Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Walters: Winnowing Legislative Grain From Chaff
dan_walters
By Dan Walters, CalMatters Commentary
Published 5 years ago on
January 9, 2020

Share

During the pre-industrial era, crops of wheat were planted, cultivated, harvested and processed by hand.
The latter included “winnowing,” typically by using a shallow basket to toss the crushed kernels of wheat into the air, allowing the wind to separate edible grain from the lighter and disposable chaff.


Dan Walters
Opinion
The term is also quite applicable as the state Legislature resumes its biennial session.
Winnowing weighty grains of policy wheat from lightweight legislative chaff is not always easy, since the authors of both always profess serious intent.
Eventually, however, their true nature emerges. A few years ago, for example, the state Senate, amidst much oratory, passed a bill that professed to create a state-managed “single-payer” medical care system to cover every Californian.
The legislation, however, lacked an element to make it a serious proposal: a way to pay for it. Supposedly, all current public and private health care spending would be absorbed by the state, but it also would require at least $100 billion a year in new taxes.
The speaker of the Assembly, Anthony Rendon, quickly and correctly put the bill on the legislative shelf, citing its lack of a financing method.

A Serious Approach to a Very Serious Problem

Three new — or at least semi-new — proposals also illustrate the need for winnowing.

“It is $81,000 a year to incarcerate a person (but) for a two-bedroom apartment, it’s $25,000 a year. It is not just morally incumbent on us to provide a right to housing but financially it is the responsible thing to do.” — Assemblywoman Autumn Burke
Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat, is trying for the third straight year to enact legislation to ease California’s chronic lack of housing.
Wiener wants to overcome the not-in-my-backyard sentiment that blocks local high-density housing projects and in his newly amended version, Senate Bill 50 has softened what had been a tough mandate by giving local governments more leeway to comply with state housing quotas.
Whether one likes or dislikes Wiener’s bill, it’s certainly a serious approach to a very serious problem.
SB 50 stands in contrast with a bit of chaff being offered by Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, a Los Angeles Democrat. Her amendments to Assembly Bill 22 “declare that it is the policy of the state that every child and family has the right to housing, which includes homelessness prevention, emergency accommodations, and permanent housing …”
“It is $81,000 a year to incarcerate a person (but) for a two-bedroom apartment, it’s $25,000 a year,” she told Politico. “It is not just morally incumbent on us to provide a right to housing but financially it is the responsible thing to do.”

It’s Just More Symbolic Chaff

That is, at best, sophomoric reasoning. Declaring a “right to housing” is one thing but generating tens of billions of dollars to build it is quite another. If Burke is serious about creating such a right, then she should tell us how she’d finance it. Otherwise, it’s just symbolism.
Speaking of which, Rob Bonta, a Democratic Assemblyman from Oakland, has introduced Assembly Bill 1839, which he describes as a “California Green New Deal” aimed at rapidly eliminating fossil fuels from the state’s economy.
“California,” he says, “has been recognized as a world leader in implementing strong and innovative environmental policies. The California Green New Deal will build on that leadership to further protect the planet and ensure that disadvantaged communities that have been harmed by the fossil fuel economy are first in line to benefit from our state’s green advances.”
So how would he do that? Who would pay for the conversion and how would it affect the economy and those now employed in fossil fuel-related industries? He doesn’t say. Rather, AB 1839 would just create an advisory organization that would tell us something two years hence.
It’s just more symbolic chaff.
CalMatters is a public interest journalism venture committed to explaining how California’s state Capitol works and why it matters. For more stories by Dan Walters, go to calmatters.org/commentary.
[activecampaign form=31]

DON'T MISS

Merced Police Chief: Local Sexual Assault Exams ‘Worth’ Higher Cost

DON'T MISS

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes to Headline Chukchansi’s Summer Series with ‘Family Reunion Tour’

DON'T MISS

Sue or Hold Back? The University of California Does Both as It Faces Trump’s Wrath

DON'T MISS

Central Unified Takes Additional Steps To Protect Undocumented Students

DON'T MISS

Americans Trade Michelin Stars for Mac and Cheese

DON'T MISS

Dueling Protests Clash at Fresno Tesla Dealership

DON'T MISS

Hamas Says It Accepts New Gaza Ceasefire Proposal but Israel Makes Counter-Offer

DON'T MISS

Andrew Tate’s Ex-Girlfriend Accuses Him of Sexual Assault and Battery in New Lawsuit

DON'T MISS

Protesters Rebelling Against Elon Musk’s Purge of US Government Swarm Tesla Showrooms

DON'T MISS

Plastics Are Seeping Into Farm Fields, Food and Eventually Human Bodies

UP NEXT

If California Bails Out LA’s $1 Billion Budget Deficit, Beware the Slippery Slope

UP NEXT

Trump Has Had Enough. He Is Not Alone.

UP NEXT

The Real Crisis in California Schools Is Low Achievement, Not Cultural Conflicts

UP NEXT

Trump and Musk Are Suffering From Soros Derangement Syndrome

UP NEXT

CA Politicians Have an Irritating Habit of Ignoring the Downsides

UP NEXT

If Pete Hegseth Had Any Honor, He Would Resign

UP NEXT

If Zero-Emission Cars Cut Gasoline Sales and Tax Revenue, How Will California Replace Them?

UP NEXT

How Israel Divides the Right

UP NEXT

Under Pressure From Trump, UC Abandons ‘Diversity Statement’ Requirement for Faculty

UP NEXT

California Seniors Are Paying the Price for Lawsuit Abuse 

Central Unified Takes Additional Steps To Protect Undocumented Students

12 hours ago

Americans Trade Michelin Stars for Mac and Cheese

13 hours ago

Dueling Protests Clash at Fresno Tesla Dealership

1 day ago

Hamas Says It Accepts New Gaza Ceasefire Proposal but Israel Makes Counter-Offer

1 day ago

Andrew Tate’s Ex-Girlfriend Accuses Him of Sexual Assault and Battery in New Lawsuit

1 day ago

Protesters Rebelling Against Elon Musk’s Purge of US Government Swarm Tesla Showrooms

1 day ago

Plastics Are Seeping Into Farm Fields, Food and Eventually Human Bodies

1 day ago

Myanmar’s Earthquake Death Toll Jumps to 1,644 as More Bodies Are Recovered From the Rubble

1 day ago

Top Vaccine Official Resigns From FDA, Criticizes RFK Jr. for Promoting Misinformation, Lies

1 day ago

If You Want to Ski Affordably Next Season, Buy Now

1 day ago

Merced Police Chief: Local Sexual Assault Exams ‘Worth’ Higher Cost

Last year, The Merced FOCUS reported that for the first time in over a decade, a crucial service for survivors of sexual assault would be of...

11 hours ago

11 hours ago

Merced Police Chief: Local Sexual Assault Exams ‘Worth’ Higher Cost

11 hours ago

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes to Headline Chukchansi’s Summer Series with ‘Family Reunion Tour’

12 hours ago

Sue or Hold Back? The University of California Does Both as It Faces Trump’s Wrath

12 hours ago

Central Unified Takes Additional Steps To Protect Undocumented Students

13 hours ago

Americans Trade Michelin Stars for Mac and Cheese

1 day ago

Dueling Protests Clash at Fresno Tesla Dealership

1 day ago

Hamas Says It Accepts New Gaza Ceasefire Proposal but Israel Makes Counter-Offer

1 day ago

Andrew Tate’s Ex-Girlfriend Accuses Him of Sexual Assault and Battery in New Lawsuit

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend