Assemblymember Jones-Sawyer Looks to Eliminate Fake Classes in California High Schools
Sacramento, Calif., -- Assembly Bill 1012, authored by Assemblymember Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., has just gotten off the Assembly floor with a unanimous 79-0 vote. This bill would prohibit any school district from assigning a pupil to a course period without educational content.
The schools where this occurs are nearly exclusively in low-income communities of color. Although this is not the norm across California, it is all too common in areas where students can least afford to lose learning time. This issue was been exemplified recently at Jefferson High School. Students walked out in protest because their schedules contained the aforementioned “fake classes” as well as previously completed courses.
Historic Medical Marijuana Bill Authored by Jones-Sawyer, Bonta and Cooley Progresses to Senate
(Sacramento, CA) - Today, in a historic vote of 60 to 8, the California State Assembly passed AB 266. This measure creates a comprehensive regulatory framework for medical cannabis. AB 266 is joint authored by Assemblymembers Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer (D-Los Angeles), Rob Bonta (D-Oakland), and Ken Cooley (D-Rancho Cordova). The vote marks the first time in recent history that a substantive medical cannabis bill has passed the Assembly floor with strong bipartisan support.
Assemblymember Jones-Sawyer, stated, “In 1996, California became the first state in the nation to allow the use of medical cannabis after voters approved Proposition 215. This unprecedented collaborative effort will finally, after 19 years, regulate the medical marijuana industry. AB 266 creates a regulatory system that respects the interests of local government while still providing a consistent statewide structure.”
House Resolution 10 Commemorates 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday
SACRAMENTO, CA – California Legislative Black Caucus Chair Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., commemorated the 50th Anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” with House Resolution 10. Fifty years after this day in 1965, with the nation embroiled in a fresh debate about race in America, the country’s first black president joined a bipartisan congressional delegation and tens of thousands of marchers at the foot of the iconic Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. to commemorate a day that forever altered the landscape of American history.
“The experience in Selma was both humbling and sobering,” said Assemblymember Jones-Sawyer. “As we stood where the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. stood 50 years ago, Assemblymembers Kevin McCarty, Sebastian Ridley-Thomas and I were reminded of an unarmed African American male named Jimmie Lee Jackson, who was shot by a public safety officer in 1965. Then nearly 50 years to the day, another young African American male in Madison, Wisconsin was shot by a public safety officer. This shows us that no matter how much things have changed, some things remain the same. There is much more work to be done.”