Issue #203: Election Special: Time for Plan B
ICI brings you this week's news highlights
Now that the election is over, we’re moving full-speed ahead with our second Independent California Poll. This time, we’re focusing on what California’s elected officials can do to protect Californians and win greater autonomy for California.
It costs $12 to poll one random Californian. Please donate what you can!
And a huge thank you to the six people who’ve donated in just the past few days!
Now is the time to talk about California independence
US rejects California; can we just quietly leave?
Ground-breaking measures across California struggle
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NOW IS THE TIME TO TALK ABOUT CALIFORNIA INDEPENDENCE
Some of us have been understandably shy about talking with our friends, family, and co-workers about California independence.
Now is the time to be brave and bring it up in conversation. Would California be better off as an independent question? Does California deserve more autonomy than other states? Is it okay that the federal government controls 45% of our land and about half the water we use?
Poll results show that most Californians already hold pro-independence views, but by and large, we don’t feel comfortable talking about it. It’s time for that to change.
Especially, right now, Californians are looking for answers on what to do in response to a second Trump administration. And you have part of the answer!
Please, please encourage anyone you know to subscribe to this newsletter and donate to our next poll. The next four years are going to be tremendously challenging for California, and we need to organize as many Californians as we can to fight back.
DAUGHTER OF CALIFORNIA LOSES PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Republicans take US Senate; lead in US House
Why California’s vote count will take days
Waiting is normal as votes are tallied
Brianna Lee, LAist
“But things have sped up considerably in the 26 counties that have adopted a 2016 law called the Voter’s Choice Act, including L.A., Orange, and Riverside counties. In the 2020 and 2022 elections, the changes associated with that law — like voters not being locked into a designated polling location — drastically cut down the number of provisional ballots cast, which helped move things along faster than they had before.
Still, accuracy and a commitment to “expanding the franchise” — translation: allowing more people to vote — means the process is not designed to produce instantaneous results.”
IS THERE A PLAN B?
Return of the Resistance State: What another Trump presidency will mean for California
Alexei Koseff, CalMatters
“Across state government, officials have been gaming out a response to “Trump-proof” California. Gov. Gavin Newsom and his budget team are developing a proposal for a disaster relief fund after the former president repeatedly threatened to withhold emergency aid for wildfire recovery from California because of its water policy.
During Trump’s first term, California sued more than 100 times over his rules and regulatory rollbacks. Bonta said his team has preemptively written briefs and tested arguments to challenge many of the policies they expect the former president to pursue over the next four years: passing a national abortion ban and restricting access to abortion medication; revoking California’s waiver to regulate its own automobile tailpipe emissions and overruling its commitment to transition to zero-emission vehicles; ending protections for immigrants brought to the country illegally as children; undermining the state’s extensive gun control laws, including for assault weapons, 3D-printed firearms and ghost guns; implementing voter identification requirements; and attacking civil rights for transgender youth.”
California (yes, that hellscape) will keep moving the world forward no matter what
James Fallows, Wired
“California has at many points been held up as an American paradise. Now it’s widely seen as closer to hell. Runaway housing prices, tax burdens, homelessness, congestion, fire, drought, flood. The best sides of tech innovation, and the worst of tech-bro greed and narcissism. These are the state’s hallmarks. This perception is particularly rampant among Republicans: Polls show that two-thirds of Republicans say this one US state has done more damage than good for the country, and that almost half of them don’t consider it “American” at all. Beyond political party, fully half of adult Americans say in polls that California is in decline. As a recent headline put it shortly before Harris became the Democratic nominee, “California’s image will be a weapon” against her as a candidate.
Never mind that one in every eight Americans still lives in California—a population larger than 21 other US states combined—and that its economic output is bigger than any entire non-US country except China, Japan, or Germany, and that it’s the birthplace of an disproportionate share of the world’s most familiar and valuable brand names. The overwhelming sense is that the California miracle is over, its reservoirs of dynamism as tapped out as the Central Valley’s aquifers during recent years of drought.
“California is America, but sooner,” the USC sociologist Manual Pastor has said. That goes for huge cultural and demographic shifts (California was the first mainland US state whose diverse population became “majority-minority,” back in the 1990s, a full generation ago) and for era-defining crises, self-inflicted and not. And most importantly, it also goes for solutions—the kind that can redirect the momentum of American life, and life around the world, with a leverage no other state possesses.”
