Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌

Gov. Newsom Vetoes Cannabis Café Bill

In his veto message, Newsom said he appreciates the author’s intention to support cannabis retailers, many of them struggling to make a profit. However, he is concerned that the legislation “could undermine California’s long-standing smoke-free workplace protections.”

Published

1 year ago

October 14, 2023

Oakland Post

Cannabis entrepreneurs would have been able to sell food at their cafes to diversity their income. Image courtesy California Black Media.

By Lila Brown | California Black Media

On Oct. 8, Gov. Newsom vetoed Assembly (AB) Bill 374.

This legislation would have allowed business owners to operate cannabis cafés in California, like those in Amsterdam, where non-marijuana food products can be served and consumed. This is despite the existing federal ban on the entire industry.

The bill, authored by Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), would have also allowed café owners to host and sell tickets to live events.

“Protecting the health and safety of workers is paramount. I encourage the author to address this concern in subsequent legislation,” wrote the Governor.

Responding to Newsom’s decision to return AB 374 unsigned, Haney drew parallels to California’s wine industry in a statement released Sunday.

“Californians are proud of our state’s wine culture, and we do everything we can to make sure that our winemakers receive the support they need — we need to be doing the exact same thing for cannabis,” he wrote. “If we don’t start better supporting these businesses, we are going to lose decades of being at the forefront of the cannabis movement and other states will be ready to swoop in and take it from us.”

Throughout the legislative process the bill has attracted both praise and criticism with some applauding it for the business opportunities it presents and others expressing strong disapproval because of health concerns such as second-hand smoke.

“Lots of people want to enjoy legal cannabis in the company of others,” said Haney. “And many people want to do that while sipping coffee, eating a scone, or listening to music.”

For owners of cannabis product stores, AB 374 presented opportunities to scale up their businesses.

Nina Parks is a co-founder of Equity Trade Network, a non-profit collective that provides small businesses with supply chain business resources within the cannabis industry in California.

She also served on the Cannabis Oversight Committee in San Francisco where she advocated for more equity as regulation was being developed. She said her cannabis lifestyle brand, Gift of Doja was set to resume hosting live, curated events that promote safe social spaces.

Parks told California Black Media (CBM) that AB 374 is a step in the right direction.

“The ability to at least have non-cannabis foods being able to be sold at dispensaries also gives dispensary owners an opportunity to put another revenue stream in their business.

“Being able to have non-cannabis related sales in your establishment really allows for another revenue stream for store owners. It is also an opportunity for cannabis businesses to remove the stigma and normalize consumption,” says Parks.

In cities like Los Angeles where programs are in place to help people affected by the War on Drugs — and other low-income entrepreneurs — launch cannabis-related businesses, the legislation was seen as offering hope.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is working to expand business licensing and compliance for Social Equity applicants and licensees to receive guidance from marijuana industry experts.

A Social Equity Individual Applicant is defined as an individual who fulfills at least two of the following three criteria: (1) Low-income; (2) a prior California cannabis arrest or conviction; (3) 10 years’ cumulative residency in a disproportionately impacted area.

While consuming cannabis on-site at cannabis retailers is technically legal in California, selling non-cannabis-infused products is not permitted.

Supporters of AB 374 said the bill would have allowed cannabis retailers to diversify their operations and transition away from the limited dispensary model by selling non-cannabis-infused foods.

“It should have happened a long time ago. We let Colorado and other states go before us and California should’ve been the state to have already perfected this, says Brian Johnson, 51, an entrepreneur in Orange County.

As a shop owner and cannabis advocate, Johnson is eagerly waiting for his vision to become a reality. He blames red tape and excessively high taxes as obstacles to progress. However, like most cannabis entrepreneurs, he remains enthusiastic.

“Those who were criminalized and got their record expunged can get back to their entrepreneurial spirit,” says Johnson.

The strongest opposition to AB 374 came from advocates who argued that the legislation would erase decades of health safeguards put in place for businesses to protect employees by maintaining smoke-free work environments.

“Workers should not have to choose between their health and a good job. California has fought hard to protect workers and ensure a safe, healthy, smoke-free work environment,” the American Cancer Society, Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association wrote in a letter of opposition to the legislation.

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Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas Honors California Women in Construction with State Proclamation, Policy Ideas

“Women play an important role in building our communities, yet they remain vastly underrepresented in the construction industry,” Smallwood-Cuevas stated. “This resolution not only recognizes their incredible contributions but also the need to break barriers — like gender discrimination.

