Full disclosure: From 2017 to 2020, I was the press secretary for state Sen. John Moorlach (R-Costa Mesa), and worked on his 2020 re-election campaign. Which he lost to state Sen. Dave Min (D-Irvine).
On Oct. 30, Mr. Min sent out his monthly newsletter, bragging about his “Ten Bills Signed” by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Senators can introduce only 20 bills a year. So getting half signed is a high percentage.
He added the governor has signed “27 bills since I first started! Thanks to the hard work of my staff and the many stakeholders who have worked tirelessly alongside us, we have put in place dozens of new laws that will make California a better and stronger state.”
Let’s review the main bills. This will give us an idea of what is most important on the agenda of this state senator, as well as the full Legislature that passed the bills, and Gov. Gavin Newsom who signed them. After that, I’ll give a brief overview of what I saw in Mr. Moorlach’s office.
Shooting Gun Jobs
Mr. Min enthuses: “I remain committed to ensuring that California continues to lead the nation in enacting common-sense gun reform. One of the first steps in preventing gun violence is requiring licensed dealers to operate smart and safe businesses.”
In the bill’s words, Senate Bill 241 requires, beginning on July 1, 2026, “a licensee and any employees that handle firearms to annually complete specified training.” This is yet more unconstitutional harassment of gun dealers in California and was opposed by the California Rifle & Pistol Association and Gun Owners of California.
A California-legal AR-15 style rifle is displayed for sale at the Crossroads of the West Gun Show at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, Calif., on June 5, 2021. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Ironically on Oct. 31, a day after Mr. Min’s newsletter, federal Judge Mark Holcomb threw out two previous unconstitutional Mr. Min bills that banned gun shows at state fairs. The decision came after last year’s Bruen decision by the U.S. Supreme Court affirming the Second Amendment “right to keep and bear arms” is a personal right and can be abridged only for such reasons as banning private guns in a courtroom. As a law professor, Mr. Min should have known that.
Senate Bill 264 from 2021 banned gun shows at the Orange County Fairgrounds. The Assembly Appropriations Committee estimated “possible loss of revenue (Fair and Exposition Fund) in the millions of dollars across all district agricultural associations that currently allow gun shows on their property.” If jobs at the fair earn $50,000 a year, that means he killed 20 jobs of his own constituents for every $1 million lost.
Senate Bill 915 from 2022 banned gun shows at all state fairs. The Assembly Appropriations Committee estimated general-fund costs to taxpayers of $1.2 million for litigation through 2026. Plus, “Possible loss of revenue (Fair and Exposition Fund) in the millions of dollars annually across all district agricultural associations that currently allow gun shows on their property.” That probably means many hundreds of jobs lost.
Both laws didn’t affect gun shows in other states, so patrons would just go there.
Mr. Min’s Oct. 30 newsletter also callously came three weeks after the Oct. 7 massacre of 1,400 Israelis by Hamas terrorists. I headlined my Oct 26 Epoch Times article, “Are California Leaders Willfully Blind on the Need for Guns Against Terrorists?” I wrote how only 3% of Israelis had guns as that country had strict gun-control laws—laws rescinded on Oct. 8.
The bills by Mr. Min and others only disarm law-abiding Californians, leaving them naked before criminals and terrorists.
Domestic Violence
Mr. Min writes: “I’m so proud to announce that both bills in my domestic violence legislative package were signed into law! SB 290 and SB 741 are sponsored by the Domestic Violence Clinic at the UC Irvine School Law, and are major wins for domestic violence (DV) victims seeking legal protections.”
He doesn’t mention the clinic director is Jane K. Stoever, who just happens to be Mrs. Dave Min. The bio says, “Professor Stoever has extensive experience teaching domestic violence clinics and engaging in scholarship in the areas of domestic violence law, family law, feminist legal theory, and clinical legal theory.”
I’ve never been married. But my married guy friends tell me, if your wife has a special interest, it had better become your special interest.
Domestic violence obviously is bad. And the state already has numerous laws against it. Any more might be overkill and could discourage people from getting married in the first place.
According to Mr. Min’s explanation: “SB 290 modernizes the Access to Domestic Violence Reports Act of 1999 and allows domestic violence survivors to more easily access the evidence they need in order to obtain court-ordered legal protections. Removing these barriers will help DV survivors get the protections they need.
“SB 741 closes a loophole used to intimidate and harass domestic violence survivors. This new law will ensure that domestic violence survivors quickly receive the restraining orders they need to protect themselves and fortifies survivor-protection measures.”
