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Tag: california senate

  • Interactive: How California is reshaping its congressional districts

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    The Democrats, led by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, are hitting back at the Texas Republican lawmakers with a proposed redistricting map of California. The Proposed Congressional Map aims to add five Democratic seats in the upcoming elections.Redistricting, which typically happens every decade as the census updates, has created a new battleground between the Democrats and Republican-led states. President Donald Trump first prompted Republican district representatives in the GOP stronghold of Texas to redraw congressional lines to give the party an advantage in the upcoming elections. What followed was a two-week standoff in which Democratic Texas House representatives fled the state to stall the vote.Texas’ new congressional maps were eventually passed in an 88-52 vote, creating five new Republican-leaning seats.California’s Democratic leaders Thursday moved forward with an effort to change the congressional district maps. California currently has 52 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives; 43 of these seats went to the Democrats, while nine went to the Republicans in the 2024 election.The five California Republicans targeted by the redistricting plan include Reps. Doug LaMalfa in District 1, Kevin Kiley in District 3, David Valadao in District 22, Ken Calvert in District 41 and Darrell Issa in District 48.Each of these five districts is shown in the maps below. See if you can guess how these districts will be redrawn by trying our puzzle game below.

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

    The Democrats, led by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, are hitting back at the Texas Republican lawmakers with a proposed redistricting map of California. The Proposed Congressional Map aims to add five Democratic seats in the upcoming elections.

    Redistricting, which typically happens every decade as the census updates, has created a new battleground between the Democrats and Republican-led states.

    President Donald Trump first prompted Republican district representatives in the GOP stronghold of Texas to redraw congressional lines to give the party an advantage in the upcoming elections.

    What followed was a two-week standoff in which Democratic Texas House representatives fled the state to stall the vote.

    Texas’ new congressional maps were eventually passed in an 88-52 vote, creating five new Republican-leaning seats.

    California’s Democratic leaders Thursday moved forward with an effort to change the congressional district maps.

    California currently has 52 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives; 43 of these seats went to the Democrats, while nine went to the Republicans in the 2024 election.

    The five California Republicans targeted by the redistricting plan include Reps. Doug LaMalfa in District 1, Kevin Kiley in District 3, David Valadao in District 22, Ken Calvert in District 41 and Darrell Issa in District 48.

    Each of these five districts is shown in the maps below. See if you can guess how these districts will be redrawn by trying our puzzle game below.

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  • Get the Facts: Claims in attack ad against California Senate candidate Katie Porter

    Get the Facts: Claims in attack ad against California Senate candidate Katie Porter

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    Special Projects Producer

    Get the Facts: Claims in attack ad against California Senate candidate Katie Porter

