Press Release

Thursday, June 11, 2020
Wednesday, June 10, 2020

By Senator Steven Glazer and Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager special to the Sacramento Bee

Gov. Gavin Newsom is facing mounting pressure to loosen the state’s shelter-in-place order.

Yet the danger to public health is as bad today as it was on March 19 when Newsom issued the order. The virus has not disappeared. The infection rate and hospitalizations have slowed only because the public agreed to avoid social contact.

A rebound of the virus would erode the public trust and confidence in the governor’s leadership and undermine his ability to reimpose restrictions if necessary. Newsom and other politicians are struggling to balance their commitment to protect public health with the frustration of residents who want to resume their economic lives. But there are risks galore.

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Wednesday, June 10, 2020

By Nick Cahill and Nicholas Lovino for Courthouse News

SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom declared in an interview Tuesday that he will not support disbanding police departments or completely wiping out their funding, as California lawmakers knelt on the steps of the state Capitol to show their support for police reform.

“If you’re calling for eliminating the police, no,” Newsom said. “If you’re talking about reimagining and taking the opportunity to look at the responsibilities we’ve placed on law enforcement, whether it be social work or mental health workers and getting involved in disputes where a badge and a gun are unnecessary, then I think absolutely this is an opportunity to look at all of the above.”

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Wednesday, June 10, 2020

By Jeremy B. White, Carla Marinucci, Graph Massara, and Aaron Leathley for Politico

THE BUZZ: Affirmative action is back on Sacramento’s agenda — and the political landscape looks different this time around.

A refresher: when lawmakers tried in 2014 to put before voters a constitutional amendment dissolving California’s ban on race-conscious admissions, the effort collapsed in an ugly spectacle that exposed racial fault lines within the Democratic Party. African American and Latino lawmakers championed the measure, but fellow Democrats balked in part because of a backlash from Asian-American constituents. Asian-American lawmakers said they experienced political retaliation as a result.

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Wednesday, June 10, 2020

By Sarina Sandoval for Spectrum News 1

[Broadcast footage via link]

[Sacramento] -- California legislators took a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds to pay tribute to George Floyd Tuesday morning. 

Dozens of members from the State Senate and Assembly came together for a solemn moment on the steps of the Capitol to acknowledge those who have lost their lives to police brutality and white supremacy.

The organizer of the event, Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager, hopes that this is the beginning of the movement to condemn racism.

The lawmakers knelt for the length of time that George Floyd was struggling to breathe before he died by the hands of the police. 

Asm. Kamlager says there are a number of bills currently in the legislature that address systemic inequality and racism.

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Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Asm. Kamlager speaking at microphone
Asm. Kamlager kneeling
Legislators kneeling in front of capitol
Legislators in front of capitol

8 minutes and 46 seconds of silence for George Floyd/racial justice.

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

By Marilyn Bechtel for People's World

As waves of protest continued to surge throughout the U.S. following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, the California Legislative Black Caucus last week unfurled a far-reaching legislative agenda to advance racial and economic justice in the state.

As she opened a press conference in Sacramento on June 2, caucus chair Assemblymember Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, told reporters, “We are here because for 400 years African American men and women in this country have been disrespected, because this country has taught itself to hate African Americans and to deny the history that has brought us here. The death of George Floyd is a brutal illustration that we have not come to terms with that.”

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