2023 California Legislative Recap: the Winners, Losers, and Opportunities

The 2022-23 California legislative session may have come to an end, and in our guest’s opinion, was an “epic fail” – but the people still have opportunities to impact change in our communities, by urging Gov. Newsom to sign key legislation and voting for transformative ballot measures in the upcoming 2024 election. 

Jay Hockley Sr., a community organizer at Initiate Justice, joins Irene Kao, Executive Director of Courage California, to discuss the fate of important 2023 public safety bills he advocated for, the opportunities Californians still have to push some key policies forward, and his thoughts on the future of criminal justice and public safety in our state, and at the local level.

View Courage California's updated 2023 Priority Bill list here: https://couragecalifornia.org/2023-priority-legislation/ 

With You, fashioned in Courage, We Can create a California that represents and serves us all.

Connect with us: @CourageCA #CourageLooksGoodOnYou
Support: couragecalifornia.org/donate

Transcript

Irene: [00:00:00] Thanks, Angela. So the California State Legislature concluded its 2023 session on September 14th. During the session, our senators and assembly members ended up passing hundreds of bills and Rejecting hundreds as well. Some of the bills have already been signed into law by Governor Newsom.

I'm excited to be talking today with Jay Hockley Sr. who began as advocacy and organizing work while incarcerated and is now a community organizer for Initiate Justice, where he lobbies for criminal justice reform bills, and

today, we're diving into the fate of some of these bills and what this says about where our leaders are on community safety reforms. Thank you for joining me today, Jane.

Jay: Hey, thanks for having me. I really appreciate you and courage for having this conversation.

Irene: Well, so, what is your big takeaway about how our state legislature did on public safety in this 2023 [00:01:00] session?

Jay: Well, I think, uh, speaking on public safety, it was a epic fail this year. Really. Hate to say that as far as, you know, as many allies as we have in the legislature and folks who are trying to do the right thing overall just with all of the politics and misdirection and. Negative framing that came outta the legislature.

Seems like folks were forced to move bills across that you know, weren't really accurate or just caused more harm. It doesn't actually fix any problems. So just looking at the history of the legislature, given the most recent history and the progressive reforms, it looks like it's at this time just the time that we're gonna see a lot of. Blow back and a lot of folks who are just angry because they have been witnessing some, healthy reforms and they're upset with that.

Irene: Well, it seems like some of these losses are especially tough [00:02:00] because some of these are bills that have been seen by the state legislature before and also failed to pass this year. talk specifically about negative framing. Can you say more, what was sort of the negative framing around these bills and how do you feel like that affected the political dynamics in Sacramento?

Jay: Well, yeah, definitely. So we know obviously that, you know, sometimes the people with the loudest voice in the room aren't always the most accurate. We know that folks tend to, especially on certain sides of the aisle, tend to just blurt things out that are incorrect. And unfortunately, there is rarely like a narrative correction, or folks who just, you know, hold that line of accountability, or even sanctions within the legislature for outright lying on the floor and bills.

And so, unfortunately, as we've seen with SB 14 and others Where, you know, certain narratives were put in place, like about human trafficking and victims and we see that this is, [00:03:00] you know, completely false and that it was already codified within our state laws of being able to receive life, a life sentence for human trafficking and other activity like that.

So just seeing those types of narratives become harmful and even will potentially pass into law because of the governor's, you know, reviving that bill and other harmful legislations with the fentanyl bills and other bills are just going to continue to criminalize know, people who are poor and you know trying to survive versus folks who are actually creating most of these problems.

You know, of course no one supports human trafficking and no one supports you know, that type of harm. And It's completely harmful to have those survivors be forced to go in front of the legislature and tell their stories and stuff like that just so a politician can get a soundbite to replay for their re election campaign.

Irene: Well, so you mentioned that oftentimes legislation is really [00:04:00] influenced by the loudest voices I would definitely fold into that sort of media and sort of public conversations, because it seems like on public safety polls show over and over that the general public voters really actually are in favor of these reforms.

So taking people out of prisons and jails, providing more diversion programs, providing more funding for people as they re enter. But the last couple of years have sort of shown the legislature's not. seemingly really in step with where voters are. But at the same time, we keep reading the same news headlines over and over that crime is up, that it's reforms that are causing these upticks in crime.

And so to me, there's sort of this. It's really big difference between where the public really is and what perception of where the public is. And can you talk to me about how you feel like this really influences, sort of, how our leaders are approaching these bills [00:05:00] and our, our leaders seemingly inability to pass these bills that voters are, are really asking for, are really demanding.

