CA State Senator. Chair, Budget Committee. Former Chair, Legislative LGBTQ Caucus. Housing/transit/climate/criminal justice reform/health. Democrat.🏳️🌈✡️
I’m really honored that
@TIME
Magazine included me on its inaugural Time 100 Climate: 100 leaders “making significant progress in fighting climate change.”
Climate change remains an urgent threat to our future. It’s vital that California continue to lead on the world stage. 🧵
FCC just repealed net neutrality. When CA Legislature reconvenes in January, I‘ll introduce a bill to adopt net neutrality as a requirement in CA. If FCC won’t protect free/open internet, we will.
#NetNeutrality
is key to protecting our democracy, esp in this authoritarian age.
The
#NRA
- perhaps the most toxic force in U.S. politics - just sued Florida based on the astounding argument that 18 year olds have a constitutional right to buy assault rifles. The NRA is to public safety what climate deniers are to the environment. Time for the NRA to go away.
Mississippi just banned gender-affirming care for trans youth.
MDs will have their licenses revoked & be subject to lawsuits for 30 years after providing the care.
It’s hard to overstate how harmful — indeed, deadly — these laws are. The tidal wave of anti-LGBTQ hate continues.
NET NEUTRALITY IS NOW THE LAW IN CALIFORNIA!
Governor Brown just signed our
#SB822
, which contains the strongest
#NetNeutrality
protections in the nation. Huge win for an open internet. Thank you
@JerryBrownGov
!
“Transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.”
These words were in a speech by a major right wing figure at a national conservative conference.
It’s a straight up call for genocide. That’s what this fight is about. They want us gone.
Forcing a teacher to out a trans kid to their parents — even if the kid isn’t ready & even if it puts them at risk of harm — is dangerous & frankly, despicable.
Each of us decides when we come out. It’s no one else’s damn business.
Thx
@AGRobBonta
for having these kids’ backs.
BREAKING: We’re filing a lawsuit to immediately halt the Chino Valley School District’s forced outing policy.
This policy wrongfully and unconstitutionally discriminates against transgender and gender nonconforming students.
It cannot stand.
The word “groomer” is categorically an anti-LGBTQ hate word. It’s super homophobic/transphobic. It plays into the slander that LGBTQ people are pedophiles. It’s no different than calling someone a fagg*t.
If you call someone groomer, you’re inciting violence against LGBTQ people
🧵 We’re announcing legislation to protect & grant refuge to trans kids & their parents who flee to CA from Texas, etc., in the event states try to separate these kids from their parents, criminalize the parents, or criminalize people coming to CA to receive gender-affirming care
New data: California has 12% of the US population but 30% of its homeless & 50% of unsheltered homeless.
Why? CA doesn’t have more mental health issues than other states.
Rather, it’s about housing. We have fewer homes per capita than other states. We must prioritize new homes.
The Southwest Airlines meltdown reiterates the critical need for California to create a statewide high speed rail system.
We’ve over-relied on airlines for too long. We need a statewide rail system to complement the rest of the system.
GOP: Let’s pass laws banning trans people
Trans state rep: No that’s bad
GOP: You’re not allowed to talk
Trans state rep: But I need to speak
GOP: We’re censuring or expelling you
This is how fascism happens.
I have been informed that during tomorrow’s floor session there will be a motion to either censure or expel me.
I've also been told I'll get a chance to speak. I will do as I have always done—rise on behalf of my constituents, in defense of my community, & for democracy itself.
The Governor has vetoed our bill to cap insulin co-pays at $35/month (SB 90).
People are choosing between paying for insulin & buying food. This veto is a missed opportunity to ensure people can afford their medicine.
2/2 These anti-vaxxers are engaging in criminal behavior. They’ve now repeatedly assaulted Senators & are engaging in harassing & intimidating behavior every single day, as we try to do the people’s work. They’re a cancer on the body politic & are attacking democracy.
Lots of sex shaming of gay men around monkeypox. The same shaming we saw in the 1980s re HIV.
Lecturing people not to have sex isn’t a public health strategy. It didn’t stop HIV — it made it worse — & it won’t stop monkeypox.
What will work is vaccination, testing & education.
