Republican Assemblyman Martin Garrick

Extreme Right-Wing Voting Record

 
 

At every opportunity Assemblyman Martin Garrick has chosen a right-wing voting record on bills* heard in the State Legislature over the past few sessions. On issues like education, public safety, the economy, worker rights, a woman’s right to choose and the environment, Assemblyman Martin Garrick is out of touch and out of step with California voters.   
 

Education

Education is always one of the top issues during an election.  With extreme budget cuts these past few years, the California school system has been unduly burdened. The voting record for Assemblyman Martin Garrick has only contributed to the misfortune of the current education system, defying the underlined beliefs of the Democratic Party.

Bill
Year
Vote
Description
AB 1540 07-08
OPPOSE
 Cash for College Program.  Formally establishes the Cash for College Program within the California Student Aid Commission (CSAC) to be operated in partnership with local private and community organizations to support workshops aimed at assisting low-income and first generation college-bound students with state and federal financial aid applications.
SB 44 07-08
OPPOSE
 Teacher Credentialing. This bill creates the Teacher Cadet Program to encourage high school students to consider teaching careers and expresses legislative intent to create professional development schools for teacher education.
SB 490 07-08
OPPOSE
 Trans Fat in Schools. This bill prohibits schools and school districts from making available through vending machines or school food establishments foods containing artificial trans fat, as defined, or from using food containing artificial trans fat in the preparation of a food item served to pupils enrolled in elementary or middle schools.
SB 405 07-08
OPPOSE
 Counseling Expansion. This bill expands the requirements of the Middle and High School Supplemental Counseling program. This bill expands the requirements of the MHSSC program to include a review of a pupil's career goals and the availability of academic and career technical education opportunities, and to provide pupils and their parents information on eligibility for admission to a four-year institution of postsecondary education.
AB 428 07-08
OPPOSE
 College Prep, Parental Notification. Requires each school district offering any of 9th through 12th grades, as part of the annual notification required by existing law, to provide parents and pupils with written notification relating to the admission requirements for California's public universities, including a list of Internet Web sites that offer information about college admission requirements and courses satisfying those requirements, as well as information about meeting with school counselors.
SB 777 07-08
OPPOSE
 Instructional Materials, Discrimination. This bill revises the current list of prohibited bases of discrimination and the kinds of prohibited instruction, activities, and instructional materials in the Education Code, and instead refers to the protected characteristics contained in the definition of hate crimes in the Penal Code.
 
 
 

Civil/Minority Rights

The California Democratic Party is the most diverse state party in the nation.  As a state party we have always fought to protect the rights of minorities, women and children.  Assemblyman Martin Garrick, unlike us has consistently fought to erode the rights of minorities. According to Equality California, Martin Garrick only voted in favor in 0% of bills supporting civil and minority rights in 2007.

Bill
 Year Vote Description
SB 1356 07-08

DID NOT VOTE

 Domestic Violence. SB 1356 ensures that victims of domestic violence have the same statutory protections as sexual assault victims and exempts them from the threat of being incarcerated for refusal to testify against their perpetrators. Domestic violence victims, like many sexual assault victims, are victimized by perpetrators they know, and experience similar psychological trauma and fear of retribution from the abuser or the abuser’s family members.
AB 1819 07-08

OPPOSE

 Youth Voter “Pre-Registration.” AB 1819 allows a person to register to vote once he or she is 16 years old, if that person otherwise complies with all the requirements to register to vote.  A 16 year old would complete the same voter registration form as any other person.  On their 18th birthday, his or her registration is activated.
AB 394 07-08

OPPOSE

 Safe Place to Learn Act. Establishes the Safe Place to Learn Act and requires the California Department of Education (CDE) to monitor local educational agencies' (LEAs) adherence to antidiscrimination and antiharassment policies by requiring CDE to assess whether LEAs have performed specified duties.
AB 14 07-08

OPPOSE

 Civil Rights Act of 2007. Amends miscellaneous code provisions prohibiting discrimination in specific government and business operations to add protected characteristics currently covered by general anti-discrimination laws.
 
 
 

Economy

In today’s economy, it is critical that we do not sacrifice the rights of consumers just to support the interests of corporations and big business. Consumer protection has always been one of the primary concerns of the Democratic Party. The only thing a right-wing extremist like Assemblyman Martin Garrick is concerned with, are the interests of big business. 