Jay: No, that's a, that's a key question and it brings up a great point. The fact that voters have signaled that they support progressive policies, voters have signaled that they want to get rid of cash systems and take people off of islands. Have folks, you know, be productive members of society. But our legislative leaders are are more so acting off of social media comments and movies from the alt right and other sources instead of actually putting forth You know, effective legislation based off of the statistics because statistics and studies and all of these scholarly works prove that progressive work and also serves to create safer communities.

So yeah, it's just sad to see that, but. Unfortunately, it's up to the voters to be able to hold [00:06:00] these leaders accountable and to uh, turn out to vote. And also to support politicians who have a proven history and track record of supporting progressive policies that are evidence-based and make us ultimately safer.

And, you know, ultimately build communities that are safe and restorative in nature.

Irene: So, Jay, before we get into sort of the, the ins and outs of what happened in the state legislature, do you want to talk really quickly about one specific piece of legislation that you want to highlight that is really key, but we'll, we'll have to sort of revisit it next year to, to make sure it passes.

Jay: Yeah, definitely um, ACA four is definitely a bill that feels worth mentioning, of course, which is authored by majority leader, assembly member Bryant. And that bill of course would, you know, re enfranchise voters [00:07:00] who have been racially discriminated against for a long time in our state. And.

Basically restore voting rights for folks who are currently completing their prison sentences. So you know, if we are to be a state that is the leader, that is the conscience of the United States, then, you know, it's important to realize that there are 16 other states in our nation who are ahead of us on this and that we have to.

We've seen a bill passed through to, to ban slavery in California and that's amazing. And I think that it should definitely be, well, we've seen it passed from one house to the next. So hopefully it can make it through the Senate and come back for a third reading. voting rights is definitely paramount and it is a right of citizenship and has.

In the state of California, our history was directly related to race after slavery was banned. It is literally the new form of slavery. So voting rights is definitely paramount and I'd love to see ACA4 along with the work of the um, Free the Vote Coalition[00:08:00] move that work forward and our community partners like Courage and other Other organizations, you know, help us to, to get that onto the ballot and form the voters of the merits and get it passed.

Irene: Yeah, and for both of those ACAs, we have until June to get those passed through the state legislature to, to actually get them to appear on the November ballot. So we could make this, this pass and get on the ballot really quickly. I do want to say too, because you speak often about how legislation really needs to follow the people who are the most deeply impacted.

And it seems like re enfranchising folks like you said who are incarcerated, that gives people who are the most deeply impacted by our carceral system an actual voice, an actual vote. Just want to emphasize that. Yeah.

Jay: yes, definitely. And then with the work that we've done at you know, initiate justice and freedom of coalition we find, you know, that civic engagement has been proven to reduce recidivism by more than 50%. So literally if we're talking about [00:09:00] safer communities, we're talking about safer.

You know, streets, then we have to enfranchise folks and give them the opportunity to have their voices heard. And we also see that they care about the same issues that we care about here in their free world.

Irene: So folks need to call their state legislators. Make sure we get this through by the June 2024 deadline and we could be voting on it again like as soon as November 2024. And that's really exciting.

Jay: Yes. 

Irene: Well, so underlining what you just mentioned that this is sort of the, the shared vision that most people have here in the state, what has given you hope, even though a lot of these bills didn't pass? I feel like we have a lot more real champions on criminal justice reform in the state legislature. And even though we are facing really tough opposition from law enforcement associations, they're no longer, I feel like, just the go to experts on public safety.

It seems like grassroots groups, community groups like Initiate Justice and Initiate Justice Action are really making inroads with our [00:10:00] state leaders. So can you talk more a little bit about how you've been pushing Our legislature more towards these reforms. And are there any specific legislators that you want to want to shout out or any particular champions that you have seen who can really help to continue to push our, our state leaders more towards where the community is.

Jay: you know, as you mentioned it's a, it's a hard time right now with the, with the, you know, everything that's going on and the feelings that we have as, you know, progressive leaders and folks who were just community members trying to push forward know everything that we feel is best for our communities.

But definitely um, am encouraged by some of the champions on, in the Capital Park. you know, the work of. Ash Cara, Alex Lee Majority Leader Brian you know, Nika Weber Tina McKenna, and others. It's just a, you know, the names go on. It's just, it's a, it's a healthy list of, of folks [00:11:00] who, you know, are most often doing the right thing and engaging folks who are most impacted by these policies.

