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California Dem compares 'Save Girls Sports' law to Nazi Germany, as two trans athlete ban bills fail to pass
The California state legislature failed to pass two separate bills aimed at protecting girls sports from trans inclusion on Tuesday. During debate for one of the bills, a Democratic state lawmaker compared the proposals to practices employed by Nazi Germany in the holocaust.
California assembly member Rick Chavez Zbur made the comparison while arguing against the first bill, AB 89.
“This is really reminiscent to me of what happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. We are moving towards autocracy in this country. In Nazi Germany, transgender people were persecuted, barred from public life,” Zbur said.
Zbur was then interrupted by mediators who protested his comparison and argued it was out of order. But Zbur continued his analogy.
“This is about this, this is about this bill,” Zbur argued. “They were barred from public life. They were detransitioned. They were imprisoned and killed in concentration camps. And the way it started was the same kind of things that are happening in this country by the Trump administration.”
California assembly member Rick Chavez Zbur made the comparison while arguing against the first bill, AB 89. (Getty Images)
California Republican assembly member Kate Sanchez, who proposed AB 89, said she heard audible gasps in the assembly chamber during Zbur’s argument, and that one attendee had to excuse herself from the room.
“There was a lot of gasps and shock,” Sanchez told Fox News Digital.
“It was very tone-deaf. We had a mother who had been in the holocaust itself, so she had to leave the committee hearing because it was so offensive to hear… she stood up and left because she was just so uncomfortable with the situation.”
Multiple Democrat residents, including a member of the LGBTQ community, appeared on the assembly floor Tuesday to advocate in support of the bill.
But AB 89 was ultimately struck down by the Democratic majority. However, it will be allowed for reconsideration at a later date.
“I am just so disgusted that my Democrat colleagues were unable to stand for the protection of women and girls,” Sanchez said. “Not only are they ignoring the will of the people… they’re ignoring the everyday mom, dad, girl in sports. They are ignoring their wants.
Democrat assembly member Avalino Valencia was absent from Tuesday’s vote. Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas inserted himself in the committee to vote in Valencia’s absence. Valencia’s office has not responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Just moments after Democrats struck down Sanchez’s bill, the committee voted on AB 844, which would also ban trans athletes from girls sports and was proposed by California Republican assembly member Bill Essayli. Debate for Essayli’s bill featured testimony from conservative activist and filmmaker Matt Walsh.
NEWSOM’S ‘UNFAIR’ REMARK ON GIRLS’ SPORTS BELIES RECORD AS GOVERNOR: ‘ABSOLUTE BULLS—‘
And like Sanchez’s bill, Essayli’s was also struck down by the Democrat majority. Essayli told Fox News Digital that he believes the Democrat’s resistance to the two bills was intended to send a message to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Newsom prompted backlash from those in his own party with comments on his podcast last month, expressing his belief that trans athletes in girls sports was “deeply unfair,” but defended allowing it anyway.
“I think there really is a civil war here brewing within the Democrat Party on how to address these issues. You have the governor going in one direction, and I think what you saw today with the leadership in the legislature, which tends to be even more radical and progressive than the governor, taking a completely different approach. And I think they wanted to send a message to the governor that they’re not budging on this issue,” Essayli said.
“Today they wanted to send a message to their progressive, extremist base that they’re not abandoning them.”
The Democratic majority prevented both bills from passing just days after President Donald Trump’s Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a formal warning to Newsom and the rest of the state, suggesting federal funding may be cut to the state if it continues to enable trans inclusion in girls sports.
MAINE UNIVERSITIES AGREE TO KEEP TRANSGENDER ATHLETES OUT OF WOMEN’S SPORTS AFTER TRUMP ADMIN PAUSES FUNDING
“Allowing participation in sex-separated activities based on ‘gender identity’ places schools at risk of Title IX violations and loss of federal funding. As Governor, you have a duty to inform California school districts of this risk,” McMahon wrote in the letter.
“As Secretary of Education, I am officially asking you to inform this Department whether you will remind schools in California to comply with federal law by protecting sex-separated spaces and activities. I am also officially asking you to publicly assure parents that California teachers will not facilitate the fantasy of ‘gender transitions’ for their children.”
The Democratic majority prevented both bills from passing just days after President Donald Trump’s Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a formal warning to Newsom and the rest of the state, suggesting federal funding may be cut to the state if it continues to enable trans inclusion in girls sports. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The state’s high school sports association, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), is currently under federal investigation for potential Title IX violations after several controversial incidents involving trans athletes occurred over the last year.
The CIF was one of the first state athletic associations to announce it would continue allowing trans athletes to compete with girls after Trump signed the “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” executive order on Feb. 5. The CIF stated an 11-year-old state law, AB 1266, which has been in effect since 2014 and gives trans athletes the right to participate in the gender category based on gender identity and not birth sex, for its non-compliance.
Both Sanchez and Essayli told Fox News Digital they expect the Trump administration to amplify its pressure on the state and potentially cut funding in order to enforce the executive order after their bills failed to pass Tuesday.