Today
@SenatorTimScott
said his state, South Carolina, is “subsidizing” states w income tax, since ppl can deduct state income tax. Let’s be clear: Ranking states 1-50 for dependency on federal gov, South Carolina is
#6
. CA is 46, NJ is 48. South Carolina ain’t subsidizing anyone
BIG NEWS: Gov Newsom just announced, as part of his proposed budget, a new unit whose only job is to enforce state housing laws & hold cities accountable on housing.
This is a HUGE step. Passing strong housing laws is step one. Enforcing them is crucial.
Thank you,
@GavinNewsom
.
@realDonaldTrump
& Ben Carson published a racist op-ed in WSJ that attacks me for fighting to legalize affordable housing in single-family-zoned neighborhoods.
“Protecting America’s Suburbs” = dog whistle for race segregation
Damn right I’m doing this work. I won’t give up.
Target is removing LGBTQ Pride products because of terrorist behavior like this.
Yes, this is absolutely terrorism & Target should be ashamed for caving in. Just like Anheuser Busch caved in.
And people wonder why there’s so much fear in our community.
Pre-COVID, this scene was illegal in CA: serving a meal + alcohol on the street.
It’s now temporarily legal & we see the power of activating public space.
That’s why I introduced legislation to make it permanently legal for cities to allow parklet/outdoor dining with alcohol.
What’s happening in Israel is not a “both sides” situation.
I’m a vocal critic of the current Israeli government, including its settlement policy.
But nothing — nothing — justifies this terror invasion by Hamas & the butchering & kidnapping of Israeli soldiers & civilians.
Trump says California wildfires result from the state’s “gross mismanagement of the forests.”
Fact check:
1. The federal government owns 57% of California forest land, while the state owns 2.2%.
2. Trump & Congress just cut U.S. Forest Service budget by 1/3.
Facts don’t lie.
Today, I announced my support for the recall of three members of the San Francisco Board of Education: Alison Collins, Gabriela Lopez, & Faauuga Moliga.
These commissioners have failed our students and families. It's time for new, responsible leadership.
The obsession with huge vehicles — which are much more dangerous — is now leaking into electric vehicles.
Like huge gas vehicles, huge EVs are also more dangerous, less efficient & more polluting.
We need incentives to move away from these mega vehicles.
In the early 1960s, CA’s population was 15 million & we built 250K-300K homes/year.
Today, CA’s population is 40 million & we build 80K homes/year.
So our population nearly tripled while housing production dropped by over 2/3.
And people wonder why housing is so expensive.
Our transgender state of refuge bill (SB 107) — ensuring families with trans kids can seek refuge in CA if other states criminalize them for allowing their kids to get healthcare — just passed its final Assembly committee & heads to the Assembly floor. Thank you, colleagues.
1/2 A few minutes ago, the anti-vaxxer stalkers - who’ve engaged in a harassment campaign all week - dropped a red substance onto the Senate floor from the elevated public gallery, dousing several of my colleagues. The person who committed this assault screamed it was baby blood.
High speed rail isn’t rocket science. It exists in many places. Yet, the U.S. simply refuses to invest adequately in rail & even when it does invest, makes it hard to actually build it.
We need to catch up. The U.S. will be a better place with more expansive & faster rail.
In a field of extraordinary Democrats running for President, Elizabeth Warren stands out in a major way & I’m proud to endorse her.
@ewarren
is a great ally to the
#LGBT
community & understands the need for bold action on housing. She has my full support.
BREAKING:
@GavinNewsom
signed into law our bill expediting approval of light rail, rapid bus, bike & pedestrian safety projects.
SB 922 allows communities to get these sustainable transportation projects - critical for climate action, safety & mobility - on the ground faster.
BIG HOUSING NEWS:
@GavinNewsom
has signed our 3 housing bills:
✅ Dramatically expanding housing streamlining — no discretion, no CEQA; takes effect in SF early 2024 (SB 423)
✅ Allowing churches, nonprofit colleges, etc, to build affordable housing on their land (SB 4)
… ⬇️
The death penalty is immoral & ineffective, with huge racial disparities & innocent people sentenced to death.
We need to put an end to capital punishment in California.
