Antonio Ray Harvey
California’s First African American Controller Malia Cohen Takes Office
“I am proud and honored to serve as California’s state controller,” said Malia M. Cohen. “The work to create a more equitable California has already begun. I look forward to ensuring fiscal accountability, with an eye toward transparency and innovation.
By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media
Last week, Malia M. Cohen was sworn in as the first Black woman — and first African American — to serve as California’s state controller.
On Monday, Jan. 2, the oath of office was administered by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“I am proud and honored to serve as California’s state controller,” said Cohen. “The work to create a more equitable California has already begun. I look forward to ensuring fiscal accountability, with an eye toward transparency and innovation.”
On Jan. 6, Cohen was given the oath of office by San Francisco Mayor London Breed with her husband Warren Pulley by her side.
The community event was held at St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Sacramento.
California now has three Black politicians holding Constitutional offices including Cohen. Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond are the others.
“Congratulations @MaliaCohen. As California’s first Black state controller, Malia has made history and continues to break barriers while helping build long-term equity throughout our communities. I’m confident she will continue fighting for the rights of all Californians,” Breed stated in a Jan. 6 post on her Twitter page.
“I am excited to get to work on creating a more equitable California as your next Controller,” Cohen tweeted on Jan. 6.
Cohen was elected to the California Board of Equalization (BOE) in November 2018 and was named chairperson in 2019 and 2022. As Controller, Cohen continues to serve BOE as its fifth voting member.
Prior to being elected to BOE, Cohen was president of the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco. As a member of that body, she also served as the chair of the Budget and Finance Committee and president of the San Francisco Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS).
Cohen was born and raised in San Francisco. Her political journey, she says lightheartedly, began when she was elected class president of San Francisco’s Lowell High School, the oldest public high school on the West Coast.
She has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Fisk University, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), and a master’s degree in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University.
She and her husband reside in San Francisco along with their daughter.
As the chief fiscal officer of California, Cohen is responsible for accountability and disbursement of the state’s financial resources. The controller also has independent auditing authority over government agencies that spend state funds.
Cohen’s duties include being a member of numerous financing authorities, and fiscal and financial oversight entities including the Franchise Tax Board. She also serves on the boards for the nation’s two largest public pension funds.
At the St. Paul Baptist Missionary Baptist Church swearing-in, Kenneth Reece, the senior pastor, gave the opening prayer.
Held at the church six miles from the State Capitol, Cohen’s swearing-in ceremony included prayers offered by Imam Yasir Kahn, the chaplain of the California State Assembly, and Rabbi Mona Alfi, the senior rabbi of Congregation B’Nai Israel.
Among the guests were Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), Director of Bay Area Rapid Transit Bevan Duffy, California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Lorena Gonzalez, the singer Aloe Blacc and Jaqueline Thompson, pastor of Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland.
Cohen’s swearing-in was held on the second anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. The day was packed with political activities in Sacramento and overshadowed by references to the infamous Capitol insurrection in Washington that shocked people across the country and around the world.
That day, Newsom was sworn in to a second term. Rob Bonta was also sworn-in for the first time as the state’s attorney general. He was appointed to the position by Newsom in March 2021.
Before Newsom’s outdoor ceremony, the governor, his wife, and four children led a march from West Sacramento, across the Tower Bridge, to the Capitol. During the governor’s address on the steps of the Capitol, he shared his feelings about the attack on the U.S. Capitol two years ago while addressing some of the state’s most pressing issues.
“Our politics doesn’t always reward taking on the hardest problems. The results of our work may not be evident for a long time. But that cannot be our concern,” Newsom said. “We will prepare for uncertain times ahead. We will be prudent stewards of taxpayer dollars, pay down debt, and meet our future obligations. And we will build and safeguard the largest fiscal reserve of any state in American history.”
Antonio Ray Harvey
Advocates Weigh in on Calif. Black Caucus Reparations Package
On Feb. 21, the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) held a press conference at the state Capitol to introduce a package of reparations legislation the lawmakers call “a starting point” to atone for the state’s legacy of discrimination. All 12 members of the CLBC were present to explain their efforts to rectify the damages caused by systemic discrimination against Black Californians detailed in the 1,100-page report by the first-in-the-nation California reparations task force.
By Antonio Ray Harvey
California Black Media
On Feb. 21, the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) held a press conference at the state Capitol to introduce a package of reparations legislation the lawmakers call “a starting point” to atone for the state’s legacy of discrimination.
All 12 members of the CLBC were present to explain their efforts to rectify the damages caused by systemic discrimination against Black Californians detailed in the 1,100-page report by the first-in-the-nation California reparations task force.
The nine-member panel submitted the recommendations on June 28, 2023.
CLBC chairperson Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City) said it may take three to seven years to pass legislation aimed at implementing the task force’s recommendations.
The package the CLBC members presented consists of 14 legislative proposals, each designed to address different aspects of systemic racism and inequality.
One proposal, Senate Bill (SB) 490, put forth by CLBC Vice Chair Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Inglewood), calls for the establishment of the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency (CAFAA).
