Adopting Communist holiday pushed in California

A Democrat California assemblyman introduced a bill seeking to make “May Day,” or International Workers Day, a state holiday that would replace President George Washington’s or President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.

Assemblyman Miguel Santiago’s (D-Los Angeles) legislation calls for consolidating the two presidents’ birthdays to be observed on the third Monday in February as a single “President’s Day” holiday, but it also calls for the state to observe May 1 as “International Workers Day.”

International Workers Day, also known as “May Day,” had been observed in countries under Communism for decades and was designated as an official holiday of the Soviet Union.

In Russia, workers still march to celebrate May Day, with more than 100,000 people coming out for the traditional May Day parade in Moscow this year.

But not everyone in the California Assembly was on board with replacing a president’s birthday with a holiday steeped in communist roots.

“Are we in competition to become the laughingstock of the United States?” Assemblyman Matthew Harper (R-Huntington Beach) asked in a floor speech Thursday. “This is ridiculous. This is insane.”

“Seriously, the substitution of adding International Socialist Workers’ Day? May Day? The day of parades in the Soviet Union?” Harper added. “I’m aghast that a bill like this would be able to make it through committee.”

Santiago’s May Day bill did not pass on Thursday, but the California Democrat made a motion for the Assembly to reconsider the legislation.

Read More . . . 

Breaking the Democrat Super-Majority in Sacramento

Republican Councilman Justin Mendes is the son of Portuguese dairy farmers. His family started dairying in the 1930s and his father was a 3rd generation dairyman. 

Can the pathetic GOP get its act together?

• The Central Valley is ground zero to blocking the Leftist Democrats from having total control.
• If the GOP rolls over and plays dead again the sky will be the limit for Leftist tax increases.

(Bakersfield Californian)  -  The race between 32nd District Assemblyman Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield, and Republican Justin Mendes will be decided in November.

But their round-one face off in June will provide a critical clue about whether the Hanford Councilman and political staffer has a chance to unseat the three-term Salas.

A little political education will help here.

In the heavily Democratic 32nd District, which includes all of Kings County and the rural, Latino communities in western Kern County, Republican voters historically head to the polls at a much higher rate then Democrats.

That effect is much more dramatic in gubernatorial election years — like this one — that are scheduled halfway between Presidential elections.

32nd Assembly District
48% Democrat, 26% GOP, 26% independent and small political parties.

The Republican voting advantage is even more pronounced in primary elections like the one coming up in a little more than one month.

In other words, the June 5 primary is the absolute best time for Mendes, a staffer for Republican Congressman David Valadao, to out-poll Salas in a district where Democrats have a 22.5 percent registration advantage over the GOP.

If Mendes can’t do that, then things look bleak for him in November when more Latino and Democratic voters are expected to turn out to the polls.

But Cal State Bakersfield Political Science Professor Mark Martinez said Kings County, Mendes’ home turf, is still the key to the race.

“The battlefield there is going to be Kings County,” he said. “If Rudy can maintain 35 to 40 percent in Kings he should win this thing. He’ll probably have to pull 40 percent.”

That isn’t an easy task for most Kern County Democrats.

Kings County is heavily Republican and its voters are exceptionally active.

Martinez points to a list of Democrats who’ve been “clobbered” in Kings County — and subsequently have lost races in Democratic stronghold districts that mirror nearly all of the 32nd District.

Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez lost a State Senate election to Republican Andy Vidak in 2013.

Amanda Renteria, running for Congress against Valadao in 2014, got only 23 percent in Kings County

Emilio Huerta lost against Valadao there in 2016 with 29 percent of the vote.

Salas has topped 40 percent in Kings County in every election.

And he’s won each time.

But he hasn’t run against an opponent with roots in King’s County’s ag-powered political family.

Mendes, who worked campaigns for Valadao and, like his boss, is the son of Portugese Dairy farmers, has obviously seen the template for winning.

And he’s developed a classic middle-of-the-road campaign narrative for the Central Valley, giving his support to immigration reform and calling for DACA to be left in place and Dreamers to have a place in the U.S.

“We’re talking about hard-working individuals who work long hours and send money back to their families and pay taxes,” Mendes said. “What gets in the way of immigration reform are the extremes grabbing the microphone. We need the labor here. Unfortunately the sanctuary state law is forcing ICE to look for the bad guys among the good guys.”