Dear Jeff Sessions & Donald Trump: I look forward to California beating you in court. Sue all you want. California has every right to refuse to be part of your deportation machine. Nothing requires us to help you achieve your xenophobic, racist agenda.
Beverly Hills is refusing to comply with state housing law - refusing to plan for enough new homes.
A judge has now banned Beverly Hills from issuing other permits until it comes into compliance.
Ignoring state housing law has consequences.
This DSA SF statement is horrifying & even worse than the national DSA statement.
It unqualifiedly endorses Hamas’s “resistance,” consisting of the massacre of 1,200 Israelis, including kids/seniors, & hostage taking.
+ It uses this horrific moment to call for an end to Israel.
Fun fact: The reason opponents of car-free JFK went to the ballot (democracy) instead of a CEQA lawsuit (opposite of democracy) is a law I authored — SB 288 — which exempts projects like JFK from CEQA.
So SF went the democracy route & the voters resoundingly chose car-free JFK.
Wow. Thank you for re-electing me with ~60% of the vote. I’m so honored to continue representing you in the Senate.
Nearly $1.5M was spent by or on behalf of my opponent & we prevailed.
Representing this community is the honor of my life. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Supreme Court did NOT rule that the Colorado baker had a constitutional right to refuse to serve the gay couple. Rather, it ruled Colorado’s complaint process was flawed. Larger constitutional question wasn’t addressed. The case is not permission to discriminate against LGBT ppl.
“The greatest evil our country faces”
Not climate change. Not gun violence. Not preventable diseases.
Trans people
And they wonder why we think they’re advocating for genocide.
Tonight at midnight, SB 107 goes into effect & California officially becomes a state of refuge for trans kids & their families.
As red states pursue 100s of laws criminalizing LGBTQ people — with incitement to violence all too common — CA stands strong as a beacon of hope.
The narrative CA — now the world’s 4th largest economy — is imploding has never been true.
They said everyone here was moving to FL. Turns out for every 6 Californians moving to FL, 5 Floridians moved to CA.
They said TX had lower taxes than CA. Turns out that’s false as well.
The amount of time Elon spends interacting with extremist right-wing, anti-LGBTQ accounts is breathtaking. Libs of TikTok absolutely incites violence against LGBTQ people & their health providers.
NIMBYism, in many ways, is about screwing over young people:
❌ No homes for you b/c we don’t like new housing
❌ No jobs for you b/c “we have too many jobs” so we want them gone
❌ Now . . . Your UC Berkeley admission is revoked b/c there’s too much education happening
I’m introducing an aggressive housing legislative package: 1) require denser/taller zoning near public transit, 2) require cities’ housing goals be based on actual future growth & make up for past deficits, & 3) make it easier to build farmworker housing.
🧵Let’s talk about “groomer,” a word totally co-opted by the homo/transphobic MAGA right to slander LGBTQ people & their allies.
Ex A: The reply below to an
@HRC
tweet about a murdered trans bartender at Club Q: “And yet, he supported the grooming of children. Hard to feel bad.”
Oakland City Council passed a reso calling for Gaza ceasefire. When a council member asked to add language condemning Hamas, a stream of public comment praising & supporting Hamas ensued. The council then rejected the request to condemn Hamas.
Just awful.
For just a single SF payroll processing co. that banked w/ SVB:
Tens of 1000s of employees’ paychecks next wk are being held by FDIC; avg salary=$48K
Among impacted SF customers (it serves customers all over): a pizza place, taco joint & bike shop.
It’s not just a tech thing.
Perhaps the biggest blind spot in the climate movement is ignoring housing patterns.
No climate plan is complete w/o sustainable housing/land use: ending sprawl
Yes, this means housing density.
Until we allow people to live near work/transit, we‘ll struggle to right this ship.
🚨🚨BREAKING: The CA Senate just passed our legislation to decriminalize psychedelics! 🎉
To everyone who made calls, shared, posted, told their stores: You did this! Let’s keep up the fight & momentum. We need to end the failed War on Drugs.
Thank you, colleagues!
#SB519
San Francisco’s high rate of car break-ins is unacceptable, & current law adds senseless barriers to holding auto burglars accountable. Yesterday, I announced new legislation to eliminate these ridiculous obstacles. 🧵/7
The Board of Supervisors just approved car-free JFK!
