Dateline Sacramento (9/24/2009)
Dateline Sacramento
News with a View from the California Capitol
September 24, 2009
Gender Identity and the EEOC
President Barack Obama has nominated Chai Feldblum to serve a 5-year term on the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC). “Feldblum’s nomination to the EEOC is another example of President Obama’s blatant disregard for religious liberty,” said California Family Council’s Ron Prentice. Feldblum graduated from Harvard Law School and has been a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center since 1991. According to Feldblum’s biography on Georgetown’s Web site, she has been a leading advocate and scholar in the areas of disability rights, health and welfare rights, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights, and workplace issues.
Feldblum is a lesbian who worked extensively in the development of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA). In a 2008 panel discussion hosted by the Family Research Council, Feldblum stated that she believes sexual orientation “rights” will ultimately overrule rights of conscience and freedom of speech in law.
Passage of nondiscrimination legislation – specific to sexual orientation – has been attempted since 1974 in the U.S. Congress. Currently, several bills promoting ENDA are circulating in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives promoting ENDA. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) is the author of HR 3017, and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced S. 1584.
Similar to the definition of gender in the California penal code (Section 422.46), passage of these and other bills would expand federal employment nondiscrimination law by defining “gender” to include a person’s real or perceived sex. Although language in the federal legislation would currently exempt religious “organizations” and the military from ENDA laws, significant legal wrangling will ensue regarding the definition of a religious organization, as pro-gay activists target disagreement with homosexual, bisexual and transgender “rights” as hate speech.
Feldblum’s placement on the EEOC would further clarify President Obama’s objectives, leaving no doubt that his campaign claims regarding dialogue and compromise among conflicting worldviews were empty.
Shifting the Burden – California Tax Overhaul Plan Nearing Completion
Raising children today in the midst of a conflicted culture is a daunting challenge. California parents must work hard to protect the innocence of their children as they grow into adulthood. Concerned moms and dads strive to protect their kids from harm, keep them safe, and shelter them so they can indeed experience the innocence of childhood. At CFC, we share this concern and work hard to inform parents of the issues that affect them and their children.
Our culture creates moral and financial challenges, and California’s families face tough decisions when it comes to providing for their loved ones -- especially now during this recession. Planning for childcare, health care, educational choices, college tuition, weddings and a host of other financial obligations can be an intimidating task. What parents may not know is that a special commission is proposing changes in the way Californians pay state taxes. This could affect us all.
The LA Times reports that a special bipartisan commission’s proposal, meant to solve the state’s worsening budget crisis, is almost ready for the Legislature’s consideration. The plan would lessen the burden from the wealthy and change how taxes on businesses are levied. However, the Legislature may not agree to it.
Last Monday, a bipartisan government commission hammered out the main features of significant changes it will propose for the state’s tax system. Included is a flattened income tax that would largely benefit highest income earners, and the implementation of a broad business levy to replace existing sales and corporate taxes.
The plan is being prodded by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, with the hope of the Legislature’s embrace of the overhaul this fall. It is unclear whether the Legislature will do his bidding, or even how many of the commission’s 14 members will sign the report.
Under the new plan, the existing variety of state income-tax rates would be reduced to just two: 2.75% for a married couple making up to $56,000 annually, and 6.5% for those making more. Itemized deductions would remain only for mortgage interest, property tax and charitable contributions.
Californians making less than $50,000 may pay $4 less in taxes, a 1.8% reduction, while those making $1 million or more would, on average, decrease their tax burden by nearly $109,000 – a cut of more than 31 percent.
Personal income taxes currently amount to 44 percent of the state’s total tax revenue. Under the new plan, the state’s tax figure would drop to just 31 percent. To offset the income tax reduction, a new plan that would create a wide-ranging business tax would be phased in over three years. The plan would encompass virtually every corner of California capitalism, including the service sector – lawyers, engineers, and business consultants – that currently is not taxed.
Lawmakers have been watching the tax commission’s progress, while it has struggled for months to bridge the philosophical issues of both parties. Some of the commissioners are hopeful the plan will get a fair hearing in Sacramento, but others say it will face stiff opposition in the Democrat-dominated Legislature.
“It's very hard to believe the Legislature will go along with this,” said Richard Pomp, a University of Connecticut law professor appointed to the panel by Democratic leaders.