Bill Year    Vote Description
SB 1137 07-08

OPPOSE

 Foreclosure Relief. This bill enacts several changes to the procedures that must be followed before the holder of a mortgage may issue a notice of default or notice of trustee sale, requires the holder of a mortgage to mail a specified notice to the tenant(s) of a property on which foreclosure proceedings have begun, and imposes penalties on property owners who fail to adequately maintain foreclosed properties, as specified. 
AB 2359 07-08

OPPOSE

 Homeowner Loan Protection Bill. This bill would prohibit lenders from requiring that borrowers waive their legal rights, including their right to file a complaint with any state agency and the right to bring legal action to enforce predatory loan laws.  Among other things, the bill would curb mandatory arbitration provisions in loan agreements.
AB 2940 07-08

OPPOSE

 California Employee Savings Program. This bill would create the CalESP—the California Employee Savings Program—to offer voluntary, secure and completely portable retirement savings accounts that workers can freely take from job to job without penalty, helping prepare them for their retirement at no cost to taxpayers.
 
 
 

Environment

The land, air, and ocean are valuable resources that we must protect for our children and our children’s children.  The only thing a right-wing extremist like Candidate Martin Garrick is trying to protect is the oil and lumber company’s bottom line. California Democrats have always striven to promote the environment while right-wing extremist candidate Martin Garrick disregards its importance, no matter the repercussions on our lives or our future children’s lives.  According to the Sierra Club, Martin Garrick did not vote in favor of any environmental bills in 2007.

Bill Year Vote Description
AB 1470 07-08 OPPOSE Solar Hot Water and Efficiency Act of 2007. Creates the Solar Hot Water and Efficiency Act of 2007 (SHWEA), a $250 million subsidy program for solar hot water heaters with the goal of promoting the installation of 200,000 solar hot water systems in California by 2017.
AB 2093 07-08 OPPOSE Climate Change.  Under this legislation, cities and counties will be required to address climate change in their general plans, which are the blueprints for their future growth
AB 118 07-08 OPPOSE Alternative and Renewable Fuel. Enacts the California Alternative and Renewable Fuel, Vehicle Technology, Clean Air, and Carbon Reduction Act of 2007. Establishes the Enhanced Fleet Modernization Program and the Air Quality Improvement Program.
AB 1960 07-08 OPPOSE Fight Polluters and Protect the Environment.  This bill will provide increased authority to the Calfiornia Deparment of Conservation’s Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) to ensure that all California based oil companies meet minimum operating standards and that a mechanism is in place to ensures proper accountability for abandon wells, oil spills and incident clean-up costs will be covered.
SB 562 07-08 DID NOT VOTE Salmon and Steelhead Restoration. This bill appropriates $5.293 million out of $45 million made available in the Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006 (Proposition 84) to the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) for the purposes of coastal salmon and steelhead fishery restoration projects.
AB 35 07-08 OPPOSE Sustainable Government Building Standards. Requires the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) to adopt regulations establishing green building standards for the construction and renovation of state buildings.
SB 08 07-08 OPPOSE California Bay-Delta Authority Act. This bill adds environmental justice" as a program element to the California Bay-Delta Authority Act, and designates each agency identified as an implementing agency under the Act to be, both individually and collectively, the implementing agency for the environmental justice program.
 
 
 

Health

California Democrats have always supported patient’s rights, prescription drug coverage for seniors, and safe air and water. Assemblyman Martin Garrick has consistently supported the HMOs and drug companies and not his constituents.

Bill Year Vote Description
ABX1 1 07-08 OPPOSE Most Significant State Expansion of Health Care Coverage in Nation’s History. Historic health care legislation extending coverage to millions of California’s uninsured, including all children.
SB 07 07-08 OPPOSE Smoking in Vehicle with Minors. This bill makes it an infraction for a person to smoke a cigar, cigarette or pipe in a vehicle, whether in motion or at rest, in which there is a minor.
AB 629 07-08 OPPOSE Sexual Health Education Accountability Act. This bill requires sexual health education programs to provide information that is medically accurate, current, and objective, include content that is age appropriate for its targeted population, be culturally and linguistically appropriate for its targeted populations, and provide information about the effectiveness and safety of at least one or more drug or device approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for preventing pregnancy and for reducing the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
SB 962 07-08 DID NOT VOTE Umbilical Blood Cord Research. This bill requires the Department of Public Health, as part of the Hereditary Disorders Act, to provide umbilical cord blood samples to the Birth Defect Monitoring Program, for storage and research.
 