This agency would administer reparations programs and aid Black families researching their family lineage. The cost of implementing such an agency has not yet been estimated, but reparations advocates say its creation signifies a step toward acknowledging and rectifying past injustices.
Another proposal by Assemblymember Cory Jackson (D-Riverside), ACA 7, seeks to amend Prop 209, the initiative passed by voters in 1996 that prohibits considering race, color, sex, or nationality in public employment, education, and contracting decisions.
This amendment would allow the governor to approve exceptions to the law in order to address poverty and improve educational outcomes for African Americans and other marginalized groups.
Bradford also discussed proposal legislation aimed at compensating families whose properties were seized through eminent domain as a result of racism and discrimination.
The package of bills includes a measure proposed by Assemblymember Reggie Jones Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), Assembly Bill (AB) 3089 to formally acknowledge California’s history of slavery and discrimination, requiring lawmakers to issue a formal apology.
Additionally, a proposed constitutional amendment, ACA 8, sponsored by Wilson aims to ban involuntary servitude, particularly within the state’s prison system.
Reparations advocates and social justice groups from statewide organizations shared their support and criticism of the 14-bill reparations package with California Black Media (CBM).
A Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC) stated that the CLBC’s package does not address direct-cash payment, which, for that group’s leadership, is a non-negotiable component of any proposed compensation package.
“Our coalition’s unwavering commitment has been to pursue lineage-based reparations, encompassing direct monetary payments/compensation, state recognition of descendants as a protected class, and the establishment of the California American Freedman Affairs Agency through Senate Bill (SB) 490,” CJEC member Chris Lodgson outlined in a statement.
Lodgson continued, “We believe these vital components are imperative and a necessary first step toward true reparations. As we’ve communicated to elected officials directly for some time, we believe any reparations package must be targeted explicitly and exclusively to California’s 2 million Black American descendants of persons enslaved in the U.S. (American Freedmen).”
Media present at the news briefing persistently questioned Wilson and other CLBC members about direct payments.
Wilson mentioned that the budget deficit California is currently facing is being considered in discussions about compensation. A Legislative Analyst’s Office report released Feb. 20, estimates that the state’s budget shortfall could expand to $73 billion by May.
“In regard to direct-cash payments to individuals, we will continue to have that discussion as we navigate the next few years,” Wilson said. “As noted, we’re halfway through a legislative session. We have about three months of the legislative process in each house (Senate and Assembly) to work through these existing bills.
“In the next session, we have two years, and during that two-year session, we will consider including additional payments whether they are direct-cash payments or direct payments to communities,” Wilson said.
The Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth (ARRT), a collaboration of California’s leading Black power-building and justice groups, supports seven of CLBC’s 14 reparations bills with proposals that include the restoration of property, establishing the property tax assistance for Descendants of Enslaved Persons program, a formal apology for human rights violations and crimes against humanity, amending the California Constitution to prohibit involuntary servitude for incarcerated persons, and prohibiting discrimination based on natural and protective hairstyles.
“The California Legislative Black Caucus reparations package marks a historic and meaningful moment in time. ARRT encourages lawmakers to pursue an even more expansive and definitive action to fulfill the reparations principles as recognized by the United Nations,” stated James Woodson, AART co-founder and executive director of the California Black Power Network. “Reparative justice must be impactful, transformative, and enduring, thus paving the way toward atoning for the wrongdoings deeply imprinted in the state’s history and healing this democracy.”
ARRT is a collaboration between the Black Equity Collective, the California Black Power Network, Catalyst California, Equal Justice Society, and Live Free USA, Live Free California.
Former members of the California reparations task force have partnered with AART: Loyola-Marymount clinical psychologist professor Dr. Cheryl Grills; Oakland-based civil rights attorney Lisa Holder; Dr. Jovan Scott Lewis, chair of the Department of Geography at the University of California Berkeley and Oakland-based attorney Donald Tamaki.
“We absolutely are (in support of direct-cash payments),” Woodson told California Black Media. “I think we got to have it all. There were multiple harms that were caused and one of them was financial and that needs to be compensated for with cash payments. And there are also systemic harms that were created. We need to change laws. We need to change how rules work because a lot of it flows out of anti-Black racism. We have to have everything because if you leave anything out it’s not for reparations.”
CBM also learned that there will be a series of listening sessions with the CLBC to help educate Californians about the reparation bills and the workings of the legislative process.
The members of the CLBC are Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson (D-Suisun City); Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Inglewood); Assemblymember Akilah Weber (D-La Mesa); Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles); Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Alameda); Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena); Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson); Assemblymember Corey Jackson (D-Riverside); Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer (D- Los Angeles); Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood); and Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles).
Antonio Ray Harvey
Controller Malia Cohen: Despite $68 Billion Deficit, California Has Enough Cash to Pay Bills
Over the next few months, Californians will spend time processing the details of Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2024-2025 spending plan, which he is expected to present to the Legislature on Jan. 10 in Sacramento. However, reports of the state’s whopping $68 billion budget deficit — as projected by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) — have foreshadowed the Governor’s announcement with uncertainty.
