A California Dem Oasis in the Desert

Nathan Newman nathan at newman.org
Sat Aug 10 06:24:41 PDT 2002


Folks in bashing the Dems spend almost all there time talking about the national government, where they only had control of the whole government for two years since the 1970s (and with Senate filibusters not real control even then).

So it's probably more interesting to evaluate the Dems in a state where they have full legislative control such as California (okay not full control of the budget because of post-Prop 13 controls on budget matters that require two-thirds votes for tax issues, but control on most regulatory issues by the majority.

The California legislature has pushed through bills just recently that:

-- set the toughest emissions standards for cars in the country to fight global warming

-- doubled to 60 days the notice landlords must give tenants

-- enacted binding arbitration for farm workers seeking new contracts (which Davis may veto, the scum)

On other labor fronts, the Democratic legislature pushed through in the last couple of years:

-- a return to daily overtime pay for any work beyond eight hours per day

-- increased unemployment benefits and allowed students and others who can only work part-time to qualify as long as they cannot find part-time work they need

-- made it illegal to discharge, discriminate or take disciplinary action against an employee or applicant for employment because of lawful conduct occurring during non-working hours away from the employer's premises

-- Extended state overtime laws to the construction, drilling, logging, and mining industries; and (among other things)

-- Signed legislation creating the highest civil fines for workplace safety and health violations in the nation;

-- Limits an employer's ability to adopt or enforce a policy requiring employees to speak only English in the workplace.

-- Requirements that employers reasonably accommodate employees who wish to express breast milk at work, including increased break time and privacy.

-- requirements that contractors and subcontractors that are awarded contracts to provide janitorial or building maintenance services at a job site to retain, for a period of 60 days, certain employees who were employed at that site by the previous contractor or subcontractor and retain them indefinitely if their wor is "satisfactory."

There is an extensive list of good policies by the government in the last few years, framed in terms of Davis's reelection but more applying to what the legislature pushed through, at http://bucket.blogspot.com/2002_07_28_bucket_archive.html#85299496

A few of the highlights:

- increased investment in K-12 education by $9.1 billion, or 39 percent - the largest three-year increase in history;

-- Signed domestic partners legislation establishing the nation's first statewide registry for domestic partnerships, and providing hospital visitation rights for domestic partners. The bill also makes health benefits available to the domestic partners of state employees and permits local governments to provide domestic partners' benefits to their employees; Another law allows a person to collect unemployment insurance if he or she leaves a job to relocate with a domestic partner; allows domestic partners to use kin care (sick leave) to care for the other partner or the other partner's child.

-- Signed some of the strongest HMO reform laws in the nation, enacting 21 bills giving Californians new health care rights, including the establishment of the Department of Managed Care, the first state agency in the nation devoted solely to improving the managed health care system;

I'll take those real changes in peoples lives over the failed spoiler strategy of the Greens.

Nathan Newman nathan at newman.org http://www.nathannewman.org



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