California News

Seventeen States in the US Sue Amazon

Amazon is a well known online shopping company. Recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and state lawyers are suing Amazon. They claim that Amazon is acting like a bully, using unfair tricks to stay in control of the world of online shopping. The FTC is accusing Amazon of stopping other stores and sellers from offering lower prices, making products worse, which results in charging sellers too much money. This hurts shoppers and smaller businesses. The FTC is not mad at Amazon for being a big company, but because Amazon is making unjust, biased decisions to stop others from succeeding

The lawsuit talks about two main parts of Amazon's business: one for shoppers and another for sellers. Amazon is being accused of doing brutal things, like punishing sellers who sell things for less somewhere else. As a result, sellers are forced to use Amazon’s expensive service to get "Prime" status. Amazon also floods its website with biased ads rather than helpful information. If you're a Prime member, you can get speedy and free delivery on many items. In addition to these benefits Amazon Prime members get, the shopper can pick how and when their package shows up. Amazon has also been said to play favorites, promoting their own products over better ones. Also, they're making sellers pay lots of fees, sometimes almost half of what they earn. This makes products more expensive for many people.

The FTC and state lawyers want a court order to stop Amazon from further engaging in these bad actions, and to bring back fair competition in the online shopping world. Seventeen states joined in, and the California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, agreed with the FTC's and the state's lawsuit. If the FTC and the states’ lawyers win, it could change how Amazon and online shopping work for all of us.

Government Shutdown

On September 30, 2023, the United States government was expected to have a shutdown. If the government were to shut down, the government would have stopped working due to budget disagreements. If this were to happen, lots of government services and employees would have been affected. It is crucial for the people in charge to work out how to use money for things like schools, hospitals, and national parks. In the case of a shutdown, some federal agencies will discontinue all unimportant functions until new funding legislation is passed and signed into law. This can cause problems for people all over the United States

Thankfully, the shutdown of the US government did not occur because, at the last minute, Congress passed a bill to keep things running. President Joe Biden signed it on the evening of September 30, 2023. Kevin McCarthy, the former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and a California representative from Bakersfield, came up with this bill on the morning of September 30. The bill passed in the House, and then it passed through the Senate. This bill keeps the government running until November 17 and helps with disaster relief. On the other hand, this bill did not give more money to Ukraine or for border security. Originally, the government wanted to send money to Ukraine to help them fight Russia, but many people disagreed over this issue, so it was left out of the bill. However, senators from both parties want to continue the discussion on international conflicts and humanitarian relief. The House leaders also expect another vote on helping Ukraine when they meet again.

McCarthy’s cooperation with Democrats to prevent the shutdown caused a group of eight House Republicans led by Matt Gaetz to rebel against the Republican speaker. Democrats joined them on October 3 in an unprecedented vote to remove McCarthy as speaker, which was possible because of how slim the Republican majority in the House is. After three weeks of inconclusive votes for a new speaker, Mike Johnson of Louisiana became the new speaker on October 25.

Gun Tax

Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law doubling taxes on guns and ammunition, and using the money to pay for security in public schools and violence prevention programs. The law adds an 11% state fee on top of the already existing federal taxes on sale of guns and ammunition. California is the first state to introduce its own gun tax. Despite usually refusing to raise taxes, Newsom passed this bill as he is an outspoken voice for gun restrictions. He is leading a national campaign to amend the constitution to restrict gun sales to people over 21, require extensive background checks, and bale sale of assault rifles. Newsom argues the gun tax is different from general tax increases because gun violence already costs taxpayers in health and the criminal justice system. He also signed a law banning people from carrying guns in most public places and another law, which goes into effect in 2028, will require all semi automatic pistols in California to have microstamping technology, which will make it easier for law enforcement to trace guns back to their owners. The California Rifle and Pistol Association has promised to challenge the new tax in court. The tax has exceptions for police officers and businesses with sales of less than $5,000 over a three month-period.

Struggle to Provide Drinking Water

More than a decade ago, California was the first state to declare access to clean, safe, accessible, and affordable drinking water as a human right. The state has poured resources and millions of dollars into the issue and yet a million residents are connected to failing water systems. Of the 381 failing systems, 62% are located in disadvantaged communities, 70% were of non-white customers, and 83.5% of Hispanic customers. Tap waters in people’s homes are laced with unsafe levels of contaminants This increases risk of cancer, kidney and liver problems, and other health concerns. Many systems are failing because they are not meeting state and federal drinking water standards. With new regulations to take place in the next few years, many systems will need to take urgent steps or they’ll be out of compliance and fail. The crisis is particularly bad in the Central Valley, where widespread contaminants afflict communities with substandard infrastructure, and where heavy use of fertilizers, fumigants, and overpumping of aquifers have worsened water quality.

The State Water Resources Control Board claims limited resources and lack of local government involvement contributes to a backlog of cases that they don’t have the capacity for. Critics argue the Board has the funding to help improve drinking water, but it has had a lack of urgency in providing assistance. Droughts, climate change, aging systems, declining groundwater levels, and new drinking water standards are putting more systems at risk of failure. Kern Country has the most failed systems in the state, 65 for 131,500 residents. 80% of the systems have been failing for three to four years and two-thirds have served contaminates to customers. Many people connected to failed systems drive multiple times a month to purchase portable water from neighboring towns at hundreds of dollars while still paying monthly bills for water they can’t consume. Some rely on twice-a-month deliveries by state grants and ration it. When it runs out, some families have no choice but to drink and cook with contaminated water. In an effort to address failing systems, Governor Gavin Newsom established the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund which provides 130$ million annually until June 2030 for struggling water systems.