• Noreen's View: Urge Congress to Protect our Free Press
• Your Legislator at Work: Protecting Developmentally Disabled Californians from Abuse
• Early Actions to Confront Climate Change
• Tribal Gaming Compact Update
• An Eye on the Governor

NOREEN'S VIEW: URGE CONGRESS TO PROTECT OUR FREE PRESS

A free press is critical to a healthy democracy.  Only as informed citizens can we effectively govern ourselves and exercise the freedoms protected in the Bill of Rights.

This is why I authored - along with Assemblymember Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) - Assembly Joint Resolution (AJR) 24, which calls on the U.S. Congress to pass a federal shield law for America's journalists. 

This resolution is similar to one I authored last year, which passed the Legislature with unanimous support.  With a new Congress and a House Speaker from San Francisco, we felt another resolution was in order.

A federal shield law would provide journalists with some legal protections against the forced disclosure of confidential news sources by the federal government.  Absent such protections, potential whistle blowers may remain silent about information vital to the public interest such as waste, fraud, and abuse in government and business.

The lack of a federal shield law undermines California's ability to protect freedom of the press under state law because there are no protections for our journalists subpoenaed to a federal court.  As a result, independent journalist Josh Wolf was imprisoned last year by the U.S. Department of Justice and San Francisco Chronicle reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada were threatened with jail for protecting the confidentiality of their news sources in their reporting about the use of BALCO steroids by professional athletes.

California's shield law was enacted in 1935.  In 1980, it was incorporated into our state constitution by the voters through Proposition 5.  In 2000, legislation broadened the shield to specify that it may only be pierced to assure due process of a defendant in a criminal trial if a judge specifies on the record why a journalist's testimony is essential.

Thirty two other states and the District of Columbia have statutory shield protections.  Sixteen states have common law protections established through their courts.  And, in 2007, six states with common law protections are entertaining legislation to establish shields in statute.

Clearly, there is a national consensus on this issue and the absence of a federal law is at odds with a majority of states.  Only Wyoming lacks shield protections for journalists.

Two companion measures are now pending in Congress to establish a federal shield law for journalists, H.R. 2102 and S. 1267, called the Free Flow of Information Act.  On June 21, your state Assembly sent Congress a unified message of support for its efforts to protect a free press when we passed AJR 24 with a vote of 74-0.

Further information about AJR 24 is online at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov.  Further information about the pending federal Free Flow of Information Act can be found online at http://thomas.loc.gov.

YOUR LEGISLATOR AT WORK: PROTECTING DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED CALIFORNIANS FROM ABUSE

In California, over 220,000 individuals with developmental disabilities receive care in residential and day programs, independent and supported living, and at-home, private care.  Sadly, these individuals are two to five times more likely to experience severe, long-lasting, and repeated abuse - in the very settings responsible for their well-being.

Forty-four percent of abusers make contact with their victims as unlicensed, direct care workers.  If caught, investigated, and/or fired, many abusers move on to another agency - because they can.  Without such knowledge of a caregiver's past, employers continue to hire abusive caregivers.

Abuse of the developmentally disabled population encompasses physical, sexual, verbal, and financial abuse, as well as neglect, abandonment, abduction, isolation, and deprivation of needed goods and services.  Developmentally disabled persons face a higher risk of abuse because they are often segregated from the mainstream population and are heavily dependent on others for their basic needs.

Individuals with developmental disabilities are 11 times more likely of being sexually assaulted and 13 times more likely of being robbed than people without disabilities.  One study by the University of California, Irvine found that there are five million crimes against the developmentally disabled each year.

This is why I introduced Assembly Bill (AB) 1192.  It will help us protect the developmentally disabled from abuse by requiring each regional center managing their care and each facility providing it to report any evidence of abusive treatment to the state.  This information would be posted in a registry of abusive caregivers available to employers so that caregivers with a history of abuse cannot move from one community to another and continue their crimes.  We need to stop the cycle of violence and abuse.

Eight other states have abuse registries protecting the developmentally disabled.  It's time for California to get one of its own.

Further information about AB 1192 is available online at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov.

EARLY ACTIONS TO CONFRONT CLIMATE CHANGE

Last year, we passed Assembly Bill (AB) 32 which enacted the Global Warming Solutions Act.  Among other things, it calls on the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to develop a list of "early action measures" by the end of June in order to begin reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The list has since been completed.  On June 21, CARB adopted the following regulations:

• A low-carbon fuel standard - requiring oil companies to create cleaner burning gasoline to emit 10 percent less carbon dioxide by 2010;
• Prohibiting the sale of "do-it-yourself" automotive refrigerants that car owners use to recharge air conditioners; and
• Increased methane captured from landfills - requiring broader use of state-of-the-art methane capture technologies.

These three items could contribute to about eight  percent of the state's goal of reducing climate changing emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

For more information visit http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/042307workshop/early_action_report.pdf.

TRIBAL GAMING COMPACT UPDATE

The Legislature recently passed compacts to expand tribal gaming operations in Southern California.  These compacts were shrouded in controversy because the Governor negotiated a bad deal for California when he originally crafted them.

Fortunately, the Assembly brokered agreements with nearly all of the tribes to make sure that the Governor's failure didn't become California's problem.

The Governor negotiated five controversial compacts with the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.

The compacts negotiated by the Governor fail to enable the state to verify it receives the promised revenue from the tribes.  They fail to require tribes to enforce child and spousal support orders.  They also fail to include basic labor protections for casino workers.

The Assembly brokered agreements with the tribes to resolve most of these concerns.  These agreements give the state enforcement authority over the casinos and the ability to collect child and spousal support orders levied against casino employees.  They also require a worker's compensation system for casino employees and expand problem gambling programs.

Four tribes and the Governor agreed to these terms and signed memorandums of agreement which the legislature memorialized in passing a bill of its own on the topic.  It's fair and appropriate that only these four compacts were ratified.  It's also encouraging to note that Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez got commitments from all of the tribes to allow their workers to unionize if the workers choose to do so.

AN EYE ON THE GOVERNOR

ACTIVITIES:

On June 26, the Governor met with Tony Blair, prime minister of the United Kingdom, in London to discuss continued cooperation between California and UK to confront climate change.

On June 25, the Governor met with Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France, in Paris to discuss broadened business relationships and public-private partnerships.

On June 7, the Governor joined the governors of Arizona, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington in opposing pending legislation that would preempt California's ability to lead states in enacting more stringent car emission standards.

APPOINTMENTS FROM OUR COMMUNITY:

Donna L. Stashyn, a Vacaville Republican, was appointed to a judgeship in the Solano County Superior Court.  Stashyn has served as a commissioner for the Solano County Superior Court since 2005.  From 1994 to 2005, she was a deputy district attorney in Solano County.

Gary A. Medvigy, a Sebastopol Republican, was appointed to a judgeship in the Sonoma County Superior Court.  Medvigy has served as a deputy district attorney in Sonoma County since 1988. Previously, he served in the U.S. Army Office of Military Cooperation in 2004 and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command in 2003.

Dana B. Simonds, a Santa Rosa Republican, was appointed to a judgeship in the Sonoma County Superior Court.  Simonds has served as an attorney with Shapiro, Galvin, Shapiro, Piasta & Moran since 1996.  She fills the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Raymond J. Giordano.

For further information about the Governor, please visit www.governor.ca.gov.