Accomplishes Seemingly Impossible Task of Unanimously Uniting California’s Legislature
Eleven days after the state Supreme Court upheld an enrollment cap ruling that would have required UC Berkeley to cancel the admission of over 3,000 students, the California Legislature passed a bill allowing the university to admit them. Today, Governor Newson signed the legislation into law.
The legislation, Senate Bill 118, represents one of the most remarkable laws in the state’s history. First, because it was introduced and subsequently passed in under 72 hours. The bill’s sponsor, Sen, Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, introduced the bill on Friday, and it was signed by the governor on Monday. What was, perhaps, the most remarkable aspect is the fact it passed 69-0 in the Assembly and 33-0 in the Senate.
A spokesperson for the Governor’s Office indicated, “you don’t see a lot of 102 to zeros these days, come on, this is the California Legislature! I mean you only see that sort of thing on resolutions honoring someone’s retirement and that is usually because one party is saying “”good riddance.””
Phil A Buster, a long-time political pundit, was amazed that a change to a major California environmental law could have unanimous support. “Remember the days of Willie Brown sticking it to the Republicans with that Doris Allen move? I mean it’s been acrimony ever since, and folks will just go contrarian because they can or to cozy up to some special interest.”
The combination of the record-breaking time to passage combined with complete legislative unanimity has many believing that Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods, the organization that championed the enrollment cap, is now the clear front runner for the Noble Peace Prize. Phil A Buster stated, “I would be really surprised if Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods has not punched their ticket to Stockholm in October 2022. When is the last time 102 politicians agreed on anything?”
I would be really surprised if Save Berkeley’s Neighborhoods has not punched their ticket to Stockholm
Phil A Buster
Mayor Arreguin was relieved by the Legislature’s action, he stated, “this is great news for students as they can now get on with familiarizing themselves with the geo-coordinates of their classes and work on circumventing the city’s soda tax.”