The Thorn West is a state and local news roundup compiled by members of DSA-LA. Our goal is to provide a weekly update on the latest developments in state and local politics, and to track the issues that are most important to our membership.

Issue No. 155 - April 28, 2023

State Politics

• Governor Newsom quickly signaled his opposition to a state Senate plan that would accommodate a projected budget deficit with a tax on corporate profits. In Newsom’s proposed budget, the projected deficit is met with spending cuts, notably to climate preparedness.

City Politics

• The City Council Budget and Finance Committee held meetings all week to discuss the mayor’s proposed budget, department by department. Committee chair Bob Blumenfield broke with precedent and did not allow public comment after the first day of hearings.

• The People’s Budget LA coalition presented the results of their annual participatory budgeting survey to the mayor. Mayor Bass, the first mayor to meet with the coalition, responded by acknowledging “the sentiment in the room,” – a prevailing community desire to spend less money on policing – but claiming an obligation to balance it against opposing concerns in places like “Sherman Oaks.”

Housing Rights

• In Shelterforce, excellent first-person coverage of the work that went into the passage of Measure H, the Pasadena rent control measure that passed in 2022.

• LA Public Press checks in with the housing reclaimers occupying vacant homes in El Sereno, whom the city is stepping up pressure to evict. DSA-LA’s Housing and Homelessness Committee has a toolkit to show support.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• [Content warning: police killing] A civil suit brought against Los Angeles County and two sheriff’s deputies by the family of Anthony Vargas, who was killed by LASD in 2018, ended in a mistrial on Monday. Vargas was shot 13 times in the back. Plaintiffs challenged the police narrative of the killing.

Labor

• The WGA released strike rules to their membership ahead of a potential strike, which could start on Tuesday. The president of IATSE indicated that IATSE members are legally permitted to refuse to work struck workplaces.

• Jacobin reports on the complicated victory of unionized Amazon workers in Palmdale, who have received recognition and negotiated a tentative agreement. However, the agreement is not with Amazon itself, but with one of its many “delivery service partners” that act as middlemen with workers.

• Join DSA, along with many left-wing organized labor and immigrants’ rights organizations, at the march in downtown Los Angeles in celebration of International Workers’ Day on Monday, May 1.

Environmental Justice

• On Earth Day, harsh critique for Mayor Bass’ just-announced climate change preparedness plan, which contains little more than tweaks at the margins.

• It’s official: The California Air Resources Board today unanimously approved a plan to phase out diesel trucks, statewide, by 2035.

• This year’s record heavy snows are beginning to melt, leading to serious flooding concerns. CalMatters reports on the risks statewide, while LAist covers the same issue for the city.