The Legislature passed AB 715, a bill to legalize censorship and exceptionalism in the classroom. It sits on Newsom’s desk.
The bill will:
- Conflate religion with political ideology by equating criticism of the Israeli government’s policies with antisemitism.
- Rely on contested frameworks (including the IHRA—International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance—definition) that have been used to silence speech.
- Prohibits statements that could be construed as “advocacy” and “personal opinion,” inviting politically motivated complaints.
- Mandate the “immediate and permanent” removal of instructional materials deemed objectionable, at the discretion of a State Administrator of antisemitism.
The governor has a choice to make: to honor his commitment to pluralism or allow the concept of “safety” to be misused to censor education and exact an emotional and financial toll on the “enemies” of pro-Israeli discourse. You can feel the lawsuits waiting for the law’s passage to be filed.
The legislature passed AB 715, a bill titled “Educational Equity: Discrimination: Antisemitism Prevention,” a bill whose authors had promised to address its most objectionable sections before passing, but did not.
Just five days later, after AB 715 barely passed committees and was subject to a last-minute vote in the legislature, Newsom was preaching about pluralism. Dozens of legislators and local elected officials joined Newsom at a press conference in Los Angeles on September 20, where he signed four laws requiring immigration authorities to unmask and follow data and entry laws and in doing so had this to say:
“There is a word that you have never heard uttered from the President’s lips, certainly not from Steven Miller, and that word is pluralism. We practice pluralism. It’s a deep point of pride. Those values are under assault to a degree we could have never imagined.”
(ABC Channel 7 YouTube posting )
For the last two years, AB 715, a bill that is antithetical to a pluralistic society, has drawn hundreds to Sacramento to object to the bill. At great personal expense, representing all walks of life, civil rights groups, and the California Teachers Association, a clear majority of the public argued against the bill, but their voices were ignored.
AB 715 had been rejected in committee twice this year, in May and August, and had also been rejected in its earlier form, as AB 1468, last year. This could not deter the established and politically powerful minority of the Jewish and Christian communities, locally and nationally, that believes in the cultural supremacy of Israel, not pluralism.
Five days after AB 715 was forced through the legislature
At that September 20 “pluralism” press conference, it was not coincidental that two of the Senators, who serve on the Education Committee, were given the honor of authoring two of the laws preventing ICE overreach.
AB 49 and SB 98 are necessary laws, much better than not, but, interestingly, this happens just after the end of the legislative session, where much was given away by our California Democratic leadership.
AB 715 is joined by AB 237, which re-establishes blanket approval of Kern County and offshore oil wells off the coast of California. AB 825, will strip California’s ability to implement the Renewable Portfolio Standard. AB 825 deserves its own article and is backed by the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund, which (big surprise) also supported the deregulation bills that led to the ENRON fiasco two decades ago. SB 371 is a carve-out for Uber and Lyft to allow their “contractors” to lower their liability insurance coverage from $1 million per incident to $50,000 (a reduction of 20 times). There are others, but these deserve special mention.
At the press conference, Education Committee Chair and architect of the Committee’s passage of AB715, Sasha Perez, accepted the Governor’s signed copy of SB 98, which changes safety laws in K-12 schools to inform parents when the school confirms the presence of immigration enforcement, as defined, on the school site.
Education Committee member, Senator Lena Gonzalez, was given co-authorship of AB 49: School sites: prevents immigration enforcement from collecting information or documents regarding citizenship or immigration status.
Democratic Leadership: Is it Pluralism or State-Sanctioned Separate but Equal?
It is disturbing to see our leadership consider sacrificing safe discourse about current events. The pluralistic truth is that we share the burdens of history, regardless of our origins. This bill, at its core, implements censorship and exceptionalism.
There is no two ways about it, AB 715 makes Antisemitism Police part of our school system. AB 715 codifies Jewish consideration as separate, but “equal” in all civil rights discussions and behavior in schools.
Please ask Governor Newsom to veto AB 715.
AB 715 is opposed by the California Teachers Association (CTA), California Faculty Association (CFA), Association of California School Administrators (ACSA), California County Superintendents, the California School Boards Association (CSBA), and the Council of UC Faculty Associations (CUCFA), by more than 100 teachers’ organizations, parent groups, civil rights organizations, religious congregations, racial justice organizations, and community advocacy groups represented by the CA Coalition to Defend Public Education.
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“Education Committee member, Senator Lena Gonzalez, was given co-authorship of AB 49: School sites: prevents immigration enforcement from collecting information or documents regarding citizenship or immigration status.”
(I thought we went through this in regard to the state law “prohibiting” ICE agents from wearing masks. My understanding is that state laws generally don’t impact federal agency operations.)
From article: At the press conference, Education Committee Chair and architect of the Committee’s passage of AB715, Sasha Perez, accepted the Governor’s signed copy of SB 98, which changes safety laws in K-12 schools to inform parents when the school confirms the presence of immigration enforcement, as defined, on the school site.
(Perhaps school districts should be required to notify parents when they enroll illegal immigrants in the first place. Also, perhaps the law should be changed to prohibit school districts from receiving funds for each illegal immigrant that they enroll. If they did so, I’m pretty sure that school districts would be less “protective” of illegal immigrant students.)