    PRIMARY, THE RACE FOR CALIFORNIA SENATOR IS GETTING MORE AND MORE HEATED. THE LATEST AD GOES AFTER KATIE PORTER. BUT HOW ACCURATE IS IT? KCRA THREE CAPITOL CORRESPONDENT ASHLEY ZAVALA JOINS US TO GET THE FACTS. KATIE PORTER PLAYS US FOR FOOLS. THE LATEST AD IN THE RACE FOR CALIFORNIA SENATE CLAIMS TO SHINE LIGHT ON KATIE PORTER’S CLAIMS THAT SHE TAKES NO MONEY FROM MAJOR POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES. NO, INSTEAD, KATIE PORTER TAKES HER CAMPAIGN CASH DIRECTLY FROM BIG PHARMA. BIG OIL AND THE BIG BANK EXECUTIVES. SO LET’S LOOK AT THOSE CLAIMS ONE AT A TIME. KATIE PORTER TAKES HER CAMPAIGN CASH DIRECTLY FROM BIG PHARMA, THE FIRST THAT AN EXECUTIVE FROM SPECTRUM PHARMA PAID $500. LOOKING AT THE FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION’S CAMPAIGN FINANCE DATA. THAT IS TRUE, BUT FOR THE 2018 ELECTION CYCLE FOR THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, THAT EXECUTIVE IS NO LONGER WITH SPECTRUM FROM BIG OIL. THIS CLAIM IS TRUE IN THE SAME WAY AN EXECUTIVE OF WOOD OIL DID DONATE $2,000, BUT AGAIN THEN IN THE 2018 ELECTION CYCLE AND THE BIG BANK EXECUTIVES AGAIN, TRUE, BUT THAT $2,900 DONATION IS FROM THE 2021 ELECTION CYCLE FROM THE NOW FORMER PRESIDENT OF THAT COMPANY. NONE OF THOSE DONATIONS WERE TO PORTER’S SENATE CAMPAIGN. MORE THAN $100,000. THAT’S NOT SHAKING UP THE SENATE. THOSE DONATIONS IN TOTAL ADD UP TO $100,000. BUT NONE ARE AGAIN FOR THE SENATE CAMPAIGN. KERN THE HIGHEST DONATION WE COULD FIND FOR ALL HER ELECTION YEARS WAS FOR $83,000. SO? SO WHO PAID FOR THIS AD FAIR? SHAKE IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENT OF THIS AD FAIR SHAKE IS A POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE WITH A WEBSITE SAYING THEY ARE COMMITTED TO, QUOTE, THE NEXT GENERATION OF INTERNET AND HELPING BLOCKCHAIN DEVELOPERS WITH A, QUOTE, CLEARER REGULATORY AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND LOOKING AT THEIR OWN CAMPAIGN FINANCE DATA. THEIR NUMBERS ARE A LOT HIGHER THAN PORTER’S, AS DONATIONS FROM BLOCKCHAIN COMPANIES FOR 20 15.5 AND $14 MILLION, EVEN $50,000 EACH FROM FACEBOOK CO-FOUNDERS THE WINKLEVOSS TWINS. SHE CLAIMS NOT TO TAKE CORPORATE PAC MONEY. SO HOW TRUE IS THE AD? THE CLAIMS ARE CORRECT THAT PORTER DID TAKE MONEY FROM THOSE PARTICULAR EXECUTIVES, BUT THE MONEY WAS NOT FOR THIS SENATE CAMPAIGN. IN FACT, NONE OF THOSE PEOPLE LISTED WERE IN PORTER’S 2023 2024 CAMPAIGN FINANCE REPORTS. BACK TO YOU. THIS AD COMES AT A TIME WHEN THE POLLS SHOW ADAM SCHIFF AND KATIE PORTER IN A CLOSE RACE, WHILE REPUBLICAN STEVE GARVEY HAS BEEN MAKING BIG STRIDES, ACCORDING TO A RECENT PPIC POLL, THE TOP TWO VO

    Get the Facts: Claims in attack ad against California Senate candidate Katie Porter


    Special Projects Producer

    With the run-up to the March 5 primary, the race for California senate is getting more and more heated.The latest ad in the race for California senate claims to shed light on Rep. Katie Porter’s claims she takes no money from political action committees. The ad alleges Porter takes her campaign cash directly from big pharma, big oil, and big bank executives.Porter indeed took money from particular executives. But the money was not for this Senate campaign. None of the people listed were in Porter’s 2023-24 campaign finance reports.The group Fairshake, which is behind the ad, is a political action committee with a website saying they are committed to “the next generation of internet” and helping blockchain developers with “a clearer regulatory and legal framework.”Looking at their own campaign finance data, their numbers are a lot higher than Porter’s.See more in the full video above.| MORE | Here is your 2024 California voter guide for races, measures

    With the run-up to the March 5 primary, the race for California senate is getting more and more heated.

    The latest ad in the race for California senate claims to shed light on Rep. Katie Porter’s claims she takes no money from political action committees. The ad alleges Porter takes her campaign cash directly from big pharma, big oil, and big bank executives.

    Porter indeed took money from particular executives. But the money was not for this Senate campaign. None of the people listed were in Porter’s 2023-24 campaign finance reports.

    The group Fairshake, which is behind the ad, is a political action committee with a website saying they are committed to “the next generation of internet” and helping blockchain developers with “a clearer regulatory and legal framework.”

    Looking at their own campaign finance data, their numbers are a lot higher than Porter’s.

    See more in the full video above.

    | MORE | Here is your 2024 California voter guide for races, measures

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  • State senators respond to fentanyl and retail theft crises with new legislation

    State senators respond to fentanyl and retail theft crises with new legislation

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    SACRAMENTO — 

    A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the California senate on Monday announced a package of legislation to address the growing fentanyl crisis and untamed outbreak of organized retail thefts.

    Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), who was sworn in as president pro tempore last month, recited sobering statistics to reporters as he introduced proposals he said will remedy the issues through a more rehabilitative approach.