The Board was able to move quickly b/c car-free JFK is exempt from CEQA under a law I authored (SB 288) exempting projects like this from CEQA.
Without SB 288, car-free JFK likely would be delayed years by appeals & lawsuits.
I’m introducing new legislation (SB 1227) to allow expedited approval for physical changes in downtown San Francisco.
Downtown is struggling. We need to rethink its future.
Other struggling downtowns have had big transformations & thrived.
Let’s be open to new approaches in SF
The public comment praising Hamas & defending the October 7 massacre of 1,200 mostly Jews is despicable & unconscionable. What’s even worse is that the Oakland City Council majority rejected an amendment condemning Hamas. It’s a truly jarring decision by a public body.
Oakland City Council passed a reso calling for Gaza ceasefire. When a council member asked to add language condemning Hamas, a stream of public comment praising & supporting Hamas ensued. The council then rejected the request to condemn Hamas.
Just awful.
🧵Bringing back downtown San Francisco isn’t rocket science. We need the will to:
✅ Transform the financial district into a mixed use neighborhood. It never made sense for it to be just office. It should be office, housing, nightlife, restaurants, markets, entertainment, etc
⬇️
Due to a NIMBY CEQA lawsuit to stop UC Berkeley from expanding to meet growing student need, the University is now forced to rescind 1000s of admission offers
Let’s be clear: This was never the point of CEQA. This broken status quo must change. Stay tuned
Can we please now acknowledge that hyperloop is not a thing & that we should be aggressively investing in rail & other actual public transit that exists in the real world?
His current slogans notwithstanding, Aaron Peskin has long been San Francisco’s housing obstructionist in-chief.
He also opposed car-free JFK.
He’s not progressive. To the contrary, he’s quite conservative.
Now he’s running for Mayor.
Hard pass.
I’ve seen lots of drama over density bills.
Never have I seen the bizarro reaction we’re seeing against
#SB1120
, which legalizes DUPLEXES.
Yes, apocalyptic predictions over letting folks build TWO HOMES INSTEAD OF ONE.
Is it any wonder so many Californians live in their cars?
No rolling blackouts in CA, despite epic heat wave. Fox News will have to save its schadenfreude for another time.
A key reason CA avoided rolling blackouts: Our huge investment in clean energy storage, to the tune of 3,300 mw.
Clean energy helped save the day. It's the future.
At last night’s Hanukkah celebration in Union Square, some folks started shouting “Free Palestine” at us.
This was one night after the Lake Merritt menorah was torn down.
Harassing Jews celebrating a holiday has nothing to do with the war & everything to do with antisemitism.
Today’s anti-housing veto override by the Board of Supervisors is a black eye for San Francisco.
@AaronPeskin
’s ordinance is the latest move in his decades-long effort to obstruct new housing in our city. Extreme zoning restrictions like these are one cause of our housing crisis.
When you’re actively down-zoning & blocking new homes in wealthy neighborhoods, you’re neither pro-housing nor pro-neighborhood. Rather, you’re pro-making San Francisco into a museum no one can afford.
Since the Hamas terror invasion of Israel, we’ve seen tweets & rallies in the U.S. glorifying what Hamas did as “resistance” & even making fun of Israelis who were murdered, raped or kidnapped.
All while Israelis are still missing, held hostage or not yet buried.
Truly vile.🧵
Today’s Oakland K-12 teach-in calls for the destruction of Israel.
It lies about Jews, eg: Jews weren’t in Israel until 1948 (Jews have been there millennia) & only “white Jews” are welcome (3.2M Jews of color live there)
It’s straight-up anti-Israel/anti-Jewish indoctrination
It appears Prop D (streamlining housing) narrowly lost.
Prop E — the do-nothing sabotage measure designed to take Prop D down — did its toxic job.
SF’s broken status quo remains. This loss makes it all but impossible for SF to meet its CA housing goals.
The state must step in.
It’s been a dark week & today I found out that my personal information has been doxxed online by a prominent QAnon follower.
Thank you so much to everyone for the videos of support. It means so much to me, and it’s an honor to serve this community.
Some dismiss new homes as “luxury” b/c they’re expensive.