 
 

Public Safety

California Democrats have made safe schools and neighborhoods a priority, but rather than protecting our streets, schools and neighborhoods, Assemblyman Martin Garrick has been protecting groups like the N.R.A. 

Bill
Year
Vote
 Description
AB 319 07-08

OPPOSE

Tsunami Preparedness. This bill creates the California Tsunami Hazard Preparedness and Mitigation Steering Committee (steering committee) to guide tsunami hazard preparation activities and requires the Office of Emergency Services (OES) to establish a statewide tsunami hazard preparedness and mitigation program to assist local governments in preparing for, responding to, and mitigating the effects of tsunamis.
AB 1471 07-08

OPPOSE

Crime Gun Identification Act of 2007. Requires specified semiautomatic pistols to be equipped with microscopic identifying markings which are transferred to each cartridge case when the firearm is fired.
AB 2062 07-08

OPPOSE

Ammunition Safety Act.  This bill will require handgun ammunition dealers to be licensed by the Department of Justice and to prohibit the sale of ammunition to known felons.
AB 2447 07-08

OPPOSE

Fire Protection.  The bill allows a county to approve a new subdivision in a high fire risk area only if they certify that they meet the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s subdivision design standards, that the subdivision has more than one road in and out for residents and firefighters (thereby avoiding deadly “dead end subdivisions”), and that local fire fighting agencies certify that they will provide structural fire protection for the new parcels.
 
 
 

Working Men & Women

We must always protect the rights of working men and women in this country and not protect ‘Big Business’ like Assemblyman Martin Garrick. According to the California Labor Federation, Martin Garrick only voted in favor of 12% of labor bills in 2007 that would protect the rights of working men and women.

Bill Year Vote Description
AB 435 07-08 OPPOSE Wage Discrimination. AB 435 would do two things.  First, it extends the time allowed to file a gender-based lawsuit, and the time period for which back wages can be collected, from two years to four years, and to five years for willful violations.  Second, it requires employers to maintain wage and job classification records for five years, rather than the current two years, which will preserve evidence for both employers and workers.
AB 2716 07-08 OPPOSE Healthy Families, Healthy Workplaces Act. This bill allows workers to earn paid sick days that can be used to recover from illness, care for a sick family member, or recover from domestic violence or sexual assault.
SB 180 07-08 OPPOSE Collective Bargaining Representation for Agricultural Workers. This bill would permit agricultural employees, as an alternative procedure, to select their labor representatives by submitting a petition to the Labor Board accompanied by representation cards signed by a majority of the bargaining unit.
AB 1988 07-08 OPPOSE State Workplace Safety.  The measure will improve the operation of the California OSHA Appeals Board in order to ensure that it is upholding its charge to protect California workers. 
SB 549 07-08 OPPOSE Bereavement Leave. This bill provides employees in California with the right to take up to four days of unpaid leave from work upon the death of specified relatives.
 
 
 

Human Services

The services provided for the well being of our society are of extreme importance, and have an impact on a large portion of our population. That is why it is important to the Democratic Party to fully support human service programs, and ensure the safety and well being of those around us.

Bill Year Vote Description
AB 1108 07-08 OPPOSE Phthalates in Children Products.  Prohibits the use of phthalates in toys and childcare products designed for children under three years of age.
AB 2368 07-08 OPPOSE CalWORKs Eligibility. A bill which would exclude the value of a motor vehicle as a factor in determining individuals' eligibility for assistance under the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program
 
 
 

Other

There are numerous bills that go through legislation every year, many of which play a huge role in how the government can impact our society in a positive manner. The bills listed below are a few of the important pieces of legislation that uphold our Democratic ideals, which are important for the betterment of our society.

Bill

Year

Vote Description
SB 924 07-08 OPPOSE Iraq Withdrawal Ballot Question. A bill that requires the question of whether the U.S. should end its occupation of Iraq and withdraw U.S. troops to be included on the February 5, 2007 Presidential Primary ballot.
SBx3 8 07-08 OPPOSE Yacht Tax Loophole Bill. A bill that would close a loophole that lets wealthy yacht owners dodge taxes by stashing their boats out of state for three months.
 
 

*Due to the fact that bills can be amended, deleted, or otherwise changed, all of the information above is considered unofficial.
Paid for by Brett for 74th Assembly - © 2008