It’s Friday, and you know what that means – time for your favorite weekly newsletter, from California Policy Center!
The California state legislature is moving forward with AB5, which seeks to end independent contracting as we know it. State lawmakers say the bill will rein in Uber and Lyft, punishing them and others who hire independent contractors. Unfortunately, some industries – like journalism and music – would also be adversely affected. We call that unintended consequences.
Last week, LA City Controller Ron Galperin released a damning report on the city’s efforts to reduce homelessness. According to the Los Angeles Times, “the audit found that, despite having more than doubled its staff of outreach workers in the last two years, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority missed seven of nine goals during the 2017-18 fiscal year and five of eight last fiscal year.”
On Tuesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that repeals an 1872 law that made it a misdemeanor for an “able-bodied person 18 years of age or older” to refuse a police officer’s call for help in making an arrest.The California State Sheriff’s Association opposed the bill, saying, “There are situations in which a peace officer might look to private persons for assistance in matters of emergency or risks to public safety and we are unconvinced that this statute should be repealed.”
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution on Tuesday evening to label the National Rifle Association a domestic terrorist organization. Opening with a tribute to the Declaration of Independence, the resolution continued by attacking the reputation of the NRA and claiming that the organization both incites violence and “spreads propaganda that misinforms and aims to deceive the public about the dangers of gun violence.” The NRA called it a stunt to distract from San Francisco’s rampant homelessness, drug abuse and skyrocketing petty crime.
CPC fellow Larry Sand explores how California’s teachers unions have created a teacher shortage. Larry naturally has a solution: if you want to attract good teachers in big numbers, reward merit. Click here to read the full article.
California needs your help! Over the next three weeks, we are giving you the opportunity of a lifetime – literally, because we’re not doing this again! – a chance to pick the Grand Prize Winner of the Prop 65 Contest. Remember Prop 65, the state-required cancer warning so widespread that Californians know it’s best to ignore them? Well, you can now vote on the funniest/weirdest/most infuriating examples of Prop 65 overkill. Think of it as March Madness for bad legislation: We’ll vote for 10 winners this week, followed by five winners next week, and a single Grand Prize winner the week of the September 16. For more information, and to exercise your voting rights, click here. (We will not be ballot harvesting.)
Upcoming Events:
Justice Neil Gorsuch at the Nixon Library The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum hosts Associate Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch on Wednesday, September 11. Tickets are $60 per person. Autographed copies of his book, A Republic, if you can keep it, will be sold separately. For more information, and to register for the event, click here.
Constitution Day Celebration The Claremont Institute hosts a series of panels on September 14 in Orange, California to celebrate Constitution Day with Dr. John C. Eastman and the Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence. To purchase tickets for the event, click here.
Faith in the Halls of Power Timothy Goeglein, former special assistant to U.S. President George W. Bush, speaks at Pepperdine University’s Calabasas campus on Monday, September 23 at 5 pm. He will discuss his new book, American Restoration: How Faith, Family, and Personal Sacrifice Can Heal Our Nation. For more information, and to register for the event, click here.
The (Transformative) Power of Women Pepperdine University hosts AEI fellow Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Tuesday, October 1 at 6 pm in Malibu, California. Charity Wallace, founder and principal at Wallace Global Impact and board member at Pepperdine School of Public Policy, will moderate a conversation on women's rights from a global perspective. To purchase tickets for the event, click here.
Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Permission? The Pepperdine University School of Public Policy hosts a half-day conference on Wednesday, October 16 in Costa Mesa. Timothy Sandefur, VP for Litigation at the Goldwater Institute, will explore the growing reach of the administrative state—from local government regulations to federal—that are inhibiting (if not preventing) basic American freedoms. Seating is limited. To register, click here.
Rand Paul at the Reagan Library U.S. Senator Rand Paul will speak at the Reagan Presidential Library on October 18, about his new book, The Case Against Socialism. There is no cost to attend the event. For more information, and to reserve your spot, click here.
A Reagan Forum and Book Signing with Dr. Wilfred McClay Dr. Wilfred McClay, the Ronald Reagan Professor of Public Policy at Pepperdine, will visit the Reagan Presidential Library to discuss “Recovering the American Story: Consciousness and the American Past” on November 15. The event is free and begins at 11 am. For more information, and to reserve your spot, click here.
As always, if you’d like to join our movement to save California, we invite you to support us. Click here to donate to CPC.
ABOUT THE CALIFORNIA POLICY CENTER
The California Policy Center promotes prosperity for all Californians through limited government and individual liberty.
