L.A. billionaire Eli Broad donates $1.5 million to pro-charter school group supporting Villaraigosa for governor
Los Angeles billionaire and philanthropist Eli Broad donated $1.5 million on Thursday to a pro-charter school group supporting Antonio Villaraigosa’s candidacy for governor.
The contribution came one day after Netflix chief Reed Hastings donated $7 million to the same group, Families & Teachers for Antonio Villaraigosa for Governor 2018, which is sponsored by the California Charter Schools Assn. Advocates, according to the California secretary of state’s office.
Broad and Hastings are wealthy backers of the education-reform movement. Villaraigosa is the most prominent California Democrat to back the effort to reform traditional protections for teachers that are a key priority for teachers’ unions. His stance has made him a target of those unions and many other labor groups, in part because of his roots as a labor organizer.
It’s unclear what the independent expenditure group plans to do with the millions of dollars in donations, but it could boost Villaraigosa’s chances against Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who leads in the polls and fundraising. Newsom is backed by the powerful California Teachers Assn. and other education unions.
The charter school association has previously been successful in local elections, notably last year when its efforts led to the first Los Angeles Unified School District board majority of elected officials with major pro-charter financial support.
Petition drive to repeal California gas tax increase temporarily slows down
Paid signature-gatherers for a ballot measure that would repeal gas tax increases may be hard to find on the streets of California this week.
Organizers say it’s not a money issue, adding that they needed to briefly halt paid signature-gathering to catch up on collecting petitions from volunteers.
The petition drive has so far collected more than 327,800 verified signatures of the 587,407 needed to qualify the measure for the November ballot, according to Dave Gilliard, the political strategist behind the drive.
“We knew it was popular but the incredible pace is even faster than we expected so we outran the capacity of our verification operation over the Christmas holiday and told our crew managers to slow down so we could catch up,” Gilliard said. “We will be back up to speed by the end of this week.”
The gas tax and vehicle fee increases signed by Gov. Jerry Brown are expected to raise $5.2 billion annually for road and bridge repairs and expanded mass transit. The gas tax jumped from 18 cents to 30 cents per gallon on Nov. 1, and vehicle fees of at least $25 kicked in Jan. 1.
“The gas tax repeal petition is breaking records for both paid and volunteer signatures and we’re using the next two weeks to catch up on validation of signatures already received,” said Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego City Councilman and conservative radio talk-show host. “As a grass-roots-funded effort we are also continuously raising funds and volunteer support. We are highly confident we’ll qualify this Initiative for the November 2018 ballot.”
State pot bureau ready to enforce California’s new marijuana laws as license applications flood in
The state has issued 104 licenses for retail stores to sell marijuana for recreational use in California and 239 other applications for those permits are pending, officials said Tuesday.
An official with the state Bureau of Cannabis Control added that the agency is prepared to begin taking enforcement action against pot shops that are not properly licensed.
“The bureau’s enforcement team is ready to respond to any complaints it receives and start doing compliance checks and site visits at any time,” said Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the bureau.
Selling marijuana without a license is a crime punishable by up to six months in county jail and a fine of up to $500. Those convicted of engaging in any marijuana business activity without a license will also be subject to a civil penalty of up to three times the amount of the license fee for each violation.
A new report issued Tuesday indicated the bureau has issued 478 temporary licenses to firms to test, distribute and sell medical and recreational marijuana, which began Jan. 1 after voters approved a legalization initiative, Proposition 64, in 2016. Businesses have received 153 licenses to sell marijuana for medical use.
Another 1,458 firms have applied for licenses that are still being processed.
The state Department of Food and Agriculture has separately issued 207 licenses to marijuana growers.
Two possible instances of discrimination reported after California issues driver’s licenses to immigrants here illegally
The California Research Bureau on Tuesday released its first report on incidents of discrimination under a 2015 state law that has provided driver’s licenses for hundreds of thousands of immigrants here illegally.
Researchers found no complaints have been made against government agencies tasked with enforcing anti-discrimination laws. But two possible instances of discrimination were reported in focus group interviews conducted by Drive California, a coalition of advocates studying the impact of the new law.
In one case, a woman in Fresno was told her license was not a valid form of identification at a retail store, though it was unclear “whether the incident reflected intentional discrimination or simple ignorance of the license marking,” the report states.
A MoneyGram clerk in another case denied a license holder the ability to cash a check. The same person was later rejected again at a bank.
The state Department of Motor Vehicles has issued 960,000 AB 60 driver’s licenses as of Nov. 30. The state research bureau produced the report for the Legislature as part of the new law, which declares discrimination against an AB 60 license holder a violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act.