"It was ugly!" That's how state Senator Hannah Beth Jackson describes last week's tempestuous closing night of the 2019-20 legislative session -- which also marked the end of her long and substantive career as a California lawmaker.
After eight years in the Senate, preceded by six years in the Assembly, liberal lioness Jackson is termed out of the Legislature. Back home in Santa Barbara, she checked in with Newsmakers to recount some of the drama and turmoil of the close of the session, as Republican senators were quarantined by Covid and launched a stall-and-kill strategy via Zoom in an effort to defeat much Democratic legislation.
Jackson describes how she prevailed on several key measures - including a landmark bill to extend the state's family leave policy and a contentious and controversial temporary anti-eviction policy to protect tenants during the pandemic -- and talks about the Legislature's failure to pass significant police misconduct reform or new protections for homeowners in high-risk fire areas struggling to get insurance.
Disclosing that she's working on a memoir, Hannah Beth reflects on her career and what's next; she claims she won't run for office again - while leaving the door open at least a crack.
"Never say never," she laughed.
JR
Watch our full conversation with Hannah Beth Jackson below and...the podcast version is here.
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