And I think that. You know, at Initiate Justice, one thing that, that we always you know, let folks know is that folks who are most impacted by the harm or by the policy are the closest to the solution because we live it, you know, day in, day out. We have that, that lived experience and we also have the learned experience on, on how to translate that and how it.

These things land. yeah, encouraged to see just some good legislation coming out and you know, seeing that get to the governor's desk and we're hoping that, you know, he does the right thing by signing those legislations as well as uses his platform to uplift progressive policies that Restore the damage that harms of cause as he has in the past, instead of this recent you know, platform he's been using to, to bolster his presidential bid, I guess.

Irene: Right. In some ways with governor Newsom, he's been great on some reforms [00:12:00] and then really horrible and others. And it seems like right now, because. The headlines are so, are so driven by, again, crime, the fentanyl crisis, homelessness, and it all ends up being tied back to incarceration or pro policing as the solutions, which is extremely problematic.

How do you feel like this is sort of influencing where the governor's at and how are you feeling about the bills that did make it through that are now on his desk to sign?

Jay: Yes, I mean, I think that clearly, you know, evidence in history has shown that the more funding that you increase for police it does not show a reduction in crime whatsoever. And in fact, just contributes to more harm. And I think that we can have community accountability outside of government agents you know, going into impoverished communities.

And treating people like they're less than human. And just locking up the segments of indigenous brown folks [00:13:00] throughout our state. I think that we could build systems of care that are restorative in nature and put folks on the best foot to be able to succeed in life, as well as have resources when they need them.

So you know, I'm packing a lot there but I think that all in all folks really truly understand that we cannot look at investing in police and prisons as public safety because it's been proven to just perpetuate and cause more harm. And put folks worse off than what they were when they began versus, you know, investing in systems that have resources and make people better off as well as those forms of community accountability and those social norms, you know, so I think that the history proves this, statistics prove it, and, Also you know, actions on the ground, but of course, as we've seen, you know, from historical context that whenever, you know, there's a soundbite on the media or there's[00:14:00] you know, folks who are advantage of demonstrations or stealing or doing whatever, they're always going to say, you know, Prop 46, they're always going to say, you know, all these, you know, policies that passed five and six years ago that have not been linked to anything.

Any of the things that we see today, and also as you see, crime is still lower than it's been in a long time. And if you actually look at the statistics, you see that violent crime is really only up in conservative, tough on crime counties in California.

Irene: Right. So it's interesting because people always look at the data, but they're not looking at the full picture of the data. And then to me, they're not always drawing the right conclusions from it. A lot of people are looking to state leaders to really be leading on policy, but the reality is that it seems like a lot of the key reforms, again, that reflect what the community wants are really happening at the local level.

Can you talk to me about where you're seeing some leadership [00:15:00] in other parts of the state? If it's not necessarily coming from the state legislature or the governor, where are you sort of seeing the reforms being enacted that, that communities really want to see?

Jay: Um, I think the only one that really comes to mind right now happening are probably in the city of Los Angeles. I mean, like with the measure a, the sheriff accountability measure that passed. This past election to be able to remove problematic sheriffs with calls for, you know, certain crimes and certain violations was, you know, definitely key.

You know, there are, you know, some others out there as well. But again, I mean with the internet and everyone being able to put their opinion out there, you know, and having millionaires who, you know, have all these, this money at their disposal for the wrong reasons. When a lot of these, you know, legislations are passed or even, you know, make it to the next level, all it takes is that tweet and then a bank transfer, and then we have a referendum or [00:16:00] something else that pretty much renders.

You know, it's legislation useless actually, but as we see what measure a, you know, which was overwhelmingly wanted by the, people, because, you know, we all, you know, me, myself, growing up in Los Angeles County in Compton you know, we know how the LA County sheriffs operate and the things that they do as well as the sheriff has always been, you know, from the top down from the Bakken and, you know, others is You know, something that was needed and it's good to see that that piece of legislation hasn't been undermined by some recall referendum or something of that nature to stop it.

Irene: Well, so in the time that I've spent in Sacramento and you've been spending a lot of time in Sacramento, it does seem like one thing that does resonate with leaders in the media is people's personal stories, like you said, sort of their lived experience, their, their earned experience. I was wondering what stories and narratives do you feel [00:17:00] like are really Helpful in getting people to understand why these reforms are really important, why they're necessary and are persuasive in getting people to vote a particular way.

