Hunger strike for California anti-caste discrimination bill enters 28th day. ‘I am very weak.’

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SB 403 HUNGER STRIKER ENTERS 28TH DAY

The clock is ticking for California Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign or veto SB 403, the bill to ban caste-based discrimination in the state. Tr He has until Oct. 14 to decide.

In a bid to pressure Newsom into signing, a group of Californians began a hunger strike in early September. As it entered its 28th day Monday, participants took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

“Dear @GavinNewsom today is my day 28th of Hunger strike. I am very weak. One of our memeber(sic) might faint anytime. But we committed. We want our people to be free of discrimination. Please help make California first state to pass this law,” wrote Dr. Nirmal Singh in a tweet.

While the bill has the support of many Californians of South Asian origin, others have argued that it creates a problem where none currently exists. Some contend that the bill unfairly targets Hindu Americans.

LEGAL GROUP CELEBRATES AS NEWSOM QUIETLY REPEALS COVID-19 MISINFORMATION LAW

A controversial law that sanctions California doctors who spread COVID-19 misinformation died a quiet death last weekend, as Newsom signed SB 815 into law.

Among the provisions of that bill is one that repeals the 2022 law AB 2098 — specifically, the language that “it shall constitute unprofessional conduct for a physician and surgeon to disseminate misinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19.”

The law was the subject of a legal challenge from the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which bills itself as a nonpartisan civil rights group to “tame the unlawful power of state and federal agencies.” It alleged that the law violated California doctors’ freedom of speech to disseminate what the state and the medical establishment deemed to be falsehoods about COVID-19.

NCLA President and General Counsel Mark Chenoweth said in a statement that his organization was “proud to have stood shoulder to shoulder with doctors who cared more about the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship and the First Amendment than about bowing to the state’s or medical board’s ‘politically correct’ consensus views.”

AFTER FEINSTEIN DEATH, KILEY REUPS RESOLUTION TO BAR SENATE APPOINTMENTS

Rocklin Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley on Monday used the aftermath of Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s death to resurface his resolution requiring U.S. Senate replacements to be decided by voters, not governors.

Kiley took to X to promote the legislation.

“Dianne Feinstein’s successor should be chosen by California voters, not Gavin Newsom. My legislation will assure all members of Congress, House and Senate, are elected by the people,” Kiley wrote.

Kiley has long objected to Newsom’s authority to name a senatorial successor; in his Assembly days, Kiley was a vocal critic of Newsom’s decision to appoint Alex Padilla to replace incoming Vice President Kamala Harris as California’s junior senator rather than leaving it to voters.

The resolution is unlikely to go anywhere. Even if it passed through the Republican-controlled House, the Democratic-controlled Senate would almost certainly defeat it.

UC HASTINGS NAME LAWSUIT IS CLEARED TO PROCEED

Remember last year when Newsom signed a bill allowing the removal of former California Supreme Court Chief Justice Serranus Hastings’ name from the University of California College of Law, San Francisco?

The name was removed in response to modern historians’ consensus that Hastings committed genocide against Native American people, and that he was directly responsible for the deaths of men, women and children during a militia campaign against California tribes.

As you may recall, the law was immediately challenged by a descendant of Hastings, who retained conservative law firm Dhillon Law Group and attorney Michael Yamamoto and the Center for American Liberty.

The lawsuit contended that the state and Hastings had made a deal — he would provide $100,000 to establish a college of law and the state would put his name on it.

The law has been in legal limbo ever since, as the state sought to get the lawsuit shut down as a without merit. This week, the state Supreme Court rejected that argument, clearing the way for the lawsuit to proceed.

According to the Center for American Liberty’s Mark Trammell, “The Hastings family now looks forward to their day in court.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Don’t get distracted. Gov Newsom has vetoed 3 important labor bills, including labor’s collective highest priority bill - #SB799. We must continue to organize & fight & demand respect for all workers, especially those who are striking to fix an economy that has failed us.”

- California Labor Federation head Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, via X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Best of The Bee:

• Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday fiercely defended his choice of Laphonza Butler to replace the late Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Senate, but deflected questions about his decision-making process, including whether he hopes she will run for a full term in 2024, via Maggie Angst and David Lightman.

• Roughly 40% of Kaiser Permanente workers will begin a three-day strike in seven states starting at 6 a.m. Wednesday, but company negotiators said they are continuing to negotiate a tentative contract, via Cathie Anderson.

• How will Laphonza Butler’s appointment affect the 2024 U.S. Senate election? Make that elections, via Gillian Brassil.

• A lawyer suing the city of Sacramento over its handing of the homeless crisis is demanding that the city attorney recuse herself from the case because she is a “material witness,” and is seeking to depose both her and Mayor Darrell Steinberg, via Sam Stanton.

• Gov. Gavin Newsom dealt a blow to California labor by vetoing bills that would have given unemployment checks to striking workers and workplace protections to domestic employees, via Lindsey Holden.