Sen. Shannon Grove and fellow Republicans discuss SB 14. Photo by AP.With January designated as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, Capitol Weekly is examining a little-understood plague on our society – sex trafficking. Over the course of a few stories this month, we’ll explore the nuances of this horrific crime, its cultural influences and possible reform options.
Laura Wilcox, whose shooting death in Nevada County inspired "Laura's Law." (Family photo)Ever since Ronald Reagan signed the Lanterman-Petris-Short Act in 1967 granting people with severe mental illness greater rights and speeding the emptying of state asylums, governors have been sidestepping the issue, until now. Unlike governors before him in this state or perhaps any other, Newsom is confronting the issue of untreated mental illness.
Photo by Lanier Underground via ShutterstockThe bill, which would not ban the use of police K-9s for search and rescue or narcotics or explosive detection, is explicitly intended to address law enforcement’s long-standing use of dogs on people of color.
As a committed activist for social justice reforms, Rainer Apostol has been an invaluable help as a legislative aide for Sen. Caroline Menjivar.
A journalist on the job taking video of a street protest. (Photo: wellphoto, via Shutterstock)In late June, as protesters in Los Angeles took to the streets in opposition to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, journalists covering the demonstrations found themselves at the center of another issue of concern: the treatment of the press by police officers during protests.
Dermonstrators in front of the U.S. Post Office in Torrance protesting federal funding cuts. (Photo: Vince360, via Shutterstock)Vote-by-mail ballots have been sent to all registered voters in Amador County, with Solano reporting they will be mailing ballots today, while Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego counties — and maybe others – will be mailing next week. These counties are getting ahead of the Oct. 5 deadline for California counties to mail ballots. In other states, meanwhile, voting has been taking place for weeks.
Voters casting their ballots at a local precinct. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, Shutterstock)Proposition 209, the constitutional amendment intended to prevent discrimination or preferential treatment on the basis of race, ethnicity, or sex in areas like public education and contracting, was approved by California voters a generation ago. In November, they will decide whether to get rid of it.
An image of a person using pepper spray. (Photo: Schnoeppl, via Shutterstock)Pepper spray – classified and regulated as a form of tear gas – was used routinely on thousands of California children housed in state and county juvenile detention facilities, according to a recent report by the ACLU of Southern California.
U.S Census workers transfer birth data to punched cards, ca. 1940. (Photo: Everett Historical, via Shutterstock)The once-a-decade national census is still nearly two years away but it’s already generating heated discussion. Among the myriad concerns raised so far is that this survey will be the first conducted in part online. People are also expressing alarm over the inclusion of a new citizenship question, the wording for questions on race and ethnicity and the way prisoners are counted.
Sacramento police officers preparing for protests over the shooting of Stephon Clark. (Photo: Kevin Cortopassi, Flickr Creative Commons)The recent police killing of an unarmed black Sacramento man has left protesters and local politicians demanding revisions to California’s Peace Officer’s Bill of Rights — the decades-old protocol for officers facing disciplinary investigation. But state lawmakers, despite the national attention directed at the shooting of 22-year-old Stephon Clark, have not introduced legislation or even made reference to the 1976 law, known as the POBR.