Published

1 week ago

March 24, 2025

Oakland Post

Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), center, is shown with other guest speakers at the Sacramento Chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction brunch held at the State Capitol on March 6, 2025. On the left is Jennifer Todd, LMS General Contractors Founder and President. To Todd’s right is Dr. Giovanna Brasfield, from Los Angeles-based Brasfield and Associates. CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey.

By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌, California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌

To honor Women in Construction Week, Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution (SCR) 30 in the State Legislature on March 6. This resolution pays tribute to women and highlights their contributions to the building industry.

The measure designates March 2, 2025, to March 8, 2025, as Women in Construction Week in California. It passed 34-0 on the Senate floor.

Authored by Assemblymember Liz Ortega (D-San Leandro), another bill, Assembly Concurrent Resolution (ACR) 28, also recognized women in the construction industry.

The resolution advanced out of the Assembly Committee on Rules with a 10-0 vote.

The weeklong event coincides with the National Association of Women In Construction (NAWIC) celebration that started in 1998 and has grown and expanded every year since.

The same week in front of the State Capitol, Smallwood, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Assemblymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom), and Assemblymember Maggie Krell (D-Sacramento), attended a brunch organized by a local chapter of NAWIC.

Two of the guest speakers were Dr. Giovanna Brasfield, CEO of Los Angeles-based Brasfield and Associates, and Jennifer Todd, President and Founder of LMS General Contractors.

Todd is the youngest Black woman to receive a California’s Contractors State License Board (A) General Engineering license. An advocate for women of different backgrounds, Todd she said she has been a woman in construction for the last 16 years despite going through some trying times.

A graduate of Arizona State University’s’ Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, in 2009 Todd created an apprenticeship training program, A Greener Tomorrow, designed toward the advancement of unemployed and underemployed people of color.

“I always say, ‘I love an industry that doesn’t love me back,’” Todd said. “Being young, female and minority, I am often in spaces where people don’t look like me, they don’t reflect my values, they don’t reflect my experiences, and I so persevere in spite of it all.”

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 11.2% of the construction workforce across the country are female. Overall, 87.3% of the female construction workers are White, 35.1% are Latinas, 2.1% are Asians, and 6.5% are Black women, the report reveals.

The National Association of Home Builders reported that as of 2022, the states with the largest number of women working in construction were Texas (137,000), California (135,000) and Florida (119,000). The three states alone represent 30% of all women employed in the industry.

Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) and the California Legislative Women’s Caucus supported Smallwood-Cuevas’ SCR 30 and requested that more energy be poured into bringing awareness to the severe gender gap in the construction field.

“The construction trade are a proven path to a solid career. and we have an ongoing shortage, and this is a time for us to do better breaking down the barriers to help the people get into this sector,” Rubio said.

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Comparing Histories: Black and Japanese American Advocates Talk Reparations and Justice

Los Angeles-based clinical psychologist Dr. Cheryl Grills and Bay Area-based attorney Don Tamaki, who were part of the nine-member reparations panel, spoke at the “Justice Through Action: Black Reparations-Reparative Justice” event hosted by local chapters of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) in Sacramento on Feb. 8.

Published

1 month ago

February 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Former reparations task force member and Loyola Marymount Professor of Psychology, Dr. Cheryl Grills, participated remotely in the “Justice Through Action: Black Reparations-Reparative Justice” event at the California State Museum in Sacramento. Attorney Don Tamaki, seated left, appeared at the event presented by Japanese American Citizens League. Donna Komure-Toyama, seated right, was the moderator. Feb. 8, 2025. CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey.

By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌, California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌

Two former members of the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans shared some of their experiences developing a 1,075-page report that detailed injustices suffered by African Americans during and after chattel slavery.

The event was held at the California Museum.

“The first impact that the overall report had on me is that it gave me a panoramic view and it was a panoramic view of the elephant in the room,” Grills, who attended the event virtually, told the audience.

Grills said the report the task force compiled presented an undiluted version of the Black experience in America/

“You could see the totality of the elephant,” she said. “The report gives you the fullness and density of the elephant, which was, at the same time, validating, overwhelming, and painful.”

The JACL is the nation’s oldest and largest Asian American-Pacific Islander Civil Rights Organization.

The JACL presentation was hosted to observe the 83rd anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which led to the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.

That panel was part of the Northern California Time of Remembrance (NCTOR) committee’s Annual Day of Remembrance program organized in partnership with the California Museum.

