On Thursday, February 27th, the 80-20 National Asian American PAC posted a blog entry entitled "SCA First Victory & Empowerment." In it, 80-20 summed up the accomplishments of its grassroots lobbying effort to stop SCA-5.
I don't know if 80-20 is who the ball rolling on the No on SCA-5 campaign, but given that the emails I've seen started a day or two after 80-20 posted "Call to Action: Stop SCA 5" on February 14, 2014, it's clear they were involved early on 80-20. Also, given 80-20's self-described reach (on its "What Makes 80-20 Effective" page, 80-20 touts 700,000 supporters) and the positions it's taken against affirmative action in higher education (80-20 filed an Amicus Brief siding with Fisher in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, one of the Supreme Court cases I discussed in "Psssst, Is This Constitutional?"), they have the resources and policy motivations to mobilize such an effort.
For these reasons, I decided to take a closer look at 80-20.
Their first claim is that "Assemblyman Ed Chau announced that he will NOT vote for SCA 5, as it is currently worded. So the dam has been broken. Many more AsAm Assemblypersons are expected to follow suite and defeat SCA 5. It only takes one more such announcement to defeat SCA 5 in the CA's Assembly"
I checked out website of Assemblyman Chau. If Assemblyman Chau had taken this position, I'd expect to find some mention of this on his website. But there's no mention anywhere of SCA-5. Additionally, 80-20 writes "Assemblyman Chau was the only one of the AsAm Assembly person to return S.B. Woo's phone call on the same day." Is it possible that the "announcement" referenced was merely the conversation Assemblyman Chau had with S.B. Woo, the President of the 80-20 Educational Foundation who is from Delaware?
Had Assemblyman Chau taken this position, wouldn't there be something akin to the public statement issued by the Chinese-American State Senators who voted in favor of SCA-5? The following appears on State Senator Ted Lieu's website (Senators Lieu, Yee & Liu Ask Hernandez To Hold SCA 5"): "As lifelong advocates for the Chinese American and other API communities, we would never support a policy that we believed would negatively impact our children. Prior to this vote, we heard no opposition to this bill. However, in the past few weeks, we have heard from thousands of people throughout California concerned about SCA 5. As a result, we have asked Sen. Hernandez to hold SCA 5 until he has had an opportunity to meet with affected communities and attempt to build consensus." I'm assuming that this is what 80-20 is referring to in claiming "It has been reliably leaked to 80-20 that the CA Senate will announce "NOT to proceed" with SCA 5 until more hearings on this bill would be held. Hopefully, our three Chinese Am senators, upon learning more about how SCA 5 will hurt the AsAm college applicants, will vote no afterwards."
I am admittedly not familiar with the intricate details of California legislative procedure. But, given that SCA-5 has been passed out of the State Senate and is before the State Assembly, my guess is that the State Senate would not be revisiting the bill again unless the State Assembly amends the bill. So I don't see any reason why the Senate would be stopping anything and Senators Lieu, Yee, and Liu wouldn't have any reason to be voting again.
However, in parsing the public statement by the 3 Senators, the language "until [Sen. Hernandez] has had an opportunity to meet with affected communities and attempt to build consensus," I'm inclined to believe that the supporters of SCA-5 will be responding to the concerns being raised and opening a dialogue about SCA-5 and affirmative action.
The bottom line, 80-20's celebration may be a bit premature. Round 2 is about to start and I'm guessing that the proponents of SCA-5 are going to be hitting back.
Sens. Lieu, Yee and Liu ask Hernandez to hold SCA 5
February 27, 2014
SACRAMENTO – Sens. Ted Lieu, D-Redondo Beach; Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo; and Carol Liu, D- La Cañada/Flintridge) have called upon Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, to hold SCA 5 to provide more time to discuss the potential impacts the bill will have on the Chinese, Asian Pacific Islander and other affected communities. Yee, Lieu and Liu released the following joint statement:
“As lifelong advocates for the Chinese American and other API communities, we would never support a policy that we believed would negatively impact our children. Prior to this vote, we heard no opposition to this bill. However, in the past few weeks, we have heard from thousands of people throughout California concerned about SCA 5. As a result, we have asked Sen. Hernandez to hold SCA 5 until he has an opportunity to meet with affected communities and attempt to build a consensus.”
SCA 5 is authored by Hernandez. If passed, the bill would place an initiative on the November Ballot that would remove all references to public education from Proposition 209, which amended the state constitution to prohibit state government institutions from considering race, sex or ethnicity in the areas of public employment, public contracting or public education.
