Tag Archives: California legislature

A New Venture For Big Brother

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On Sunday, PJ Media reported that the California legislature has passed a bill that will require all cars built after 2030 to give a beep when the driver exceeds the speed limit by 10 MPH. Speeding would not only be considered a violation of the law–it would be considered a crime. Considering all of the things that are not crimes in California, this is an amazing law. (Shoplifting is defined under California’s penal code as “entering a commercial establishment with intent to commit larceny while that establishment is open during regular business hours, where the value of the property that is taken or intended to be taken does not exceed $950.” It is considered a misdemeanor and carries a possible penalty of up to six months in jail or a fine of up to $1,000.) And the state wants to make speeding a crime?

The article reports:

As introduced, Weiner’s bill would have made “every passenger vehicle, motortruck, and bus manufactured or sold in the state” of the 2027 model year and beyond unable to drive more than 10 miles per hour above the limit. 

Ultimately, Wiener relented and amended the bill in April. Given that modern seatbelt alarms require “repetitive, successive, or ongoing warnings each time a vehicle exceeds the speed threshold,” Californian drivers have reason to be grateful that such alarms are merely not precluded in the current bill. They also have reason to regard the bill as superfluous.

The most popular phone-based navigation apps, Google Maps, (Apple) Maps, and Waze include visual and auditory signals when drivers go over the speed limit whatsoever. Still, speed signals are optional on these apps, and not everybody is as dependent on Google Maps and CarPlay.

My car has a 6-CD player and a Garmin. I have no idea what these other things are. If this bill is passed in California, it will eventually be passed in other places. This is one more reason to ad to my list of never buying a new car!

 

 

Making The Only Reasonable Political Move

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Recently, the California legislature passed a bill providing up to $150,000 to help illegal aliens purchase homes in the state. Never mind that in California $150,000 might buy you a garage if you are lucky. Well, Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill. Aside from the fact that the State can’t afford the cost, I believe that he is eyeing a presidential run in 2028 and does not want that bill on his record.

Politico posted an article about the veto on Friday.

The article states:

The Democratic governor’s veto comes a day after former President Donald Trump said he would ban undocumented immigrants from receiving home mortgages if he returns to the White House. It also takes the issue off the table ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’ first scheduled debate against Trump next week. Karoline Leavitt, a Trump campaign spokesperson, described the California bill last month as “fundamentally unfair but typical Democrat policy.”

The article also notes:

Newsom has repeatedly warned fellow Democrats in Sacramento not to provide cannonfire for Republicans in an election year, issuing pleas for them to tamp down the raging culture wars rather than provoke them with hot-button issues ranging from banning youth tackle football to reparations. On other proposals that were unlikely to become law, he pushed state Democrats to subordinate their virtue signaling so conservative media outlets couldn’t paint the state as wildly out of touch with America.

Newsom’s concerns have only grown since the elevation of Harris as the party’s nominee, since she hails from California. At a briefing Friday on an unrelated topic, the governor denied that he was trying to send a message to lawmakers in his party, saying he vetoed the bill on its merits.

“The bill that was sent to me was [on] a program that had no money, and it was expanding eligibility to a program that had no money,” Newsom said. “It seemed rather curious to me. So it was unnecessary and completely consistent with prior vetoes along those similar lines.”

Republican state Sen. Brian Dahle, who represents a rural Northern California district and ran against Newsom in the 2022 gubernatorial race, said in an interview that the governor did the right thing. But, Dahle said, he believes Newsom was in fact “reading the tea leaves” on the political implications of the bill.

Passing this bill will have created more scarcity in an already scarce housing market and increased the price of housing–both in rentals and in purchases. Also, at a time when crime by illegal aliens is rapidly increasing, it might not be a good idea to give them further incentives to come to America.