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Inflation Worries Grow as California Legislature Approves State Budget

During the public comment section of the Assembly Budget Committee hearing on June 13, Adrian Mohammed, an African American representative of the Bay Area Health Initiative spoke about the exclusion of a $500 million proposal to address Black housing and anti-displacement in the Bay Area in the budget the Legislature passed. “We believe that this is an incredibly timely and incredibly necessary ask and we ask that you continue to work with us to get this to come to fruition,” Mohammed told lawmakers.

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If the governor approves the budget, it will take effect July 1, the beginning of the 2022-23 fiscal year. However, negotiations are expected to continue through the end of August as lawmakers hammer out final details.
If the governor approves the budget, it will take effect July 1, the beginning of the 2022-23 fiscal year. However, negotiations are expected to continue through the end of August as lawmakers hammer out final details.

By Aldon Thomas Stiles and Edward Henderson, California Black Media

Diane Lanette Barkum is an in-home care provider and mom of three. She commutes about 40 minutes every workday between the Riverside County cities of Lake Elsinore, where she lives, and Moreno Valley, where she works.

Over the last few months, Barkum says she has been stressed and scraping by, struggling to balance sharp increases in the cost of gas and food with making enough money to pay for other expenses.

“What worries me most about rising prices is that they’ll continue to rise, making it more difficult for low-income working parents to be able to support their families,” she said.

Terence Henry, who lives in Patterson in the Central Valley, used to drive 77 miles to the Bay Area to make deliveries as an independent contractor. He says the high cost of gas forced him to give up the job late last year and opt for only making local runs.

“It used to cost me about $50 each way to fill up the tank to get to Oakland, San Francisco and other cities,” he said. “It just was not worth it anymore. I was losing money.”

Barkum says she hopes there is relief around the corner for people like her who are working hard, raising children and still unable to make ends meet.

Barkum and Henry are not alone. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, 27% of Californians say jobs, the economy and inflation are their top concern over housing costs and availability (12%) and homelessness (11%).

Across the United States, the inflation rate is 8.6% — up from 4.7% last year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. And the American Automobile Association reports that the average price per gallon of regular gas in California has risen above $6. Several economists agree that the effects of inflation hit poor and working-class families the hardest.

In Southern California, the inflation rate in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the Inland Empire has risen to 9.4%, according to the UCLA Anderson School of Management. That number is among the highest of increases in the country.

Last week, the California Legislature approved a record $300 billion-plus budget for the next fiscal year, the largest annual spending plan in the state’s history. The package includes a surplus of close to $100 billion dollars, half of which must be used to fund schools by law.

Included in the budget are plans to spend the other half. So far, legislators have allotted $8 billion in rebates to taxpayers. Another $1.3 billion has been designated for grants to small business and non-profit organizations. Another $600 million has been specified for tax credits to the lowest-income Californians.

While lawmakers – both Democrats and Republicans – and the governor’s office agree that addressing spiraling inflation is urgent, they have not reached agreement on how to provide relief to struggling families.

Anthony York, Newsom’s senior advisor for communications, said in a statement that the governor still wants “more immediate, direct relief to help millions more families with rising gas, groceries and rent prices.”

At the federal level, U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell approved a three-quarter (0.75) percentage point rate hike — the highest single percentage rate increase since 2008.

“African American-owned businesses and families are experiencing the damaging effects of inflation including the current interest rate increase instituted by the Federal Reserve Board.

“It is important for financial institutions to work with Black-owned businesses and their families to help navigate the rising cost of capital needed to operate and sustain all businesses,” said Timothy Alan Simon, board chair of the California African American Chamber of Commerce.

By statute, Newsom has until June 30 to veto the legislators’ budget bill or sign it into law.

If the governor approves the budget, it will take effect July 1, the beginning of the 2022-23 fiscal year. However, negotiations are expected to continue through the end of August as lawmakers hammer out final details.

During the public comment section of the Assembly Budget Committee hearing on June 13, Adrian Mohammed, an African American representative of the Bay Area Health Initiative spoke about the exclusion of a $500 million proposal to address Black housing and anti-displacement in the Bay Area in the budget the Legislature passed.

“We believe that this is an incredibly timely and incredibly necessary ask and we ask that you continue to work with us to get this to come to fruition,” Mohammed told lawmakers.

On June 15, Republican leaders held a rally at the State Capitol blasting their Democratic colleagues for their inaction on addressing the high cost of gas.

