Tuesday, June 03, 2025

Two times in the past two years, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation to ban California companies from deploying driverless trucks.

Yet lawmakers have resurrected the idea, with the Teamsters union hoping the third time will be the charm.

This is an example of a phenomenon in the California Legislature: Even when a bill dies one year, and even if a governor kills it, there’s a strong likelihood it will return, especially if big money interests like labor unions and business groups want it signed into law.

about half of the resurrected bills had support from either prominent labor groups or were backed by business.

The number of failed bills returning year after year helps fuel one of the Legislature’s most troubling issues: lawmakers rushing through the democratic process continuing a culture of secrecy at the Capitol. 

Lawmakers routinely silence members of the public during hearings in order to jam through the huge volume of bills. Lawmakers also regularly make their decisions behind closed doors, in part because there is so little time to debate their hundreds of bills in public.



No comments:

Post a Comment