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FCL NEWSLETTER Overlooked Stories -- Nine important issues Overlooked StoriesWith the presidential election dominating the headlines, it's been easy to overlook other newsworthy political developments. Here are nine not-so-widely-publicized stories from the halls of California state government in the year 2000: Attached to each of these stories is a brief note describing what FCL, including staff, Executive Committee, and supporters, did and plans to do. Welfare to WorkAccording to a study of 100,000 Los Angeles County welfare recipients released this fall by the nonprofit Economic Roundtable, many remain stuck in poverty due to jobs with insufficient pay or hours to sustain their families. Los Angeles County has more welfare recipients (572,814) than all the states other than California or New York. Although the county's welfare rolls have decreased by 28% over the last three years, many in Welfare-to-Work programs have not moved from public assistance to self-sustaining work and remain dependent on Food Stamps, Medi-Cal, subsidized child care and cash grants. MilitaryDomestic militarization reared its ugly head on several fronts this year. The most far-reaching proposal came from Assembly Member Mike Briggs (R., Clovis), who introduced AB 1572, a bill that would have denied driverÕs licenses to California male residents ages 18 to 25 who failed to register with the Military Selective Service System. In the education arena, the governor and his legislative allies sought funding to create two California National Guard- run schools for at-risk youth. And $2.2 billion in economic development incentives was offered by the state to military contractors to build the Defense DepartmentÕs new Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) in California. PropositionsTwo ballot measures passed by the voters in March ran into trouble with implementation. Proposition 21, which allows, among other things, for district attorneys to move criminal cases involving juveniles directly into adult courts, was challenged on constitutional grounds. Proposition 1A, which legitimizes Indian casino gambling, is presenting problems to at least three tribes who cannot live up to its environmental impact requirements. And the boards of supervisors and residents of several counties made it known to the legislature and governor that they want tribes to pay for casino- related improvements to highways, water and sewer systems, law enforcement and fire protection. HousingA billion dollar housing bond proposal never made it out of the legislature. Nevertheless, 2000 was a banner year for affordable housing. For the first time in over 20 years, new state dollars are flowing to rental housing, home ownership, housing for mentally and physically disabled and homeless people, code enforcement, farm workers, and seniors. A total of $570 million was appropriated, with $50 million added to the state's permanent budget base. Mental HealthThe mental health story of the year was AB 1800 (Helen Thomson, D., Davis), a complex revision of the state's involuntary commitment laws, which passed the Assembly by a wide margin of 53-16. But when it reached the Senate, that house's president pro tem John Burton (D., San Francisco) used his position as rules committee chair to deny it a hearing and a vote, leaving AB 1800 sitting with a special study committee. Opponents of this legislation acknowledge that there is a treatment crisis for the homeless and criminal mentally ill. They point out that AB 1800 violates civil liberties and that the real solution is not more commitments; it is expanded community-based treatment. The mental health consumer and professional communities are both divided on this issue. Further negotiations next year may lead to a broadly acceptable solution. What FCL did: FCL opposed AB 1800 and is working for community treatment alternatives so that involuntary commitment becomes much less necessary. FCL staff served as advisors to the Little Hoover Commission committee on mental health reform. ImmigrantsWith the economy booming, immigrants were not the attractive political scapegoats they had been in the 1990's. Two immigrant-friendly measures that had failed in previous sessions attracted bipartisan support in both houses, but were vetoed by the governor. AB 1197 (Marco Firebaugh, D., East Los Angeles) permitted resident immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates for public higher education; AB 1463 (Gil Cedillo, D., Los Angeles) allowed immigrants to apply for driver's licenses. Human RightsA proposal to extend family care and medical leave to domestic partners and close relatives was vetoed twice by Governor Davis, first in the spring in the form of SB 118 and then in the fall in the form of SB 1149, both authored by Senator Tom Hayden (D., Los Angeles). In his veto messages, the governor indicated that he felt the Hayden measures went too far, but that he would be willing to consider unspecified reasonable changes next year. In the civil rights arena, Assembly Member Fred Keeley (D., Santa Cruz) pushed AB 2142 through the Assembly only to see it fail in the Senate Judiciary Committee. This legislation would have outlawed discrimination in employment or housing based on actual or perceived gender. Environmental JusticeThis year saw the booting up of the Senate's Environmental Justice (EJ) Committee and lengthy legislative hearings on several EJ bills. Attempts to bring the state Energy Commission into compliance with federal EJ policies and to create a technical assistance program for community-based EJ groups both fell by the wayside. One significant bill became law: SB 89 (Martha Escutia, D., Montebello) requires the state Environmental Protection Agency to establish working and advisory groups as well as regular reporting on the implementation of environmental justice laws in California. What FCL did: The FCL Education Fund served as lead organization for the first statewide interfaith EJ roundtable. Out of this meeting, an information network was formed and plans are afoot for an EJ website with legislative updates and news of EJ struggles throughout the state. Death PenaltyAlthough