Texas is bad, California is great
Map Pack Youtube
“Texas vs California - two powerhouse states that couldn’t be more different. But which one is actually better? In this video, we break down the key differences between these two states, covering everything from cost of living and job opportunities to climate and culture. Whether you’re considering a move or just curious, we’re here to compare Texas and California on every level. Who comes out on top? Watch to find out!”
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CALIFORNIA PROPOSITIONS OF NOTE
California voters approve Proposition 3, reaffirming gay marriage in the California Constitution
MacKenzie Mays, LA Times
“The measure amends the state Constitution to recognize a “fundamental right to marry, regardless of sex or race.”
The prior definition of marriage dates back to 2008, when voters approved a ban on same-sex marriage with Proposition 8. That has since been overturned in court, and a right to marriage is protected at the federal level while liberal California remains a leader on LGBTQ+ rights.”
Ballot measures you may have missed
Berkeley Measure GG losing big - It would have imposed a special tax on all building 15,000 square feet or larger that use natural gas.
Berkeley Measure HH losing - It would have imposed new requirements, as developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, aimed at reducing the risk of disease transmission within city buildings.
Richmond Measures J and L in tight race - Two competing measures would change voting system in Richmond. [Tony Hicks, Bay City News]
Vacancy taxes rejected in Avenal and South Lake Tahoe - Measures would have taxed homeowners who left houses vacant and in Avenal commercial spaces too, more than half the year. [Julie Brown Davis, SF Gate]
Lake County Measure U losing - The measure would have changed the name of to Konocti to honor the original inhabitants of the area and to acknowledge the wrongs done to them: The town's current name honors Andrew Kelsey, a white settler who, along with his business partner Charles Stone, murdered, enslaved, raped, and trafficked Indigenous people in the late 1840s. The tribes eventually killed Kelsey and Stone in 1849.Kelseyville.
Long Beach Measure LB is passing - If passed, Measure LB would have two natural gas fueled electric power plants operating in the city to pay the same 5 percent utility users tax on natural gas service. The utilities previously had an exemption. As of 1 p.m. on Wednesday, voters favored the measure with over 80 percent of votes to approve it, or a total of 88,174 votes.
Santa Ana Measure DD rejected - This measure would have provided for noncitizen voting for municipal elections. Another noncitizen voting proposal bites the dust.
Santa Ana Measure CC passing - Rent control and just cause eviction ordinance adopted.
San Francisco Measures L & M - Dueling propositions both “passed” but Measure M had a poison pill for Measure L, which would have taxed ride-share companies and autonomous vehicles to fund public transit. City business tax “reform” adopted at the cost of transit funding.
San Francisco Proposition O passed overwhelmingly - Ordinance attempts to shield San Franciscans against Trump abortion bans by supporting abortion clinics and regulating fake abortion clinics.
Shasta County Measure P appears to be going down - Measure P was being rejected by 51.6% of the vote, according to early unofficial results released on Wednesday. Had voters approved Measure P, Shasta supervisors would need to get a private property owner's permission before the county could acquire their property with the intent of going to another private person or entity, thus constraining the county’s power of eminent domain.
Sonoma County Measure J heading to landslide defeat - If adopted, it would have required the phaseout of large concentrated animal feeding operations, revamping agriculture in the county in an effort to reduce animal cruelty.
Anti-forced prison labor proposition 6 fails
Proposition 6 would have closed a loophole allowing involuntary servitude in prison.
Bob Egelko, SF Chronicle
“Prop 6 had no organized opposition, no money was spent against it and the official voter guide mailed by Secretary of State Shirley Weber’s office to voters’ homes said no arguments against the measure had been submitted. But with more than half the vote counted Wednesday, Prop 6 was trailing by more than 900,000 votes, with 54.9% of the voters opposing it.”
California voters get tough on crime, pass Prop. 36
Nigel Duara, CalMatters
“The campaign to increase penalties for theft and repeated convictions for drug possession looks to have won out.
Prop. 36, opposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, reclassifies some misdemeanor theft and drug crimes as felonies. The measure also creates a new category of crime — a “treatment-mandated felony.” People who don’t contest criminal charges after multiple drug possession convictions could complete drug treatment instead of going to prison, but if they don’t finish treatment, they still face up to three years in prison.”
JUST FOR GRINS
America defeats America
Democracy triumphs over long-running democratic experiment
The Onion
“Trump calls Harris to congratulate himself on winning.”