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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. 190 - February 9, 2024

State Politics

• The DSA-LA has released its voter guide for the upcoming statewide primary election!

• CalMatters breaks down the massive war chest Governor Gavin Newsom has raised in support of Measure 1, the statewide ballot measure his office originated. Measure 1, appearing on ballots this election, would issue $6.4 billion in bonds to pay for housing and mental health treatment facilities, with its stated goal to “move people permanently off the streets, out of tents and into treatment.” The bill’s opponents—who include disability rights and housing activists—argue that it will steer money away from existing and successful local mental health care programs and toward a system of forced incarceration.

• Centrist Senate candidate Adam Schiff and his supporters are intentionally boosting the profile of Republican candidate Steve Garvey in a bid to avoid a runoff against either of his more progressive Democratic challengers, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.

City Politics

• State law decriminalized street vending in 2018, but Los Angeles has maintained zones — of questionable legality — where vending is prohibited. A new motion authored by Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez, which eliminates the remaining no-vending zones, was passed unanimously by LA City Council this week and is expected to take effect in 31 to 40 days.

• Here’s how to watch Saturday morning’s candidate debate for the council seat in CD14, which will include DSA-LA-endorsed candidate Ysabel Jurado. Ballots for the upcoming primary election began going out on February 5! Voting closes on March 5.

Housing Justice

• By a vote of 3–2, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to support an appeal to the Supreme Court filed by the city of Grants Pass, Oregon. The appeal asks the court to overturn portions of Martin v. Boise, the district court ruling that limits municipalities’ treatment of unhoused people under the Constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Hilda Solis opposed this effort to re-criminalize homelessness.

• A Republican-backed state bill that would have instituted a sleep/lie/sit ban within a certain distance from “sensitive areas,” similar to Los Angeles 41.18, failed to get out of committee in 2023. This week a similar bill (here) was introduced for 2024, with some bipartisan support.

• Efforts in Los Angeles to protect the unhoused from the effects of this week’s torrential rain have been widely criticized as slapdash and apathetic.

Labor

• On Tuesday the State Supreme Court heard arguments over whether people being held in prison pretrial should be entitled to minimum wage for coerced labor. The state constitution only provides guidelines on how to compensate the labor of people who have been convicted of a crime.

Climate

• Reporting in the LA TImes explains why global warming will lead to less frequent but more intense rainfall, such as the atmospheric storm seen this week, which pushed the county’s flood control system to its breaking point.