State GOP releases priorities

Dec. 6—On Monday during the first day of a new legislative session, state Assembly Republicans detailed their priorities and legislative proposals for the upcoming year.

Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, said the set of priorities, called "California Promise," are solutions that are "desperately needed to address a number of the state's biggest issues." Some of those issues identified by Gallagher and fellow Republicans include affordability, crime, homelessness, education, water and wildfires.

"Republicans are here in Sacramento to make something abundantly clear: We can have a California that is affordable to live in, safe for our families and where our kids get the best education," Gallagher said in a statement. "The Democrat super-majority has two options. They can either stand in the way of progress, or they can join us to help better the lives of millions of Californians. Republicans are the party of innovative solutions and we're ready to act on Day 1."

Included in the "California Promise" were several proposed solutions to areas of focus the state's Republican party is hoping to fix. They include several tax changes and proposals related to crime.

Each proposal falls under general topics that include affordability, public safety, education, and water and fire. The following is the "California Promise" as presented by Assembly Republicans.

Affordability — Gas Tax Holiday: Suspends the state's gas tax for one year to reduce gas prices by ~50 cents/gallon. Enacts a "gas tax holiday" to provide immediate relief at the pump, and backfills lost transportation revenues from the state's General Fund. Joint Authors: Asm. Vince Fong, Asm. Juan Alanis, Asm. Josh Hoover — Gas Tax Annual Increase Suspension: Allows the Governor to suspend the annual gas tax increase due to hardship on low-income and middle class families. Provides an escape hatch to prevent gas taxes from automatically increasing as Californians struggle with record high gas prices and 40-year high inflation. Author: Asm. Diane Dixon

Housing/homelessness — Encourage Housing: Provide a property tax bonus to cities and counties that approve more housing by redirecting funds from the document-recording fee (SB 2, Atkins, 2017). Incentivize locals to provide more housing production rather than imposing state mandates will speed the permit and review process, thereby increasing affordability for Californians. Author: Asm. Josh Hoover — Regional Shelters for Homeless: Budget request to redirect funding that has been recently drawn back from counties and cities to fund existing and newly-created regional Joint Powers Authority (JPA) trusts that provide shelter and services. Author: Asm. James Gallagher — Homeless Encampments. Legislation that would ban homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools. (*there are some penalty concerns that it would be a ticket that the homeless could not or would not pay. If we make it a misdemeanor it would come with a short jail sentence.) Author: Asm. Josh Hoover

Public safety — Early Release Transparency: Requires the record of a prison inmate's early release calculation to be made available to the public upon request — Provides that the calculation for a particular inmate's date of release from prison is a public record which must be disclosed upon request: This would provide that the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation may not withhold these types of records from public disclosure. Author: Asm. Diane Dixon — Increase Penalty for the Sale, Possession for Sale, and Transportation of Fentanyl: Increase penalties for possession for sale, sale, transportation, and importation, or offering or attempting to commit those acts with regard to fentanyl, a powerful opiate drug.: This proposal would increase the penalties associated with illegal drug trafficking of this dangerous drug. Joint Authors: Asm. Jim Patterson, Asm. Juan Alanis, Asm. Josh Hoover — Restore Pre-Prop 47 Felonies: Increase penalties for serial theft crimes: Reenact the penalties which existed for the crime of committing petty theft with multiple prior theft-related convictions which existed prior to their repeal by Proposition 47 of 2014. This change requires approval by the voters. Joint Authors: Asm. Josh Hoover, Asm. Laurie Davies — Human Trafficking: Requires the Office of Emergency Services to create grants for prosecutors to use "vertical prosecution" in human trafficking cases: This would, conditional on an appropriation by the Legislature, provide funding to up to 11 counties to use a system in which the same prosecutor handles all stages of the human trafficking case, saving the victim from being traumatized by having to deal with multiple prosecutors and allowing that prosecutor to develop expertise in these cases. Author: Asm. Kate Sanchez — Victim Restitution: Expand direct restitution paid by convicted criminals to their victims to include "non-economic damages" in additional violent felony offense cases: This would add criminal offenders who commit rape, stalking, kidnapping, mayhem, human trafficking, and one kind of child sexual abuse omitted from existing law to the existing child sexual abuse exception to the general rule that direct restitution orders do not apply to the victim's "non-economic damages." Author: Asm. Tom Lackey — Gun Violence: Restore the mandatory nature of the 10-20-Life law firearms enhancements: This will ensure that anyone who brandishes, discharges, or inflicts great bodily injury with a firearm during the commission of a specified violent felony will be held accountable. Author: Asm. Bill Essayli — Sentencing Enhancements: Exempts firearms use-related sentencing enhancements from a current law requirement judges must dismiss a sentencing enhancement if it is "in the furtherance of justice." Instead provides that a judge would not be required to dismiss the enhancements for criminal defendants who commit felonies while armed with, or while using, firearms during the commission of a felony, ensuring these criminals will serve longer sentences. Author: Asm. Tri Ta

