementing these regulations would hurt clean air access for communities of color across the state. It also outlines the steps manufacturers have taken to bring California-compliant engines and vehicles to market, and how denial would disrupt manufacturers’ plans and investments.“Heavy-duty trucks are a significant source of California’s air pollution challenges, contributing approximately one third of total statewide nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and approximately one quarter of diesel particulate matter emissions,” the letter stated. “These impacts fall disproportionately on low-income communities and people of color due to their proximity to heavy vehicle traffic and trucking corridors. In fact, recent studies show that diesel traffic is the largest source of NOx disparity by race in the United States.”
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 4, 2022.