He bashed Salas for voting in support of the sanctuary state bill.

And Menedes is calling for red meat Republican changes like reform of the California Environmental Quality Act, cuts to anti-business regulation and construction of more water storage projects.

He’s even issued a critique of the California High Speed Rail project.

“The budget overruns, the lack of oversight. My children (age 1 and 4) will probably never ride it,” Mendes said.

Still, he said, he will be able to operate effectively in the deep blue halls of Democrat-dominated Sacramento by reaching across the aisle.

“They will most likely lose the supermajority (in the Legislature) and they will need somebody to talk to,” Mendes said of Democracts. “I’m not going up there to be hyper-partisan.”

But Salas knows his district and opposes high speed rail, co-authored the 2014 water bond and took a political hit for voting against his party on California’s new road improvement tax.

The tax hits the poor people in the 32nd Assembly harder than it does other people because it snaps up more of their paycheck.

“They’re not always happy with me because I’m a strong, independent voice,” Salas said of his party leadership and Governor Jerry Brown.

There was tremendous pressure to vote for the bill, he said, but he stood his ground.

It cost him a chairmanship seat on a top committee.

“I was punished,” he said. “But I have no regrets.”

Salas acknowledged the challenge from Mendes, but said he’s not focused on his opponent. His focus is on serving the district.

What he’s done, he said, has given him inroads with Republicans in the 32nd District.

“I’ll walk up to a Republican house and they’ll say, “Rudy, you’re the only Democrat we’ll vote for.”

The only stance he’s taken that could cost him with Republicans is his vote for California’s Sanctuary State bill, a decision he said he stands by.

The bill restricts the type of criminals that state law enforcement agencies can transfer to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.

But it doesn’t, as Republicans like to claim, stop local law enforcement from transferring people with serious, dangerous convictions to ICE, Salas said.

But the impact of ICE raids to the communities he represents has been significant.

“ICE coming into our communities has stirred up a lot of emotions,” he said.

People are avoiding going out in public and businesses are suffering from the loss of revenue.

But Salas said it is critical to protect the workers who play a major part in California’s robust economy.

Salas said he hopes the voters of the 32nd District will look at his record and return him to office.

“I’ve been a proven, strong, independent voice for the Valley,” he said.

Mendes is hoping voters will look for a new voice to support.

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Sex Helps California Democrats to lose Assembly supermajority

Pervert Democrats Kill Supermajority

(AP)  -  California Democrats will be without a supermajority in the Assembly for months and risk losing the two-thirds edge needed to pass tax and fee increases in the Senate.

When lawmakers return in January, they will have two vacant Assembly seats that won't be filled until at least April after Los Angeles members resigned amid sexual misconduct allegations. In the Senate, a member in a competitive district is facing a recall over his support for a gas tax increase and another could face pressure to resign depending on the results of a misconduct allegation.

"It will certainly affect votes," said Democratic Assemblyman Ken Cooley, chairman of the rules committee.

Supermajorities were needed this year to pass the gas tax increase and reauthorize the cap-and-trade program. Passing a budget only requires a simple majority.

Although the changes cut into the Democrats' legislative power, tax and fee increases are less likely to come up for votes in election years because they can be unpopular with voters.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday set an April 3 primary date for a special election to replace former Assemblyman Raul Bocangera, who resigned last month amid sexual misconduct allegations. If no candidate gets at least 50 percent of the vote, a general election will take place June 5, the same day as the statewide primary.

A date hasn't been set to replace Assemblyman Matt Dababneh, another San Fernando Valley Democrat, who plans to resign Jan. 1. He denies a lobbyist's allegation that he assaulted her in a bar bathroom last year.

Sen. Tony Mendoza also could face pressure to resign depending on the results of an investigation into sexual misconduct claims. He denies improper behavior.

A date hasn't been set for a recall election against Sen. Josh Newman of Fullerton. Newman's district spans parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties and is highly competitive.

Democrats jammed a new set of recall rules through the Legislature this year — including one that requires the state to estimate how much a recall will cost.

