AirTalk dives into what’s next after two Orange County cities sued the County to prevent the creation of homeless shelters from – and a third is considering legal action. We also dive into the tensions and issues around selling marijuana legally on California’s tribal lands; explain how the OC Sheriff found a workaround to the state sanctuary law; and more.
Orange County can't agree on where to move hundreds of homeless people
After hundreds of people were moved from homeless camps in the Santa Ana River into motels, the plan was to then move them into temporary housing in Huntington Beach, Irvine and Laguna Niguel.
The problem is that leaders of those cities have said they don’t want those shelters there.
Today, supervisors representing districts that include Laguna Niguel and Huntington Beach plan to introduce a plan to nix the three-city homeless plan.
Supervisor Lisa Bartlett is also planning to propose a plan for one 400-bed homeless shelter in Irvine, which is drawing protest from residents.
So who has the legal high ground, the cities or the county? What is the legal path forward for establishing a shelter (or shelters) in Orange County?
Guests:
Norberto Santana, publisher of “Voice of OC,” a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on civics and government in Orange County since 2009; he tweets
Brooke Weitzman, attorney at the Elder Law and Disability Rights Center, a Santa Ana-based organization that provides affordable legal services to the elderly and those with disabilities
Christopher Campbell, attorney at Carothers DiSante & Freudenberger in Irvine, an employment and labor law firm with offices throughout California
The tensions and issues around selling marijuana legally on California’s tribal lands
Recreational marijuana may be legal in California, but businesses hoping to sell on tribal lands have hit a bit of a snag: they won’t be allowed to operate unless tribal governments give up their sovereignty.
To legally sell marijuana in California, businesses need a license from the state and the municipality they will be operating in. When licenses started being issued Jan. 1, many assumed licenses from sovereign tribal government would function the same as a license from a municipality – meaning marijuana businesses could operate legally on tribal lands as long as they also received a state license.
But because the passed legislation provided no framework for a license from a tribal government to interface with a state license, the state says its hands are tied and it’s unable to recognize licenses from tribal governments. Marijuana businesses can still operate legally on tribal lands, but the tribal governments would have to give up their civil jurisdiction to the state, in effect surrendering their sovereignty.
Assemblymember Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) is expected to introduce legislation that would create a framework for a tribal government license to interface with a state license in the next few months. A previous version of the bill didn’t make it out of policy committees, with stakeholder groups asking for more detail on how exactly the interface would work.
Marijuana legalization has not exactly gone smoothly for California. About one in ten marijuana stores in the state are legal, and allowing legal marijuana businesses to operate on tribal land would continue to undercut the legal state industry because federal taxes are much lower on tribal land. There’s also the concern within the marijuana industry that passing such legislation could create an over-saturation of growers in the market and drastically drive down prices.
Larry sits down with a reporter covering cannabis and a lawyer working on the legislation to explain the issue.
Guests:
Amanda Chicago Lewis, LA-based freelance reporter covering cannabis; she has been following the story
Mark A. Levitan, attorney who specializes in tribal issues; he’s worked on a California bill that will be introduced this year that would give state tribes legal access to the commercial marijuana market
By making inmates’ release dates public, OC Sheriff finds workaround to sanctuary law
The Orange County sheriff’s department announced Monday that it will begin publishing a list online of inmate release dates, challenging a provision of California’s sanctuary law.
The online inmate database includes the date and time of a prisoner’s release including those in the country illegally. Undersheriff Don Barnes said the action is in response to Senate Bill 54; a bill that limits cooperation with federal immigration officials. The city of Los Alamitos voted last week to be exempted from SB 54.
Guests:
Claude Arnold, retired special agent in charge of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations in the greater Los Angeles area
Annie Lai, co-director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at UC Irvine; she is an assistant clinical professor of law at UCI
California attorney general's office to oversee investigation into the fatal police shooting of unarmed man
The California attorney general's office on Tuesday joined an investigation into the fatal shooting of an unarmed black man by Sacramento police to provide independent oversight.
Clark was killed by two Sacramento police officers who were responding to a report of someone breaking car windows in a South Sacramento neighborhood. Police thought Clark was holding a gun, but he was found with only a cellphone.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra's office will provide oversight of the investigation and conduct a review of the police department's policies and training around use of force. Body camera footage released by the department shows police firing 20 rounds at Clark.
With files from the Associated Press.
Guest:
Dale Kasler, reporter for the Sacramento Bee; he's been following the story