The bill is an improvement over the ballot measure in several ways. For one thing, it is more detailed. The bill requires that 65% of all single-use plastic must be getting recycled or composted by 2032, while the ballot measure merely requires all plastic to be recyclable or compostable by 2030.
In the News
Ben Allen wants to see California re-invest its budget surplus into programs he said have been neglected for too long. Speaking to the Santa Monica Democratic Club last Wednesday, the State Senator said as the fiscal year 2022-23 budget drew nearer, he was advocating in Sacramento for ways to see State money directed toward infrastructure, education and climate resiliency.
(S)taff is in the process of referring suspected fraudulent activity to the state Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General. The audit was requested by state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), the author of Senate Bill 664, which mandated it.
But there’s a sheep-like quality to most California politicians as they propose government rebate checks and tinkering with gas taxes rather than attacking the real problem – oil company greed.
State Sen. Ben Allen announced legislation to require refiners to publicize how much they pay for crude oil, how much it costs to refine that oil, and the amount of profit they make per gallon of gas they sell.
“What we’re trying to get at is what’s behind this mystery gas surcharge,” Allen said.
The Housing Department is preparing a new ballot measure for November. It’s a waste of time, energy and money for the city, and that’s why Mayor Eric Garcetti began working with state Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) four years ago to repeal Article 34. It’s a remnant of an era that California should repudiate.
(T)here’s an even older discriminatory law still on the books in our state — in fact, it’s part of the California Constitution, placed there in 1950 by another ballot issue. That amendment created the nation’s only state law that lets voters veto public housing projects. There’s no denying that the provision was passed to keep Black families out of White neighborhoods.
Russia’s invasion into Ukraine has pushed California’s gas prices to record levels, but a local lawmaker wants to know why Golden State prices are routinely so much higher than the rest of the nation… Allen conceded that California’s environmental standards and voter-approved gas tax have boosted fuel costs.
