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Capitol Update
Friday, January
11, 2013
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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. |
