The Sacramento Bee has published an editorial opposing my bill to ban vaccine passports. I welcome the debate. Our Legislature, on the other hand, prefers to ban debate itself.

AB 327 should have been heard by the Privacy Committee on Thursday. But the Legislature’s leaders suddenly transferred it to the Health Committee, whose Chair promptly announced the bill wouldn’t get a vote. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom is taking steps to impose a passport system barely a week after saying he wouldn’t.

As lawmakers have slowly emerged from hibernation, it’s never been clearer that what we have at the State Capitol is a Legislature in Name Only.

Consider the Education Committee. It hasn’t once considered the issue of reopening schools and is refusing to hear any of my school choice bills. But next Wednesday it will take up AB 1316, another disgraceful assault on charter schools. The hearing will remain essentially closed to the public with phone testimony cut off after 10 minutes.

Even when bills are heard, it’s often a farce. Last week I presented a bill to restore business licenses that were revoked for lockdown violations. It was going to pass, until the Speaker intervened and ordered the Chair to kill it. The final vote was 6-7.

Newsom, for his part, sees the legislative process as entirely optional. Asked last year about a fracking ban, he said: “We simply don’t have that authority. That’s why we need the Legislature to approve it.” Yesterday, he went ahead and pronounced the ban on his own anyway.

Everything done at the Capitol, whether by our imperious Governor or our Kangaroo Legislature, bends to the same will: Special Interests and their lobbyists. That’s why I turn down Special Interest funding of any kind. It’s also why the Recall must have a sequel in the 2022 election: accountability for legislators who don’t catch on that the era of corruption is over.

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