Latest news with #Zbur
Epoch Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
California Bill Would Broaden Discrimination Protections in Schools
A committee in the California Legislature will consider a bill on May 21 that seeks to strengthen and broaden existing discrimination protections in K–12 schools to target anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Under The bill, introduced by Democratic Assembly members Rick Chavez Zbur of Los Angeles and Dawn Addis of San Luis Obispo, would also establish a state anti-Semitism coordinator who would ensure schools and staff, including contractors, are in compliance with existing anti-discrimination laws. To address specific forms of discrimination, the bill expands the definition of 'nationality' to include a person's actual or perceived shared ancestry, ethnic characteristics, or residency in a country with a dominant religion or distinct religious identity. It also explicitly defines religious discrimination to include anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, aiming to provide clearer protections against these forms of bias. It also prohibits schools from adopting, approving, or allowing any content in their teaching materials if its use would subject a student to unlawful discrimination. The bill unanimously passed the Assembly Education Committee on May 14 and will next be heard by the Appropriations Committee. Related Stories 5/19/2025 5/17/2025 Zbur, a member of the California Jewish Legislative Caucus, says the bill lays the framework to address a rise in anti-Semitism in schools. 'Jewish and all students deserve to be safe, affirmed and respected in our schools and communities,' Zbur said in a AB 715 is co-authored by the chairs of the other Ethnic caucuses, including the Black, Latino, Asian, and Pacific Islander caucuses. Zbur and Addis withdrew a similar piece of legislation last week that failed to gain ground in the Legislature. Assembly Bill 1468 had called for creating academic standards that would have laid out what could and couldn't be taught in mandatory ethnic studies courses. Opponents of AB 1468 and AB 715, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the bill amounted to censorship and threatened academic freedom. 'AB 1468 was a blatant attempt to undermine Ethnic Studies and silence Palestinian narratives,' the CEO of CAIR's California Chapter, Hussam Ayloush, said in a The decision to replace AB 1468 was the result of collaboration with the other ethnic caucuses and aims to take a broader focus on discrimination that would apply to all schoolwork, not just ethnic studies, said lawmakers. In Since Oct. 7, 2023, when the Hamas terrorist group launched a land, sea, and air attack on Israel, tensions have increased among the Israelis and Palestinians amid the subsequent war in Gaza, especially on U.S. The U.S. Department of Education has in recent months On March 7, the department, along with the Department of Justice, Department of Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration,
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Stay in L.A. Rally Calls for Increased Tax Incentives to Keep Production Local: ‘This Is Our Iconic Industry'
An impassioned rally to keep Los Angeles production at home and spotlight the blue-collar workers working in the film industry were the driving themes of the Stay in L.A. rally. Hosted by SirReel Studio Services, hundreds of people gathered April 6 in Sun Valley, Calif., to call attention to Gov. Newsom's proposal to increase the state film incentive to $750 million a year. Speakers including 'The Pitt' executive producer Simran Baidwan, Burbank Mayor Nikki Perez and Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur rallied support for AB 1138 and SB 630, which would hike the incentive and broaden the types of productions that qualify. More from Variety Film Workers to Rally Sunday in Support of Doubling California Tax Incentive: 'There's Been No Work' Before taking the stage, Zbur told Variety that although he feels 'grateful' for the support AB 1138 has gotten so far, he admits that it's 'sad' that rallies like Stay in L.A. have to even happen in the first place. 'The reason why we can get hundreds of people here on a Sunday afternoon is because people have seen these jobs lured away by other states,' Zbur said. 'This is our iconic industry. It defines California. We have to protect what we invented and what is ours.' Lawmakers also broached the subject of a nationwide film incentive — long a goal of the entertainment unions — instead of relying on a state-by-state patchwork to compete with other countries. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles, said it is important to 'make the case' in Congress for federal subsidies. 'The World Cup is coming up. The Olympics are coming here. These are worldwide productions,' Kamlager-Dove said. 'If you want to make America great again, make America produce again. And we have to help our colleagues on the other side of the aisle impress that upon this administration.' Kamlager-Dove also put the pressure on the most privileged actors in the industry to advocate for Los Angeles. 'Oftentimes, people are thinking about the A-List celebrities – they will be OK,' she said. 'They have the influence and the power to force production to stay here. But if you don't have those exerting that kind of influence, we will see that production go to New Zealand and Mexico. And that hurts us.' Rep. Luz Rivas, a Democrat from the San Fernando Valley, noted there are a lot of 'competing priorities' for federal funding, with the wildfires recently devastating Southern California among other pressing concerns. 'I mean they're all important, right? There's just so many things that are equally important,' Rivas said. 'As legislators, we get into fights … But these are jobs and if people lose them, people are going to leave the state.' Stay in L.A. is not the only coalition fighting to increase tax incentives, with the California Production Coalition and Keep California Rolling also putting pressure on lawmakers. Pamala Buzick Kim, co-president of California United and co-founder of Stay in L.A., stressed the importance of staying competitive when location decisions are being made. 'I don't think we're trying to be the best tax incentives out of everywhere because we don't have the same economy as some of those other places,' she said. 'We have to have the tax incentives do just enough to keep us in the conversation.' The key, added Teamsters' Local 399 leader Lindsay Dougherty, is to keep on being 'aggressive' and 'militant' and not let the fight stop. 'If we lit it slip just a little bit, that's enough time and money going elsewhere to then building an infrastructure workforce outside of California,' Dougherty said. 'That's when we get into trouble.' Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in April 2025 The Best Celebrity Memoirs to Read This Year: From Chelsea Handler to Anthony Hopkins
