[GPSCC-chat] CA DISCLOSE Act 2 Votes Shy

[Brian Good]

Excellent question!  To get the bill out on the assembly floor today we had to first get through
the Elections Committee and the Appropriations Committee.  The chair of the Appropriations
Committee, Felipe Fuentes (San Fernando), seemed very reluctant to support the bill.  His
concern reportedly was that putting the initiative on the ballot would require printing an 
extra page in the voter's handbook (IIRC the cost would have been $250,000).  
 
My understanding (and I could be wrong) was that the bill provided that if we got the 2/3
of the assembly, then the bill would go to the Governor for signature this year, but if we got
only 51% then the issue would be placed on the ballot in 2014.  I believe the Appropriations
Committee altered the bill to remove the simple-majority-and-ballot-initiative option before
they voted (strictly along party lines) to put the bill on the floor.

Also, I was wrong about re-introducing the bill next year.  The heroic Nancy Neff informs me
that we'll re-introduce it this year.  (Shucks, I thought I might actually find some time to work 
on my novel sometime this year.)

Brian 




Date: Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:14:01 -0800
From: spencer.graves at prodsyse.com
To: snug.bug at hotmail.com
CC: sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] CA DISCLOSE Act 2 Votes Shy


  


    
  
  
    Hi, Brian:  

    

    

          Why did this need a 2/3 majority?  

    

    

          Thanks, 

          Spencer 

    

    

    On 1/31/2012 12:30 PM, Brian Good wrote:
    
      
      
        

           We needed a 2/3 majority--every Democrat and 2 Republicans.

        

           We got every Democrat except Cathleen Galgiani (Stockton),
        and we only got one

        Republican, Nathan Fletcher (San Diego).  

        

           So even though we failed to win the vote, we showed that the
        Republican Party

        is willing to vote down legislation that 80% of voters (and over
        75% of Republicans)

        favor.  

        

           Wait'll next year.  We'll introduce it again, and this time
        we'll win.

        

           I'm finding working at the CA State level very stimulating. 
        Most people don't even

        know who their state legislators are, and a couple of dozen
        calls from constituents lights 

        a fire under their assembly reps.  By phonebanking, people from
        all over the state can 

        converge electronically to rouse the supporters in targeted
        assembly districts.  And there

        is a very clear difference between Republicans and Democrats at
        the state level.

        

          I understand that Ms. Galgiani is termed out after this year,
        so her assembly seat will be 

        opening up, and she plans to run for state senate.

        

          I will be very interested to look into who finances Ms.
        Galgiani, and there's an excellent

        research resource, maplight, that has a lot of information on CA
        state legislators and their

        campaign contributors.

        

           

      
      

      
      

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    -- 
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph:  408-655-4567
web:  www.structuremonitoring.com
 		 	   		  
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