half a dozen measures to expand the death penalty were on the table at the beginning of the year, none of them made it through the legislature. In the face of doubts cast by DNA testing and research demonstrating racial bias in sentencing, public support for executions began to erode and support for an execution moratorium grew. Year 2001 GoalsThe FCL staff and executive committee will be meeting over the first weekend in December to review and revise legislative priorities. Watch these pages for results of those discussions. Your suggestions are welcome! BOOK NOTEForgiving Justice: A Quaker Vision for Criminal Justice By Tim Newell "The alternative conception of punishment that I have proposed is one informed by communitarian rather than liberal ideas. I have asserted punishment is a process of communication between the community and offenders..... Communicative punishment within a restorative process is specified by the four aims of repentance, self-reform, reparation and reconciliation.' Tim Newell has been a prison governor in England for over 30 years. Based on his expertise and Quaker beliefs, he explains how victims and offenders are unnecessarily damaged today and explores possibilities for change in the culture of crime control. The New 900As I pored over FCL's archives in search of tidbits for our up- coming 50th anniversary celebration, I discovered that 900 people signed up as supporters and activists in 1952, our first full year of existence. One of FCL's goals for our 50th year is to find 900 new people to match the commitment that gave us birth half a century ago. The other day I went to visit a young family who have recently joined us as part of the new 900. I peered through the open door of a busy San Francisco clothing sweatshop as I walked through the South of Market neighborhood on my way to visit Chris and Robin Mohr and their son Henry. Robin welcomed me. 'We moved to this neighborhood because we found an affordable two-bedroom apartment. The neighborhood is changing fast; so-called live/work lofts are springing up, some are being converted to dot.com office space and they slip between the cracks of both residential and commercial city codes at the expense of affordable housing. Moving here and becoming part of the community has meant becoming actively involved with local issues.' Chris works nearby as the community relations manager with the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, which specializes in affordable housing. He produces their newsletter and website and is responsible for community and donor relations. For the fall election, Chris helped put on a candidates night on housing that was attended by 100 people, and he was on the steering committee for Proposition 'L,' the growth limit proposal on the San Francisco city ballot. Chris grew up in New Jersey and wanted to become an astronomer, but when he moved to New York City he was stunned by the poverty and homelessness. He became involved with Habitat for Humanity, worked on their newsletter and in 1990 joined a group protesting the Gulf War. The group was composed of revolutionary communists and Quakers. Chris chose the Quakers. He became involved with the Peace Committee at Fifteenth Street Meeting and soon found himself standing in a peace vigil with Friends at the Isaiah wall at the United Nations. 'I remember feeling so vulnerable the first time I stood there,' he recalled. 'It took courage to stay there. I had an internalized fear of protest and what happened is that the Quaker meeting for worship spoke to my condition. It was profound and deep.' 'I joined a training for conscientious objector counselors at the meeting house,' he continued, 'and in addition to experiencing the profound and deep in meeting for worship, I was learning to be an activist Ð learning how to work with others to do something for peace and justice. As a part of an internship I took in Maryland I volunteered at the Friends Committee on National Legislation in Washington, D.C. and got in touch with Quaker activism on a national scale.' 'Then Robin and I met at Meeting,' he explained. Robin added, 'Before I found Quakers I had a profound mystical experience; I felt like God was knocking at my door and I did not know how to answer. By coincidence I was going to Ann Arbor and a friend suggested I stay with Phillips and Mary Moulton. I called them and stayed as their guest.' 'On the bedside table was a book by Rufus Jones,' she remembered. 'I read bits and said to myself, "This is my pacifism." I was a disconnected pacifist in High School. The Moultons took me with them to meeting and I found out they were tax-refusers. 'At that time I was working in Washington, D.C. with the Fourth World Movement and learning how to work with poor people. I attended a conference at Pendle Hill and met Elizabeth Watson and other amazing Quaker women. I found my spiritual home with a people who had been practicing together for 300 years what I was trying to do all by myself.' 'Chris and I moved to San Francisco,' Robin explained. 'We now have Henry who is two and half years old and who loves Friends Yearly and Quarterly meetings and going each week to San Francisco Friends Meeting. I work half-time on a capital campaign for St. Boniface Church in the Tenderloin, a Franciscan church with a strong commitment to working with the poor where they are.' I asked both Chris and Robin why Friends Committee on Legislation is important to them. 