Antonio Ray Harvey
California Black Media
Over the next few months, Californians will spend time processing the details of Governor Gavin Newsom’s 2024-2025 spending plan, which he is expected to present to the Legislature on Jan. 10 in Sacramento. However, reports of the state’s whopping $68 billion budget deficit — as projected by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) — have foreshadowed the Governor’s announcement with uncertainty.
Despite anticipation of deep budget cuts, State Controller Malia M. Cohen has expressed confidence that California’s fiscal cash flow is in the position to withstand any financial challenges caused by forecasted economic downturn.
“Despite reports from various sources indicating a budgetary deficit of approximately $68 billion, the state’s cash position remains strong, and, absent any unforeseen circumstances, the state has sufficient cash to pay its bills and meet its financial obligations through the end of the fiscal year,” Cohen said in a Dec. 19, 2023, letter.
Cohen is responsible for accountability and disbursement of the state’s financial resources. She has independent auditing authority over government agencies that spend state funds.
According to the LAO, the budget shortfall increased by $53 billion when compared to the projections used in the development of the current year budget – up from $15 billion when the 2023–24 Budget was signed in June. The LAO faced challenges in providing budget estimates due the IRS delaying tax filings until Nov. 16, 2023.
Regarding personal income, sales and property tax revenues, the state’s primary revenues, California entered an economic downturn in 2022 that is affecting the budget.
On Dec. 15, Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego) and Senate Budget Vice Chair Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks) wrote a letter to Gov. Newsom, urging him to “act early” to address the state’s worsening fiscal condition.
“This budget deficit will impact every California resident and doesn’t matter whether you’re a Republican or Democrat,” Jones stated. “That’s why we must roll up our sleeves and work together to bring spending in line with revenues.”
Cohen has been monitoring the state’s financial reports and clarified California is protected by its “rainy day reserves.”
“The state currently has more than $91.4 billion in available borrowable resources, due in large part to the Governor’s and Legislature’s foresight in building prudent rainy-day reserves in the Budget Stabilization Account,” Cohen stated.
The budget negotiations will involve new leaders of the legislature — Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) and incoming Senate President Pro tempore Mike McGuire (D-Santa Rosa).
Rivas added California Legislative Black Caucus members Assemblymember Dr. Akilah Weber (D-La Mesa and Assemblymember Corey Jackson (D-Moreno Valley) to the Assembly’s budget leadership team in December. Weber will lead Subcommittee 1 on Health while Jackson will guide Subcommittee 2 on Human Services.
“While legislators will have difficult choices to make in the new year, I am confident they will be deliberate in addressing the budget challenges before them, and I urge them to protect, to the extent possible, the health and social service programs designed to benefit those who are displaced, without shelter, or otherwise economically disadvantaged,” Cohen stated.
Antonio Ray Harvey
Sec. of State Certifies Candidates for March Primary, Including Trump
Dr. Shirley N. Weber, the California Secretary of State, has certified a list of 20 candidates, including former Pres. Donald Trump, for the state’s presidential primary election scheduled for March 5, 2024.
By Antonio Ray Harvey
California Black Media
Dr. Shirley N. Weber, the California Secretary of State, has certified a list of 20 candidates, including former Pres. Donald Trump, for the state’s presidential primary election scheduled for March 5, 2024.
Weber made the decision on Dec. 28 to certify Trump despite calls from a number of prominent Democrats, including California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, to disqualify him. They cite the former president’s actions and inactions during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol as a violation of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, which should disqualify him from public office.
Responding to Kounalakis, Weber emphasized that removing a presidential candidate is a matter of public interest and must be handled within legal parameters and in the best interests of all California voters.
“It is incumbent upon my office to ensure that any action undertaken regarding any candidate’s inclusion or omission from our ballots be grounded firmly in the laws and processes in place in California and our Constitution,” Weber stated.
So far, Trump’s quest to run for the presidency has been blocked by two states, Maine and Colorado. Appeals of the decisions in both states are expected to be heard by the Supreme Court of the United States.
In a letter to Weber dated Dec. 20, Kounalakis urged the Secretary of State “to explore every legal option” to remove Trump from California’s 2024 presidential primary ballot following the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling in Anderson v. Griswold.
“I am prompted by the Colorado Supreme Court’s recent ruling that former President Donald Trump is ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot as a Presidential Candidate due to his role in inciting an insurrection in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021,” Kounalakis wrote. “This decision is about honoring the rule of law in our country and protecting the fundamental pillars of our democracy.”
Weber wrote back to Kounalakis, saying that she is guided by her “commitment to follow the rule of law.”
“As California’s Chief Elections Officer, I am a steward of free and fair elections and the Democratic process,” wrote Weber. “I must place the sanctity of these elections above partisan politics. As you may not be aware, my office has been engaged in multiple lawsuits regarding the former president’s appearance on the ballot.”
Weber also acknowledged the complicated nature of the issue and her decision regarding it.
“We can agree that the attack of the capitol and the former presidents’ involvement was abhorrent, there are complex legal issues surrounding this matter,” she added.
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