VP-Elect Kamala Harris to resign from Senate seat on Monday

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will resign from her Senate seat on Monday ahead of Wednesday's inauguration ceremony.

Harris has already started the process by notifying California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). She's then expected to make an announcement on Monday resigning from her Senate seat, according to Harris aides.

"She's notified Governor Newsom, and has sent her formal indication that she will be resigning on Monday, January 18. And then she will make a formal announcement on Monday," said an aide.

[SOURCE: THE HILL]

California Legislative Black Caucus: Rep. Karen Bass or Rep. Barbara Lee should replace Kamala Harris is Senate

The California Legislative Black Caucus met via Zoom with other Black leaders Friday and urged Governor Gavin Newsom to appoint an African American woman to fill the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated when Kamala Harris takes office as the first African American female Vice President of the United States.

Speakers at the Zoom conference included the leader of the California Legislative Black Caucus, Dr. Shirley Weber; the Vice Chair of the Caucus, Steven Bradford; a newly elected Los Angeles Councilmember, Mark Ridley Thomas and the Chair of the California Democratic Party African American Caucus, Taisha Brown.

The group unanimously recommended either Karen Bass or Barbara Lee as appointees to the California Senate seat vacated by Harris.

Karen Bass formerly served in the California State Assembly for six years, the last two as speaker. As a Los Angeles native, Bass is currently the Congresswoman for the 37th congressional district of California.

As such, Bass was elected chair of the Congressional Black Caucus in 2018, serves as Chair of the United States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations and for the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.

The other highly qualified candidate suggested by the Caucus is Barbara Lee. Lee was elected to the State Assembly in 1990, where she served for six years prior to being elected to the State Senate.

As a legislator, Lee authored almost 70 bills and resolutions that were signed into law by then Republican Governor Pete Wilson. These different pieces of legislation addressed a wide variety of issues ranging from public safety to environmental issues.

In 1995, Lee authored the California Schools Hate Crimes Reduction Act, which affords protection from hate crimes to all students in public schools regardless of their race, gender identity, sexual orientation, or other. During her time in the State Senate, Lee was a strong advocate for African Americans, and for women.

In 1998, Lee was elected as Congresswoman for California’s then 9th district where she took controversial stances on many different issues. She has been a strong advocate for legislation to end poverty, ending the HIV epidemic and the only member of Congress to vote against the authorization of use of force following the September 11 attacks.

As Dr. Shirley Weber noted in her remarks Friday morning, both women “have confidently built strong coalitions across diverse communities, and will do so in the senate.”

[SOURCE: DAVISVANGUARD]

California to Study Reparations for Black Americans

California will develop detailed proposals for granting reparations to Black Americans under a new law.

The legislation, which was authored by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a Democrat representing San Diego who is chair of California's Legislative Black Caucus, does not commit to any specific payment. Instead, it establishes a nine-person task force that will study the impact of slavery on Black people in California and recommend to the Legislature what kind of compensation should be provided, who should receive it and what form it will take.

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the law on Wednesday.

The task force must give its recommendations to the state Legislature one year after its first meeting.

The law would not limit the reparations to slavery.

But it does require the task force to give special consideration for black people who are descendants of slaves.

Similar proposals have been introduced in Congress for decades but have never passed.

California police shooting law propelled by Stephon Clark’s death signed into law

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday signed what it is believed to be one of the toughest laws in the country regulating when police officers can use use deadly force.

The signing of Assembly Bill 392 concludes a legislative battle between law enforcement lobbyists and civil rights groups who, until May, could not agree on how strict the state’s deadly force law should be.

It was shaped by a string of deadly encounters between law enforcement officers and unarmed black men, including the March 2018 shooting of Stephon Clark by Sacramento police. Clark’s death shook the city, with a protest shutting down Interstate 5 one evening and another march leading to mass arrests in East Sacramento this spring.

During the ceremony, Newsom said AB 392 will reduce the number of lives lost by deadly force.

The law “stretches the boundaries of possibility and sends a message to people all across the country that they can do more,” he said. “Training matters, yes. Accountability matters, certainly. Transparency, indeed. But culture. Changing hearts changing minds, changing our approach to dealing with one another.”

The new standard instructs officers to use lethal force only when it is “necessary” based on the totality of circumstances they encounter. That’s considered a stricter standard than today’s practice, which instructs police that they can use deadly force when it is “reasonable” to do so.

The legislation also requires evaluating an officer’s conduct before and after deadly force is used and it emphasizes deescalation tactics as effective alternatives to pulling a trigger.

Read more: California police shooting law propelled by Stephon Clark’s death wins Newsom’s signature.

Kamala Harris Regrets That Parents Were Arrested Under Her Truancy Law

Sen. Kamala Harris said Wednesday that she regrets that some California prosecutors “criminalized the parents” of truant children using a controversial 2011 law she helped pass when she was the district attorney of San Francisco.

“My regret is that I have now heard stories where in some jurisdictions, DAs have now criminalized the parents,” Harris said in an interview with “Pod Save America.”