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Leftist Democrat steps down after sexual harassment allegations

Another Leftist Asshole Bites The Dust

• I hate how phony Leftist are. They parade around claiming to better than everyone else while shoving their hands down women's pants.

(The Hill)  -  The Democratic majority whip of the California State Assembly on Monday announced that he will immediately resign following allegations of sexual harassment.

In a statement posted to his Facebook page, Raul Bocanegra said he has decided to resign "effective immediately" instead of waiting until September of 2018, as he had originally announced.

“Upon further reflection during the recent holiday weekend, and conversations with family, friends, supporters, I have decided to resign earlier from the State Assembly effective immediately, which was my original intention,” Bocanegra said in the statement.

Bocanegra cited "persistent rumors" of sexual misconduct in a statement last week to the Los Angeles Times in which he initially announced his plans to resign. 

The Times earlier this month said it had contacted Bocanegra's office in reporting a story about six women who claimed they had been sexually harassed by the state lawmaker.

Bocanegra in his statement to the newspaper said he had asked California’s Assembly Rules Committee to investigate the allegations.

On Monday, Bocanegra denied that he is guilty of such crimes but said he is “admittedly not perfect.”

“I sincerely hope that my decision to resign immediately does not embolden those who are using this serious problem in our society to advance their own personal political gain, rather it is my hope that this action can instead help to widen the doors for victims of sexual assault and workplace harassment to find justice and solace,” he said.

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Na Na Na Na Hey Hey Goodbye

How Assembly GOP Leader Chad Mayes became Benedict Arnold to many California conservatives

In this Monday, July 17 photo, Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes of Yucca Valley, left, leaves a Sacramento press conference with, from left, Gov. Jerry Brown, state Sen. Tom Berryhill, R-Modesto and Assemblyman Devon Mathis, R-Visalia. Mayes, Berryhill and Mathis voted with Democrats to extend the state’s cap-and-trade program to 2030.

GOP Jumps in Bed With Jerry Brown

(Press-Enterprise)  -  Pressure is mounting on Assemblyman Chad Mayes to step down as Assembly GOP leader after he helped Democrats extend an anti-pollution program loathed by conservatives who already feel marginalized in deep-blue California.

At a gathering at Riverside’s Mission Inn on Thursday, July 20, the Riverside County Republican Central Committee voted to ask Mayes, R-Yucca Valley, to explain his support for extending the state’s cap-and-trade program at the committee’s next meeting. Otherwise, the committee will ask Mayes to relinquish his leadership post.

“There’s a great deal of contention and anger right now with Republican voters,” said county GOP Chairman Jonathan Ingram.

To many thinking people there is little
difference between the parties.

Between cap-and-trade, which is estimated to raise gas prices by as much as 73 cents per gallon by 2031, and the legislature’s earlier passage of a 12-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase, “you’re looking at a substantial increase to working people,” said Ingram, a Murrieta councilman.

A high-ranking California Republican official also is calling for Mayes’ ouster. And Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, cited Mayes’ actions on cap-and-trade in announcing her resignation as assistant GOP leader Thursday.

The backlash erupted after Mayes and seven other GOP lawmakers, including Assemblyman Marc Steinorth of Rancho Cucamonga, voted for AB 398, which extends cap-and-trade to 2030. Cap-and-trade allows businesses to buy licenses to emit pollutants, with the number of licenses gradually declining in an effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.

Many Republicans see cap-and-trade as an over-regulating excuse for raising taxes that will boost already high gas prices and give Gov. Jerry Brown more money for high-speed rail, a project opposed by conservatives.

Mayes’ critics are incensed that he would not only vote for the bill, but encourage other Republicans to support cap-and-trade as well. After the bill passed, Mayes shared the stage with Democratic lawmakers at a Sacramento press conference.

Mayes, who was not available for comment Friday, has defended his vote, saying Republicans managed to get concessions from Democrats in exchange for GOP support of cap-and-trade, including the rollback of a fire prevention fee paid by property owners in rural areas.

“Today, we proved that Sacramento can rise above the partisan fray of our country to do right for all Californians,” Mayes said in a news release.

“This plan cleans up the environment for future generations and cuts the cost of taxes, fees and regulations by $16 billion a year for ordinary Californians. Protecting the earth and protecting your paycheck is no longer an either-or decision.”

