Reproductive rights group calls out anti-abortion California Republicans by name

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

PLANNED PARENTHOOD GOES AFTER REPUBLICAN LAWMAKERS — BY NAME

The U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade opened the floodgates for conservative state legislatures and federal lawmakers to limit or ban abortion access. But, as shown last year in Kansas and elsewhere across the country, it’s also galvanized the reproductive rights movement, bringing new energy to the decades-old cause.

Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California are banking on that energy to produce results in next year’s election cycle with a five-figure statewide digital ad buy campaign calling out California congressmembers who “vote against abortion access every chance they get.”

“The overwhelming majority of people support the right to abortion, yet too many elected representatives do not reflect the will of those in their districts and continue to vote against abortion. They must be held accountable for these harmful and dangerous votes,” said Jodi Hicks, PPAC CEO and president.

The group notes that since the fall of Roe v. Wade, two dozen states have passed laws either severely restricting or outright banning abortions. Meanwhile, there are rumblings of a national abortion ban circulating through Congress.

“Far too many members of Congress, including some from California, support a national abortion ban. If such a ban were to pass, it would jeopardize the crucial health care access of millions of Californians and infringe upon our state constitutional right to abortion,” Hicks said.

Planned Parenthood is releasing ads calling out all 12 of California’s Republican congressmembers by name.

The ad buy will run the next 30 days.

U.S. SENATOR CALLS FOR EXTENDING DISASTER AID TO VULNERABLE FARMERS

Via Grace Scullion...

The unexpected rains from California’s first tropical storm. This winter’s atmospheric river and subsequent flooding. The historic drought before that, and last spring’s freeze that destroyed a year of nut crop. A buildup of sediment in the rivers — from erosion propelled by wildfires — that contaminated riverways and blighted salmon runs. A changing migratory pathway for snow geese that’s prompted instant decimation of fields and orchards.

These were some of the disasters farmers mentioned at a Monday roundtable with Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, at Davis Ranch just southeast of downtown Sacramento. As the Sept. 30 deadline for the once-every-five-year Farm Bill draws near, Padilla met with the farmers to discuss the obstacles they face in applying for and receiving disaster recovery aid.

Padilla introduced the Fair Access to Agricultural Disaster Programs Act, which would waive current income requirements to make more farmers, especially those with specialty crops, eligible for disaster recovery assistance.

The last Farm Bill, passed in 2018, limited eligibility to farmers with an adjusted gross income below $900,000. This barred most specialty crop farmers — those who grow products like grapes, strawberries, peaches, onions, carrots and nuts — because these products are higher value than field crops like corn and soybeans.

“We’re not talking about millionaire farmers. We’re talking about the vast majority of specialty crop farmers” he said. “The input costs for a lot of specialty crops in California are not reflected or accounted for in the disaster assistance programs,” said Padilla.

Farmers ineligible for disaster recovery assistance told stories of drawing out lines of credit or eating into their operating capital in order to repair fields, clear flood debris or make up for a year’s worth of a lost crop.

January’s floods completely wiped out Jack Kautz’s grape crop at Ironstone Winery. Kautz applied for assistance, and in the meantime took out a line of credit to cover the damage repair in time to plant his next crop. Eight months later, however, he not only hasn’t seen a dollar of funding from the Farm Services Agency — he doesn’t even know if he’s been approved.

“It’s been a devastating hit,” he said. “We’re getting so, so squeezed.”

Rick Grimshaw, owner of Davis Ranch, similarly said his farm lost entire fields to January flooding. He applied for assistance, but doesn’t know if he’ll be reimbursed.

When a disaster hits, the farmers “really need the aid right now, not six months, seven months later,” Grimshaw said.

Padilla said he was optimistic that his legislation would make it into the Farm Bill by its Sept. 30 deadline, owing to bipartisan support in the House and Senate.

SEYARTO REPLACES NGUYEN AS SENATE REPUBLICAN CAUCUS CHAIR

Sen. Kelly Seyarto, R-Murrieta, will succeed Sen. Janet Nguyen, R-Huntington Beach, as chair of the Senate Republican Caucus, according to a statement released Monday.

The change is effective Sept. 1. Nguyen is stepping down as chair so that she can focus on constituent work and her campaign for Orange County supervisor.

Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, R-Santee, praised Nguyen’s work chairing the caucus and pointed to the historic nature of her term.

“Janet was the first Vietnamese American to serve in this position. Her leadership on cutting costs for Californians and combating crime has been unparalleled,” Jones said.

Jones called Seyarto a “fearless advocate” when it comes to tackling the fentanyl crisis.

In a statement, Seyarto said that he is honored to follow Nguyen as caucus chair.

“I look forward to working with all of my colleagues, while we continue to work toward a better California by focusing on important issues like public safety, taxpayer protections, and infrastructure improvements to support our communities,” he said.

DOMESTIC WORKERS TO RALLY AT CAPITOL, CLEAN UP THE SWING SPACE

On Tuesday, hundreds of domestic workers — nannies, housekeepers, day laborers, caregivers and more — will take to the Capitol steps to voice support for SB 686, which would extend Cal/OSHA protections to private sector workers, meaning an estimated 300,000 Californians working in peoples’ homes would be covered.

Organizers say that up to 500 domestic workers could show up for the event, which starts with a 10 a.m. Tuesday rally on the west steps of the Capitol. At 11 a.m., the protesters will move to the Capitol Annex Swing Space, where at noon they will symbolically (and actually) clean the place up.

“Workers will perform these tasks to bring awareness of their often hidden but physically taxing work, and as a symbolic reminder to California Leaders that they have some legislative cleaning up to do to end the historic injustice that purposefully excluded Black workers from protections,” according to a statement from the California Domestic Workers Coalition and the National Domestic Workers Alliance.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“BREAKING NEWS: CA leaders with famous baseball last names seems like trend that will be continued #caleg”

- California Democratic strategist Michael Trujillo, referencing Sen. Mike McGuire’s apparent play for Senate President pro Tem, in a tweet.

Best of The Bee:

• At a Planning and Design Commission Meeting last week, associate city planner Laura Tuller disclosed that Sacramento will back off — at least for now — on enforcing what has been touted as a key policy in combating climate change, via Joe Rubin.

• The California Department of Justice is taking the Chino Valley Unified School District to court over its policy that requires schools to inform parents if their child requests to go by a different name or pronouns, via Andrew Sheeler.

• A Sacramento-area library was evacuated Monday morning and a nearby elementary school and high school sheltered in place after law enforcement was notified of a bomb threat containing anti-LGBTQ hate speech, authorities said. The library has been targeted by three such threats in the past week, police and deputies said, via Alex Muegge.