Valladares locked out of Senate committee redistricting hearing

News release

Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares, R-Acton, and Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, arrived at the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee hearing Tuesday to question witnesses regarding the legislation to re-draw California’s congressional district lines.  

However, Committee Chair Sabrina Cervantes, D-Riverside, denied both senators the right to sit on the committee, the doors that allow senators access to the dais were locked, and sergeants were instructed to deny their entry, according to a news release from the California Senate Republicans. 

Customarily, senators are given the right to participate in informational hearings, even when they do not serve on the committee, the release said, adding that that there is only one Republican voice on the committee: Vice Chair Sen. Steven Choi, R-Irvine. 

“This is just further proof of the lack of transparency in this unprecedented power grab,” Valladares said in the release. “These lines were drawn behind closed doors, in a matter of days, with no input from voters. The governor and the supermajority in the Legislature don’t want to talk about which members participated in line drawing, which communities of interest were protected and which were not, or how the truncated process limits voter input and oversight. Make no mistake, this is not a transparent process. It is a power grab meant to cement Democrat control at the expense of our communities.” 

Following the rejection by Democrats, Choi requested these duly elected representatives be able to ask questions on behalf of Californians, the release said. 

“I’m extremely disappointed by the actions of my colleagues this morning. As the lone Republican on the committee, this should have been an opportunity to provide balance and accountability,” Choi said in the release. “But instead of allowing open discussion, they chose to shut down dissenting voices, and by extension, the voices of Californians themselves. This is not how democracy is supposed to work.” 

Choi, as the only member of the minority party allowed to speak Tuesday, grilled supporters of the measure, called for more transparency and demanded answers on behalf of all Californians, the release said. The Senate hearing, held one day after the bill was made public, lasted just under three hours. 

“Today’s incident was another example of shutting out participation in the democratic process – essentially disenfranchising the voices of nearly 2 million Californians that Senator Valladares and I represent,” Strickland said in the release. “We were denied the opportunity to ask important questions such as – ‘What did they know and when did they know it? Which lawmakers saw these maps in advance and had an influence on their creation? Who paid for these maps?’ The lack of transparency and fairness undermines the integrity of the legislative process.”   

The committee was expected Tuesday to vote on Assembly Bill 604, and also conduct informational hearings on Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8 and Senate Bill 280. The bills went into print Monday, and the governor and Legislature intend to pass the legislation this week, the release said. 

If the bills are passed and upheld by the courts, the special election would be held in 11 weeks. 

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