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There’s a green button for “aye” and a red button for “no” on Concord Assemblymember Anamarie Ávila Farías’ desk.

She feels obligated to push one of those buttons for every bill that comes her way in the California Legislature – even if hitting the red one might make her an outlier among her Democratic colleagues. After all, they almost never vote against bills, particularly those authored by their fellow Democrats.

She voted “no” this year 41 times. That’s the most of any of California’s 90 Democratic lawmakers, who each voted “no” on average less than nine times in about 2,200 opportunities. That’s less than 1% of the time.

“There’s no third button,” Ávila Farías said in an interview. “I feel that people sent me to Sacramento to make hard decisions, and I have to answer to the voters, and laying off a bill is not showing up to represent my constituents.”

“Laying off” refers to a widespread practice in the Capitol: Instead of casting a “no” vote, lawmakers regularly choose not to vote at all. Not voting counts the same as “no.” It also counts the same as when a lawmaker isn’t there to cast a vote.

An analysis of the CalMatters’ Digital Democracy database, which tracks every vote in the Legislature, found that the average Democratic lawmaker missed close to 100 votes on bills this year. Republicans miss even more votes, despite, on average, casting a “no” vote 53 times more than the average Democrat. The minority party’s 30 lawmakers missed an average of nearly 400 votes this year, the analysis found.

It’s extremely difficult for the public to know if these non-votes were because a lawmaker had an excused absence or if they just dodged tough decisions. The Legislature’s public-facing bill tracking website, where Digital Democracy gets its information, records all missed votes exactly the same: “NVR,” short for “no vote recorded.”

Critics say the Legislature has made voting records opaque for a reason: It allows lawmakers to avoid accountability.

“Somebody’s voting record is the single most appropriate way for a voter to understand how they’re being represented in Sacramento, because it’s black and it’s white,” said Jon Fleischman, a longtime political strategist and conservative commentator. “When you go to look and you see that there’s ‘no vote recorded,’ you obviously don’t know what that means.”

Such criticism isn’t new. Last year, CalMatters and its partners at CBS News collaborated on an Emmy award-winning investigation on the consequences of lawmakers killing popular legislation by not voting on bills. Yet the practice shows no sign of abating. At least 22 bills failed in roll-call votes this year due to so many lawmakers not voting. They include controversial measures on criminal sentences, bear hunting, suing oil companies, streamlining housing permits, rural schools staffing and ballot initiative disclosures.

Why one Democrat doesn’t dodge votes

There seems to be little appetite in the Capitol to provide the public with a better accounting of missed votes versus absences.

The Legislature’s Democratic leaders, Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire of Santa Rosa and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas of Salinas, did not respond to interview requests for this story.

Former lawmakers and Capitol insiders tell CalMatters that lawmakers who vote “no” risk annoying colleagues who might see a public rebuke of their bill as an insult and retaliate. They say lawmakers also fear angering wealthy lobbying organizations that have come to expect lawmakers to “hold off” on the rare times Democrats aren’t voting “aye” in lock-step. Democrats who control the Legislature voted “aye” on bills this year an average of 95% of the time, according to Digital Democracy’s analysis, which excluded votes on routine resolutions.

Ávila Farías voted “aye” at a pace in line with her fellow Democrats, but instead of not voting when she didn’t like a measure, she decided early this year to vote “no.”

Ávila Farías said the only time she chose not to vote on a bill happened near the start of the session shortly after being sworn in for her first term. Someone later asked her if she didn’t vote because she was “wandering” the hallways, implying she shirked responsibility. After that, she said she decided to always cast a vote.

Assemblymember Anamarie Ávila Farías on the Assembly floor during session at the state Capitol in Sacramento, on Jan. 23, 2025. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters

“I’ll make sure that I’m very consistent and that you always know where I am on these bills,” she said.

So far, she said she’s not experienced any retaliation from her colleagues. If anything, she said her “no” votes have led to productive conversations that helped her colleagues improve their bills.

Meanwhile, she said was disappointed to learn from CalMatters that she had missed 22 votes this year. She said she tried her best to be present and vote on every measure, but a few inadvertently slipped by her.