We need to stop conflating “luxury” with “expensive.”
Yes, new homes are expensive. But so are old worn-out flats renting @ $3K & small single family selling @ >$1M.
It’s all expensive. Because there isn’t enough of it.
Manny’s is a Jewish-owned business in the Mission. Since it opened a few years ago, it’s been targeted.
This weekend, Manny’s was vandalized with this antisemitic graffiti.
Targeting Jewish businesses is straight up antisemitic. We must speak out & condemn this hate.
Amazing protest march in San Francisco to support drag queens, trans people & everyone else under attack by right wing extremism. We’re fighting back against this fascism.
An antisemitic extremist targets Nancy Pelosi at her home, finds her husband & beats him with a hammer.
What does Michael Shellenberger do? He immediately goes on Fox News to spout nonsense about this act of political violence being about crime & drug use in SF.
Just despicable
completely shameless -- even as information emerges that the Paul Pelosi attacker was a deranged MAGA, Fox News is trying to blame the assault on mental health and California crime policies
The spike in gas prices is a reminder of the urgency to give people viable options to get around w/o driving.
That’s why I’m authoring a bill (
#SB922
) to expedite bus, light rail, bike & pedestrian projects. SB 922 passed its 1st committee.
Let’s get these projects done - fast.
Fresh off TN Republicans expelling two Black men from the Legislature, MT Republicans have now banned the state’s only trans legislator from the legislative chamber.
This is what segregation looks like.
This is what fascism looks like.
This is a train wreck for our democracy.
This constitutes our periodic reminder that putting apartment buildings next to single family homes isn’t out of the ordinary & doesn’t mess up a neighborhood. If it’s ok for possibly the most famous single family homes in the world - the Painted Ladies - it’s ok period.
The Supreme Court — once again ignoring the plain text of the Second Amendment — is now requiring states to allow the Wild West on their streets, with people walking around armed in public.
This Court is beyond out of control. This Court is dangerous to our country.
When we have abundance, we raise living standards & quality of life.
Instead of abundance, the U.S. has chosen scarcity, making it hard or impossible to create what we need — e.g., housing, transit, clean energy — & making people poorer as a result.
We need an abundance agenda.
The U.S. can't build housing. Or transit. Or solar power. Or transmission lines. Or semiconductor fabs.
We are the Build-Nothing Country.
And this needs to change, and it needs to change fast.
🧵Charlie Kirk — one of the biggest attention-seeking liars around — is spreading bald-faced lies about me. These statements are absolutely false & defamatory.
These are the lies bigots have always spread about LGBTQ people — lies that lead to violence against our community.
There’s a narrative out there that wealthy people are fleeing California due to taxes or whatever.
It turns out that the people who are actually leaving are lower & middle income people.
Why? Because housing is way too expensive. Why? Because we don’t build nearly enough of it.
Who's moving out of California?
Poor and middle class people with less education.
Who's moving into California? Wealthy people with more education (via
@PPICNotes
)
There’s a new argument in Silicon Valley & San Francisco (eg Prop E) that the solution to our housing shortage isn’t to build more homes but rather to kill the economy by pushing away jobs & banning new office space.
How about we just build more homes?
The Court of Appeal just issued an absurd & dangerous ruling that people are pollution & CEQA requires evaluation of the type of people who will live in proposed new housing.
We’ll shortly introduce legislation to put an end to this nonsense. Stay tuned.
my friend just sent me this video from
the subway in yangzhou china, a city most americans have never heard of.
he says it’s safe, clean, and reliable. no drug addicts or criminals.
in america this would be unthinkable.
what is the sickness that has infected our democracy?
BREAKING: Gov
@GavinNewsom
signed our legislation to end mandatory minimum jail sentences for non-violent drug offenses,
#SB73
.
Mass incarceration of non-violent drug offenders hasn’t reduced drug use or addiction. Time for a new approach.
Thx, Governor, for this overdue step.
Not even 24 hours after MAGA grifter Charlie Kirk tweeted homophobic lies about me, I received this threat repeating one of his lies.
But that was the point: Riling people up against me & other LGBTQ people.
Words have consequences & Twitter is becoming a cesspool for this crap