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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. 91 - January 7, 2022

City Politics

• The authors of AB 1400, which would create a historic universal healthcare system in California (called “CalCare”), have now proposed a tax measure to fund the program. The assembly will discuss AB 1400 on January 11. With the political fight over CalCare about to re-intensify, a coalition of activists have begun organizing to get this bill passed. Toolkits here.

City Politics

• DSA-LA is holding a candidate forum Saturday, and will consider whether or not to endorse three additional candidates in 2022: Bryant Odega and Eunisses Hernandez, who are running for Los Angeles City Council seats, and Fatima Iqbal-Zubair, who is running for state Assembly. The forum will include a Q&A open to all and a closed session for DSA members in good standing. RSVP here.

Labor

• Workers at the Jon Donaire Dessert plant in Santa Fe Springs, CA, remain on strike after voting to reject the company’s “final offer” in December. Senator Bernie Sanders has now joined local politicians in supporting the strike. The DSA-LA Labor Committee has been organizing members to join the picket line.

• Labor Notes looks ahead to the potential strikes of the new year

Housing Rights

• Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority is conducting its annual count of the Los Angeles County unhoused population, after failing to do so last year due to the pandemic.

Police Violence and Community Resistance

• Officer William Jones was named as the LAPD officer who opened fire inside a clothing store on December 23, killing an unarmed suspect and a 14-year-old customer. Even in a month in which the LAPD killed nine people, this attracted national attention, and also triggered the usual spasm of copaganda media spin, in this case suggesting that Jones was a well-meaning officer who had been trying to improve the LAPD from within. Knock LA's coverage dispels this myth.

Environmental Justice

• The holiday break saw record rain- and snowfall. The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada measured at 200% of its December 30 average, according to the Department of Water Resources. However, CalMatters reports that the drought isn’t over, as the state has adopted new regulations aimed at stopping residents from wasting water.

• A failure of the sewer system in Carson caused a leak of millions of gallons of sewage, shutting beaches in Long Beach over the weekend.

• Environmental justice groups argue that the state’s cap-and-trade program has failed on its promised emission reductions.

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