The Placer Way

Mandates are ending everywhere, but the Legislature’s “Vaccine Work Group” wants to relive the glory days. You can see the status of their irresponsible bills here. I believe we can defeat each and every one of them.

Newsom, meanwhile, is patting himself on the back. His Public Health Department says it “couldn’t be prouder” of our COVID response. Personally, I couldn’t be prouder of all the communities that fought back.

Take Placer, my home county. For two years, the Sacramento Bee has called us “reckless,” “COVID deniers,” and “anti-science extremists." Now (to its credit) the paper has issued a mea culpa.

In a story headlined “Placer County was ground zero for COVID culture wars. How did its approach work out?” the Bee admits we got it right, concluding “Placer County’s per capita COVID-19 death rate is about two-thirds that of the state average.”

Our businesses stayed open, our kids kept learning, and our citizens were left to make their own decisions. The result was outcomes far better than Newsom inflicted on the state as a whole.

To counter Newson’s inane new slogan, The California Way, I’d offer The Placer Way. Or the way of El Dorado, or many other places that charted their own course. Ultimately, this is The American Way: entrusting power to local communities and their citizens.

That’s why it hardly even matters that the Senate pathetically voted to keep the State of Emergency last week. The people of California have simply moved on.



Kevin Kiley
California Legislator

He probably went back to Happy Gilmore as the main villain.

Round 2

A federal court has found a D.C. law removing parental consent for the COVID vaccine to be unconstitutional. I’m calling for California’s similar bill, SB 866, to be withdrawn immediately.

SB 866 is one of eight bills put forward by the so-called Vaccine Work Group. Another one, SB 1464, would “require” police to enforce mask mandates and other “public health” orders. Crime is soaring and this is our Legislature’s priority.

Together, the bills form the most radical legislative package in the country. But I believe we can defeat each and every one. I’ll continue to update their status here.

I’m often asked if there’s any hope of turning California around. My answer is yes, but it won’t happen of its own accord. We have to make it happen. We have to take action.

That’s what I’ve tried to do as a legislator in the super-duper minority: take action, force the issue, create pressure, move the ball forward. Use every tool in the toolkit – and some outside of it – to introduce accountability and induce change.

That’s what we’re doing right now when it comes to suspending the gas tax. Tomorrow is Round 2: we’ll be forcing another vote on my bill during the Assembly’s morning session. Given the fallout from Round 1, I’m willing to bet it gets more votes this time.

The time has also come to force another issue. Following the unspeakable and avoidable tragedy in Sacramento, I've introduced AB 1708 – a bill to end the Sanctuary State nightmare once and for all.



Kevin Kiley
California Legislator

e.

wow? newsom on vacation again? but we in a state of emergency?

1 Down, 7 to Go

Gavin Newsom has relinquished the governorship for a two-week vacation in Central America. In his absence, I’m calling on Acting Governor Kounalakis to end the State of Emergency.

I’ve also introduced a bill to make future “emergencies” end of their own accord. AB 2902 would put a 30-day time limit on any emergency declaration.

This comes as the defeat of AB 1993, the employer mandate, is still reverberating through the Capitol. Its rejection was so emphatic that one of the bill’s co-authors “requested to remove my name.”

Still, as I discussed with Steve Hilton on Fox News last night, Newsom and the “Vaccine Work Group” are intent on extending the COVID era as long as possible.

While we’ve killed one bill, at least seven remain: An intrusive new testing bill passed a committee last week, and the bill to defund police for not enforcing mask mandates is up this week. I’ll continue to update their status here.

Meanwhile, the backlash keeps growing against the Supermajority’s botched hijacking of my bill to suspend the gas tax, and the story continues to dominate news coverage. As Jon Coupal wrote, the Democrats “planed to ambush Kiley’s proposal. But their plan backfired badly.”

Kevin Kiley
California Legislator

Humiliation and Defeat

The Supermajority’s scheme to turn my gas tax bill into a tax increase was such a debacle they’re destroying the evidence it ever happened. Today the Assembly did something no one had ever seen, passing a motion to “strike” the bill out of existence.

It was an extraordinary attempt at damage control after the most humiliating episode for the Legislature in recent memory. But we’re giving them a chance at redemption: another vote on the gas tax is coming soon.

Meanwhile, the bill to defund police for not enforcing mask mandates was withdrawn by the author for a second straight week. I suspect it’s as good as dead, though he claims he’s bringing it up for real in two weeks. We need to keep up the pressure.

This follows our defeat of AB 1993, the employer mandate. Five other “Vaccine Work Group” bills haven’t even received a hearing. Citing our bill tracker, CalMatters reports “the aggressive slate of COVID vaccine bills seems to be facing an uphill battle.”