Fox News
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
California Dem compares 'Save Girls Sports' law to Nazi Germany, as two trans athlete ban bills fail to pass
The California state legislature failed to pass two separate bills aimed at protecting girls sports from trans inclusion on Tuesday. During debate for one of the bills, a Democratic state lawmaker compared the proposals to practices employed by Nazi Germany in the holocaust. California assembly member Rick Chavez Zbur made the comparison while arguing against the first bill, AB 89. "This is really reminiscent to me of what happened in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. We are moving towards autocracy in this country. In Nazi Germany, transgender people were persecuted, barred from public life," Zbur said. Zbur was then interrupted by mediators who protested his comparison and argued it was out of order. But Zbur continued his analogy. "This is about this, this is about this bill," Zbur argued. "They were barred from public life. They were detransitioned. They were imprisoned and killed in concentration camps. And the way it started was the same kind of things that are happening in this country by the Trump administration." California Republican assembly member Kate Sanchez, who proposed AB 89, said she heard audible gasps in the assembly chamber during Zbur's argument, and that one attendee had to excuse herself from the room. "There was a lot of gasps and shock," Sanchez told Fox News Digital. "It was very tone-deaf. We had a mother who had been in the holocaust itself, so she had to leave the committee hearing because it was so offensive to hear… she stood up and left because she was just so uncomfortable with the situation." Multiple Democrat residents, including a member of the LGBTQ community, appeared on the assembly floor Tuesday to advocate in support of the bill. But AB 89 was ultimately struck down by the Democratic majority. However, it will be allowed for reconsideration at a later date. "I am just so disgusted that my Democrat colleagues were unable to stand for the protection of women and girls," Sanchez said. "Not only are they ignoring the will of the people… they're ignoring the everyday mom, dad, girl in sports. They are ignoring their wants. Democrat assembly member Avalino Valencia was absent from Tuesday's vote. Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas inserted himself in the committee to vote in Valencia's absence. Valencia's office has not responded to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Just moments after Democrats struck down Sanchez's bill, the committee voted on AB 844, which would also ban trans athletes from girls sports and was proposed by California Republican assembly member Bill Essayli. Debate for Essayli's bill featured testimony from conservative activist and filmmaker Matt Walsh. And like Sanchez's bill, Essayli's was also struck down by the Democrat majority. Essayli told Fox News Digital that he believes the Democrat's resistance to the two bills was intended to send a message to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Newsom prompted backlash from those in his own party with comments on his podcast last month, expressing his belief that trans athletes in girls sports was "deeply unfair," but defended allowing it anyway. "I think there really is a civil war here brewing within the Democrat Party on how to address these issues. You have the governor going in one direction, and I think what you saw today with the leadership in the legislature, which tends to be even more radical and progressive than the governor, taking a completely different approach. And I think they wanted to send a message to the governor that they're not budging on this issue," Essayli said. "Today they wanted to send a message to their progressive, extremist base that they're not abandoning them." The Democratic majority prevented both bills from passing just days after President Donald Trump's Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a formal warning to Newsom and the rest of the state, suggesting federal funding may be cut to the state if it continues to enable trans inclusion in girls sports. "Allowing participation in sex-separated activities based on 'gender identity' places schools at risk of Title IX violations and loss of federal funding. As Governor, you have a duty to inform California school districts of this risk," McMahon wrote in the letter. "As Secretary of Education, I am officially asking you to inform this Department whether you will remind schools in California to comply with federal law by protecting sex-separated spaces and activities. I am also officially asking you to publicly assure parents that California teachers will not facilitate the fantasy of 'gender transitions' for their children." The state's high school sports association, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), is currently under federal investigation for potential Title IX violations after several controversial incidents involving trans athletes occurred over the last year. The CIF was one of the first state athletic associations to announce it would continue allowing trans athletes to compete with girls after Trump signed the "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order on Feb. 5. The CIF stated an 11-year-old state law, AB 1266, which has been in effect since 2014 and gives trans athletes the right to participate in the gender category based on gender identity and not birth sex, for its non-compliance. Both Sanchez and Essayli told Fox News Digital they expect the Trump administration to amplify its pressure on the state and potentially cut funding in order to enforce the executive order after their bills failed to pass Tuesday. "I think a lot will come down the pipe over the next week or so," Sanchez said. "There will be a lot of development from what I've been told." Essayli envisions a situation playing out in California similar to the one that has been playing out in Maine over the last month, as a public feud between Trump and Gov. Janet Mills has resulted in a hostile back-and-forth between the state and federal agencies over the issue of trans inclusion. "None of us really went in thinking the Democrats in the legislature were going to change their position on this today, but what we wanted to do is make a clear record, make our arguments and show the world where they stand, where the Democrats stand on this, expose their position on this," Essayli said. "And I think we accomplished that." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Los Angeles Times