Education — Curriculum Transparency Revised: Promotes transparency of school curriculum: Requires local education agencies to notify parents about their right to review curriculum. Ensures that parents know they may review school curriculum. Author: Asm. Joe Patterson — Education Act: This proposal will allow students to transfer to another school within a district or to another school outside of the district if the school the student attends is in the red or orange performance band in two or more of the state measures for three consecutive years on the school dashboard. Establishing this accountability will allow the students affected by a struggling school to choose another school within the district or in another school district; this will increase education equity for our students who will suffer if they are forced to remain in struggling schools. Author: Asm. Josh Hoover — Freedom to Choose Excellence in Education Act: This proposal will allow students in the lowest performing subgroup at a school to transfer to another school within a district or to another school outside of the district if the school the student attends is in the red or orange performance band in two or more of the state measures for three consecutive years on the school dashboard. Establishing this accountability will allow the students most affected by a struggling school to choose another school within the district or in another school district; this will increase education equity for our most vulnerable students who suffer under the achievement gap and are most likely to suffer if they are forced to remain in struggling schools. Author: Asm. Bill Essayli — Money Follows Student: Require supplemental and concentration grants to follow pupils to their school site would ensure those funds generated by those pupils are spent on personnel and programs to serve those pupils. This would enact the "backpack" method of distributing supplemental funds, rather than allow the "dump truck" policy to continue. Author: Asm. Kate Sanchez — Protecting Students from Drug Overdose: Require schools to have an opioid antagonist (Narcan) onsite to rescue students from an accidental overdose: Requires each school to have no less than two doses Narcan onsite to be available to aid persons suffering from an opioid overdose. Ensures that our schools are prepared for the potential of an opioid overdose, which is becoming more common as Fentanyl is flooding into California and doses have been made to look like prescription drugs and even candy. Author: Asm. Joe Patterson — CTE Expansion: Expand and stabilize career technical education (CTE): Increases funding for the Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program (CTEIG) and provides funding for regional career technical education coordinators. Expresses the state's commitment to effective programs for our working class families through high quality CTE. Author: Asm. Josh Hoover

Water and fire — Water Project Shot Clock: Require Timely Department Permitting Decisions for Water Supply Projects Require state agencies within the Natural Resources Agency to make determinations on permit applications needed for the construction or operation of a large water supply project. Author: Asm. Devon Mathis — Codify Water Storage Goals: Codify the goal of achieving 3.7MAF (million acre feet) of new water storage by 2030 and 4MAF by 2040 set in Governor Newsom's administrations "Water Supply Strategy." Author: Asm. Devon Mathis — Water Projects: Expedited Judicial Review — Add water storage and conveyance projects that increases water supply to the types of projects that can benefit from an existing streamlined judicial review process for lawsuits under the California Environment Quality Act (CEQA). Reduces costs and delays by expediting lawsuits under CEQA for projects that provide water to Californians. Joint Authors: Asm. Bill Essayli, Asm. Vince Fong — Guaranteed Funding For Healthy Forests & Water: Constitutional Amendment for Base Level of Funding for Water, Forests: Require 3% of General Fund revenues for the State's water infrastructure needs (1.5%) and for Healthy Forest and Wildfire prevention activities (1.5%). Places guaranteed funding for critical investments needed to ensure available water for the environment and people. Places guaranteed funding for environmental health of our forested lands, which will combat wildfire risk and spur workforce development in rural areas of the state. Author: Asm. Juan Alanis — Biomass Transportation Subsidy: Grant Program to "Remove the Fuel": Create a grant program that will help offset the transportation cost of removing biomass waste from our wildfire prone areas of the state to a biomass facility. Helps pay for removing combustible from the environment so that it may be turned into a renewable energy for California. Author: Asm. James Gallagher — Wildfire Emissions: Accurate Emission Reporting — Incorporate Wildfire Emissions in State Emission Reporting: Require the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to include greenhouse gas emissions from wildlands and forest fires in its scoping plan. Author: Asm. Bill Essayli

