This is a good week for California Democrats in Sacramento and for Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez-Fletcher in particular. A half dozen emails from her office landed in my inbox yesterday, touting legislative victories large and small.
The biggie in this batch of wins was Assembly Bill 805, mandating a structural overhaul of the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG). The most significant impact, in my opinion, of such a restructuring will be a reduction in the power climate change denialists/obstructionists have over decisions regarding infrastructure.
There are plenty of reasons to question whether this all will come to pass, but I’m hopeful. Gov. Brown hasn’t weighed in on this legislation. Escondido Mayor Sam Abed and others are promising lawsuits. And the local right-not-to-get-paid-much types are apoplectic over a provision requiring skilled and trained workers to be employed on local transportation projects, a standard they feel favors unions. [Read more…]