Of the latter, the Family Law Section of the Los Angeles Bar Association objected: “It is our position that the passage of SB 741 will pose a substantial hardship and a costly and time-consuming impediment to parties needing to conduct discovery during the short time period (typically twenty-one (21) days) between the date a Temporary Restraining Order is issued and the date of the hearing on the permanent Restraining Order. ...
“Without the passage of SB 741, a litigant will continue to be able to take one deposition of the other party without the burden and expense of having to bring a Motion. This right, to take one deposition of the other party, is extremely important in DVPA proceedings so that all of the facts and allegations may be known to both parties before the hearing. To essentially ban this pre-hearing discovery tool will lead to many ‘trials by fire’ as parties will be hearing many allegations for the first time during the trial on the Restraining order.”
Pumpjacks in the Kern River oil field in Bakersfield, Calif., in a file photo. (Jonathan Alcorn/Reuters)
Banning New Oil Drilling
In his newsletter Mr. Min wrote, “By protecting our coastline from polluters, my bills SB 337 and SB 704, will ensure that our beaches remain pristine and that our open spaces are protected. These new laws further California’s commitment to promoting sustainability and long term conservation practices.
“SB 337 will codify our State’s 30x30 goal: conserve at least 30% of California’s lands and coastal waters by 2030. SB 704 will prohibit new or expanded oil and gas developments on our coasts, conserving and protecting our coastline for all beach-goers, for generations to come.”
Wonder no more why gas costs more than $5 a gallon. When in the late 1990s, as I recall, it was 99 cents. Like President Biden, who canceled the Keystone X pipeline in 2021 and last August canceled Alaska oil leases, Mr. Min is making war on our vital petroleum industry.
Apparently we’re all supposed to switch to electric cars. Poor people eeking by on $40,000 incomes are supposed to buy $70,000 Teslas. I couldn’t find any data, but the jobs killed from this bill must be in the hundreds.
Pork During a Time of Deficits
Mr. Min also bragged, “In addition to my bills that were signed, I was able to secure $10 million in the 2023-24 State Budget for local projects across Orange County. For too long, Orange County taxpayers have not had a seat at the table in the California state budget process and as the saying goes, if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”
That’s because Republicans until recently were dominant in Orange County, while being a minority in the Legislature. So they didn’t get to waste the state taxpayers’ money on porkbarrel the same rate as the Democrat majority. But that $10 million is being spent at a time of a $31.5 billion state budget deficit.
When a sensible family faces a budget shortfall, it cuts all waste: the Netflix subscription, the gym memberships, the kitchen redo. The Cancun vacation is shelved for s’mores roasted on Huntington State Beach. The new car is postponed and the old flivver patched up. The weekly night at the local restaurant is replaced with home cooking.
Not government. It keeps wasting even when there’s no money. After all, the taxpayers can be tapped again. At least those who haven’t left the state.
John Moorlach at his office in Newport Beach, Calif., on March 9, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
Sen. Moorlach’s Bills
As a contrast, I asked Mr. Moorlach for a list of the bills he got signed. It’s tougher for the Republican minority, so they have to advance really good bills. A full list is below. Briefly, one was Senate Bill 496 from 2019, which expanded the list of mandated reporters of suspected financial elder abuse to include investment advisers and brokers.
“Banks have all these requirements to make sure the child can’t say their parents have dementia and just go to the bank and pull the money out,” he said. “SB 496 applied that to stockbrokers.”
Another was Senate Bill 764 from 2017. It expanded options available to real estate brokers to protect their clients’ money.
Below is a list of Mr. Moorlach’s signed bills.
2015-16
SB-1255 Dissolution of marriage: date of separation.
SB-1386 Local government: assessments, fees, and charges: water: hydrants.
Sen. Min Headed Back to Washington?
Mr. Min now is running for the U.S. Congress in the 47th District seat being vacated by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine), who is running for the U.S. Senate. Democrat musical chairs. So he’ll be gone from the California Senate no matter what.
Mr. Min once was an aide to current Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). He was brought out here to teach law at the University of California, Irvine, by its radical founding dean, Erwin Chemerinsky, now the dean of the U.S. Berkeley Law School, of whom I wrote recently in The Epoch Times.
If Mr. Min wins, his California Senate stint would have been just a waystation before bouncing back to D.C., where his heart really is. Mr. Schumer, Mr. Chemerinsky, and Mr. Min all are alums of Harvard Law. Why does such a small group have so much power over us?
Such is the way politics is run today in California. No wonder the state is so messed up.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
John Seiler is a veteran California opinion writer. Mr. Seiler has written editorials for The Orange County Register for almost 30 years. He is a U.S. Army veteran and former press secretary for California state Sen. John Moorlach. He blogs at JohnSeiler.Substack.com and his email is [email protected]