Mayes, a former Yucca Valley mayor who was first elected to the Assembly in 2014, represents the Pass, San Jacinto, most of Hemet and desert communities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

With Democrats holding a supermajority in Sacramento, Mayes has been willing to work with them to further the GOP’s agenda. But that olive branch is considered a knife in the back to many conservative Californians who feel ignored if not powerless in a state where GOP voter registration has been declining for years.

Blowback started almost immediately, with self-described nationalist Joseph Turner on Tuesday denouncing Mayes’ cap-and-trade vote and accusing him of having an extramarital love affair with his predecessor, former Assembly GOP leader Kristin Olsen.

“It is time for an actual Republican to lead the Republican Party,” Turner wrote in a news release.

Harmeet Dhillon, a San Francisco lawyer and member of the Republican National Committee, took to social media to call for Mayes to be replaced as leader of the 80-member Assembly’s 25 Republicans.

“Many conservatives are rightly outraged at the Assembly Leader’s actions in not only voting for a bad bill on cap and trade, but also pressuring several of his colleagues to vote for the massive carbon tax scheme, and then taking a victory lap with the Democratic leadership and later comparing himself/his actions to Ronald Reagan,” Dhillon wrote on Facebook. “Nope.”

John Berry, a cabinet member with the Redlands Tea Party Patriots, said his group is considering pulling support for Republicans who voted for cap-and-trade.

“We’re just absolutely livid how (Mayes) sold out,” Berry said. “The whole idea that they’re going to sell us this whole nonsense about global warming and tank the economy (and expand government control over peoples’ lives), it’s as un-conservative as you can get.”

Read More . . . .

Special interests buy legislative seats

Government of, by and for 

the Special Interests

• Million and millions of special interest dollars is being poured into California state Assembly races. 
• The only "choice" voters are given is which one of the bought and paid for candidates to anoint. One thing for sure, the new Assemblymen will eagerly represent the Oligarchs who paid for their campaigns. The voters back home are an optional extra.

35th California Assembly District

(San Luis Obispo Tribune)  -  In the race for the Republican-leaning 35th California Assembly District, Democratic candidate Dawn Ortiz-Legg raised nearly $170,000 more than her Republican opponent, Jordan Cunningham, and outspent Cunningham by about $106,000 in the three-month span from July 1 through Sept. 24 (the state filing period differs from the federal one).

Ortiz-Legg reported raising $530,807 during the three-month period, nearly 80 percent of the total $680,058 she’s raised. Ortiz-Legg also spent more this period than any other — $361,044 of the total $498,874 she’s spent the entire race.

Ortiz-Legg, a San Luis Obispo-based solar energy consultant, ended the period with more cash on hand than Cunningham, with $189,944. She reported $3,820 in debts.

Her larger contributors this period include the California Democratic Party, the Democratic Central Committee for Marin County, the campaign committees for various Democratic state assembly members, and PACs for various education and labor unions, including the California State University Employees Union.

Cunningham, a Templeton-based attorney, raised nearly 70 percent of his total $524,055 contributions in the last three-month filing period — $361,704. He spent $254,747, leaving him with a balance of $178,246 and an outstanding debt of $20,962.

Cunningham’s donors in the last period include the California Republican Party, the Republican Party of San Luis Obispo County, PACs representing several labor unions, companies such as Phillips 66 and Phillip Morris USA, and individuals including San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow and Assessor Tom Bordonaro.

Read More . . . .

See more big spending
sacbee.com

The central coast's 35th Assembly District

One Party Rule - California Democrats could regain supermajorities in Legislature

"Corruptus in Extremis"

• As the pathetic GOP vanishes into the dust bin of history California "elections" become Democrat vs Democrat affairs. Election "reform" has taken away any other choices for voters.
• Other countries where only one party is on the ballot include Communist North Korea, Communist China, Communist Vietnam and Communist Cuba. Now the People's Republic of California joins their overseas Brothers in holding mock, pretend elections.
• Election Reform  -  But the idea of true election reform is dead on arrival.  All hail corrupt elections and the one-party state.

(Sacarmento Bee)  -  One hundred state legislative seats will be filled four weeks hence, and the Capitol will see a final wave of newcomers as 20 legislators depart under the state’s old term-limit law.