    “There are more than 12,000 drug overdose deaths a year in California. More than half of those deaths are fentanyl-related,” McGuire said. “Black and Latino communities have seen a 200% increase in overdose deaths since 2017. Native Americans had a 150% increase in overdose deaths in the same period. The Hoopa Valley tribe faces a fentanyl death rate eight times greater than the state average.”

    The senate’s action comes after Assembly leaders this month presented their plans to remedy the issues, an indication that the drug and theft crises will be priorities this legislative session — and in California’s 2024 election.

    The set of 14 bills announced by McGuire and other Democrat and Republican Senate leaders takes a sweeping approach. The legislation, if passed and signed by the governor, would increase access to treatment, enhance addiction services for those in the criminal justice system and penalize criminal trafficking of xylazine, or “tranq,” a horse tranquilizer laced in fentanyl.

    Among those bills is SB 1144, authored by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), which will tighten regulations to help prevent stolen goods from being sold online.

    Tinisch Hollins, executive director of the nonprofit Californians for Safety and Justice, called the package a “thoughtful approach to nuanced challenges.”

    Hollins said the package is needed “in an environment where special interests are gaslighting Californians with destructive and ineffective rollbacks.”

    She was referring to law enforcement agencies that have lobbied for changes to Proposition 47, a contentious ballot measure that reduced certain retail theft and drug offense charges to misdemeanors.

    Contra Costa County Dist. Atty. Diana Becton called for a strategic approach that strays from a one-size-fits-all approach to public safety.

    “I have seen firsthand the need to reimagine our approach to criminal justice,” she said. “To reexamine and reproach it through a lens of racial and socioeconomic disparity, with an eye to restorative justice programs and rehabilitation programs for nonviolent offenses.”

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    Anabel Sosa

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  • California Approves New Tax For Guns To Improve School Safety

    California Approves New Tax For Guns To Improve School Safety

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California lawmakers on Thursday voted to raise taxes on guns and ammunition and use the money to pay for gun violence prevention programs and security improvements at public schools.

    The federal government already taxes the sale of guns and ammunition nationwide. The government gives that money to the states, which spend it on wildlife conservation and hunter safety programs.

    California’s proposed tax, if it becomes law, would be 11% — matching the highest tax imposed by the federal government on guns.

    Most states don’t have a special tax just for guns. Pennsylvania collects a $3 surcharge on gun sales and uses the money to pay for background checks. Fees in California total more than $37 on gun sales, with most of that money covering the cost of background checks.

    The bill — authored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat from Encino — cleared the California Senate on Thursday. It has already passed the state Assembly, but Assembly members must vote on it one more time before sending it to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.

    “Don’t let politics stand in the way of saving the lives of our children and providing mental health care in our school districts,” Democratic state Sen. Anthony Portantino said. “Fear should not be on the brow of a parent when they send their kids to school.”

    It’s unclear if Newsom will sign it into law. Newsom has opposed some high-profile tax increase proposals in recent years. But he has also been on a crusade to improve gun safety, signing a law last year that lets private citizens enforce the state’s ban on assault weapons by filing civil lawsuits against anyone who distributes the weapons, parts that can be used to build the weapons, guns without serial numbers, or .50-caliber rifles.

    California’s proposed tax would not apply to people who buy the guns. Instead, the state would make the businesses that sell guns and ammunition pay the tax. However, most of the time businesses will raise prices to cover the cost of the tax. The tax would not apply to police officers and it would not apply to businesses with sales of less than $5,000 over a three-month period.

    “It’s a poll tax. It’s a tax on exercising a constitutional right,” said Chuck Michel, president of the California Rifle and Pistol Association, who opposes the tax. “We’re going to have to file a lawsuit to challenge it.”

    The federal tax on guns and ammunition has been in place since 1918 and has survived multiple lawsuits. But things changed last year when the U.S. Supreme Court imposed a new standard for interpreting the nation’s gun laws. The new standard relies more on the historical tradition of gun regulation rather than public interests, including safety.

    A legislative analysis of the California proposal said it is an “open question” whether a lawsuit challenging the tax would be successful.

    The tax would take effect on July 1 and would generate about $159 million in revenue annually, according to an estimate from the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. The first $75 million of that money would go to the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program. In 2020, the program funded projects targeting young people in gangs, including sports programs, life coaching and tattoo removal.

    The next $50 million would go to the State Department of Education to enhance safety at public schools, including physical security improvements, safety assessments, after-school programs for at-risk students and mental and behavioral health services for students, teachers and other school employees.

    Associated Press reporter Trân Nguyễn contributed to this report.

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