On Friday night, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas announced he was making some changes to committee assignments. The changes happened to result in stripping some of the most outspoken Republicans in the Assembly from key posts.
“The Speaker routinely addresses committee needs throughout the year, and his goal is always to ensure members are in optimal roles to collaborate effectively and deliver for Californians,” Rivas spokesman Nick Miller said in a statement to the Sacramento Bee.
That might sound innocuous enough to pacify the incurious, but we know past speakers have weaponized committee assignments in the past. Two years ago, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon removed Democratic Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains from the Business and Professions Committee after she voted against one of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s anti-oil bills.
This time Rivas removed people like Assemblyman Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, from the Assembly Budget Committee. DeMaio is a prominent fiscal hawk with considerable reach on social media and through his organization Reform California. Someone like him watching the state budget closely makes too much sense, apparently.
Likewise, Assemblyman Bill Essayli, R-Corona, was removed from the Assemby’s Elections Committee. Essayli has been a vocal critic of California’s election system. As with DeMaio, Assembly Democrats might not appreciate what Essayli has to say, but they ought to hear him out.
Essayli has been repeatedly removed from committees during his time in the Assembly, no doubt because of how outspoken he’s been. This included being dropped from the Judiciary Committee and sent to the Aging and Long-Term Care Committee.
Assemblyman David Tangipa, R-Clovis, has been outspoken about California’s wildfire response. He’s been kicked from relevant committees: the Insurance Committee and the Utilities and Energy Committee. Also impacted were Republican Assemblymembers Alexandra Macedo and Joe Patterson.
With these moves, the committees will no doubt become even less useful than they already are. The Democrats already have a supermajority. What are they afraid of?