“I think a lot will come down the pipe over the next week or so,” Sanchez said. “There will be a lot of development from what I’ve been told.”
Essayli envisions a situation playing out in California similar to the one that has been playing out in Maine over the last month, as a public feud between Trump and Gov. Janet Mills has resulted in a hostile back-and-forth between the state and federal agencies over the issue of trans inclusion.
“None of us really went in thinking the Democrats in the legislature were going to change their position on this today, but what we wanted to do is make a clear record, make our arguments and show the world where they stand, where the Democrats stand on this, expose their position on this,” Essayli said. “And I think we accomplished that.”
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A pair of bills signed into law last week aim to build out a more comprehensive system of literacy education across Wyoming’s public schools.
One mandates evidence-based practices and requires regular screenings for dyslexia, while the other enables the Wyoming Department of Education (WDE) to hire a dedicated literacy professional to oversee statewide compliance.
Gov. Mark Gordon’s signing of both bills on Friday was the latest accomplishment of an ongoing push for improved literacy standards. That push has been spearheaded by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Megan Degenfelder.
“Wyoming is not going to let a single child fall through the cracks,” Degenfelder said during a public bill signing last week. “We are not going to fall behind when it comes to ensuring that our children can read at grade level.”
The primary bill, Senate File 59, establishes a statewide K-12 program for teaching students to read that is built on “evidence based language and literacy instruction, assessment, intervention and professional development that supports educators, engages families and promotes literacy proficiency for all Wyoming students.”
The bill defines evidence-based strategies as those that conform to the science of reading, a term that will be defined and updated by Degenfelder’s office. Nationwide, it generally means putting academic research into practice in classrooms. SF 59 specifically prohibits the exclusive use of “three-cueing” — a strategy once widely employed to teach reading but which education experts now say is outdated and less effective than other strategies.
It also requires annual dyslexia screeners for students below the third grade, and testing for reading difficulties for all students.
The screeners are used to identify the severity of reading difficulties in order to direct “tiered” support that offers the most intensive interventions to the students most in need, while still providing “evidence based” language instruction to all students.
Each school district must formulate an individualized reading plan “for each student identified as having reading difficulties or at risk for poor reading outcomes.”
Districts must now report to the state annually regarding their literacy-related work. Any district where 60% or more of the students are struggling will be required to implement “summer literacy camps or extended supports, including after school support and tutoring.”
The bill also requires literacy related professional development for teachers and specialists “appropriate to their role and level of responsibility” related to literacy education.
SF 59 was backed by dyslexia advocates and literacy specialists.
Senate File 14, the other literacy bill signed into law Friday, appropriates $120,000 annually for the next two years for a full-time position at WDE “to assist school districts in implementing a reading assessment and intervention program and language and literacy programs.”
Both bills go into effect July 1.
West
‘Utterly unaffordable’: Study reveals how deep blue city’s minimum wage law is ravaging key industry
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A phased-in minimum wage hike in Los Angeles that will mandate up to $30 per hour for hotel workers, signed into law by mayor Karen Bass, is already causing problems for the hotel industry and putting the squeeze on the working-class demographic that minimum wage laws are purportedly intended to help.
“The bottom line is the city of Los Angeles has forced a wage and benefits package on hotels that is utterly unaffordable at a time when Californians and Americans are laser focused on affordability,” Hotel Association of Los Angeles (HALA) President Dr. Jackie Filla told Fox News Digital in an interview this week.
HALA recently commissioned a study that found hotels have eliminated or expect to eliminate 6% of positions, roughly 650 jobs, since the Hotel Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance took effect in September 2025.
Mayor Bass signed the ordinance into law May 27, 2025, after it was approved by the Los Angeles City Council. The measure is often referred to as the “Olympic Wage” in reference to the sporting event being held in Los Angeles in 2028 and will raise pay for hotel and LAX airport workers up to $30 per hour by 2028.
POLITICIANS PUSH JOB-KILLING MINIMUM WAGE HIKES WHILE IGNORING THE DEVASTATING ECONOMIC REALITY
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass prior to speaking to media in support of journalist Don Lemon outside federal court on January 30, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Image)
The law has already resulted in a pay increase to $22.50 per hour in July 2025, and will continue to increase incrementally until it hits $30 in July 2028. Filla says she is urging elected officials from the city council to the mayor to make “amendments” to the ordinance to ease the burden on the hospitality industry.
“We are at the very beginning of the series of these increases and hundreds of hotel workers have already lost their jobs,” Filla said. “Even more are seeing their hours reduced. We’ve seen restaurant closures within hotels, parking is already getting more expensive, and improvements and the creation of new buildings altogether are being delayed or canceled. So taken together, these impacts should really sound alarm bells for our local policymakers.”
In many instances, the workers who lose their jobs are working-class or blue-collar individuals and Filla pointed out that many managers and general managers started off as cooks or dishwashers and advanced through executive training programs which now are less available due to financial shortfalls.
