Legislators in Sacramento try to include citizens in lawmaking

Good morning. TGIT. Although legislators won’t really be back until next year, new bills are coming. In fact, two state lawmakers are looking to include constituents in the policy-making process in similar, and yet very different, ways.

While Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, is holding a contest for constituents to pitch their best ideas for a “There Ought to be a Law” contest, Sen. John Moorlach, R-Costa Mesa, aims to do the exact opposite. 

Moorlach, partnering with four other Republican senators, is pushing a “There Ought NOT Be A Law” program. Unlike Garcia’s program, the Republican contest is not to write a new law, but to instead simplify and streamline existing state law. 

CalWatchdog has more. 

In other news:

• “Tempting fate — and mobilized outrage from consumers and their Silicon Valley allies — municipalities around California have zeroed in on a new source of revenue: Online film and television streaming services, and the people who use them,” writes CalWatchdog. 

• “Led by members of the California delegation, dozens of House Democrats are again pleading with President Obama to pardon hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children to whom he granted temporary deportation deferrals.” The Los Angeles Times has more. 

• “A day after the city emerged from its 53-month bankruptcy, city officials marked the ‘watershed moment’ with a detailed statement on what they’ve done since filing for bankruptcy and their plans for the future.” The San Bernardino County Sun has more. 

• “With recreational cannabis legal in California, state leaders are taking another stab at letting law enforcement test the saliva of people suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana,” reports The San Jose Mercury News/The Orange County Register. 

Legislature:

• Gone till January. 

Gov. Brown:

• No public events scheduled.

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Who will Gov. Jerry Brown believe: the Mothers Against Drunk Driving or his own Department of Motor Vehicles?

That’s what it boils down to when Brown decides whether to sign Senate Bill 1046, a bill by Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, that’s touted as a crucial tool in keeping drunken drivers off California’s roads and highways.

The measure would require drivers convicted of DUI to purchase and install “ignition interlock” devices in their vehicles. The devices include a breathalyzer. If an unacceptable level of alcohol is detected on a driver’s breath, his or her vehicle’s engine is disabled. First-time offenders would have to install the devices for six months, with longer mandates for subsequent DUI convictions.

Hill and MADD say similar laws in 28 other states have a long track record of deterring drunken driving and reducing recidivism. While lawmakers balked in previous sessions at such a measure, this time opposition evaporated. The bill passed the Assembly 79-0  and the Senate 39-0.

The unanimous votes came despite DMV concerns. In a June report, agency officials said a test program in four counties — Los Angeles, Sacramento, Alameda and Tulare — with about a third of the state’s population arguably deterred new DUI cases but led to a significant increase in accidents among drivers whose vehicles were equipped with ignition interlocks. The increase was determined by comparing the accident rates among drivers with the devices and drivers with suspended licenses who drove illegally.

Bill would end automatic license suspension for DUI

Hill blasted the report to a home-district newspaper as being based on shoddy statistical analysis. But the DMV questioned Hill’s reasoning in turn, saying it was not clear that his bill — which ends automatic suspensions of driving rights for some first-time DUI offenders — was the best way to deal with the issue. The agency asserted that such automatic suspensions, which began in 1990, correlated strongly with a long-term drop in DUI recidivism.

A smarter approach, the DMV said, was to “convene a task force including representatives from the Legislature, judiciary, law enforcement, and other public agencies to develop recommendations for strengthening components of California’s comprehensive DUI countermeasure system.”

The California Attorneys for Criminal Justice also opposed Hill’s bill, saying it would take away discretion in sentencing from judges.

Frank Harris, MADD’s director of government affairs, said critics shouldn’t block a change that he depicted as certain to save lives. “Interlocks are much more effective than just hoping for the best with license suspensions,” Harris told the San Mateo Daily Journal. “MADD welcomes further studies, but that shouldn’t be a reason to hold up a life-changing bill and put forth a better policy for society.”

If Brown signs SB1046, it will take effect in 2019 and expire in 2026.

State Senator Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, was arrested early Friday morning on suspicion of drinking and driving. He reportedly spent the night drinking wine and tequila in the State Capitol and at a local restaurant with several of his colleagues. Years before, he voted to ban drinking at public beaches.

In Nov. 2007, Hueso, then a member of the San Diego City Council, voted to adopt a one-year ban on alcohol consumption at the city’s public beaches. The temporary ban, which took effect on Jan. 14, 2008, prohibited “alcohol consumption 24 hours a day on all City beaches, including Mission Bay Park and coastal parks south of Tourmaline Surfing Park.”

In July 2008, before the effects of the alcohol ban could be evaluated, Hueso voted to put a permanent ban on the Nov. 2008 ballot, a measure that would later be titled Proposition D. Hueso’s fellow council members at the time who also voted for the ban included current San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and Assemblyman Brian Maienschein, both Republicans; and Rep. Scott Peters and Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, both Democrats.

Prop D: Narrowly approved by voters

Prop. D, which passed 52.5 percent to 48.5 percent, gave authorities leeway to charge violators with either an infraction or a misdemeanor. The maximum penalty is a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.

Opponents of the alcohol ban argued that the law would take “away your right to enjoy your beaches.”

“Taking away your rights and freedoms is easier than punishing the troublemakers, but it is the wrong solution,” opponents of Proposition D wrote in their ballot argument. “More punishment for troublemakers, overnight and holiday bans only, and enforcing our existing laws are the right solutions for San Diego!”

Although Hueso voted for the ban, he was far from its biggest cheerleader. Faulconer, the city’s current mayor, championed the cause after “a Labor Day booze-fueled melee on Pacific Beach brought out cops in riot gear.”

According to the Voice of San Diego, “Revelers threw bottles at the police. The police pepper-sprayed crowd-goers. And national television audiences were treated to handheld videos of drunks generally making idiots of themselves.”

Following the incident, Faulconer proposed an outright ban, but was initially stymied by Hueso, who “worried about law-abiding beachgoers being cited as if they were rowdy drunks.”

“What’s going to happen to people who want to propose to their partner on the beach with a bottle of wine?” Hueso asked the L.A. Times in November 2007.

Hueso accepts full responsibility for DUI

On Friday, Aug. 22, Hueso was arrested by the California Highway Patrol on two misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence. According to a CHP spokeswoman, Hueso drove his state-owned Ford Fusion the wrong way on a one-way city street.

Hueso, who initially said he would fight the charges, later accepted “full responsibility.”

“I am truly and profoundly sorry for the unacceptably poor personal judgment which I demonstrated last night,” Hueso said in a statement following his release from jail. “I accept complete personal responsibility for my actions and any punishments that ultimately come my way as a result of this incident.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver.”

“33,561 people died in traffic crashes in 2012 in the United States,” according to a report by the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility, which reviewed data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Of those accidents, “an estimated 10,322 people died in drunk driving crashes, accounting for 31 percent of all traffic deaths that year.”

Hueso: 4th State Senator in trouble with the law

Hueso becomes the fourth Democratic state Senator in trouble with the law this year. In March, State Senator Leland Yee was arrested on felony charges of working with Chinatown gangsters and brokering arms deals with a Muslim rebel group based in the Philippines.

In February, state Sen. Ron Calderon, D-Montebello, was charged with a 24-count indictment in connection with bribery and corruption.

In January, state Sen. Rod Wright, D-Inglewood, was found guilty of eight counts of felony voter fraud, perjury and filing a false declaration of candidacy.

Hueso is not up for re-election until 2016.