Group wants an apology + CalChamber pledges for equal pay + Who profits from AB 886?

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CONSERVATIVE GROUP DEMANDS AN APOLOGY FROM CALIFORNIA LAWMAKER

The conservative California Family Council is demanding an apology from Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-San Fernando Valley, over remarks she made in a recent committee hearing.

Schiavo was speaking in defense of her bill, AB 710, which would require the California Department of Public Health to launch an awareness campaign warning about crisis pregnancy centers. Such places, which often have the trappings of a reproductive health clinic, seek to counsel pregnant people away from getting an abortion.

Speaking to the Assembly Health Committee last week, Schiavo said, “these clinics use deceptive practices targeted at vulnerable populations to draw them in by claiming they provide abortion services, when they have no equipment nor capacity to provide abortions.”

Schiavo said that it is “extremely dangerous that these fake pregnancy centers present themselves as medical clinics. To be clear, they are not licensed medical clinics.”

The CFC, which opposes AB 710, took exception to the assemblywoman’s remarks.

“It is wholly unacceptable for elected officials to use their office to slander private citizens and organizations,” said CFC President Jonathan Keller in a statement. “Assemblymember Schiavo should publicly apologize for the lies and defamation directed towards pregnancy resource centers across California, specifically the two licensed clinics in Assembly District 40 serving thousands of her constituents.”

The CFC acknowledged that not all crisis pregnancy centers are licensed medical clinics, but said that two of them in Schiavo’s own district are; both facilities mention on their websites that they do not provide abortion services or referrals.

In response to a media inquiry, Schiavo said in an email to The Bee that many crisis pregnancy centers — which outnumber abortion clinics in California — do use deceptive tactics to lure pregnant people in for care, “when in fact, most don’t even provide reproductive healthcare services which threatens women’s health.”

Schiavo said that her bill will protect women and families by providing them with reliable, factual information about where abortion and reproductive health care services are provided in the state.

“I’ve never been shy about standing up for our community and if radical anti-choice extremists want to go after me, I’ll wear that as a badge of honor. It begs the question, what are these crisis pregnancy centers trying to hide that they would be opposed to a simple transparency measure?” she said.

AB 710 passed out of the Assembly Health Committee and now sits in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

CALCHAMBER SIGNS EQUAL PAY PLEDGE TO CLOSE GENDER WAGE GAP

Recognizing that women frequently make less than men for the same work, the California Chamber of Commerce announced Tuesday that it is signing the state’s “Equal Pay Pledge.”

The pledge signals CalChamber’s intent to conduct annual internal company-wide gender pay analyses, review hiring and promotion processes to reduce unconscious bias and promote equal pay best practices.

CalChamber CEO Jennifer Barrera said in a statement that equal pay is the law in California, and also the right thing to do.

“Additionally, studies underscore the fact that gender-equality practices increase productivity and profitability. This pledge promotes best practices for ensuring a culture and environment of fairness and equality in the workplace and encourages training so that companies can implement new policies in a way that best fits their resources and structure,” Barrera said.

CalChamber spokeswoman Denise Davis said in an email that the announcement applies just to the chamber.

WHO WOULD PROFIT FROM AB 886?

AB 886 from Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, would force social media companies and digital platforms like Facebook and Google to pay a “journalism usage fee” for news content that is shared on their sites.

Dubbed the California Journalism Preservation Act, the bill is aimed at shoring up California’s local news media, particularly in “news deserts” that lack quality local journalism.

But is that who would actually benefit from the bill?

A new analysis from the center-left, tech industry-funded group Chamber of Progress shows that the biggest beneficiaries of the proposed law wouldn’t be local media outlets like The Sacramento Bee, but national “disinformation giants” such as Fox News, the New York Post and Newsmax.

According to that analysis, Fox et al would receive four times more in revenue than major California news outlets, 151 times more than Latino news outlets in the state, 643 times more than newspapers located in the worst news deserts of the state and 844 times as much as California Black news outlets.

“Assuming the bill would result in payments to news organizations based on traffic, large national news organizations will receive the most money because they generate the most amount of content,” report author Kaitlyn Harger wrote.

Outside of conservative media outlets, the analysis showed that the LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Mercury News, San Diego Union-Tribune and Orange County Register produce the most web traffic and so would likely be the biggest recipients out of all the major California news outlets. The Sacramento Bee wasn’t included in the analysis, though the Fresno Bee was, coming in ninth behind the Ventura County Star and ahead of the San Francisco Examiner.

The analysis only looked at web traffic for various media outlets, it did not show how much money would actually be doled out to them.

According to an Assembly Judiciary Committee analysis of the bill, the Chamber of Progress is listed in opposition to the legislation. The McClatchy Company, owner of The Bee, has not taken a position on the bill according to that analysis.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I’ll keep saying it because it’s true: the nation’s highest court cannot be held to the lowest ethical standards.”

- Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, via Twitter.

Best of The Bee:

• Rep. Tom McClintock chairs the House’s immigration subcommittee — a position that makes the Elk Grove Republican one of the nation’s most powerful voices on border policy. To some, McClintock is using that voice to protect the U.S. from an only-matter-of-time invasion of bad actors. To others, that voice is spewing political rhetoric designed to score political points with his conservative base, via David Lightman.

• Two San Diego-area middle school teachers are suing their local school district, as well as Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and the members of the California State Board of Education, alleging that they have a First Amendment right to out transgender students to their parents, via Andrew Sheeler.

• California added more than 123,000 housing units in 2022, reaching growth levels not seen since 2008, via Lindsey Holden.

• Freshman Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Hayward, who pushed three major bills through committee last week — and sparked some controversy in the process — is the subject of a recall movement, according to a filing with the Secretary of State, via Jenavieve Hatch.

• Pro-gun advocates are suing California for the second time in an attempt to overturn the state’s 10-day waiting period for purchasing a firearm, via Andrew Sheeler.