California Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-14th District)
the story so far
The
"California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act of 2006," AB 583, authored by
California Assemblymember Loni Hancock (D-14th A.D.),
passed the Assembly Elections Committee at the State Capitol in Sacramento on Tuesday, January 10, 2006, on a 4-to-3 vote.
The next stop in the legislative process for this bill is the Assembly Appropriations Committee which will be considering the measure on Wednesday, January 18, 2006. Since this bill is in its second year of consideration, it needs to pass out of the Appropriations Committee and be approved on the floor of the California State Assembly by the end of January, 2006, in order to stay alive.
legislative staffer Armando Viramontes talks about AB 583
California Politics Today spoke this afternoon with Armando Viramontes, Legislative Assistant to Assemblymember Loni Hancock, principal author of AB 583, about the specifics of this bill and about its future course through the California Legislature and, possibly, its consideration by the voters of California.
You can listen to that conversation with Loni Hancock's Legislative Assistant Armando Viramontes, in its entirety, by clicking
here
faxing Appropriations Committee Chair Judy Chu
During that interview, Mr. Viramontes mentioned that people interested in weighing in on the consideration of AB 583 can do so through faxes sent to
Appropriations Committee Chair Judy Chu at 916-319-2149.
A vote in the Assembly Appropriations Committee on AB 583 is expected on Thursday, January 19, 2006.
"running clean in 2009"
If AB 583 passes the Appropriations Committee on January 17, 2006; is approved by the full Assembly by the end of January, 2006; passes the Senate Elections and Appropriations Committees and the full Senate by the end of the 2006 session; and is signed by the Governor or, if he vetoes it, passed over his veto by the Legislature; it will be submitted to the voters of California as a referendum during the first subsequent election, which is likely to be the primary election in June, 2008, absent another special election.
If California voters approve it at that time, AB 583 will become law the next day, and candidates for public office in California will be able to avail themselves of the funding it provides for the first time in the primary and general elections of 2009, two years before the centenary of the inauguration of California Governor and Senator and co-founder of the Progressive Party
Hiram Johnson, who said, in his
First Inaugural Address, on January 3, 1911:
"I take it, therefore, that the first duty that is mine to perform is to eliminate every private interest from the government, and to make the public service of the State responsive solely to the people."
To read Governor Johnson's First Inaugural Address in its entirety, click
here.
Born in Sacramento, Calif., September 2, 1866; Hiram Johnson attended the public schools and the University of California at Berkeley. He died in the naval hospital at Bethesda, Maryland, on August 6, 1945, the same day the first atomic bomb to be used in war was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, Japan.
For in-depth background reporting on the run-up to today's landmark vote approving Loni Hancock's AB 583 in the Assembly Elections Committee, click
here.
more on "media access," "media diversity," and the emergence of "Clean Media"
To listen to a January 13, 2006,
ViewersChoice.org News interview with Ben Scott, Policy Director at
Free Press, talking about "media diversity," a discussion which lays the groundwork for the emergence of "Clean Media" as a necessary component of Clean Money/Clean Elections, click
here.
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