Under revised term limits enacted in 2012, legislators may remain in one house for up to 12 years, dampening the forced turnover that had seen about a third of the 120 seats change occupants every two years.

After this year, for instance, no Assembly member will be forced to leave until 2024. Thus, this could be the last election until then for interest groups to have a major effect on the Legislature’s partisan makeup and the tenor of its Democratic majority.

This could be a very rough year for Republicans as California turns ever bluer. The GOP’s share of registered voters has dipped to scarcely a quarter while those of Democrats and declined-to-state voters continue to swell, with the latter now just three percentage points behind Republicans.

Moreover, it’s a presidential year, which means a higher voter turnout that favors Democrats, especially as they gleefully use Donald Trump as a club to batter GOP legislative and congressional candidates.

Democrats gained two-thirds supermajorities in both legislative houses in 2012, but lost them two years ago, when voter turnout plunged to a record low. They need two more Assembly seats and one more in the Senate to regain their supermajorities, and there are enough shaky GOP-held districts to make it possible in at least one house.

Four first-term Republican Assembly members who grabbed seats two years ago, all in districts with Democratic registration pluralities, are under siege – David Hadley, Young Kim and Marc Steinorth in Southern California and Catharine Baker in Contra Costa County.

Two open Senate seats in Southern California that had been held by Republicans also could change partisan hands this year.

That said, even if Democrats regain supermajorities, it may not mean much in policy terms, given the substantial number of moderate Democrats who are unlikely to support such liberal goals as tax increases.

Therefore, the real legislative election issue this year is what kind of Democrats fill the seats that they either regain from Republicans or are vacant due to term limits.

Thanks to the “top-two primary,” another recent change in election law, there are 11 Assembly districts and five Senate districts that have Democrat-vs.-Democrat runoffs, and several of them are clearly contests between moderate and liberal Democrats.

The most significant is Eloise Reyes’ challenge, backed by unions and other liberal groups, to San Bernardino Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown, who belongs to the Assembly’s moderate bloc. Brown is receiving heavy support from business interests, which have counted on the bloc for support on key issues such as reducing carbon emissions.

Interestingly, all of the Senate’s Democrat-on-Democrat duels, and several of those in the Assembly, including the Brown-Reyes runoff, are also contests between candidates of different ethnic backgrounds, reflecting intraparty rivalries of another kind.

more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/dan-walters/article107368922.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/dan-walters/article107368922.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/dan-walters/article107368922.html#storylink=cpy

Read More . . . .

Free Elections in Germany

But NOT in California

American readers do not be frightened 
by all these parties on the ballot

Multiple political parties on the ballot and winning seats is what the rest of the world calls free elections. You can actually find parties on your ballot that you can believe in.
.
Maybe, just maybe, we should try free elections in the United States.
.
Berlin state election, 2016 

California has "Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month”

GOP Joins With Democrats 

To Praise Islam

I certainly appreciate the many contributions 

Islam has made to the world.

(Breitbart California)  -  The California State Assembly is to consider a bill Monday declaring August “Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month,” in accordance with a resolution proposed by Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward), and supported by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

(Update: The bill passed unanimously in the Assembly on Monday afternoon.)

CAIR was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terror funding trial, and has been declared a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates. After the San Bernardino terror attack in December last year, CAIR offered assistance to the terrorists’ family, and suggested U.S. policy was partly to blame.

The resolution declares, “The history of Islam in this country dates back to before its founding,” referring to slaves with Muslim beliefs — though, curiously, it avoids mentioning the slave trade in the Islamic world. The resolution also says that Muslims have been “fighting and sacrificing in every major war from the American Revolutionary War to present-day conflicts” — but it fails to mention the Barbary Wars, which were fought against Muslim potentates who kidnapped Americans for ransom, nor does it mention the radical Muslims who launched the War on Terror. The bill is also silent about recent Islamic terror carried out in California itself, such as the attack in San Bernardino, which claimed 22 innocent lives.