26-03-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
How California legislators aim to sweeten film tax credits for Hollywood
California legislators are proposing to increase its film tax credit to cover up to 35% of qualified expenditures for movies and TV series shot in the Los Angeles region, as the state attempts to lure back production. For productions shot outside of the region — which stretches out to Ontario International Airport, Agua Dulce, Piru and Pomona — there will be an additional 5% to the base tax rate, which means those projects could get a credit of 40%. These new provisions are part of dual bills in the California State Assembly and Senate aimed at modernizing the state's film and TV tax credit program to make it more competitive with other states and countries, said Assembly Member Rick Chavez Zbur, one of the co-authors. He called it a 'jobs bill.' 'Our advantage here is we've got the soundstages, we've got the skilled workforces,' he said. 'But all the other states are making investments. The longer we go without making our program competitive, what we're doing is we're basically helping other states with workforce development programs that make them more and more competitive with us.' California currently provides a 20% to 25% tax credit to offset qualified production expenses, such as money spent on film crews and building sets. Production companies can apply the credit toward any tax liabilities they have in California. Boosting the tax credit to 35% brings California more in line with the caps set by other states that have successfully lured Hollywood productions in recent years. Georgia, for example, provides up to a 30% credit for productions. The bump also was an effort to help California stay competitive with other states, such as Georgia, which allow all expenditures to be covered by the tax rate. Since California's tax credit will apply only to below-the-line costs, increasing the amount beyond what's offered in Georgia will allow the Golden State's program to 'be roughly equivalent,' Zbur said. In addition to the tax credit increase, the proposed legislation would expand the criteria for projects to qualify for an incentive. Under this proposal, qualified productions now would include animated films, shorts and series, as well as scripted series in which episodes run at least 20 minutes and certain 'large-scale competition shows' that generate a lot of jobs, such as 'Dancing With the Stars,' Zbur said. (Traditional reality shows, game or talk shows or documentary TV programming won't qualify.) Some aspects of the program are still being negotiated, including the criteria for independent films and ways to encourage the employment of underrepresented communities. The new details come about a month after Zbur, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan and state Sen. Ben Allen first announced the two bills, which they are co-sponsoring. At the time, the legislators said the details of the bills were still being worked out by stakeholders. Gov. Gavin Newsom last year proposed an increase to the state's film and TV tax credit program. That proposal would more than double the money allocated annually to the program in an attempt to help California better compete with other states' tax incentives. The proposed $750 million will have to be passed as part of the state's budget adoption process; the legislators' bills lay out the terms of how that amount will be spent and allocated. California's film and TV tax credit program has created nearly 200,000 jobs and generated $26 billion in statewide economic activity, Allen said during a February press conference. But more projects apply to the program than there are awards, and more than 75% of projects that get rejected for a tax credit go elsewhere, he said at the time.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
New bill aimed at protecting pets during disasters introduced in California legislature
( — Democratic Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Hollywood) announced a new bill aimed at protecting pets during and after weather emergencies. Assembly Bill 478, also called the FOUND Act, was inspired by a pomeranian named Oreo who went missing during the Palisades Fire before being reunited with its owner. Video Above: Woman reunited with cat presumed list in Palisades Fire 'Pets are more than just property—they are family. When disaster strikes, no one should have to choose between their safety and their pet's survival,' Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur said. 'The FOUND Act ensures that local governments have clear rescue plans in place, so pet owners don't have to risk their lives to save their animals.' Zbur said the bill has three 'key provisions.' The first provision requires cities and counties to codify procedures regarding the rescue of pets in mandatory evacuation zones. The second provision requires local governments to provide online resources regarding pet evacuation and reunification. Local governments would also be required to post an online list of pets that have been rescued. The last provision requires pets rescued from an evacuated area are held for 90 days before being adopted, transferred or euthanized. According to Zbur, the current law only guarantees owners a 72-hour window. Zbur said Pacific Palisades resident Casey Colvin attempted to return home to save his two dogs but was stopped at a roadblock. CalFire Battalion Chief Brent Pascua offered to rescue his dog but was unable to find one of them, Zbur said. Colvin received a call five days later saying Oreo had been spotted on the remains of his property. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
