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.
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Issue No. 47 - February 19, 2021
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After some postponement to allow for more community input, the LAUSD School Board heard and unanimously approved a motion to defund the school police budget by $25 million, reduce the number of officers by a third, and divert that funding instead to programs dedicated to Black student achievement. The motion also bans the use of pepper spray on school campuses.
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The Operations, Safety and Customer Experience Committee of the Metro Board discussed a motion to increase the policing budget by $110 million (while delaying service restorations). Following a widespread call to action, public comment was unanimously opposed to the motion. The committee declined to vote on it, instead sending it back to the full board so that it can receive more public comment and attention.
- The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to authorize $9 million in funding for the Community Safety Partnership, a policing program that operates within housing developments. The program is overseen by the LAPD but funded out of the Housing Authority’s budget. The decision to divert these funds to the CSP is opposed by residents of those developments, and the mechanics of the council vote were discussed in detail in real time on Ground Game LA’s livestream of the council meeting.
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- The California Labor Commissioner has taken action in favor of four Los Angeles McDonald’s workers who were fired illegally last summer. The workers had gone on strike to protest unsafe working conditions related to the coronavirus pandemic. The franchisee has been ordered to pay for lost wages and offer the workers their jobs back.
- Democrats in the state Legislature have diverged from Governor Newsom on school reopenings, introducing a bill that would require localities to offer vaccines to all on-site school personnel. Newsom’s current plan does not require vaccines to be available to teachers before reopening, and he criticized the Legislature’s plan as not being “fast enough.”
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- A state Senate bill introduced this week would ban new fracking permits starting in 2022, and completely phase out fracking in the state by 2027.
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- On Wednesday, the California State Legislature passed a bill that would allow the state to distribute $600 stimulus payments to low-income residents. Some Californians are questioning why the checks will not be sent to more people in need. Stringent eligibility requirements mean that only residents earning up to $30,000 per year are eligible.
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