CA AB42 Fails to Pass, SB10 Still Alive
What a night it was last evening. Many of us were watching Game 1 of the NBA Finals on one device and the California General Assembly on another. The Golden State Warriors won their battle against LeBron James and the Cavaliers while all of California won when AB42 failed to a pass out of the General Assembly.
AB42’s doppelganger in the Senate is SB10. Senator Hertzberg’s SB10 passed out of the Senate earlier this week with little opposition. The senator’s partner in bail reform Assemblyman Bonta, was not as fortunate. Despite his efforts, Bonta’s AB42 went down late last night in a 36-37 vote. He lost by one vote.
What a tremendous effort by the lobbying team and everyone and every organization that was involved with seeing AB42 defeated. That said, we cannot rest on our laurels, SB10 is still alive and kicking and very much a threat. The upside is, SB10 must travel through the same General Assembly where AB42 just met its fate. We need to continue to expand our support and opposition to SB10 in the General Assembly to ensure that SB10 does not become law.
What’s next? SB10 has been sent over to the General Assembly for consideration where it will be assigned to committee. SB10 is not expected to be heard in committee before June 15.
How can you help? Continue to provide financial support to the associations working on behalf of bail and victims of crime. Continue to inform your friends, family and associates to contact their Assembly representative and ask they oppose SB10.
You can also help by encouraging your associates to post only positive comments about the bail industry and informed statements as to why SB10 is bad for California. Posting derogatory comments and personal attacks against supporters of SB10 is harmful to our overall efforts. Any such postings should be deleted immediately. Keep it clean and articulate, we already have the Constitution and common sense on our side.
The Warriors won Game 1 last night but they know it’s a seven-game series. We can celebrate last night’s defeat of AB42 for a few hours, but SB10 still looms. Stay positive. We will keep you posted on further developments.