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. 207 - June 28, 2024

State Politics

• State legislators came to an agreement with Governor Newsom on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year, and that budget was approved Wednesday. The revised budget softens some of Newsom’s proposed cuts to schools and health care, but it still makes significant cuts to address the state’s budget deficit. Calmatters also explains why the state’s revenues are so volatile year-to-year.

City Politics

• Protesters demonstrated outside of a marketing presentation conducted by a firm that sells real estate in Israel’s illegal settlements in the West Bank. The protest was met by violence from right wing counter-protestors. Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky were among the local politicians who chose to knowingly misread the protest as motivated by anti-semitism, and to use that as a pretext to call for more policing. Today a motion to divert $1 million towards private contractors to increase armed security patrols was fast-tracked through council committees and will be voted on in full council this coming Tuesday.

Housing Justice

• The Supreme Court has ruled in the matter of Grants Pass v Johnson, deciding 6–3 to strip protections against cruel and unusual punishment from people experiencing homelessness. The decision, which overturned a 2018 district court ruling, split along partisan lines. Governor Newsom, who filed an amicus brief in support of the case, joined many California Democrats in celebrating the decision of the conservative justices. Statement from Local Progress here, via Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez.

• The results of Los Angeles’ 2024 Homeless Count showed a moderate decrease in the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness for the first time in years.

• Last week, a court overturned the evictions of over 100 tenants of Barrington Plaza, ruling that their landlord had exceeded the scope of the Ellis Act. LA Public Press reports on the larger group of tenants who, facing the threat of this eviction, voluntarily abandoned their apartments. Capital & Main explains how the Ellis Act normally functions – as an eviction tool that shrinks the stock of affordable housing.

Health Care

• A seasonal spike in COVID infections, enhanced by the spread of more transmissible variants, has been particularly sharp in California. Mayor Karen Bass is among those infected in this most recent wave, a few days after suggesting banning COVID masks at protests.

Transportation

• Metro has unanimously voted to create its own in-house police department. Development will be phased in over 5 years, as which current contracts with LAPD and LASD expire.

• Streetsblog LA checks in once more on the implementation of Measure HLA.

• A high speed rail corridor between Los Angeles and San Francisco has cleared a major permitting hurdle.