Newsletter: Essential Politics: No time spared in expanding overtime

As political introductions go, the one made by the late farm labor leader Cesar Chavez for Gov. Jerry Brown in 1976 was for the history books.

“A man’s acts reveal what he is,” Chavez said at that summer’s Democratic National Convention, as he lauded Brown and placed the young governor’s name into nomination for the presidency.

Fast forward to Monday, four decades later, and similar praise from leaders of the the union Chavez founded, as Brown signed into law a major expansion of overtime pay for California farmworkers.

Good morning from the state capital. I’m Sacramento Bureau Chief John Myers, and political watchers were caught a bit off guard by the governor’s quick action on Assembly Bill 1066.

Like hundreds of other bills left on his desk by the Legislature last month, he had until Sept. 30 to weigh in. But on Monday morning, Brown quietly signed into law what was one of Sacramento’s most hotly debated summertime proposals.

The law, which raises overtime pay beginning in 2019, may be the bookend of Brown’s legacy on farm labor — having championed union rights for farmworkers during his first term in 1975. Not that UFW leaders and Brown have always been in agreement.

“I think that relationship is complicated and it’s had its ups and downs,” said Darrell Steinberg, the former state Senate leader who saw Brown veto his 2011 bill to expand union organizing rights.

It’s also worth viewing the farmworker wage fight in the context of Brown’s decision earlier this year to boost the statewide minimum wage and even Monday’s action to sign a law making permanent overtime pay rules for domestic workers — all items that might fall under what he called “a matter of economic justice” when announcing the minimum wage agreement in March.

We’ll keep watching the hundreds of other bills Brown must sign or veto by month’s end on our Essential Politics news feed.

HILLARY HEALS WHILE THE EX-PRESIDENT PINCH-HITS

As Hillary Clinton recovers from complications of pneumonia, her campaign faced a dilemma about this week’s big campaign and fundraising swing through California and Nevada.

Enter Bill Clinton.

The former president, who said in a TV interview on Monday that the candidate is “doing fine,” will fill in for his wife today at Beverly Hills fundraisers, as well as events in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

‘ARROGANCE AND ENTITLEMENT,’ SAYS TRUMP

Donald Trump largely avoided the Clinton health issue on Monday, choosing instead to lash out at the Democratic nominee’s weekend remarks about some of his supporters.

“You can’t lead this nation if you have such a low opinion of its citizens,” Trump said during a speech in Baltimore in front of the National Guard Assn.

ON THE TRAIL AGAIN

President Obama returns to the campaign trail today in Philadelphia, his first foray in several weeks into a swing state to make the case for his former secretary of State.

While presidential duties are expected to dominate his September schedule, advisers say he’ll increase his efforts in October.

As always, keep track of all the latest presidential news on our Trail Guide news feed.

DOES THE MARIJUANA MEASURE HAVE MOMENTUM?

With election day just eight weeks away, supporters of the Proposition 64 effort to fully legalize marijuana have something to celebrate.

A new USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll finds 58% of voters surveyed support the measure, while only 34% oppose it. It’s no doubt a good place to be in, though political experts in the Golden State will also point out that, historically, successful statewide propositions are closer to the 60% mark in early support. Opposition campaigns usually take away a chunk of that initial enthusiasm.

We’ve also put together a timeline of California’s cannabis history over the past century, from efforts to outlaw it to decriminalization and beyond.

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF VOTING ERRORS IN U.S. SENATE PRIMARY

The November race for the U.S. Senate has only two candidates, but the June 7 primary was replete with contenders — 34 in all. In April, we wrote how election observers were worried about how to design the ballot in a way that didn’t confuse voters.

In more than 235,000 cases, that wasn’t successful.

A new election data analysis finds that’s how many California voters — maybe more — somehow selected more than one candidate, and thus created an “over-vote” that had to be discarded.

“The more complicated the design, the more likely voters were to over-vote, which caused their votes to be disqualified,” said researcher Davit Avagyan.

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

— Californians will be asked to weigh in on the historic Citizens United campaign finance case this fall, thanks to Proposition 59. We’ve got a look at who’s for it and why.

— Hillary Clinton has been courting the votes of millennials. Can she get them to vote?

— Trumpisms may be odd phrases used by the GOP nominee, but linguists say the words carry a quiet power.

— Tom Calderon — a former assemblyman who was nabbed in a corruption sting that focused on his brother (who was at the time a state senator) — was sentenced Monday to a year in federal custody for laundering bribes.

— Stanley Sheinbaum — who took up liberal causes, held salons in his Brentwood house featuring world leaders, moguls and celebrities, and left his mark on history in L.A., nationally and abroad — died at age 96.

— Ed Edelman, a former Los Angeles County supervisor whose crusading policymaking influenced child welfare, health services and environmental preservation, died at age 85.

— Six officers who responded to December’s San Bernardino terrorist attack were among those awarded the Medal of Valor on Monday by Brown and Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris in an event at the state Capitol.

LOGISTICS

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