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Capitol Update
Friday, January 11, 2013
California Federation of Republican Women
Carol Hadley, President

Allison Olson, CFRW Advocate

Back to Bad Bills

The legislature is back in session and among a number of newly introduced bills regarding gun laws is AB 48 (Skinner- D), which would limit ammunition sales in CA. The bill would require those purchasing ammunition to provide identification, but would also require sellers to become authorized dealers and report all ammunition sales to the Department of Justice. It would also require the Department of Justice to alert local law enforcement if a person other than a peace officer buys an excessive number of rounds within five days. This bill comes at a time when legislators across the country are introducing gun restriction bills. At the federal level, Diane Feinstein has vowed to introduce a bill that would include a number of sweeping restrictions on citizens’ constitutional rights. Feinstein’s bill would widen the definition of assault weapons, place a $200 “fee” on each firearm owned and prohibit the transfer of assault weapons upon death. These pieces of legislation represent how the Democrats at both the state and federal level are capitalizing on the Sandy Hook tragedy and using it to infringe even further upon the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. There is little evidence that limitations on guns or ammunition will decrease the number of gun-related murders or violent acts. These bills, therefore, target law-abiding citizens and fail to address broader societal problems.

Among the list of unnecessary bills introduced this week is Assemblyman Roger Hernandez’s AB 55 (Hernandez-D), Native American Day, which would replace Columbus Day as a paid, government holiday. Now, we like a paid holiday as much as the next person, but isn’t this a little much? It has been 500 years since Columbus sailed the ocean blue… seems like a long time to hold a grudge against the guy.

 

Better Bills!

This week Republican Assemblyman Jeff Gorrell and Senator Anthony Cannella both introduced bills that would put Prop 30 money where Governor Brown’s mouth is. AB 67 (Gorrell- R) and SB 58 (Cannella-R) would freeze tuition for college students in California, since proponents of Prop 30 claimed that our college students wouldn’t see a rise in their tuition if they helped pass Prop 30’s “temporary” tax increases. And since Governor Brown actually increased education spending in his proposed 2013-2014 budget, it stands to reason that a tuition freeze should be supported. But Democrats won’t support this legislation. In fact, they will ignore it and hope it just goes away because they have no intention of using Prop 30 funds to reduce or freeze college tuition. The fact of the matter is that Prop 30’s language does not require that its revenue be spent on education. This is the type of legislation that Republicans need to introduce and publicize. Hold the Democrats’ feet to the fire when they claim that our college students’ needs are important to them. We hope to see more of this intelligent and creative legislation from our Republican representatives to combat the Democrat supermajority.

 

Brown’s Budget

Governor Brown unveiled his 2013-2014 proposed budget earlier this week. Brown claims that “we” have to “live within our means,” yet increased spending by 4%. Like an interior decorator, it must be nice for Governor Brown to spend other people’s money. The proposed budget is considered “balanced”, thanks to a $50 billion tax increase. Unfortunately there was no mention of job creation, regulation reform or long term budget solutions for California when Governor Brown revealed the first edition of his budget. Much could change between now and the Governor’s May budget revise.

 

 


Disclaimer: The Capitol Update is an activity of the CFRW Advocate's Office. The update is for information only. CFRW official positions on legislation are stated immediately preceding the stated legislation or immediately following the stated legislation in this report.

 

 

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