Jay: Yeah, definitely. Um, You know, personal stories that lived experience being able to effectively communicate. You know, why you went through a certain experience or how legislation has impacted your life how it impacts the life of a loved one or just the injustices that you see throughout the criminal legal process, I think is effective because I think a lot of, a lot of people within the legislature, you know, has had a lot of limited life experience and I think we see that you know, both sides of the parties, but um, I think you see like the candidates who are most progressive, I've had the most extensive life experiences, you know what I mean?

And those who have, you know, had, You know, different life experiences are[00:18:00] kind of on the other side of things. 

Irene: So I hear what you're saying too. In some ways, I also feel like because of the work of groups like Courage, like Initiate Justice Action, we're seeing more and more legislators who really reflect, like you said, the life background and the life experiences of us here in the community.

Well, so my final question to you is, we've got a little bit of time now between when Governor has his deadline to sign bills for this year. So what actions can Courage California, our progressive partners, and community advocates do to ensure that the governor signs the progressive public safety bills that are on his desk right now?

Jay: Yeah, I think some of the things that courage other community nonprofit organizations and support groups as well as like IJ, IJ action the free to vote coalition, and, you know, this could do is just remain vocal and continue to stand pat [00:19:00] with. evidence based solutions you know, because they are evidence based and on the right side of history as well as statistics and in alignment with professionals.

So just, continue to stay vocal effective storytelling. Is always a positive, of course, community organizing, because that's why we always win is we are in those communities. We are those communities. We go deep into those communities, have these tough conversations and you know, kind of break down what it is that folks are wanting and what we're getting from our government by elevating again, the stories of those who are directly impacted and, you know, seeing how that concept of an idea relates to on the ground experience in life.

Irene: Thank you, Jay. And I want to emphasize how important that is. A, because some of these bills, hopefully, we'll see again next year. And so we'll have more hope for passage. we also, as voters, as constituents, we also have a lot of power to influence [00:20:00] the governor, the state legislature.

So, Even if they're hearing one thing from again, like law enforcement and from the media, we can sort of be that countering voice to tell them, this is what we want. This is what we know works. Like you said, this is where the evidence is. This is where history is going to be. And create that container for them to hopefully pass these bills next year.

So cheers to you, congratulations. I know it wasn't maybe the outcome that you wanted, but again, I saw you in Sacramento. It is a lot of work to go up there to try to lobby legislators and especially to counter really powerful influences there like law enforcement. So I want to congratulate you again on another legislative session.

Fingers crossed. We keep doing this work. Work through the fall, winter, spring, and then we revisit these bills and get them to pass next year. So, thank you. And then, Jay, I meant to ask you this earlier. If you could tell people, how can people find more information about you, Initiate Justice, where can [00:21:00] they follow you?

Jay: Yeah, so you can follow me at the letter I, the letter A M J DeAndre on Instagram and all other platforms. That's I M J DeAndre. Also you can follow Initiate Justice Action at the letter I, the letter J underscore action on all platforms and Initiate Justice at Initiate Justice on all platforms.

And you know, we're just hoping to continue to build a network of allies activists, organizers progressive minds candidates and other folks. you know, move that work forward by just, you know, hosting um, you know, good community spaces. And you know, again, speaking with folks and building up a community.

Of, you know, people who are impacted and who understand indebtedly, you know, the issues that our communities face and moving those forward with plans that will actually serve to benefit our community. So thank you [00:22:00] for, you know, that time and I shout out to the work, but I do want to preface that, you know, these opinions that I share IJ or IJ action.

So yeah, I'm, this is my, my opinion, my thoughts. Sure.

Irene: Thank you, Jay. I appreciate you. I, I think a lot of California public officials get a lot of credit for California being a leader in the nation on these kinds of bills, these kinds of policies, but really we know it's about community leaders like you. So thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you for all your work around the state of California, but especially in Sacramento.

And I really look forward to working with you on, again, getting these bills passed next year. We're going to do it. It'll happen.

Jay: Yeah, yeah, definitely. Uh, Same here. I really appreciate you. And you know, being in Sacramento is always a reason to smile and it's hard work. But we're, I believe that we will win. I believe that we will move this work forward. And I think that the state will be better off in the end because [00:23:00] if we're planning and striving to make safer communities, then we must engage everyone within our state who inhabits our state and not just try to put folks away with no resources and act like they're gonna just magically get.

Better and be better off. So really appreciate the conversation. Look forward to organizing. And again, like you said, moving these bills in this work forward as well as building some, some great communities for folks to be able to, live in and live off of.

Irene: Thank you, Jay.