First day of California legislative session brings pro-cease-fire protest and parents’ rights fight

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

AN EVENTFUL FIRST DAY BACK FOR LAWMAKERS, STARTING WITH PARENTS’ RIGHTS...

It was an eventful return to the California Capitol on Wednesday.

First, a nonpartisan group of parents’ rights activists and detransitioners (people who formerly identified as trans who medically transitioned, and then medically detransitioned) held a press conference to announce a lawsuit against Attorney General Rob Bonta over how he titled their ballot initiative.

Organizers with Protect Kids California are trying to get the initiative on the November 2024 ballot. The effort, which they called the Protect Kids of California Act of 2024, would overhaul preexisting laws that affect trans minors.

It would implement a statewide parental notification policy requiring school staff to inform teachers if students request to go by a different name or use different pronouns, repeal state education code that lets students play on sports teams that align with their gender identity, and bar gender affirming health care for trans minors.

Bonta titled it the Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth initiative.

“Under the election code, (Bonta) was required to provide, and I quote, ‘a true and impartial statement of the purpose of the measure in such language that the ballot title and summary shall neither be an argument nor be likely to create prejudice for or against the proposed measure.’ Mr. Bonta’s Title and Summary is prejudicial,” said Erin Friday, an executive board member of Protect Kids California.

“This change is designed to influence and interfere with the democratic process to push the agenda to harm children, women, and girls. He also uses language to confuse the voter by using the term ‘female’ for a trans-identified man. We all know what a female is, and it is not a male.”

Assemblyman Bill Essayli, R-Riverside, spoke at the press conference. Essayli proposed a state law last year that would have implemented a statewide parental notification policy, but it failed to pick up any traction in what he called the “arrogant” legislature.

“They’re so pompous they refused to even give my bill a hearing,” he said of his colleagues in the Assembly.

“They didn’t even want to take it to a vote. That’s how little regard they have for the people of this state.”

... AND PRO-CEASE-FIRE PROTESTS

With Lindsey Holden...

Speaking of the Assembly, its members didn’t get very much done in their first day back after recess when protesters calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war shut down its session.

Hundreds of demonstrators from Jewish anti-war organizations packed the Rotunda and the Assembly gallery and began chanting and unveiling banners around 1:30 p.m.

Sacramento City Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela spoke at the demonstration.

“I think it’s important to show elected officials that other elected officials are using our platform, and we’re okay,” she told The Sacramento Bee before she spoke.

Assemblyman Alex Lee, D-San Jose, has supported a cease-fire and supported the demonstration Wednesday.

“I think it’s a great, effective way to convey that message in a very peaceful manner,” he told The Bee’s Lindsey Holden. “No one got hurt, obviously. Nothing was really disrupted. So I’m glad they got their point across.”

He also said the protesters, who sang in the Assembly gallery, had “lovely voices.”

Other lawmakers weren’t so impressed.

“People have the right to free speech, but impeding important government functions like us coming back into session — we have big important issues to face,” said Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher of Yuba City. “The $68 billion deficit, cost of living is out of control in this state, an insurance crisis, a public safety crisis. We have work to do.”

He called the protest “totally unacceptable.”

The Assembly was conducting routine business and recessed during the protests before adjourning for the day. The Senate, which convened at 2 p.m., met without disruption. Both bodies will return to the Capitol at 9 a.m. on Thursday.

NEWSOM TO TURN EMPTY L.A. MALL INTO ‘WORLD-LEADING’ RESEARCH AND INNOVATION HUB WITH UCLA

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that he’ll help transform an empty Los Angeles shopping mall into two University of California at Los Angeles research centers.

The new UCLA Research Park will include the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy at UCLA and the Center for Quantum Science and Engineering.

Newsom’s office allotted hundreds of millions of dollars for the immunology and immunotherapy research institute, and according to a press release, the effort “is also supported by a group of founding donors from the biotechnology, academic, entrepreneurship, and philanthropic communities.” Newsom’s office also partnered with Google, Hudson Pacific Properties, and Macerich on the project.

“California is the epicenter of global innovation — from the creation of the internet to the dominance of artificial intelligence, humanity’s future happens here first. Leveraging the next waves of technology and science — quantum computing and the immense potential of immunology — the UCLA Research Park will cement California’s global economic, scientific, and technological dominance into the 22nd century, and beyond,” Newsom said.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Tell me again how the GOP are pro-life...”

- Gov. Gavin Newsom, via X, formerly known as Twitter, on Republican Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen declining federal funds that would go toward food-insecure children

Best of The Bee:

• Weather conditions in the Northern California foothills could be treacherous this weekend, the National Weather Service said, via Angela Rodriguez.

• See protesters disrupt California Assembly calling for Israel-Hamas war cease-fire, via Hector Amezcua.

• A man arrested, along with this son, in the shooting death of a 10-year-old boy over the weekend in Sacramento County pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday, via Ishani Desai.