Basketball fans know and love the third month of the year as ‘March Madness’ — the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament which has become one of the most famous annual sporting events in the United States. Now, Assembly Republicans are joining in on the fun, releasing not a bracket of the teams they have winning the NCAA tournament, but a bracket of the 32 wildest bills introduced in 2017 so far.
The bracket pits Democrat bills against other Democrat bills, going head-to-head until only the “Flagrant Four” final bills are left. Once the field has been narrowed to the final four, fans will have the opportunity to vote online for their pick to win the “Pelosi Cup.”
The tournament has four “regional” brackets, with bills assigned according to the main reason they are an air-ball for California. The regions include Hurting Californians, such as bills that hurt residents’ pockets, Who Pays for This?, which looks at bills that use California tax dollars, The Swamp, or bills with special interests and …Why?, which includes bills described as “do-nothing proposals.”
Currently, the tournament is in the “Irate 8” stage, with the final eight bills in competition for a spot in the Flagrant Four.
In the Hurting Californian’s region, AB 1/SB 1, or the Gas Tax Increase bill is up against the Eliminate Daylight Savings Time Bill, AB 807. AB 1/SB 1 looks to include a 12 cent increase per gallon on the state’s gasoline tax, a $38 increase for vehicle registration fees for regular cars and a $100 vehicle registration increase for cars with zero emissions, and AB 807 calls for a repeal of the Daylight Savings Time Act which was adopted in 1949, allowing time to remain standard on a year-round basis.
The Inmate Emotional Therapy bill, AB 620, is competing against a State-Sponsored Shoot-Up Shacks bill, AB 186, in the Who Pays for This? region. AB 620 would require effective trauma focused programming to qualified inmates during the five years preceding his or her parole hearing date, and AB 186 looks to establish a safer drug consumption program where counties may authorize the operation of supervised injection services programs for adults.
In The Swamp region, AB 1640, a bill to divert road funds to social justice warriors, is going up against AB 246, which hopes to change the word “permits” in the bill to permits specifically for monitoring systems and in the …Why? region, a bill asking for full lanes for bikes is battling a bill that aims to criminalize fake news for a spot in the Flagrant Four.
While the four “worst” Democrat bills are still to be determined, Assembly Republicans are keeping the public up to date on the bracket via their Twitter page, @AssemblyGOP, where voters are encouraged to follow along.
