🍊 🇺🇸 OC Conservative Brief - 3.24.23

Good morning, happy Friday, and welcome to your weekly edition of the OC Conservative Brief, your run down of Orange County's local politics from a conservative perspective. If you like what you read, please make sure to subscribe and forward to your friends. 

This week, we're checking in on what our elected Republicans are up to in Sacramento and Washington with critical votes on gun safety and so-called "ESG Investing." But first, I spoke with Orange County Assemblymember Diane Dixon about the Balboa Ferry issue we discussed last week and what we can do to fight back... 

DIANE DIXON INTERVIEW ON BALBOA FERRY... Last week, we discussed the costly threat new environmental regulations from Sacramento are imposing on the iconic Balboa Island Ferry in Newport Beach and what it will take to fight back. On Thursday, I spoke with one of the key players in that fight, Republican Assemblymember Diane Dixon (AD72), who represents the area in the state legislature.

• First, to refresh your memory...the historic Balboa Island Ferry has been mandated by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to convert all three of its vessels to zero-emission engines by December 31, 2024, an undertaking which will cost millions of dollars and require unique engine and boat designs that don't even exist yet.

"It's a symbol of what's happening to businesses all across California," Dixon said, noting that's what happening to the Balboa Island Ferry is happening to small manufacturing and transportation businesses throughout the state. "We all want clean air," she said, but stressed that the regulations coming out of Sacramento are "draconian." 

According to Dixon, she first learned of the Balboa Island Ferry's plight when the owner, Seymour Beek, asked for a meeting and met her for coffee at Woody's Diner. While some vessel categories were granted an extension by CARB to convert by 2035 (an extra decade!), Beek said his own request had been denied, despite his repeated cooperation with CARB regulations in the past.

“He’s willing to do it, but there’s no technology," Dixon said. "The marketplace will develop the technology to power ferry boats and [diesel] trucks, but it’s not there yet.” 

• “He’s between a rock and a hard place," Dixon said. "He must conform or he’ll be out of business.”

Dixon says she has requested her own meeting with the regulators at CARB to push for an extension, but so far has had trouble getting through. In the meantime, she says raising awareness of the issue is critical and urged local residents to note their opposition to CARB (emails can be sent to [email protected]) and contact their Newport Beach city council members, suggesting the council could pass a resolution requesting an extension or declare the ferry a historical landmark.

If that fails, Dixon said she'll introduce legislation in Sacramento to grant an extension  when the Assembly takes up new bills next year.

”I hope I don’t need to," she said, "but if I need to, I will.”

STEEL WEIGHS IN ON ESG INVESTING... President Biden issued the first veto of his presidency this week after Congress passed (with help from two Senate Democrats) a Republican-backed bill repealing a Labor Department rule involving "Environmental, Social, and Governance" (ESG) guidelines for private retirement funds.

• The new Biden Administration rule urges private retirement plan fiduciaries to consider factors like climate change and other socially-conscious causes (in addition to returns for retirees) in their investment decisions.

Both of Orange County's Republican Congresswomen, Reps. Young Kim and Michelle Steel, voted for the largely party-line resolution (Democrat Reps. Katie Porter and Mike Levin voted against it).

I asked Rep. Steel why she supported the bill and what Biden's veto could mean for Orange County's retirees. Steel notably sits on the House Education and Workforce Committee, which has jurisdiction over retirement planning issues. Her office provided the below statement to OC Conservative Brief:

DEMOCRATS KILL GUN CONTROL BILL? A gun safety bill went down in flames in Sacramento this week, but it wasn't Republicans who killed it. The bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Dixon, would have cracked down on criminal use of "ghost guns" (unregistered firearms) by increasing prison time for the use of an unregistered gun when committing a felony.

• “We need to go after people who are illegally using firearms to harm our communities, not law abiding gun owners," Dixon said in a statement. 

AB 758 was supported by over a dozen state and local law enforcement groups, including the Santa Ana, Fullerton, and Newport Beach Police Associations. However, the California Public Defenders Association argued that "imprisoning more Californians is not the solution," and Democrats in Sacramento apparently agreed.

Speaking of guns... a federal judge in Santa Ana on Tuesday struck down a California law that severely restricted the sale of new handguns in the state by imposing standards that the judge said are impossible for manufacturers to meet.

• “Californians have the constitutional right to acquire and use state-of-the-art handguns to protect themselves,” the judge wrote in his opinion. “They should not be forced to settle for decade-old models of handguns to ensure that they remain safe inside or outside the home.”

WAIT, THERE'S MORE...

👩‍💼 The OC Register recently profiled ten OC women, including several past and present Republicans, who have blazed a trail for women to enter politics. 

🗳️ Former Arkansas Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson, who has openly criticized President Trump in the past, visited various Orange County GOP groups this week ahead of a potential 2024 presidential run.

🧑‍🏫 The OC Register slammed LA teachers unions in an aggressive new editorial on Wednesday over their strike that's kept nearly half a million LA students out of school, write the unions would rather "strut their power to strike than stay at the table."

🌊 Recent rainstorms have sparked a new surge of concern about the safety and viability of cliffside property throughout coastal Orange County after multiple sinkholes and landslides damaged roads and homes. 

🌧️ According to OC Public Works, the median average rainfall in Orange County from Monday to Wednesday of this week was 1.77 inches across 57 sites, with Upper Silverado Canyon getting hit the hardest with 4.49 inches.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed the briefing, please forward on to your friends and urge them to subscribe by clicking the link here. 

Have a tip on a news item in Orange County conservatives should know about? Drop me a line at [email protected]