'We have worked on international, national and local neighborhood issues. Our interest in state government has been growing. It appeals as a modern idea that a voice for Christian compassion and Quaker values could counter some of the effects of the religious right,' they said. Chris currently serves on the Friends Committee on Legislation Northern Regional Committee. As I walked away from their home, the door to the sweatshop was closed. I carefully avoided the refuse littering the sidewalk and thought to myself, 'FCL needs 900 people like these.' -- Peter Crysdale Support FCL by Sponsoring a Prisoner Newsletter SubscriptionFCL responds to prisoners' requests by sending out over 1,000 Newsletters every month! Each year we receive hundreds of letters from prisoners requesting free subscriptions and expressing their deep appreciation for all our work. Here are just a few excerpts from some of the letters we received during this past year. As you can read, the FCL Newsletter is a blessing to those who need it most. Your additional contribution in support of FCL will help in our efforts to keep prisoners informed and allow us to share cheer and good will throughout the year. Please complete and return the bottom portion of this page with your check made payable to FCL. Thank you for your continuing support, and happy holidays! YES! I would like to support FCL's efforts to keep prisoners informed. Friends Committee on Legislation of California Justice VetoedGovernor Gray Davis wound up his second year in office by vetoing a near-record number of bills, including many that would have made life better for crime victims, released prisoners, the mentally ill, and immigrants. Accompanying his vetoes were messages to the legislature that are compelling evidence of how much extra effort it will take to make progress on issues of justice during Davis' two remaining years in office. Crime and PrisonersAB 788 (Abel Maldonado, R., San Luis Obispo) sought to bring the principles of restorative justice into the state's juvenile courts and local juvenile justice programs. Along with law enforcement and victims' groups, FCL supported AB 788 and no legislator cast a vote against it. The governor objected, however, claiming that the legislation proposed alternatives to incarceration 'without specifying that such programs be proven, effective means of ensuring public safety.' AB 2101 (Carole Migden, D., San Francisco) would have authorized news reporters to conduct interviews with state prisoners, a right that was lost due to regulations promulgated during the Wilson administration. For many years before, reporters had been able to use notepads and tape recorders to talk to prisoners of their choice. Such access helped the public to be more aware of oppressive prison conditions. Migden's bill had wide support, including the powerful prison guards union briefly, but victims' groups opposed it. The governor's veto message argues that interviews can bring celebrity to convicts, and noted that reporters already can see inmates on the same basis as regular visitors (without the tools of their trade) and can receive collect calls from inmates. AB 2885 (Tony Cardenas, D., Panorama City) appropriated $121 million in funding for community juvenile justice. The veto message deleting these funds claims the benefits of the programs were unclear. Ironically, the governor's price for release of these funds was a program with even less certain benefits. $9 million for the state Military Department's boot camp for juveniles suspended for bringing drugs or guns to school (see also p. 2). SB 127 (Richard Polanco, D., Los Angeles) would have allowed prisoners to be paroled to drug rehabilitation programs in counties other than where they were sentenced to prison. The governor's veto message asserts that the law already permits such placements and that he is worried about the public's "concerns regarding situations where it appears that excessive numbers of parolees are concentrated in a geographic location." SB 1348 (John Vasconcellos, D., Silicon Valley), which proposed a summit on a master plan for parenting education in juvenile facilities and other non-school settings, drew support from crime victims, juvenile court judges, the Little Hoover Commission and FCL. The governor's veto message acknowledges that parenting education can provide valuable skills for current and prospective parents. But he goes on to say that SB 1348 "would initiate a broader state involvement in a subject that is the rightful domain of families, faith-based entities and non-profit organizations." Health and Mental Illness AB 1969 (Darrell Steinberg, D., Sacramento) would have created a working group to develop plans for long-term care mental health facilities. In his veto message, the governor says he wants to delay creating such a group until other mental health proposals are considered in next yearÕs state budget. SB 1770 (Wes Chesbro, D., Arcata) would have created a Department of Mental Health grant program for mental health client and family member empowerment. While the veto message acknowledges the program has merit, the governor wants it to compete with other proposals in next year's state budget. Immigrants AB 1197 (Marco Firebaugh, D, East Los Angeles) would have allowed otherwise qualified immigrants to pay in-state tuition for public higher education. The veto message projects that the state would lose over $60 million a year under this bill and argues that "priorities and funding must be focused on higher education attainment for legal California residents, both present and future." AB 1463 (Gil Cedillo, D., Los Angeles) would have allowed applicants for lawful immigration status to obtain driver's licenses. The bill was supported by FCL, labor unions, insurance brokers, and children's advocates. Opposition came from immigration control advocates and business and agriculture groups. The governor opposes this bill for three reasons: 1) it would turn the state Department of Motor Vehicles into an immigration document fraud detection agency; 2) other border states have tougher identification standards; 3) it undermines the state's recent gains in making driver's licenses "a more secure form of identification." All of these vetoes point to a drive for tight executive control that could hobble creativity in a state as large and diverse as California. If the governor wants to be seen as a person of vision, he would do well to pay more attention to legislators who are making a sincere effort to improve the lives of all Californians. -- Steve Birdlebough Do You Want To Work For Social and Economic Justice?The Friends Committee on Legislation of California has been lobbying the California State Legislature for almost 50 years. FCL was founded by Quakers and works on the basis of the Quaker principles of justice and equality for all. FCL is seeking interns to work on our current legislative priorities:
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