“And I regret that that has happened and the thought that anything that I did could have led to that,” she added.

Truancy — which refers to unexcused school absences — was one of Harris’ signature issues while she was the San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general.

The law in question imposes fines and jail time on parents of children in kindergarten through eighth grade who have missed 10 percent of school days or more without a valid excuse.

Harris championed the law in the state legislature after she successfully reduced truancy in San Francisco by threatening to prosecute parents under a more dated law.

Many observers also questioned whether Harris’ push to address truancy through the criminal justice system inherently punished low-income and struggling families. She has previously framed truancy as “a parent issue” that stems from parental “neglect.”

Harris has always said her goal in involving prosecutors in the truancy process was not to punish parents but to give schools more leverage to bring them to the table.

When she was district attorney of San Francisco, she noted, her office never jailed any parents.

“I realized that the system was failing these kids, not putting the services in place to keep them in school, to make it easier for parents to do what parents naturally wanted to do around parenting their children,” she said in the interview. “And so I put a spotlight on it.”

“As a result of doing that, we ended up increasing attendance by over 30% because we actually required the system then to kick in and do the services that they were required to do and sometimes had available, but they weren’t doing outreach with the parents,” she continued. “And so that was the whole purpose.”

If any parents who were punished as a result of the law she later helped pass, that was an “unintended consequence,” Harris said.

[SOURCE: HUFFPOST]

Stacey Dash ends congressional bid

"Clueless" star and former Fox News commentator Stacey Dash is withdrawing her congressional bid, a representative for the actress confirmed to CNN Friday.

"After much prayer, introspection and discussions with my family, I am withdrawing my candidacy for California's 44th Congressional District," Dash said in an email statement to CNN.

The news comes one month after the actress and outspoken Republican filed paperwork to run in California's 44th district, which is currently represented by Democrat Nanette Barragán.

"I started this run with the intention to address the pressing issues in the district where I live," Dash said in the statement. "I hoped, and remain hopeful, that I can assist people living here on the national level. My goal was, and remains, to improve the lives of people who have been forgotten for decades by the Democratic Party."

However, Dash added, "At this point, I believe that the overall bitterness surrounding our political process, participating in the rigors of campaigning, and holding elected office would be detrimental to the health and wellbeing of my family. I would never want to betray the personal and spiritual principles I believe in most: that my God and my family come first."

[SOURCE: CNN]

Stacey Dash is running for Congress in California

"Clueless" star and former Fox commentator Stacey Dash is running for Congress in California.

The actress and outspoken Republican filed paperwork Monday to run in California's 44th district, which is currently represented by Democrat Nanette Barragán.

The district, which includes Compton, Watts, San Pedro and North Long Beach, has long been represented by a Democrat. It overwhelmingly voted for Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016, 83%-12%.

Representatives for Dash did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment. Dash has not publicly issued a statement. However, she did tease a potential run earlier this month.

[SOURCE: CNN]

California Democrats hire Eric Holder to battle Trump in court

Democratic leaders of the California state legislature have hired Eric Holder, the former attorney general during the Obama administration, to serve as outside legal counsel as they prepare for a series of court battles with President-elect Donald Trump's White House.

In a statement released Wednesday, California Senate President Kevin de Leon and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon -- both Democrats -- announced they had "hired outside legal counsel to advise on potential legal challenges with the incoming Trump administration."

"With the upcoming change in administrations, we expect that there will be extraordinary challenges for California in the uncertain times ahead," the state leaders said. They vowed to protect "California's economy and our sensible policies on climate change, health care, civil rights, and immigration."

To accomplish that goal, the legislature said it retained the Covington & Burling law firm, led by Holder.

Read more: California Dems tap Eric Holder to fight Trump in court

Pres. Obama endorses Kamala Harris for US Senate

In a major development in the California U.S. Senate race, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden endorsed Kamala Harris this morning, citing her record standing up to powerful interests and delivering victories for California families as a prosecutor.

President Obama statement:

I am proud to endorse Kamala Harris for United States Senate because I’ve seen her work. Kamala is a lifelong courtroom prosecutor with only one client: the people of the State of California. That’s the approach she’ll take to the United States Senate.

Kamala’s experience has taught her that if you’re going to give everybody a fair shot, you’ve got to take on the special interests that too often stand in the way of progress. As Attorney General, she fought the big banks that took advantage of homeowners across the country – and she won. She cracked down on transnational gangs exploiting women and children – and she won. She took on big for-profit colleges that were swindling students and leaving them with a lifetime of debt and a worthless degree – and she won. She took on big oil companies to defend California’s beautiful coast and its landmark law to fight climate change – and she won. Her leadership helped ensure the right of all Americans to marry the person they love. And throughout her lifetime as a prosecutor, Kamala Harris has been a leading voice for criminal justice reform, challenging old dogma and insisting we be “smart on crime” by ending mass incarceration.

Kamala Harris fights for us. That’s why I’m so proud to endorse her for United States Senator. And if you send her to the Senate, she’ll be a fearless fighter for the people of California – all the people of California – every single day.

[SOURCE]