“Legislative Republicans are gathered here to remind Californians that it has been 100 days since the governor and the Democrats here in Sacramento promised California consumers relief on gas prices. One hundred days is far too long,” said Assemblymember James Gallagher (R-Yuba City). After 100 days, we are still waiting with no relief in sight. We need action now. We’ve been calling since January to suspend the gas tax.”

Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) said the state’s wealth needs to work for hardworking Californians. She pointed to a provision in the budget that provides $200 rebates to working families earning up to $250,000 a year and $125,000 for single filers.

“We are focused on providing struggling families the relief they need to weather rising costs of fuel and groceries, investing ongoing funding in core programs and services, funding one-time infrastructure projects that will keep California moving for years to come,” she said.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) echoed Atkin’s optimism.

“We share a firm belief that our state is strongest when it cares for the weakest among us,” said Rendon. “Our budget proposal continues to lay the groundwork with infrastructure and other investments for future prosperity.”

Activism

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.

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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.
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.

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.

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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Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌

In Letter, Conservative Org Threatens Mayor Bass, Other Officials, With Imprisonment

The conservative non-profit America First Legal sent letters to Bass, Attorney General Rob Bonta Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell and other California elected officials that they deem could interfere with federal immigration activities after Donald Trump is sworn-in as president on Jan. 20.

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L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. Courtesy of Mayor Karen Bass Facebook page.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. Courtesy of Mayor Karen Bass Facebook page.

By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media 

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is one of 249 officials across the country who have been warned that they could be imprisoned for not supporting federal government efforts to detain and deport people illegally living in the United States.

The conservative non-profit America First Legal sent letters to Bass, Attorney General Rob Bonta, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell and other California elected officials that they deem could interfere with federal immigration activities after Donald Trump is sworn-in as president on Jan. 20.

America First Legal is run by Trump’s incoming deputy Chief of Staff for policy Stephen Miller. After the election in November, Miller confirmed that he will push for the declaration of a national emergency and use the military to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

On Nov. 12, Bass said in a statement that the city of Los Angeles would take swift action to implement protections for immigrant communities.

“Especially in the face of growing threats to the immigrant communities here in Los Angeles, I stand with the people of this city,” Bass stated. “This moment demands urgency. Immigrant protections make our communities stronger and our city better.”

The America First Legal letter to McDonnell’s office by email was dated Dec. 23. It states that the nonprofit “identified Los Angeles as a sanctuary jurisdiction that is violating federal law.”

“Federal law is clear: aliens unlawfully present in the United States are subject to removal from the country, and it is a crime to conceal, harbor, or shield them. It is also a crime to prevent federal officials from enforcing immigration laws. These laws were duly enacted by the people’s elected representatives,” the letter reads.

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Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌

Black Caucus Members Appointed to Leadership Roles in State Legislature

On Jan. 3, McGuire announced that Laura Richardson (D-San Pedro) was named to the Democratic leadership as Assistant Majority Whip. Richardson will also serve as chair of the Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on Corrections, Public Safety, Judiciary, Labor and Transportation. Akilah Weber-Pierson (D-San Diego) will serve as chair of Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Health and Human Services. 

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California Capitol. iStock Photo.
California Capitol. iStock Photo.

By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌,
‌California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌

 All 12 members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) have been assigned leadership roles in the State Senate and the State Assembly, according to separate statements issued by Senate President pro-Tempore Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister).

On Jan. 3, McGuire announced that Laura Richardson (D-San Pedro) was named to the Democratic leadership as Assistant Majority Whip. Richardson will also chair the Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 5 on Corrections, Public Safety, Judiciary, Labor, and Transportation. Akilah Weber-Pierson (D-San Diego) will chair Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Health and Human Services.

The Senate Labor, Public Employment, and Retirement Committee will be chaired by Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles).

On Dec. 27, Rivas announced his Assembly leadership team and the chairpersons of all Assembly committees, including CLBC members: CLBC Vice Chair Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights), chair of the Natural Resources Committee; Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City), chair of the Transportation Committee;  Corey Jackson (D-Moreno Valley), chair of the Budget Human Services Committee; Rhodesia Ransom (D-Tracy), chair of the Emergency Management Committee; Mia Bonta (D-Oakland), chair of the Health Committee;  Tina McKinnor (D- Inglewood), chair of the Public Employment and Retirement Committee; Mike Gipson (D-Carson), chair of the Revenue and Taxation Committee; and  LaShae Sharp-Collins (D-San Diego), assistant majority leader for Policy.

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