Atkins Makes Big Moves On Abortion, State Budget

By Scott Lewis, the Voice of San Diego

June 28, 2022

This post originally appeared in the June 28 Morning Report. Click here to get the free daily newsletter in your inbox.

Immediately after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overrule Roe vs. Wade and allow states to prohibit abortion before fetal viability, San Diego’s Toni Atkins, the president of the state Senate, put forward a state Constitutional amendment to ensure the right to an abortion is ingrained in the state’s governing document, not just its laws.

The Assembly and Senate moved fast and approved the move which means that voters will decide in November whether to put the right to “reproductive freedom” in the California Constitution.

That would ensure only voters, through a separate amendment, could ever take it out. This is the line that would be added to the state Constitution if voters approve:

“The state shall not deny or interfere with an individual’s reproductive freedom in their most intimate decisions, which includes their fundamental right to choose to have an abortion and their fundamental right to choose or refuse contraceptives.”

And you may be getting some cash: Atkins made a deal with Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Gov. Gavin Newsom on a $300 billion spending plan for the California budget, which is enjoying a nearly $100 billion surplus.

$17 billion is directed to “inflation relief” — checks will go out to taxpayers. Here’s how the Sacramento Bee described it:

“Families will receive relief checks of $200 to $1,050, depending on their income level and family size. The three income tiers for individual filers range from $75,000 and under to $250,000. The package still provides additional money for families, but it’s capped at one dependent. For example, a family of four would be eligible for three payments — two checks for the tax-paying adults and one check for the two children.”

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