Bill would open up California prisons to the media + Senate Rs pen letter to the CPUC

Andrew Sheeler
·3 min read

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

SKINNER BILL WOULD OPEN PRISONS TO THE MEDIA, LAWMAKERS

For nearly three decades, California prisons have had some of the nation’s tightest restrictions on press access, including prohibitions against video and audio recordings.

A new bill introduced by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-San Francisco, would compel the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to open up its prison operations to journalists and lawmakers.

SB 254 specifically would allow journalists to have greater access to both prisons and county jails, including being able to interview incarcerated people (with their consent) with video cameras and other recording devices.

It would also bar officials from monitoring media interviews or recording them and from retaliating against those who choose to be interviewed.

Finally, the bill also would allow state lawmakers and other government officials to tour prisons upon request, a provision modeled on a Florida law.

“The news media plays a vital role in providing information to the public and policymakers about how our government operates. California used to allow the news media much greater access to state prisons, enabling us to learn more about prison conditions. But for the past three decades, California prisons have been among the least transparent in the nation,” Skinner said in a statement.

CDCR, which has a $14 billion budget, has restricted media access to prisons since 1996, as part of then-Gov. Pete Wilson’s “tough on crime” measures. The Legislature has tried nine times to roll back those restrictions. Skinner’s bill marks the tenth such effort.

The measure is sponsored by the California News Publishers Association and co-sponsored by the California Broadcasters Association.

“Current regulations are so onerous that there is no meaningful access,” said CNPA general counsel Brittney Barsotti in a statement. “We cannot afford to be behind states like Florida when it comes to transparency.”

SENATE REPUBLICANS PEN LETTER TO CPUC

The California Public Utilities Commission is set to consider Thursday whether to mandate that state utilities immediately issue an electric and gas climate credit to their customers, rather than waiting until April to do so.

The Senate Republican Caucus has signed a letter, written by Minority Leader Brian Jones, R-San Diego, urging the commission to adopt the measure and review other options to reduce the financial burden on California ratepayers.

“Families across the state are facing sticker shock when opening up their natural gas bills as they’ve doubled, and in some cases, tripled from just a year ago. Instead of waiting until April, families need relief now,” Jones said in a statement provided to The Bee about the letter.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The murder of Tyre Nichols is completely devastating and abhorrent. The video showed an utter disregard for human life, and the officers must be held fully accountable. America has a long way to go before all of our communities feel safe.”

- San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu, via Twitter.

Best of The Bee:

  • Companies that generate a billion dollars or more a year doing business in California would be required to publicly release their carbon emissions data under a bill introduced Monday backed by environmental and sustainable business groups, via Ari Plachta.

  • California’s unemployment system, plagued by multibillion-dollar fraud schemes involving COVID-related benefits, is being investigated by the Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee, via David Lightman.

  • For years, the families of those who died from fentanyl — a synthetic opioid that is 100 times more potent than morphine — have pleaded with California lawmakers to address the crisis. As the 2023-24 legislative session gets underway, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have introduced bills to do just that, via Andrew Sheeler.

  • A single Cosumnes River levee sustained $1.5 million in damage after recent winter storms tore out a hole the size of a football field. But the federal government’s emergency management has not yet agreed to give local officials the money to fix that embankment, via Gillian Brassil, Ariane Lange and Cathie Anderson.