Last week, near the East steps at the Capitol, when my Calaveras Legislative Frog Jump contestant, Bury Bonds, lurched hard left from the starting pad I was hoping it would not be 
indicative of the rest of the week, [nor Bury’s leftward lurch further indicative of this Capitol in November] Bury finished mid pack, without any performance enhancements. Last year was about 3rd. Hmm.
Alas, my eminent domain reform bill, ACA 22 was up in Assembly Housing and Communal, er, Community Development and after impassioned testimony by witnesses having had property bulldozed already or threatened to do so, the committee voted party line with 2 Reps supporting limiting eminent domain to true public uses and 2 Dems opposing…plus 3 Dems abstaining. Maybe if the committee members were present during testimony, they would’ve been swayed a bit. Well, OK, they wouldn’t.
This whole reform has been ignored for most of a year by this legislative body. Senator McClintock introduced two bills on the Senate side, first SCA 15 and then SCA 20, and I ran ACA 22 as the companion to his bills on the Assembly side. Both of Tom’s bills, after finally getting a hearing, were killed on a party line vote. This after having received bipartisan co-authorship on the SCA and ACA.
Enter conservative heroine Mimi Walters, who has pushed the Protect Our Homes initiative and has announced pretty good news about that making the ballot. We had a drive by petition signing at the small business of one of our witnesses who testified in committee [his business is the one that hasn’t been bulldozed yet] and the turnout from neighborhood folks was tremendous. People couldn’t wait to sign this thing. Just because Sacramento doesn’t get it, doesn’t mean real people don’t.
With this initiative finally on the ballot it should pass with flying American-style colors. But you never know with an election and the creative campaigns that can be conjured up to oppose. After all, around here, they have successfully hid for nearly a year behind the fig leaf of increased property tax and sales tax accruing to the government being a "public use" that is justification for eminent domain seizures….of your home, your farm, your small business, even your church property. So we must make sure that Protect Our Homes not only qualifies, but passes overwhelmingly. So let’s all do the Right thing and hop to it. [you too, Bury]
[Note: The Protect Our Homes Coalition has an ad on this site, so you can click-thru to help them out! – Flash]