Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/328734
ByDonThompson The Associated Press SACRAMENTO Law en- forcement officers would be required to check state firearms records as part of routine welfare checks un- der legislation proposed Wednesday in the wake of the deadly rampage last month near the University of California, Santa Bar- bara. Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office deputies have been criticized for not searching Elliot Rodger's apartment during a welfare check after his parents be- came concerned about his postings on YouTube. The 22-year-old community col- lege student killed six uni- versity students and himself in Isla Vista a month later, authorities said. Rodger wrote in a man- ifesto that deputies would have found his weapons and foiled his plot if only they had done more checking. The bill, SB505, would require officers to search the state's database of gun purchases when checking whether someone may be a danger to themselves or others. The bill introduced by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, is the lat- est of several proposed in response to the rampage. Democratic Assembly- members Nancy Skinner of Berkeley and Das Williams of Santa Barbara proposed creating a gun-violence re- straining order that could be sought from a judge by law enforcement at the re- quest of family members and friends. Jackson said her bill would require law enforce- ment agencies to follow consistent standards on conducting deeper searches during welfare checks, a policy she said might have helped deter Rodger. "It is possible that had they asked him about his firearms ... they could have inquired about why he had those weapons and made a determination whether he was a danger to himself or others," she said in an in- terview. She also introduced SB580, which would pro- vide more than $15 million to local law enforcement to enforce existing gun laws, including seizing guns from those who cannot legally own them. SB505 was backed by the San Francisco-based Law Center to Prevent Gun Vio- lence but criticized by Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of Califor- nia. Law enforcement offi- cers already can search the state's gun owner database if they wish, and they can seek to have a dangerous individual committed for mental health treatment and prohibited from own- ing firearms, Paredes noted. What's needed, he said, is an education program for law enforcement, therapists and others in how to take advantage of current laws when necessary. "The tools are there. They're just not being used," he said. Yet lawmakers' first re- sponse to any such tragedy, Paredes said, is "to write another bill." SACRAMENTO Firearmscheckssoughta erIslaVistarampage THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Images of Christopher Martinez are displayed as part of a memorial in front of the IV Deli Mart, where part of a mass shooting took place. In the wake of another shooting spree, legislation introduced by state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson would require law enforcement to check state firearms records as part of routine welfare checks. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The U.S. Coast Guard says a man is "lucky to be alive" a er he was rescued 11days into an attempted kayak voyage from California to Hawaii. The Associated Press LOS ANGELES The U.S. Coast Guard says a man is lucky to be alive after he was rescued 11 days into an attempted kayak voyage from California to Hawaii. A helicopter spotted the 57-year-old man, who had turned back to California, in the Pacific on Tuesday about 60 miles southwest of Santa Barbara's Point Con- ception after he sent a dis- tress call indicating equip- ment failure, the Coast Guard said in a statement. The helicopter directed a Coast Guard cutter crew to the man, who was found in good health, the statement said. A friend of the man said he had left Monterey on May 30 attempting to make the voyage of nearly 2,400 miles to Honolulu in a kayak with a solar panel that charged all his elec- tronic equipment. The solar panel malfunc- tioned Saturday, and the man turned back. He sent out the distress call when he couldn't find his way. The Coast Guard urged would-be mariners to file a float plan before taking long trips. "A voyage from Califor- nia to Hawaii is a long and treacherous journey for any vessel and exponen- tially more dangerous for a kayaker," Petty Officer 2nd Class Timothy Hall said in the statement. "His pre- paredness allowed him to call for help, but he is very lucky to be alive." Coast Guard saves kayaker trying to paddle to Hawaii TRAVEL By Judy Lin The Associated Press SACRAMENTO As billions of dollars in unexpected tax revenue pour into Cal- ifornia, Democratic law- makers have proposed all kinds of ways to distribute the windfall after years of recession-era budget cuts. Just don't call it spend- ing. In recent weeks, Dem- ocrats have been using a more palatable and fiscally responsible term to charac- terize their individual pri- orities. Instead of spending the taxpayer surplus, they want to invest it. Last week, Assembly- woman Nancy Skinner, D- Berkeley, opened up a joint legislative budget commit- tee hearing by saying she hopes the state will make "meaningful and strate- gic investments in early and higher education, in health care access and clos- ing that opportunity gap." Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D- Sacramento, has said in re- cent weeks that he would like to "make sure that there is room left for some investment to meet the needs of the people." Shortly after being sworn in as Assembly speaker last month, San Di- ego Democrat Toni Atkins said she wanted to help craft a budget that "ex- pands opportunity by mak- ing smart investments." Webster's dictionary de- fines investment as "the outlay of money, usually for income or profit." But Democratic lawmakers are framing their spend- ing proposals for welfare, health care, child care, ed- ucation and preschool for low-income families as a human investment. They say it will pay off with a more productive workforce and higher future tax reve- nue for the state. Jessica Levinson, a pro- fessor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, described Democrats' replacing the word "spending" with "in- vestment" as a rhetorical device to make their bud- get proposals more accept- able. "Is it smart rhetorically to categorize this as an in- vestment rather than just an expenditure? Abso- lutely, because it makes it sound like we're not just spending money," she said. Whether Gov. Jerry Brown buys it is another matter. The Democratic governor preaches auster- ity and wants to funnel most of the state's surplus into a rainy day fund and paying down the state's un- funded pension obligations and other debts. Spendorsave Spending or saving most of the surplus is the main point of contention be- tween Brown and Demo- crats who control the Leg- islature as lawmakers face a Sunday deadline to send the governor a balanced budget. The Brown administra- tion is using a more con- servative revenue estimate for the $107.8 billion gen- eral fund budget for the fis- cal year that starts July 1. It warns against starting new programs based on in- creases in tax revenue that will likely be fleeting. Lawmakers want to use more optimistic figures from the Legislative Ana- lyst's Office, which predicts the state will collect $2.5 billion more. But the flood of addi- tional cash may be start- ing to ease. On Tuesday, the state controller's office reported that revenue fell short of projections for the first time in six months by 5.5 percent, or $389 mil- lion. Overall, tax collec- tions are still up $1.8 bil- lion, or 2.1 percent, for the fiscal year. California's fiscal turn- around is caused in part by voter passage of Propo- sition 30 in 2012, which in- creased the state sales tax for four years and taxes on high-income earners for seven years. Republican lawmak- ers generally agree with Brown that the Legislature should not commit to on- going programs based on the current spike in reve- nue. "Call it what they will, the Democrats seek to spend one-time money that is largely the result of the voters approving a $45 bil- lion tax increase that was intended for education and public safety," said As- sembly Minority Leader Connie Conway, R-Tulare. "Their 'investments' will be in law and come with a bill year after year, regard- less of having the revenue to pay." California Democrats aren't the only ones to play the semantic game. "The point is that for the average young person, an investment in college is al- ways going to be a smart investment," President Barack Obama said Tues- day during his first Tum- blr session in discussing student loans. "Making sure you know what it is that you're investing in is important." Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, defended the Democrats' use of the word investment. He said they agreed with Brown that California needs to build a savings account for future downturns and start pay- ing down its pension ob- ligations. But he also said the state's surplus should be used to restore or ex- pand social, education and college programs that were reduced during the reces- sion. "There's no disagree- ment about that," Leno said. "But yes, we do be- lieve we need to begin to reinvest in the people of California." BUDGET De mo cr at s re pl ac e 'spend' with 'invest' Unexpected extra tax dollars lead to lesson in semantics The Associated Press SACRAMENTO A 10-year- old Northern California boy is celebrating a milestone most people don't reach until they are in their late teens. Tanishq Abraham has become one of the young- est people to graduate from highschool.TheSacramento boy received his diploma at a private ceremony in front of family and friends on Sunday, and even got a con- gratulatory letter from the White House, KXTV in Sac- ramento reported. Tanishq was home- schooled and graduated with a 4.0 GPA. He told KXTV the work wasn't easy, but not that hard either. "The way my brain works is that when you give me something, information about that topic comes into my mind," he said. "I don't know what it is, but that's how it is for me." His mom, Taji, said she suspected her son was gifted, but didn't know un- til the results of an IQ test. Tanishq joined Mensa, a group for people whose IQ is in the top 2 percent of the population, at the age of 4. EDUCATION 10-year-old graduates high school By Elliot Spagat The Associated Press SAN DIEGO Unaccompa- nied children arrested by U.S. border authorities are packed in frigid cells and sleep on hard floors with- out enough food or medi- cal care, advocacy groups said in a complaint Wednes- day that alleges widespread abuses amid a surge of ille- gal crossings by young im- migrants from strife-torn Central American countries. TheEsperanzaImmigrant Rights Project and four other groups produced 116 allega- tions of abuse of children who were in Customs and Border Protection custody. They said more than 80 per- cent received inadequate food and water, about half were denied medical care, and about one of every four was physically abused. A 13-year-old boy said he was threatened by an offi- cial with a metal rod and was later sexually molested while in custody, a 14-year- old girl reported her asthma inhaler was con- fiscated, and a 14-year-old boy was unable to sleep for five days because the lights were always on. A 16-year- old boy said an official told him, "You are in my coun- try now, and we are going to bury you in a hole." The allegations described in the administrative com- plaint to the Department of Homeland Security were based on interviews with the children from around March to May. The com- plaint doesn't provide dates of the alleged abuse, but au- thors said much of it oc- curred over the last year. The children were iden- tified only by initials in a 25-page version of the com- plaint that was made public buttheauthorssaidtheypro- vided names and other bio- graphical information to the Homeland Security's inspec- tor general and office civil rights and civil liberties. 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