Another awful bill, requiring parents to report the guns in their home to school officials, was also defeated last week. But unfortunately, it’s not all good news.

One of the most vile bills ever introduced, AB 2223, has passed its first committee. The legislation could “decriminalize killing newborns days or even weeks after birth.” It will next be heard by the Health Committee, whose members are listed here.

Finally, new math scores show California 8th graders testing at the level of 5th graders. This is what Newsom calls “a model for the nation.” As we know all too well, California is just the opposite: a warning to the nation.

Kevin Kiley
California Legislator

Listening to KFI and they talk about how about dumb he is. Total prototypical late-80s to early-90s sleazeball in a suit. I'd guess its for terminal births for like, premies and other complications? But ya Newsom is on another level of not-giving-a-fuck-about-people-ry. Would love to have a nice paid-for vacation right now.

A Most Undeserved Break

Gavin Newsom has to be close to a record for the number of bills and orders he’s signed that have been ruled unconstitutional. A court just rebuked him again, overturning a law imposing quotas on businesses.

Of course, Newsom had to read about the decision from the undisclosed tropical country where’s he vacationing for two weeks. And now the Legislature has joined him on Spring Break, recessing without doing anything about gas prices.

A credit to Fox 40 for pointing out the absurdity of this, in a segment that breaks down the Supermajority’s bizarre series of maneuvers against my gas tax bill – and how we forced them to backtrack. Watch the story and my interview here.

When the Legislature returns on April 18, things will move quickly. The awful bills we’re fighting against (the Vaccine Work Group bills as well as AB 2223) must pass out of committee by April 29 or they’re dead. That’s the rule, though the Legislature does have a habit of waiving its rules.

This committee deadline is followed by a May 27 date for a bill to pass the whole Assembly or Senate – known as the “house of origin” deadline, which can’t be waived.

In addition to halting the gas tax, I'm focused on passing 3 of my bills: AB 1599, which repeals Prop. 47; AB 2902, which limits a State of Emergency to 30 days; and ACA 13, which protects sheriffs who refuse to fire officers for their medical decisions.

Kevin Kiley
California Legislator

This post was edited by TiStuff on Apr 13 2022 05:08pm

The Founders Vindicated

With the April 29 committee deadline approaching, the student vaccine bill, SB 871, has not been set for a hearing. And support is cratering. Even the radical school board in Berkeley just declined to endorse it.

If the bill does not advance, which appears likely, I’m calling on Newsom to withdraw his own K-12 mandate immediately.

When James and I sued Newsom on June 10, 2020, the issue was separation of powers. We believed if COVID policy went through the Legislature as the Founders intended – even our wayward Legislature – there’d be less damage than one-man rule.

Two years later, the fate of the “Vaccine Work Group” bills is vindicating this belief:

AB 455: vaccine passport. Defeated
AB 1102: employer mandate. Defeated
AB 1993: employer mandate. Defeated
SB 1864: police defunding. Twice withdrawn

Meanwhile, we’ve now learned that the two recent Sacramento mass killings involved a man protected by the Sanctuary State and a man released early from prison. Yet Newsom, just back from vacation, only wants to talk about more gun laws.

My bills addressing the real problems will be heard next week. The Sanctuary State repeal is on Tuesday, followed by a new vote to overturn Prop. 47. We’ll also be forcing another up-or-down vote on the gas tax.

All of this comes as inflation hits 8.5%, Biden keeps reaching new lows, and voting in our race for Congress is 3 weeks away. Our battles are so important right now, and I’m so grateful to be fighting them with you.

Kevin Kiley
California Legislator

A Huge Win

We have defeated SB 871, the student vaccine mandate, with the bill never receiving a single vote. What’s more, we have forced Gavin Newsom to back down.

Things happened very quickly on Thursday. Shortly after I sent you the post about how we almost had the bill killed, the author made it official. He acknowledged he would not try to move it forward.

I then released a statement calling on Newsom to rescind his own mandate immediately. For once, the Governor listened; shortly thereafter, he called it off. One headline read: “Student Vaccine Mandates Fall Like Dominoes.”

Technically, Newsom says the mandate is "delayed" to July 2023, but in my opinion, that’s a way to save face. For all intents and purposes, it’s gone. This decision is back where it belongs: in the hands of parents.

This comes six months after Newsom announced the mandate, trumpeting California as the “first state.” As time passed, we remained the only state. His grandiose hopes of “leading” the nation were shattered when no one followed.

In a governorship replete with humiliation, this may be Newsom's biggest embarrassment to date. And it effectively ends the era of one-man rule in California.

If anyone says your voice as a citizen doesn’t matter, we are proving them wrong. Even in the most corrupt Capitol, even under the yoke of an endless "State of Emergency,” we are fighting back and winning. And we’re just getting started.

Kevin Kiley
California Legislator