Both the California State Senate Judiciary Committee and the Assembly Judiciary Committee were given a number of opportunities to stop the epidemic of abusive lawsuits being brought under the Americans with Disabilities Act and California's accessibility laws (the Unruh Act and the Disabled Persons Act). The purpose of this page is to document the fact that a number of fair and equitable solutions have been offered to these committees, during a time when thousands of abusive lawsuits filed under the imperfect laws were crippling and closing businesses, and each committee consistently failed to take action.
Although we will be posting more information about the bills and the proceedings leading up to the votes where they failed, we'd like you to know which California Legislators voted against them. Next to each name, we have posted the contributions reported by the Civil Justice Association of California as having been made by trial lawyers during the 2001-2002 electoral races (ending 31 December 2002) [click to download]. Do you think these contributions influenced them?
- Berkeley (Assemblymember Loni Hancock) $91,200
- Freemont (Assemblyman John Dutra) $8,200 [but he authored AB 1040]
- Freemont (Senator Liz Figueroa) $15,000
- Los Angeles (Senator Gilbert Cedillo) $54,900
- Los Angeles (Senator Sheila Kuehl) $50,500
- Norwalk (Senator Martha Escutia) $106,500
- Sacramento (Assemblyman Darrel Steinberg) $83,900
- San Bernardino (Assemblyman John Longville) $14,900
- San Diego (Senator Denise Moreno Ducheny) $31,800
- San Diego (Assemblyman Juan Vargas) $23,200
- San Leandro (Assemblymember Ellen Corbett) $48,100
- Santa Barbara (Assemblymember Hanna-Beth Jackson) $41,000
- Santa Cruz (Assemblymember John Laird) $14,400
- Stanford (Senator Byron Sher) $9,000
Absent, abstaining or not voting:
Thus, the legislators who voted against these measures, or who did not vote for them, appear to have received a total of $701,500 in just the 2001-2002 election cycle alone, from trial lawyers. Do you think it influenced them? Are they doing all they can to reduce the problem lawsuit abuse is causing in California?
We think you should applaud the following legislators, who brought and/or supported the bills:
- Tim Leslie, AB 209's author, from Roseville, CA, $800
- Rico Oller, SB 69's author, from Sacramento, CA $100
- Charles Poochigian, SB 855's author, from Fresno, CA $7,900
Votes in favor:
- Richard Ackerman, Tustin, CA $1,200
- Patricia Bates, Oceanside, CA $0
- Tom Harman, Huntington Beach, CA, $6,600
- Bill Morrow, San Diego, CA $600
- Robert Pacheco, City of Industry, CA, $700
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