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. 128 - September 30, 2022

State Politics

• Governor Newsom has vetoed AB 2632, the “Mandela Act,” which would have curbed excessive use of solitary confinement in California prisons, to conform with international standards of human rights. More Newsom vetoes here. Newsom vetoed several bills that had passed with enough support to override the veto, but this rarely occurs.

• KCET recaps the first public meeting of the Reparations Task Force since the work moved on to determining the size and method of payments. The Sentinel focused on a debate over eligibility requirements that took place during public comment. A motion that would have extended the committee’s work for another year was vetoed by Governor Newsom at the task force members’ request.

City Politics

• A judge has ruled that the Grove, a mall owned by Rick Caruso, must allow dissent against his mayoral campaign to take place on the premises, of similar scope to the events in support of his campaign.

Labor

• In an important victory for California labor, Governor Newsom has signed AB 2183, which allows farm workers to vote by mail in union elections. Newsom vetoed a similar bill last year. Newsom and representatives of the United Farm Workers and California Labor Confederation have also come to an informal agreement to pass legislation next year replacing these vote-by-mail elections with card check.

Transportation

• Due to coastal erosion affecting the stability of the tracks, train service through the beachfront town of San Clemente has been suspended indefinitely, as of today. The service gap interrupts the intercity commute between Los Angeles and San Diego. Buses will close the gap until service can be restored. Plans to move the route inland are still in the early planning stage.

Housing Rights

• Capital and Main autopsies the first year of Los Angeles’ new Tenant Anti-Harassment Ordinance, noting that a lack of resources dedicated to enforcement has rendered it almost completely ineffectual so far.

• A coalition of unhoused people and advocates, along with the ACLU, have filed a lawsuit to stop encampment sweeps in the city of San Francisco, citing the 2018 Martin v. Boise ruling, which held that forcing unhoused people to arbitrarily change locations in a city that doesn’t provide shelter beds violates the constitutional prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

Environmental Justice

• A coalition of Angelenos is calling for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to permanently end water and power shut-offs for nonpayment. More than two dozen people gathered outside LADWP headquarters downtown on Tuesday to voice their concerns at the agency’s board meeting.

• The California Air Resources Board unanimously approved a proposal to ban the sale of all natural gas–fired space heaters and water-heating appliances by 2030. The move is designed to meet EPA regulations limiting ozone in the atmosphere to 70 parts per billion, as experts say most of the state exceeds that limit.

• As California’s 2022 water year ends, the parched state is bracing for another dry year — its fourth in a row.