Morning Report: Senator Wants Redo on County Reforms

The big package of reforms county supervisors want to put on the ballot has to go through one more approval before it’s officially something voters will consider in November. 

At least one state senator hopes they will change it significantly before it does. 

Sen. Catherine Blakespear told our Politics Report team that she finds the measure “outrageous” not because of what it does, necessarily, but because of when it does it. 

Main beef: Blakespear said she is uncharacteristically calling out her fellow Democrats at the county because the proposal includes limiting supervisors’ terms to three. Right now they’re limited to two terms in office. If, she says, such a change is a good one for the long term, then they should do it for future supervisors, not themselves. 

“It’s unquestionably a self-serving power grab. It gives us all a bad name,” she said. She also objected to parts of it that would limit the terms of the sheriff, district attorney, assessor and treasurer-tax collector. 

Also: We have a report about the disappointing revenue numbers from the trash tax the city began collecting. They didn’t anticipate people would want smaller bins at the level they do. 

The Politics Report is for Voice of San Diego donors. 

You can read it here.

Correction: The original version of the Politics Report included a line about what other legislators who represent San Diego think about putting term limits on the district attorney, sheriff and others. This was the result of a misunderstanding and has been removed. 

Sacramento Report: The ‘Stop Nick Shirley Bill’

Some Republican state lawmakers fear a proposed state bill intended to protect the privacy of people who work with immigrants would stop “citizen journalists” from investigating fraud. 

GOP lawmakers coined Assemblymember Mia Bonta’s bill the “Stop the Nick Shirley Act,” after a conservative activist whose videos about Somali-operated Minnesota day care centers spurred a immigration-enforcement surge. 

At the bill’s hearing, people testified they feared violence because they provide legal, health or social services to immigrants. Bonta’s bill would allow those workers to provide a substitute mailing address to the secretary of state’s office to protect their privacy, akin to survivors of sexual assault and domestic abuse. 

Nadia Lathan, our Sacramento Reporter, is also tracking a bill that would delay government response times to public records requests. Many city and county governments back the bill because they say people are abusing requests. First Amendment and civil liberties groups worry the elongated timeline would dissuade people from filing public records.

Read the full newsletter here.

VOSD Podcast: Those County Reforms

On the latest episode, our hosts talk about your ballot and the city of San Diego’s budget trouble.

First up! San Diego County supervisors have officially taken the first step to put a measure on the ballot that would extend their term limits. But there are other county government reforms in that measure that are way more interesting.

Next, Mayor Todd Gloria released his proposed budget. Some folks are very mad, but we saw that coming. We explain the proposed cuts on the show.

Finally: You got to be delusional to run for governor of California. The podcast crew goes through a voter guide to explore some of your more interesting options.

Listen here!

In Other News 

• Baja California officials convicted a woman to 20 years in prison in connection with the execution-style killings of surfers from San Diego and Australia two years ago. (NBC 7)
• SDG&E released a proposed route for a new transmission line from Imperial Valley to the Orange County border. At least one desert conservation group is already opposing the power line. (Union-Tribune)
• Construction on controversial tiny homes for unhoused people began in Lemon Grove. (Union-Tribune)
• New report says we have dirty air. (KPBS)

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