Tamaki, who is Japanese American and the only non-Black member of the task force, said the Black and Japanese experiences in America have some parallels but there are significant differences as well.

“When you look at reparations, and this was the eye opener to me, it’s actually a unifying concept,” Tamaki said. “There’s no equivalence between four years in a concentration camp that our community experienced and 400 years of oppression.”

Tamaki explained, “We do have some things in common. Japanese know something about mass incarceration and profiling and the consequences. In that respect, there is a reason for all of us, whatever our background, to start looking at (reparations). We have to cure the body and not just put a band-aid on it.”

Grills is a clinical psychologist whose work focuses on community psychology. A Professor of Psychology at Loyola Marymount University, she us also a past president of the Association of Black Psychologists.

Tamaki is a senior counsel at Minami Tamaki LLP. He has spent decades working with AAPI legal services programs. In the 1980s, he participated in the Japanese American reparations movement and served on the pro bono legal team that reopened the landmark 1944 Supreme Court case of Fred Korematsu.

The case resulted in overturning Korematsu’s criminal conviction for violating the incarceration order that led to the imprisonment of 125,000 Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Earnest Uwazie, a Sacramento State University criminal justice professor and director of the Center for African Peace and Conflict Resolution, was one of more than 100 persons who listened to the two-hour discussion.

“It’s always great to hear from the people involved in the study of reparations and it is good to get a comparative with the Japanese experience,” said Uwazie. “This was extremely informative.”

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Conscious Reflection: Black Caucus Observes MLK Day Amid California Firestorms

Vice-chair of the CLBC Assemblymember Issac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights) shared with the diverse crowd attending the breakfast that he and Chair, Sen. Akilah Weber-Pierson (D-La Mesa), received numerous messages inquiring whether the event would be called off because of the fires.

Published

2 months ago

January 25, 2025

Oakland Post

Pictured left to right: State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, Assemblymember Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City), Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Alameda), Assemblymember Sade Elhawary (D-Los Angeles), Assemblymember Corey Jackson (D-Moreno Valley), Senator Akilah Weber (D-La Mesa), Assemblymember Issac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights), Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom (D-Stockton), Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Carson), and Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood). CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey.

By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌, California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌

Amid the damage and despair caused by firestorms in the Los Angeles area, the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) held its annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast in Sacramento on his birthday, Jan. 15.

All 12 members of the CLBC attended the event, including six Black lawmakers from the Los Angeles region who expressed their deep concerns about constituents displaced or impacted by the fires.

Bryan said it was important to move forward with the celebration considering the disaster’s aftermath and the transfer of presidential transition happening in Washington on Jan. 20.

“Hell no, we are not canceling the breakfast,” Bryan said he told callers. “We need to think about the legacy and impact of Martin Luther King, Jr., more than ever. In fact, he would be ashamed if we canceled this breakfast a week before (Donald) Trump takes office.”

The event was held at the Elk’s Tower three blocks north of the State Capitol under the theme, “Black Power, Progress, and Purpose.” Martin Luther King would have turned 96 on the day of the event.

It marked the first time that all CLBC members were in the same room since the 2025-2026 legislative session began in December.

The CLBC holds the event each year to honor the legacy of Dr. King and the celebrate the Caucus’ commitment to service in Black communities across the state.

Speakers included California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Black California constitutional officers — State Controller Malia Cohen and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond — also attended the event.

“This annual gathering is not only a time for reflections but also a time for renewal (and) a moment to recommit to the values that Dr. King fought and gave his life for,” Weber-Pierson said during her remarks.

The keynote speaker was Lurie Daniel-Favors, who serves as Executive Director at the Center for Law and Social Justice (CLSJ) at Medgar Evers College in New York. The CLSJ is a community-based legal organization that specializes in addressing racial injustice.

“We are in a time and place where the whole world has shifted and the Supreme Court has stepped in and we are returning to what I like to call the ‘Jim Crow’ era of jurisprudence when it comes to Civil Rights, social justice, and advancing equity for the nation,” Daniel-Favors added.

The breakfast celebration featured a drum dance performance by David Bowman and Company, the singing of the Black National Anthem “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” by Olevia Wilson, and additional musical selections by Huie Lovelady and a community choir.

“Many don’t realize the fact that the (CLBC) caucus was the first ethnic caucus in the nation. Eventually, other caucuses were formed,” Secretary of State Weber reminded the guests. “We are proud of the fact that this caucus has been in existence for over 55 years and has served and served well during the hard times in between.”