Sens. Ted Lieu,
D-Redondo Beach; Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo; and Carol Liu,
D- La Cañada/Flintridge) have called upon Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West
Covina, to hold SCA 5 to provide more time to discuss the potential
impacts the bill will have on the Chinese, Asian Pacific Islander and
other affected communities. Yee, Lieu and Liu released the following
joint statement:
“As lifelong advocates for the Chinese American and other API communities, we would never support a policy that we believed would negatively impact our children. Prior to this vote, we heard no opposition to this bill. However, in the past few weeks, we have heard from thousands of people throughout California concerned about SCA 5. As a result, we have asked Sen. Hernandez to hold SCA 5 until he has an opportunity to meet with affected communities and attempt to build a consensus.”
SCA 5 is authored by Hernandez. If passed, the bill would place an initiative on the November Ballot that would remove all references to public education from Proposition 209, which amended the state constitution to prohibit state government institutions from considering race, sex or ethnicity in the areas of public employment, public contracting or public education.
- See more at: http://sd28.senate.ca.gov/news/2014-02-27-sens-lieu-yee-and-liu-ask-hernandez-hold-sca-5#sthash.GXSAUtKv.dpuf
“As lifelong advocates for the Chinese American and other API communities, we would never support a policy that we believed would negatively impact our children. Prior to this vote, we heard no opposition to this bill. However, in the past few weeks, we have heard from thousands of people throughout California concerned about SCA 5. As a result, we have asked Sen. Hernandez to hold SCA 5 until he has an opportunity to meet with affected communities and attempt to build a consensus.”
SCA 5 is authored by Hernandez. If passed, the bill would place an initiative on the November Ballot that would remove all references to public education from Proposition 209, which amended the state constitution to prohibit state government institutions from considering race, sex or ethnicity in the areas of public employment, public contracting or public education.
- See more at: http://sd28.senate.ca.gov/news/2014-02-27-sens-lieu-yee-and-liu-ask-hernandez-hold-sca-5#sthash.GXSAUtKv.dpuf
Sens. Lieu, Yee and Liu ask Hernandez to hold SCA 5
February 27, 2014
SACRAMENTO – Sens. Ted Lieu, D-Redondo Beach; Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo; and Carol Liu, D- La Cañada/Flintridge) have called upon Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, to hold SCA 5 to provide more time to discuss the potential impacts the bill will have on the Chinese, Asian Pacific Islander and other affected communities. Yee, Lieu and Liu released the following joint statement:
“As lifelong advocates for the Chinese American and other API communities, we would never support a policy that we believed would negatively impact our children. Prior to this vote, we heard no opposition to this bill. However, in the past few weeks, we have heard from thousands of people throughout California concerned about SCA 5. As a result, we have asked Sen. Hernandez to hold SCA 5 until he has an opportunity to meet with affected communities and attempt to build a consensus.”
SCA 5 is authored by Hernandez. If passed, the bill would place an initiative on the November Ballot that would remove all references to public education from Proposition 209, which amended the state constitution to prohibit state government institutions from considering race, sex or ethnicity in the areas of public employment, public contracting or public education.
Sens. Lieu, Yee and Liu ask Hernandez to hold SCA 5
- See more at: http://sd28.senate.ca.gov/news/2014-02-27-sens-lieu-yee-and-liu-ask-hernandez-hold-sca-5#sthash.GXSAUtKv.dpufI'mMore time needed to study impacts, reach out to affected communitiesFebruary 27, 2014
SACRAMENTO – Sens. Ted Lieu, D-Redondo Beach; Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo; and Carol Liu, D- La Cañada/Flintridge) have called upon Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, to hold SCA 5 to provide more time to discuss the potential impacts the bill will have on the Chinese, Asian Pacific Islander and other affected communities. Yee, Lieu and Liu released the following joint statement:
“As lifelong advocates for the Chinese American and other API communities, we would never support a policy that we believed would negatively impact our children. Prior to this vote, we heard no opposition to this bill. However, in the past few weeks, we have heard from thousands of people throughout California concerned about SCA 5. As a result, we have asked Sen. Hernandez to hold SCA 5 until he has an opportunity to meet with affected communities and attempt to build a consensus.”
SCA 5 is authored by Hernandez. If passed, the bill would place an initiative on the November Ballot that would remove all references to public education from Proposition 209, which amended the state constitution to prohibit state government institutions from considering race, sex or ethnicity in the areas of public employment, public contracting or public education.
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