The study put out by HALA found that a significant number of the jobs lost have been labor-intensive positions like food and beverage, housekeeping, and parking.
MAYOR BASS FACING BLOWBACK OVER EXPLOSIVE REPORT THAT SHE ALTERED WILDFIRE REPORT TO DOWNPLAY CITY’S ROLE
Los Angeles, California (iStock)
The study also found that 62% of hotels expect staff hours to decrease in 2026, with three-quarters anticipating reductions of at least 10%.
The impact extends beyond hotel payrolls to subcontractors operating on hotel properties, according to HALA, and hotels reported that two-thirds of third-party providers plan to raise prices to offset wage increases, and one in five plan to cancel hotel contracts altogether.
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“Unlike typical layoffs that are occurring in other industries right now, these job losses, and it is 6% of jobs lost in a short period of time, were entirely policy-driven, caused by the mayor and city council,” Filla said. “And what is especially troubling about this is it didn’t have to happen. Hotels actually want to maintain and grow their workforce heading into these major events, but these dramatic cost increases. Just make that impossible.“
Fox News Digital reached out to Bass’s office for comment.
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Mayor Daniel Lurie sparked the altercation that led to a fight and injuries to two San Francisco police officers in his security detail, according to a police report of the incident obtained by the Standard.
On Thursday evening at 5:38 p.m., Lurie, an aide, and two members of his security team were driving north on Larkin St. when they spotted several people sitting on the sidewalk on the corner of Cedar St., an alley in the Tenderloin.
The mayor ordered the driver of his Rivian SUV, Officer Nicholas Boccio, to pull over. Lurie hopped out of the SUV. His second bodyguard, Officer Joel Aguayo, followed.
What happened next would result in two injured officers, a gun aimed at a man’s chest, two arrests, and renewed questions about the public safety under the mayor’s leadership.
While footage of the incident after the officer pushed one of the men has been published by Mission Local (opens in new tab), details about what led up to the fight have not been previously revealed.
After leaving the safety of his vehicle, the mayor took matters into his own hands, the report says. Lurie attempted to get the group hanging out on Cedar St. to move, but one of the men refused.
“On whose behalf do I need to move?” asked one of the men named Tony Phillips, according to Aguayo’s statement.
According to the narrative of the combined witness statements, “Mayor Lurie addressed the group and requested that they move along, as they were standing in the roadway. Phillips became immediately argumentative, stating that he did not have to move.”
Lurie told Phillips that Aguayo was an SFPD officer. Aguayo repeated that and requested that Phillips comply and move out of the way. Phillips again refused.
The police report said the mayor and Aguayo asked Phillips to move at least four times, at one point saying they would call uniformed officers to remove him.
Still, Phillips refused, as the mayor paced a few feet away from Aguayo, video of the incident shows.
While most of the group of four men appeared to stay put, according to footage of the incident, Phillips stepped toward Aguayo, who was standing in front of the mayor.
According to the police report, Phillips then said, “I’ll Bruce Lee kick your ass.” Aguayo then swiftly pushed Phillips to the ground. Phillips got up and was pushed again before rushing the officer. The pair grappled and then fell to the ground, and Aguayo struck the back of his head.
During the fight, Lurie ran to the parked SUV to tell the driver, Boccio, that his partner was in trouble. When Boccio rushed to help, another man in the alley — Abraham Simon — grabbed the officer and reached for his waistband. Simon backed off after Boccio pulled his service weapon.
Boccio then helped Aguayo but was unable to restrain Phillips. It wasn’t until several uniformed officers arrived that Phillips was taken into custody.
Aguayo, who suffered cuts to the back of his head, facial bruising, and a back injury, said to investigating officers that he had to use force on Phillips because he was threatened verbally and got within inches of him. The officer also said he tried to de-escalate to no avail. Boccio’s hand was cut during the confrontation.
No body camera footage was captured of the incident because officers in the mayor’s security detail did not wear them.
The incident, about which Lurie has made brief statements, has raised questions about whether Lurie’s freewheeling approach to walking the streets could put him into danger. The mayor told reporters last week after the incident that he asked the people to move because he was concerned for their safety and that of other pedestrians and drivers.
“I’m out here walking the streets of San Francisco like I do every day. I believe that you can’t solve what you can’t see,” Lurie said in an Instagram post Monday, seemingly doubling down on his approach to interacting with San Franciscans.
When asked for comment, the mayor’s spokesman Charles Lutvak referred to the Instagram post and a story Lurie shared in his State of the City speech about approaching a man who appeared to be an addict, who told the mayor to mind his own business.
The mayor’s reply: “You are my business.”
Lurie’s own account of the incident was not included in the police report, although the document says he later would be contacted for a statement.
Phillips is set to be arraigned Tuesday on charges of threatening an officer, inflicting great bodily injury, and contempt of court for violating a stay-away order from the alley. District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said her office will request that Phillips remain in custody as he is a threat to the public.
Simon is also set to be arraigned Tuesday on charges of interfering with an officer.
The incident is also being investigated by the Department of Police Accountability, according to The Chronicle.
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