“This freight train has the potential to really damage the California economy.” Gerald Parsky, businessman and Schwarzenegger appointee who served as chairman, said, “Nibbling around the edges isn’t going to make anything better…Business as usual is not acceptable.”
Although most of the 14 commissioners seem ready to sign on to the report, it appears that neither Pomp nor Parsky intend to do so.
On the governor’s desk
Before adjourning last week, the Legislature passed over 600 pieces of legislation for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto or sign into law. Schwarzenegger, who has until October 11 to decide on these proposals, often waits until the last moment for many of these signings and vetoes. If you haven’t yet contacted the governor’s office to ask for his veto of SB 54, which would require the state to validate and recognize same-sex marriages performed outside of California prior to November 5, 2008, and SB 572, which would require the governor to annually proclaim May 22 a day of “significance” honoring homosexual icon Harvey Milk, you still have time to do so. (See contact information below.)
SB 471 (Romero), another bill on the governor’s desk, will promote curricula developed by California’s embryonic stem-cell agency – which prioritizes morally questionable embryonic stem-cell research – and establishes stem-cell and biotechnology education and workforce development as a state priority. Already, this week, with the celebration of “Stem-Cell Awareness Day” yesterday, California’s stem-cell agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, promoted activities for children and visits to high-school science classes by stem-cell researchers.
A little good news
While CFC opposes SB 54, SB 572, and SB 471, we support the following bills on the governor’s desk. Legislators recently have made legislative strides in removing barriers on husbands and wives who want to adopt and by increasing penalties on those who engage in human trafficking or modern-day slavery. Dealing with adoption, AB 154 (Evans), which conforms California statute on fiscal payments with recent changes in federal law, and AB 428 (Fletcher and Ma), which allows the attorney general to provide pertinent criminal history information – needed in the adoption of a child – to foreign governments.
California, with its international borders, large transportation hubs, and immigrant population, has increasingly become a prime destination for the thousands victimized by the modern-day scourge of human trafficking. Two bills on the governor’s desk – AB 17 (Swanson) and SB 557 (Yee) would substantially increase the penalties on those found guilty of this rising, abhorrent crime.
You can contact the governor about any of these bills by calling his Sacramento office at (916) 445-2841, by using CFC’s legislative action center, or through the governor’s own online contact system. Don’t delay!
Local Links
GARDENA – Calvary Chapel South Bay and Family Research Council (FRC) will host a “Watchmen on the Wall” conference for pastors and spouses on Monday, September 28, from 5:00-9:30 p.m. In addition to FRC’s President Tony Perkins, Pastors Steve Mays, Jack Hibbs, Miles McPherson, and CFC’s own Ron Prentice will bring messages of encouragement and truth. Click here for more information.
GRANITE BAY – This past Saturday, Focus on the Family hosted the Wait No More: Finding Families for California Children Conference in Downey. This program attracted over 800 people – approximately 450 families. At the end of the day, more than 200 families had begun the process of adopting children currently in foster care. This is one example of God’s people responding to His command to take care of the parentless. Throughout California, organizations are working to find homes for California’s parentless. One growing organization in Northern California is committed to finding homes for children -- one child at a time. Read more in Roseville Press Tribune.
SACRAMENTO – The debate over traditional marriage continues to be waged across the nation, in our classrooms, in the media and at the ballot box. Recent U.S. Census data will further complicate and intensify the marriage debate; according to current California Census reports, approximately 23,000 same-gender partners consider themselves married. Read more in the San Jose Mercury News.
Truth Project Opportunities
RIVERSIDE – California Family Council continues to expand its offerings of the acclaimed Truth Project group leader training seminars. Training in biblical worldview is a prerequisite to living out authentic Christianity in today’s postmodern culture, with its subjective claims of truth.
The next Truth Project group leader training seminar:
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Spanish Language Training
9:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Host Church: Iglesia Amigos (Southern California)
5211 Lakeview Avenue
Yorba Linda, CA 92886
Saturday, November 14, 2009
8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Host Church: Neighborhood Church of Anderson and Cottonwood (Shasta County)
4684 Rhonda Rd., Anderson, CA 96007
Saturday, November 21, 2009
8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Host Church: Calvary Chapel, Paso Robles (Central Coast)
1615 Commerce Way #A, Paso Robles, 93446-3614
For more information on attending or hosting a seminar, call the California Family Council at 951.354.8362 and ask for Trudy. Register online for seminars at: www.californiafamily.org.
