Informational Forums on California Citizens Redistricting Commission
On Jan. 25 in San Francisco and Jan. 26 in Sacramento, learn how you can apply to serve on the commission and ensure the commission reflects the diversity of our state at forums sponsored by MALDEF, EJS, CaCCR, APALC and NAACP California.
In 2008, California voters passed Proposition 11, creating California’s first-ever citizens redistricting commission. The 14-member commission is responsible for drawing the state Senate, Assembly and Board of Equalization districts. The legislative lines drawn by the commission will determine political representation in California for the next decade.
Online applications are due on February 12, 2010. Please join us to discuss the role of the California Citizens Redistricting Commission and how to apply to serve on it. For more information, visit http://WeDrawTheLines.ca.gov or http://RedistrictingCA.org.
Here’s details of the forums in San Francisco and Sacramento:
SAN FRANCISCO
Monday, January 25, 2010
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Bingham McCutchen LLP
3 Embarcadero Center Promenade, 28th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94111
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=253282782559
Panelists include:
Thomas A. Saenz, President & General Counsel, MALDEF
Janis Hirohama, President, League of Women Voters of California
Nancy Ramirez, Western Regional Counsel, MALDEF
Sharon Reilly, Chief Legal Counsel, California Bureau of State Audits
Eva Paterson, President, Equal Justice Society (Moderator)
SACRAMENTO
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Auditorium
1500 Capitol Mall
Sacramento, CA 95814
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=409474785243
Panelists include:
Thomas A. Saenz, President & General Counsel, MALDEF
Elaine Howle, California State Auditor
Nancy Ramirez, Western Regional Counsel, MALDEF
Trudy Schafer, Senior Program Director, League of Women Voters of CA
Samuel E. Walton, Redistricting Consultant, California NAACP (Moderator)
For more information, please contact Nancy Ramirez at 213-629-2512 x121 or at nramirez@maldef.org.
Space is limited. Please confirm your attendance for these events to Martin Muñoz at 213-629-2512 x143 or at mmunoz@maldef.org by Friday, January 22, 2010.
June 30: California’s Day of Action to End the Death Penalty
The Equal Justice Society is deeply committed to racial justice and preserving human dignity for all people. Consistent with these commitments, we have joined the fight to help stop executions in California, and we encourage you to join us.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) recently released new regulations on its lethal injection process – a first step towards resuming executions in our state.
No one has been executed in California for more than three years. Unfortunately, the new CDCR regulations will not only re-engage the machinery of death, but they also contain several provisions that fail to preserve the dignity of prisoners and their families. For instance:
- The regulations do not provide non-Christian inmates equal access to their spiritual advisors or permission to conduct the end-of-life rituals necessary to obtain peace of mind before their deaths;
- The regulations do not provide adequate resources for non-Native English speaking inmates and their families that would guarantee full understanding of the process by which the inmate’s life will be taken;
- The regulations unduly limit the media’s access to information about executions, and do not provide for notice to ethnic or non-mainstream media outlets;
- Finally, the CDCR has refused to disclose how much the implementation of its new regulations will cost the state (despite that this information is required by law). In this time of fiscal crisis, the public has a right to know how many millions of dollars these executions will cost.
The new regulations are currently open for public comment and the CDCR is required to satisfactorily respond to each and every relevant comment prior to implementation. Click here for a summary of the regulations and information about how to submit comments.
Additionally, on Tuesday, June 30, a public hearing on the new CDCR regulations will take place as part of a Day of Action to End the Death Penalty.
JOIN EJS IN THE FIGHT TO END THE DEATH PENALTY
http://deathpenalty.org/article.php?id=362
Calif. Appellate Court Upholds Promoting Diversity in Schools
Yesterday marked an important victory for advocates of school diversity and equal opportunity. A California Court of Appeals ruled that Berkeley Unified School District’s policy of taking neighborhood demographics into account when making school assignments is not discriminatory as alleged by challengers.
The Court concluded that the District’s plan “does not show partiality, prejudice or preference to any student on the basis of that student’s race,” and that “the particular policy challenged here…is not discriminatory.” Therefore, the plan does not violate Proposition 209, California’s anti-affirmative action initiative passed in 1996.
In arriving at its decision, the court invoked the continuing legacy of Brown v. Board of Education, and affirmed the ability of school districts to develop and implement affirmative policies that foster social diversity and inclusion in their schools.
Calif. Transportation Dept. to Reinstate Race-Conscious Contract Goals
The Coalition for Economic Equity (CEE) on Friday announced that after a nearly three-year hiatus, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is poised to reinstate race-conscious goals for federally funded transportation contracts in California.
CEE is an umbrella coalition of associations serving diverse minority- and women-owned businesses that was first formed in 1982 in response to an almost total exclusion of MBEs and WBEs from San Francisco’s public contracting system. In 1984, the Coalition succeeded in securing enactment of San Francisco’s first contracting equity ordinance introduced by Supervisors Doris M. Ward and Willie B. Kennedy. Since that time, the Coalition has worked to strengthen and defend contracting equity programs throughout the Bay Area, as well as at the state and federal levels.
CEE has confirmed with the Federal Highway Administration that the Caltrans’ Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program needs no further approvals to set goals for improving the awarding of these contracts.
Eva Paterson on Roundtable Discussing Prop. 8 on 5th Anniv. of SF’s Marriage Licenses
EJS President Eva Paterson will join other civl rights and religious leaders and plaintiff couples from In re Marriage Cases in a roundtable to reflect on the historic California Supreme Court ruling and the pending Prop. 8 legal challenge. This discussion takes place on the fifth anniversary of San Francisco’s first issuance of marriage licenses.
The original plaintiffs, including Phyllis Lyon, the first to be married in San Francisco in 2004 and again on June 16, 2008, will make short statements about the personal significance of the ruling. Civil rights and religious leaders will discuss their role as amici in the Prop 8 legal challenge.
The roundtable takes place on Friday, February 13, from 10:30 a.m. at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, 870 Market Street, Suite 370, San Francisco.
