On Wednesday, March 24, California Governor Gavin Newsom appointed State Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-18th District, to be California’s next attorney general, filling the vacant position left by Xavier Becerra, who just took over as Secretary of the federal Department of health and Human Services (HHS).
Bonta previously wiped the floor with the California attorney general position in 2016, losing to Becerra. He tweeted that he was “honored” by Newsom’s appointment.
Newsom praised Bonta for being a great attorney general. The governor’s office also issued a statement that afternoon: Bonta, who led the effort to end cash bail in California, proposed a ban on for-profit prisons, rent control policies and more, will be a strong advocate for California values.
Born in the Philippines, Bonta, 48, grew up in California’s Central Valley, graduated from Yale University and is a progressive Democrat.
During his tenure as a state legislator, state laws he sponsored and signed into law included: eliminating private prisons; ending the cash bail system, though California voters voted to overturn it in a referendum during the November 2020 election; and, following the legalization of recreational marijuana in California, introducing AB1793 (signed into law by the then-governor in 2018), which would require local prosecutors to automatically remove people from judicial records by July 1, 2020. He is also the author of a controversial bill (signed into law by the then governor in 2018) that requires local prosecutors to automatically remove or reduce certain marijuana-related criminal convictions from people’s judicial records by July 1, 2020.
He was also the sponsor of the controversial Asian Subdivision Act (AB1726).
On March 15, 2016, the California House Higher Education Committee passed the “Asian Subdivision Act” sponsored by Bonta, which would require the California public higher education system and health care system to subdivide and register residents of Asian and Asian-Pacific ethnic origin by ethnicity of origin only, effective July 1, 2017. It did not specify what the data collected would be used for, raising alarm in the community.
At the Time, many people were concerned that Bonta’s bill was a “racial discrimination” against the entire Asian community, including Chinese, by restricting Chinese access to college in the name of ethnicity. It violated California’s Act 209, which prohibits the use of race and gender as factors in public university admissions, government job recruitment and contract approval. In the end, the “Asian Subdivision Act” failed to move forward amidst strong opposition.
Bonta’s nomination needs to be confirmed by the California House and Senate within 90 days. Once confirmed, Bonta will become California’s first Filipino attorney general, serving until 2022, when he will need to run for re-election.
Many Democrats have congratulated Bonta upon the news of his appointment. But Jessica Millan Patterson, president of the California Republican Party (CAGOP), believes Newsom’s decision to appoint Bonta as the new attorney general was wrong for California. “He (Bonta) is soft on criminals and even pushed to eliminate the cash bail system, though it was rejected by voters. He is a loyal friend of the unions that prevented students from returning to school. Needless to say, hard-working Californians who want schools to be open and communities to be safer are going to be very disappointed again. This will go down as another failed decision by the worst governor in California history.”
Recent Comments