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. 95 - February 4, 2022
|
- Monday was the last day this year to pass AB 1400, the bill to create single-payer healthcare in California. Assemblymember Ash Kalra, the bill’s author, declined to put it up for a vote, the second time in five years that a single-payer bill with grassroots support was killed without a vote. Democrats hold supermajorities in both houses of the legislature and support for single-payer healthcare is in the California Democrats’ platform. Statement from the California Nurses Association here.
- AB 854, legislation that would protect tenants by mandating a five-year period before new owners of rent-controlled housing could evict their tenants, was also withheld from a vote, despite grassroots support.
- The Ballot DISCLOSE Act, which would add space for a short (but revelatory) list of who supports and opposes each statewide ballot measure to appear on the ballot itself, did make it out of the assembly and heads to the state senate.
|
- Civil rights attorney Erin Darling has declared as a candidate in CD 11, to take the place of councilmember Mike Bonin, who last week decided not to seek reelection.
- The Los Angeles Ethics Commission has completed its semiannual release of campaign finance data, searchable here. Representative Karen Bass has far outraised all other candidates for mayor, while DSA-endorsed candidate Hugo Soto-Martinez is now out-raising incumbent Mitch O’Farrell in the campaign for city council district 13.
|
-
Metro approved a motion to cut bus service by 12% in response to a shortage of bus drivers. The labor shortage has been exacerbated by the Omicron surge, but low starting wages have made it impossible to attract workers. The cuts are planned to be temporary, but who knows.
|
- The advocacy group KTown For All has released a report card for all LA city councilmembers’ housing and homelessness policies. Councilmembers have a lot of autonomy to shape response to homelessness in their district; this recaps how they each have been using it.
- NOlympics dispels several myths about how the Super Bowl will benefit Los Angeles.
|
- L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti will nominate councilmember Nithya Raman to the South Coast Air Quality Management District governing board. One of her top priorities: reducing emissions at the Long Beach and Los Angeles ports.
|
|
