Happy New Year and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

PARENTS’ RIGHTS ACTIVISTS PLAN CAPITOL RALLY, LAWSUIT

New year, same fight.

Parents’ rights activist Erin Friday, a Northern California lawyer and co-lead of Our Duty (a group that “provides support for parents with a child who thinks they are transgender”), will announce a lawsuit she plans to file against California Attorney General Rob Bonta over his title and summary of a ballot initiative put in place by Friday and other parents’ rights activists.

Friday will speak on the lawsuit at a rally at the Capitol at noon Wednesday alongside a handful of other organizers opposed to what they call “gender ideology” and “transgenderism.”

Some background: Friday is an outspoken parents’ rights activist, Democrat, mother and Executive Board Member of a committee called Protect Kids California, whose members in August announced plans for a ballot initiative that would overhaul legal protections for trans kids in the state.

The initiative would require all school districts to adopt parental notification policies like those passed in Chino Valley and Rocklin. It would also “protect girls’ sports and sports spaces” by repealing the California education code that allows students to play on sports teams that align with their gender identity. Finally, it would effectively ban gender-affirming health care for transgender minors.

The group submitted ballot proposals to the Attorney General’s office in late August, and on Nov. 29, Bonta gave title and summary to it — but not how the initiative’s proponents like Friday expected.

Bonta, who has threatened legal action against parental notification policies and called them “forced outing” policies, titled it the Restricts Rights of Transgender Youth initiative.

“Rob Bonta should be ashamed of his misleading title and summary, an oxymoronic that tries to bury the fact that not only will the initiative safeguard children from becoming lifelong medical patients,” Friday said in December, “it will save the state tens of millions of dollars.”

In the summary, Bonta wrote that the initiative could result in “potentially minor savings in state and local health care costs of up to millions of dollars annually from no longer paying for prohibited services for individuals under the age of 18. These savings could be affected by many other impacts, such as individuals seeking treatment later in life.”

To be eligible for the November 2024 ballot, the initiative’s official proponent Jonathan Zachreson, a Roseville school board member and fellow member of Protect Kids California, must collect 546,651 signatures by May 28 — a potentially challenging feat, given the initiative’s new title.

Friday will announce the details of her lawsuit at the rally Wednesday, where she will be joined by other activists opposed to gender affirming health care and safe spaces for trans kids in schools.

‘GOP SHENANIGANS’: CARRILLO PLANS LEGISLATION AFTER JUDGE LETS FONG RUN FOR CONGRESS, ASSEMBLY

Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, D-Los Angeles, said Friday that she will “introduce legislation” that will “clear up this mess.”

The mess in question?

A judge’s decision to allow Republican Assemblyman Vince Fong to run for both Congress (to replace his former boss, Kevin McCarthy) and to keep his seat in the state Assembly.

“Under special circumstances, candidates may have the opportunity to change what office they are running for, but under no circumstances should candidates be able to run for two offices at the same time, creating opportunities to win both, refuse one, and force a costly special election,” Carrillo said in a statement Friday.

“California is a democratic state where we value voting rights, and fair and open elections. There is too much at stake and there is no time for GOP shenanigans.”

While most Republicans welcomed the decision (emphasis on most), Democrats like Carrillo disagreed with it. Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a former Democratic Assemblywoman herself, plans on appealing the judge’s decision.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Perfect end to 2023.”

– Congressman Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin, in a social media caption to his wedding photo. Congrats!