CA’s new bill would allow people to sue ICE agents who violate rights

A San Francisco state senator unveiled legislation Tuesday that aims to give Californians the right to seek redress from federal agents as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to step up immigration enforcement in the U.S.

The bill authored by Sen. Scott WienerDemocrat and candidate for Congresswill allow people to file a lawsuit or seek redress against local, state and federal officials for violating their constitutional rights.

• Wienerat a press conference: “This (federal) administration is trying to use unchecked power to illegally abduct and deport people, to punish the administration’s political opponents using government resources, freeze university funding and fire thousands of federal workers en masse.”

The measure works to promote what is known as Bivens lawsuits precedent set by a A 1971 US Supreme Court decisionwhich allows individuals to sue federal officials for violating their constitutional rights. But in the years since, the Supreme Court has curbed it Bivens actions, making it difficult for people to make claims and recover damages.

In October ProPublica found that more than 170 US citizens were detained during immigration checks – some of whom were reportedly beaten and shot. Few remedies are available to victims, although in rare cases the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department arrested a federal immigration officer last week after holding a teenager at gunpoint and taking him into custody.

Wiener’s proposal comes a day after the Trump administration filed a lawsuit to block a new California law authored by Wiener that prohibits law enforcement officials, including federal agents, from from wearing face coverings.

The The FBI alerted other agencies that criminals have posed as immigration agents to commit crimes, but the U.S. Department of Justice said the California law jeopardizes the safety of federal officials.

The California State University Board of Trustees plans to vote today on whether to changing the salary structure of management staff in the university system in a way that would raise their salaries — a potential revision that has drawn backlash from unionized staff and faculty at Cal State, CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinstein.

The state of California currently caps the base pay of its 22 campus presidents at a salary that is no more than 10% above what their predecessors earned. Raises for sitting presidents are also no higher than 10%. The average base salary for presidents ranges from $370,000 to more than $500,000.

But Cal State says the policy leads to non-competitive compensation. The trustees decided on a plan that would increase the executive’s base pay (along with general pay increases for other California state workers) and add a 15 percent increase to the incentive-based pay that executives would be eligible for.

The proposal comes at a time when the state of California is facing tight budgets, abbreviations and program abbreviations.

• Erin FooteCalifornia Union of Public Employees union board member: “I’m crazy. … We’re going to knock on the doors of our legislators so hard they’ll have holes in them until they stand with us in their budget negotiations.”

Read more here.

Tom Steyer, billionaire environmental activist and former hedge fund manager, said today that it is is running for the next governor of CaliforniaMaya S. Miller of CalMatters reports.

Steyer launched his campaign with a video promising to keep the state a place for business and innovation while lowering the cost of living in California by making corporations pay “their fair share.”

• Steyer: “The Californians who run this state are being run over by the cost of living. Californians deserve a life they can afford.”

The mega-donor to California Democrats spent more than $12.8 million in support of Proposition 50, which does so the second largest independent ad buyer in state history. As an outspoken critic of Trump, Steyer poured on million in a national advertising campaign who advocated impeachment of the president during his first term. Steyer also ran for president in 2020 before ultimately dropping out of the race.

Read more here.

Weeks after Southern California Edison outlined a compensation program for victims of the Eaton fire, residents say the proposed payouts exclude some residents and underpay others. CalMatters’ Malena Carollo and Director of Video Strategy Robert Meeks have a video segment Edison’s controversial proposal as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

And check out another video from CalMatters’ Kristen Huang and Robert about a new law in California that bans ultra-processed foods from school meals. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58pm weekdays on PBS SoCal.