• In late June, U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) joined a bipartisan majority of the House Armed Services Committee to send a comprehensive defense policy bill for fiscal year 2023 to the House floor, according to the congressman’s office. There will be multiple provisions included to support operations at Vandenberg Space Force Base, promote the welfare of U.S. service members and military families, and invest in research partnerships, according to a press release. “Over my past three terms in Congress, I’ve had the privilege to work every year with my colleagues on the House Armed Services Committee to craft bipartisan legislation that invests in keeping Americans safe today and in the future; and that is what we have done again this year,” Carbajal said in the release. Specifically, the bill would secure $7 million to improve Vandenberg’s space launch infrastructure, a 4.6 percent raise for U.S. service members, and more than $15 million in research opportunities for UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly. “I’m proud that this bill also reflects the values and priorities of the Central Coast, its communities, and its service members. It supports our cornerstone installation, Vandenberg Space Force Base, and the military families that call our area home—as well as the research institutions that are innovating to keep the United States on the cutting edge and protecting its interests around the globe,” Carbajal said.
• U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-California) and Diane Feinstein (D-California) called on the California Legislature to continue protecting residents from gun violence by updating the state’s concealed carry permit law after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a similar law in New York, according to Padilla’s office. The New York state law made it a crime to possess a firearm without a license, whether inside or outside the home. An individual who wanted to carry a firearm outside their home in New York could do so only if they could prove “proper cause,” according to Supreme Court documents. In New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, the court held that the proper cause requirement violates the 14th Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to bear arms. In their letter, Padilla and Feinstein encouraged the California Legislature to pass SB 918 to replace the law that’s similar to New York’s. “California’s rigorous process for acquiring a concealed carry permit has helped save lives,” the senators wrote. “Given the U.S. Supreme Court’s action, it is essential for the Legislature to respond swiftly and forcefully to replace California’s concealed carry permitting regime.”
• Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill requiring all packaging in the state to be recyclable or compostable by 2032, according to a June 30 press release. The law, SB 54, also mandates the state to cut plastic packaging by 25 percent in 10 years and to make 65 percent of all single-use plastic packaging recyclable. The legislation shifts the plastic pollution burden from consumers to the plastics industry by raising $5 billion from industry members over 10 years to assist in plastic pollution reduction efforts, and supports communities hurt the most by the effects of its waste. “Our kids deserve a future free of plastic waste and all its dangerous impacts, everything from clogging our oceans to killing animals—contaminating the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. No more. California won’t tolerate plastic waste that’s filling our waterways and making it harder to breathe. We’re holding polluters responsible and cutting plastics at the source,” Newsom said in the release.
This article appears in Jul 7-14, 2022.