Instead, the resolution complains of “harassment, assault, and discrimination” that Muslim-Americans have been “forced to endure” since 9/11. It makes no mention of harassment, assault and discrimination by Muslims against others — such as the Muslims who jeered “Allahu Akbar” at Jewish students at the University of California Davis last year, or those who have driven a wave of antisemitic discrimination throughout the California university system as part of an anti-Israel campaign.

The bill has not yet passed, but Quirk and CAIR are seizing the moment to promote it, capitalizing on an ongoing controversy between Republican nominee Donald Trump and the parents of Capt. Humayun Khan, who are Hillary Clinton supporters and who spoke at the Democratic National Convention against Trump.

“I am proud to celebrate the first ever Muslim Appreciation and Awareness Month by honoring generations of Muslim Americans for their many social, cultural, and economic contributions to California,” said Quirk in a CAIR press release.

Read More . . . .

Only a "crazy" bigot would point out the 85 people slaughtered by a Muslim truck driver in Nice, France so I will not do that. But don't worry. Our insane Elites tell us terrorism has nothing to do with Islam. It was just a "lone wolf" or a "troubled individual."

California Assembly Speaker to fight for Senate seat

Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins talks with Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León

It's Democrat vs Democrat

• California elections are pathetic  -  Democrats, backed with corrupt Sacramento special interest cash, dominate a San Diego Senate District even though they have only 36% of the registered voters.
• Some 36% of the voters are independent or registered in smaller opposition political parties but they get zero representation in Sacramento.  The GOP virtually does not exist.
• But any calls for truly free and open elections are always blocked by the special interest funded oligarchy in Sacramento.

(Associated Press)  -  California Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins plans to fight a fellow Democrat for a state Senate seat when her tenure expires.

Atkins will fight Marty Block for his San Diego seat next year in a highly unusual challenge that could mean a bruising and potentially costly fight in an otherwise safe district, the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/1MiSp7l) reported Saturday.

"Absolutely it makes me uncomfortable," Atkins, D-San Diego, told the newspaper. "Will I be prepared to do it? Absolutely."

Atkins said she is the first speaker from San Diego and has made things happen for the community.

"I think I'm just a better return on investment long-term," she said.

The challenge would have not only regional implications for Democrats but between the Assembly and Senate, which have a simmering rivalry even though both are Democrat-controlled.

"The soon to be ex-speaker knows very well that when one house challenges another, it's a slap in the face of the leader of the challenged house," Block told the Times.

He called it "a direct assault" on Senate leader Kevin De Leon.

In a statement, De Leon declined to say whether he considered Atkins' challenge as an affront but said Block was "an extraordinary senator."

"He deserves to be re-elected and Senate Democrats are resolutely united behind him," De León said.

John Burton, chair of the California Democratic Party, declined to comment, as did an aide to Gov. Jerry Brown, the Times said.

Atkins became Assembly speaker in 2014 and was praised for helping craft a $7.5-billion water bond that voters approved last year. She has had trouble this year in advancing another priority: a bill to expand affordable housing.

Earlier this month, Anthony Rendon, D-Los Angeles, was chosen to succeed her as speaker next year.

Block represents the 39th District, which covers most of San Diego along with Coronado and Del Mar. Democrats hold a large edge in voter registration there.

Read More . . . .

39th State Senate district

The Democrat soda tax returns

Re-Distributing Your Wealth

"Right after liberal Democrats, the most dangerous 

politicians are country club Republicans."

Thomas Sowell

(Sacramento Business Journal)  -  Distributors of soda and other sugary drinks would be required to pay two pennies per ounce for diabetes programs under legislation by a Santa Monica Democrat.

As have previous incarnations of the bill, it pits health organizations against business groups. These include the California Chamber of Commerce, which has labeled the bill a job killer, and the California Restaurant Association, which calls it government overreach.

The bill’s author, Democrat Assemblyman Richard Bloom, highlights studies that show taxes on sweetened beverages lower consumption. 

In January 2014, the Mexican government slapped a tax on sodas. The action led to a 10 percent reduction of purchases, according a study from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

A one-cent per ounce tax proposed in 2013 was estimated to bring in $1.8 billion to the state, but died in committee. A similar bill met the same fate in 2010. And legislation last year that would have required a warning label on soda akin to cigarettes died last year in committee.

Assembly Bill 1357 will be heard May 12 in an Assembly health committee.

Read More . . . .