California just added four more ‘discriminatory’ states to its travel ban

[Auburn85 424]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/06/23/california-just-added-four-more-discriminatory-states-to-its-travel-ban/?utm_term=.002e47296fc8

 

Quote

 

Peter Holley

 

Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed controversial legislation into law that allows child welfare providers — including faith-based adoption agencies — to refuse adoptions to hopeful parents based on “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

In response, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced Thursday that his state will prohibit its employees from traveling to Texas because Texas has enacted laws that, he said, discriminate against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender individuals and their families.

Texas, home to the nation’s second-largest economy, joins California’s growing list of states — Alabama, Kentucky and South Dakota were added at the same time — to which state-sponsored travel has been curbed because of similar legislation.

“Our country has made great strides in dismantling prejudicial laws that have deprived too many of our fellow Americans of their precious rights,” Becerra said in a statement released by the California Department of Justice. “Sadly, that is not the case in all parts of our nation, even in the 21st century. I am announcing today that I am adding four states to the list of states where California-funded or sponsored travel will be restricted on account of the discriminatory nature of laws enacted by those states.”

California officials had already banned state-funded travel to Tennessee, North Carolina, Mississippi and Kansas. Those states were targeted by then-Attorney General Kamala D. Harris.

Becerra has the power to enact the ban under AB 1887, a law that went into effect at the beginning of the year and prohibits state-funded travel to states with laws that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The measure was created in response to North Carolina’s notorious “bathroom bill,” a measure that required transgender people to use bathrooms that aligned with the gender on their birth certificate,according to the Los Angeles Times.

The law led to an outpouring of anger nationally, and prompted businesses to leave North Carolina and numerous entertainment events to be canceled.

“There are consequences to discrimination,” Becerra told reporters at a news conference Thursday in San Francisco, according to the Times. “Restricting state-sponsored travel is a consequence.”

The decision to ban state-funded travel is far-reaching, according to the attorney general’s office, and applies to “state agencies, departments, boards, authorities, and commissions, including an agency, department, board, authority, or commission of the University of California, the Board of Regents of the University of California, and the California State University.”

Becerra’s decision to increase the number of states affected by the ban from four to eight drew praise from Rick Zbur, the executive director of Equality California.

“These discriminatory laws in Texas, North Carolina, South Dakota, and other states are completely out of step with the values that make California the vibrant economic powerhouse that it is,” Zbur said in a statement. “As some state legislatures around the country choose to target and harm LGBTQ people and their families, it is imperative that California continue to denounce those actions publicly and financially.

“We applaud Attorney General Becerra for taking action to ensure that California is supporting the LGBTQ community and opposing discrimination both inside and beyond our borders.”

While the travel restrictions apply to state schools, the attorney general’s office left open the possibility that the rules would not apply to college athletic teams playing games in states on the list,according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The paper reported that Becerra was questioned about the ban’s business effects for California, especially in regard to Texas, which has a powerful economic engine.

“Texas is a big state,” he said, but added that the consequences for LGBT people in Texas “are real” as well.

John Wittman, a spokesman for Abbott, took a swipe at California’s economy in at statement to the Texas Tribune.

“California may be able to stop their state employees,” he said, “but they can’t stop all the businesses that are fleeing over taxation and regulation, and relocating to Texas.”

Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

University of Kansas officials told the Lawrence Journal-World in February that University of California officials had already scuttled plans to schedule basketball games between the two schools because of the ban on travel. Kansas was added to the ban after it enacted a “religious freedom” law last year that gives campus student groups the authority to bar members “who do not share the group’s religious beliefs or practices,” the paper reported.

The Chronicle noted that Becerra has not ruled out expanding the list to include more states.

“While the California DOJ works to protect the rights of all our people, discriminatory laws in any part of our country send all of us several steps back,” his statement said. “That’s why when California said we would not tolerate discrimination against LGBTQ members of our community, we meant it.”

 

 

 

[bigbird 57,379]

Well, dang

[japantiger 3,899]

Hhmmm, I think TX should reciprocate....start by Texas A&M canceling UCLA game in LA to start the season...

[augolf1716 20,172]

Strange times we live in

[bigbird 57,379]

This is the type of travel ban they can get behind

[gr82be 13,480]

I'd say this website has it right -                                              

California - Biggest Nut Producer in U.S.

 

[ArgoEagle 1,589]

I wonder if Mexico would be interested in purchasing California from the US? I think we should shop them on the idea. And the sooner the better!

[I_M4_AU 6,984]

13 hours ago, gr82be said:

I'd say this website has it right -                                              

California - Biggest Nut Producer in U.S.

 

And some people are calling for the Electoral College to be abolished as it is out dated.  Scary stuff.

[TitanTiger 18,800]

Whatever.  There's a reason California is barely experiencing any population growth and its neighbors are all surging.

http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article69054977.html

Some of it is high taxes and high cost of living.  Some of it is the social progressivism run amok.

[TexasTiger 11,585]

1 hour ago, TitanTiger said:

Whatever.  There's a reason California is barely experiencing any population growth and its neighbors are all surging.

http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article69054977.html

Some of it is high taxes and high cost of living.  Some of it is the social progressivism run amok.

Mostly cost of living-- supply and demand. But CA stills does better than many cheaper places, more than three times the growth of Alabama. Since AL is cheap, I guess it's the social regressivism run amok.

https://www.aol.com/article/finance/2017/01/04/here-are-the-fastest-growing-and-shrinking-states-in-the-us/21647455/

[GiveEmElle 1,559]

I'm not sure fighting fire with fire works when the flame is idiocy. 

[homersapien 10,918]

15 hours ago, gr82be said:

I'd say this website has it right -                                              

California - Biggest Nut Producer in U.S.

 

I see what you did there. 

[TexasTiger 11,585]

6 hours ago, TitanTiger said:

Whatever.  There's a reason California is barely experiencing any population growth and its neighbors are all surging.

http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article69054977.html

Some of it is high taxes and high cost of living.  Some of it is the social progressivism run amok.

But I'd also pose two questions. 1) What is .66 of 55M ; 2) what's the entire population of Idaho which has experienced a higher percentage of growth? How do those net numbers truly compare?

5 hours ago, TexasTiger said:

Mostly cost of living-- supply and demand. But CA stills does better than many cheaper places, more than three times the growth of Alabama. Since AL is cheap, I guess it's the social regressivism run amok.

https://www.aol.com/article/finance/2017/01/04/here-are-the-fastest-growing-and-shrinking-states-in-the-us/21647455/

 

[homersapien 10,918]

I would think economic growth accomplished without a corresponding population growth would reflect a stronger economic system than one that simply reflects population growth.

If that is driven even in part by social progressivism, we need it everywhere. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-05-10/california-leads-u-s-economy-away-from-trump

California Leads U.S. Economy, Away From Trump

Whatever the president says, this state does the opposite. It's working.

 

[AURex 1,801]

California = 6th largest economy in the WORLD.
Alabama = close to worst economy in the U.S.

Alabama "we won't do business with California."

California: "hahahaha, okay"

 

[AU64 10,122]

12 hours ago, AURex said:

California = 6th largest economy in the WORLD.
Alabama = close to worst economy in the U.S.

Alabama "we won't do business with California."

California: "hahahaha, okay"

 

Good point but this the government of the state of California.....not the private businesses.  But we will know how serious they are when they cancel the Fresno State game at UAt ...and all the other football games set to be played at schools in the other "banned" states.     

Otherwise, it's all political showmanship on both sides....