Dems unveil price gouging proposal

In response to high gas prices and counter to how California Republicans have been pushing for a suspension of the state gas tax as a solution, Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, announced Monday a new proposal to penalize oil companies that the governor believes are profiting from higher prices at the pump.

"California's price gouging penalty is simple — either Big Oil reins in the profits and prices, or they'll pay a penalty," Newsom said in a statement on Monday. "Big Oil has been lying and gouging Californians to line their own pockets long enough. I look forward to the work ahead with our partners in the Legislature to get this done."

According to the Governor's Press Office, "the proposal would discourage oil refiners from fleecing Californians by making it unlawful to charge excessive profits — excessive refiner margins would be punishable by a civil penalty from the California Energy Commission (CEC). The amount of the maximum margin and the amount of the penalty will be determined through the legislative process. Any penalties collected by the penalty will go to a Price Gouging Penalty Fund and then given back to Californians."

The governor's office said the proposal will improve transparency and oversight of the oil industry by the state by expanding the CEC and the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration's ability to investigate and obtain information on costs, profits and pricing. The state would do this so that it could "better address the causes of pricing irregularities and minimize the likelihood of future supply or price shocks."

Whether or not such a proposal would succeed in the Legislature remains to be seen.

According to a recent report by The Sacramento Bee, there are a "handful of moderate Democrats and Republicans" in the California Senate and Assembly who have recently been the beneficiaries of millions in oil contributions.

"The industry spent heavily on the primary and general elections to boost business-friendly Republicans and moderate Democrats," The Sacramento Bee reported. "One oil-funded political action committee — the Coalition to Restore California's Middle Class, Including Energy Companies who Produce Gas, Oil, Jobs and Pay Taxes — spent more than $8 million in 2022 backing candidates it thought might be helpful in fending off a possible windfall penalty. In addition to PAC spending, individual companies also gave directly to some candidates."

Considered "one of the biggest players" in statewide races, the Coalition to Restore California's Middle Class PAC backed eight legislative candidates — four Republicans and four moderate Democrats — during the last month before the Nov. 8 election, The Sacramento Bee reported. Five of the eight candidates won.

According to the governor's office, from July to September this year, oil companies reported record high profits. Examples provided by the office include: — Phillips 66 profits jumped to $5.4 billion, a 1243% increase over last year's $402 million — BP posted $8.2 billion in profits, its second-highest on record, with $2.5 billion going toward share buybacks that benefit Wall Street investors — Marathon Petroleum profits rose to $4.48 billion, a 545% increase over last year's $694 million — Valero's $2.82 billion in profits that were 500% higher than the year before — PBF Energy's $1.06 billion that was 1700% higher than the year before — Shell reported a $9.45 billion haul that sent $4 billion to shareholders for stock buybacks — Exxon reported their highest-ever $19.7 billion in profits — Chevron reported $11.2 billion in profits, their second-highest quarterly profit ever

The proposal introduced Monday by Skinner is part of a special session called by Newsom to "pass a price gouging penalty." The Legislature also is expected to consider efforts to empower state agencies to more closely review gas costs, profits and pricing as well provide the state with greater regulatory oversight of the refining, distribution and retailing segments of the gasoline market in California, officials said.

"Putting the governor's proposal in print allows the Legislature and the public to begin discussions on this important issue," Skinner said in a statement. "No one can deny that California's gas prices were outrageously high compared to other states. And those high prices hurt California consumers and businesses."

In Monday's announcement, the Governor's Press Office said that Newsom's order in September to switch to winter blend gasoline and a demand for accountability from oil companies and refiners that do business in California has recently reduced gas prices to as low as $4.77 per gallon — a decrease of about $1.65 since the peak of $6.42 per gallon.