LEGISLATIVE ISSUES


Results Are in for California’s 2018 Primary/Special Election


landscape in California for the near future. AGC of California’s Legis- lative Advocates at Te Apex Group put together the following breakdown which highlights some of the various races of interest throughout the state.


T


Constitutional Offices: At the top of the ticket, the


California Governor’s race was over relatively quickly on Tuesday night, June 5. As widely predicted, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom will face Republican businessman John Cox in November. Tis is Newsom’s dream scenario, since it is highly unlikely a Republican Gubernatorial candidate can win in California. Tis is also potentially bad for the business community because it means that Newsom will continue to push hot button Democratic issues that can be, at times, antibusiness. Conversely, two Democrats will face off for Lieutenant Governor: real estate developer Eleni Kounalakis and Sen. Ed Hernández.


Other statewide office results include:  Attorney General – Appointed by Governor Brown and running as an incumbent, Xavier Becerra will face Republican retired Judge Steven Bailey in November.


 Insurance Commissioner – Steve Poizner, who won this office as a Republican in 2006, is running as an Independent. He will face Democrat Senator Ricardo Lara in this tight race.


 Superintendent of Public Instruction – Two Democrats will face off repre- senting the divergent interests of the California Teachers Association,


8 July/August 2018


Assemblyman Tony Turmond, and the Charter school movement, Marshall Tuck.


Ballot Measures: Four of five ballot measures earned


the support of California voters: Proposition 68 is a $4 billion parks bond, Proposition 69 will require that revenues from a recent gas tax increase be used for transportation, Proposition 71 provides that ballot measures approved by a majority of voters, shall take effect five days after elections certification. and Proposition 72 exempts rain water capture systems from property tax reassessment. Proposition 70 would have


required that cap-and-trade revenues accumulate in a reserve fund until the Legislature, by a two-thirds majority, voted to appropriate the funds. Te measure failed.


Legislature: Caught in the national wave of


sexual harassment revelations that began last October from the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the Legislature began the year with three vacancies in the Assembly and one in the Senate. Because of these resigna- tions, the Governor called special primary elections for April 3rd to fill the vacancies in the State Assembly. Te special General elections for these Assembly races were consolidated with the regularly scheduled June primary


he 2018 June primary proved to be an exciting, unpredictable and valuable forecast for the political


election. Tere were no surprises in the special General results for these special


Assembly races:  SPECIAL 39th Assembly District General Election – Democrat Luz Rivas won.


 SPECIAL 45th Assembly District General Election – Democrat Jesse Gabriel won.


 54th Assembly District – Democrat Sydney Kamlager won with a majority of the vote on April 3rd. Because of the timing of Senator


Mendoza’s resignation, the special primary Senate election was consoli- dated with the regularly scheduled June Primary – and the special General election is to take place in August. Tis


has netted a very chaotic result.  SPECIAL 32nd Senate District Primary Election (formerly Tony Mendoza) – Republican Rita Topalian (25 percent) won the special primary, while Democrat Vanessa Delgado (16 percent) leads the crowded field of Democrats in the Democratic-leaning Los Angeles district.


 REGULAR 32nd Senate District Primary Election – Topalian won this one as well (25 percent) and may instead face Democrat Bob Archuleta, who was running fourth in the special primary, but second in a concurrent regular primary, with 18 percent. Delgado and Mendoza trail with 16 percent and 10 percent, respectively, in this regular primary election. Bottomline: Mendoza is out and another candidate will replace him. In a recall election led by the


California Republican Party, Sen. Josh Newman lost his seat by a margin of nearly 60 percent to 40 percent. He will be replaced by Republican Ling


Continued on page 11 California Constructor


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24