John C said:
Bill,
What's your assessment of the likelihood of this bill passing the state Senate?
Also, reading details on Calguns, it looks like some of the provisions were stripped out of the bill at the last minute. Do you have any info on what the current state of the bill is? Was the $3 tax taken out? If not, isn't a 2/3rds vote necessary to increase taxes under Prop 13?
I'm unsure of the latest rewrites. I believe further tweaks could occur.
Not all taxes are taxes under Prop 13, either.
There is a chance it could be beaten in Senate, we shouldn't lose hope. But I don't think it'd be signed by the Governor - unless our side screws up again.
John C said:
Also, can you point me to some more backstory on what happened with Sam Paredes?
Sam Paredes won a battle to lose the war. For some lead ammo vs condor matters he got a group of Republican legislators led by Dick Hollingsworth to agitate to have an F&G commisioner (Hanna) kicked out by the governor. The gov kinda needed to do this since there was all the budget dance going on.
But it was also bill signing season, and a related (bad) lead ammo bill and the microstamping bill were up for signature. We know that they both were recommended for veto by his leg relations staff (i.e. prepared veto letters by staff already in place). But while the Gov gave in and gave Hanna the boot, he also 'bit back' and signed *both* these bills just to show he wasn't to be trifled with. He doesn't know the difference between NRA and GOC and CRPA etc.: he just knows some 'gun guys' caused him trouble at an inconvenient time.
What Paredes was too stupid to understand was that the existence of F&G commission concerns about lead was a great cover for the gov to NOT sign overbroad legislation. The Hanna situtation, if necessary to have happened, could have been made to happen at a much less sensitive time.
Paredes may have done this less to try to help - albeit stupidly - than as an "I have relevance" ego trip. Sam & GOC can only play in a few Republican legislator's offices because he has no traction outside certain areas.
Fortunately the microstamping bill had some language inserted by some friendly party that will likely render it unimplementable due to patent/intellectual property & sole source concerns. The DOJ BoF won't have the time, budget or skills to play patent examiner etc. - and if they do try to push regulations trying to implement microstamping, these can readily be challenged at the OAL (Office of Admin. Law) level and stop their adoption.
For more info on Sam Paredes/GOC screwup last year, a blow-by-blow timeline analysis on Calguns (and his nonresponse via a third party):
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=73228
http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/showthread.php?t=74140
Bill Wiese
San Jose CA