[guest post by JVW]

In the never-ending attempt of California Democrats to impose East German-style regulations on citizens of the Golden State, Assemblywoman Buff Wicks (D-Oakland) proposed to turn California into the first state to restrict the ability of non-COVID-vaccinated residents to work or mingle indoors in public:

California Democrats are postponing a plan to require people to prove they’re fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter indoor businesses and require workers to either get the shots or be regularly tested.

Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, D-Oakland, confirmed to The Sacramento Bee on Monday that the idea is dead for 2021. She was among the lawmakers who floated language for the concept last week, but did not formally introduce legislation to carry it out.

Lawmakers had less than two weeks to consider the bill in committee hearings and approve it by a two-thirds majority during floor votes before an end-of-session Sept. 10 deadline.

Wicks acknowledged last week that there would be staunch opposition to the measure, and that she wasn’t sure whether the coalition of lawmakers supporting the process wanted to pursue the idea this year or in January, when the Legislature returns from a break. The proposal would have gone immediately into effect upon the governor’s signature.

Wicks said on Monday she will continue working with all stakeholders to develop the “strongest possible policy” in 2022.

I am fine with the state government declaring that state employees must be vaccinated or tested (though there should be an opt-out for any employee who has already contracted COVID and thus developed natural antibodies). I am fine with county government requiring vaccinations or tests for county employees. City governments can require them for city employees. School boards can require them for school employees. Private employers can demand them for their own employees, subject to existing employee contracts. But I do not agree that the state government can demand that anyone and everyone in the state comply with this draconian order pushed by some high-strung Bay Area leftist.

And, of course, with the state legislative session ending on September 10 this bill would have been hastily pushed through the Democrat-dominated legislature without much debate or any real chance for opponents to organize against the bill. Apparently Ms. Wicks and her comrades in the majority were going to employ the time-honored underhanded tradition of taking a bill that had already been passed in the Assembly but was awaiting action in the state Senate (in this case a bill pertaining to Bay Area transportation), gutting it and replacing the text with the new COVID vaccination and testing requirements, then having a quick vote on the amended bill before then sending it to the Senate. This is how slick Democrat supermajorities operate in the Golden State these days.

Though we don’t know the real reason why Ms. Wicks and her allies chose to shelve the bill until next year — I doubt that claims that she wants to strengthen it as much as possible hold any water — I don’t think it takes too imaginative a mind to assume that the pending recall vote of Gavin Newsom made this bill toxic to all but the most extreme members of the California soviet. One can imagine this bill passing next week and landing on Newsom’s desk just as Californians are filling-out and mailing-in their votes. If this recall election (and I plan to write more about it later) accomplishes nothing else, at least it is curbing the more totalitarian instincts of the ruling Democrats, at least for the short while. I think recalling Governor Hair-Gel would be a fine way to smack some sense into them.

– JVW