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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.
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Issue No. 76 - September 10, 2021
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- As of September 1, Angelenos are eligible to apply for rental assistance from the state’s Housing is Key program. If you already have an application in process with the city’s rental relief program (whose funds have run out), it may still be in process: you can check your application’s status here. More on who is eligible and how the payments are disbursed here.
- September 14 is the last day to vote in California’s gubernatorial recall election. You may mail in your ballot by that date, or vote in person. Find your polling place here. Same-day voter registration is available in person for all California residents.
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- With their current contract about to expire, negotiations are still far apart between IATSE, the largest union in the entertainment industry, and the Alliance of Television and Motion Picture Producers. IATSE’s latest email to membership prepares for the possibility of a strike. Union demands include an #IALivingWage, and the easing of punishingly long workdays. Firsthand perspectives of entertainment industry workers are being shared on the ia_stories Instagram account.
- AB 701 has passed in the California Senate. It heads back to the Assembly for a concurrence vote (as it was amended in the Senate), and then to the governor. The bill forces employers such as Amazon fulfillment centers to disclose their worker quotas, and takes steps to ban quotas that are so extreme that they prevent workers from being able to take state-mandated breaks.
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Police Violence and Community Resisance
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- A recent study (found here) publicized the LAPD’s protocol of collecting social media information on their field interview cards. Last week, reporting in L.A. Taco revealed that, during the George Floyd protests, the LAPD used the social-media monitoring program Dataminr to surveil activists from Black Lives Matter and other groups. The LAPD had previously denied using the program. A recent discussion conducted by the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition discusses police surveillance of activists in the context of the LAPD After Action Report on the police closure of Echo Park conducted last March.
- The likely passage of AB 1238, which would decriminalize jaywalking, has drawn attention to the racial disparity in jaywalking tickets, a disproportionate amount of which are issued to Black pedestrians.
- The city of Beverly Hills is being sued after a police task force pretextually created to prevent shoplifting and “pedestrian code violations” on Rodeo Drive was found to be disproportionately arresting Black people. In this case disproportionately means 105 of 106 arrests.
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- Fire crews have made significant gains in containing the Caldor Fire, allowing some residents of Lake Tahoe to return to their homes. But with a heat wave expected, the USDA Forest Service has taken the extraordinary step of closing all California state forests to visitors.
- Grist covers a first-of-its-kind study that examines the death toll caused by the smoke emitted by wildfires. An estimated 33,510 people die every year from exposure to wildfire smoke.
- Southern California Gas Co. quietly agreed to settle a lawsuit against the California Energy Commission. SoCalGas had claimed state officials were failing to adequately consider the benefits of natural gas. The company agreed to drop the suit even though the agency didn’t take the steps it demanded and has no plans to do so.
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