“I’ll do better the next round and make sure it’s a zero,” she said.

Two other Dems aren’t afraid to say ‘no’

Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains had 36 “no” votes, the second most of any Democrat.

Bains, who’s running for her Bakersfield-area congressional district, has never been particularly shy about voting “no,” even if it irks her Democratic colleagues.

In 2023, she cast the lone Democratic “no” vote against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s bill that sought to punish oil companies for raising gas prices while earning record profits. Her vote drew immediate rebukes from Democratic leaders and Newsom’s office.

“At the end of the day,” she said, “I just hear what my community tells me and what they thank me for.”

Bains also missed 202 votes this year, causing her to have the tenth-highest rate of missed votes among Democrats. She said she usually chooses not to vote on a bill if she’s not comfortable with the current version but she believes it can be changed later to address her concerns.

“Sometimes it does, and then I end up supporting,” she said. “And sometimes it doesn’t.”

Assemblymember Robert Garcia, a Democrat representing the Rancho Cucamonga area, said he decided to vote “no” while he was running for his first term last year after reading a CalMatters story on Democratic Assemblymember Mike Fong of Alhambra. CalMatters reported that until then, Fong had never voted “no” in his legislative career.

“No knock on Mr. Fong,” Garcia said. “But I did feel that if you’re … going there to Sacramento, it’s to know the bills and to take a position and, you know, and not be on the sidelines.”

Garcia voted “no” 31 times this year, the third most of any Democrat. He missed 57 votes, which he said he didn’t intend to do.

Garcia said he got his schedule mixed up during the frantic final day of the legislative session, and he ended up not being present for part of the marathon push to vote on the hundreds of remaining measures pending before the deadline. Digital Democracy data shows that Garcia missed 25 votes on the final day of the session.

For his part, Fong voted “no” four times this year. He only missed six votes, the lowest rate of any rank-and-file lawmaker. Fong didn’t return an interview request for this story.

Republicans skip votes even more

Republicans continued this year to have substantially more missed votes than Democrats, due, they say, to having so little input in the legislative process. Republicans cast plenty of “no” votes though. The average Republican voted “no” 22% of the time.

Assemblymember Carl DeMaio speaks during an Assembly floor session at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Jan. 23, 2025. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters.

Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio of San Diego had the highest percentage of “no” votes among the GOP legislators. He voted against bills 36% of the time.

DeMaio, who missed 135 votes this year, said he’s been trying to press his Republican colleagues to vote “no” more often instead of holding off.

But DeMaio leveled his sharpest criticism about not voting on the Democrats who control the Legislature.

“It’s the chickenshit way of saying, ‘Well, I think this is a really bad bill, but I don’t want to offend my colleague by voting ‘no,’ ” he said.

Fleischman, the conservative political commentator, says Republicans chicken out plenty, too.

He noted that several Republicans declined to vote on a slavery-reparations bill because they didn’t want to appear “against descendants of slaves, even though they knew the policy was bad.”

Tom Lackey, one of the nine Republicans who did not vote on the measure when it was on the Assembly floor, didn’t deny that rationale.

Lackey, who represents the Palmdale area, said he didn’t want to appear insensitive to Black members of his community. To him, since not voting counts the same as a “no,” it was a more polite way to oppose the policy.

“The way you say ‘no,’ sometimes it matters,” Lackey said. “And sometimes a soft ‘no’ is called for.”

Should absences count differently?

There’s also the question of whether it’s fair for legislators with excused absences to have their missed votes count the same as “no” votes. Some other states do it differently. Hawaii’s Legislature, for example, doesn’t count absent lawmakers when tallying votes.

Some of the lawmakers with high numbers of missed votes had excused absences this year.

They include Republican Assemblymember Kate Sanchez of Orange County, north state Republican Sen. Megan Dahle, Democratic Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes of San Bernardino, Democratic Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan of San Ramon and Democratic Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen of Elk Grove. Each missed hundreds of votes due to medical reasons or other excused absences.

Bauer-Kahan and Nguyen responded to CalMatters requests for an interview; the others did not. Bauer-Kahan sent an emailed statement that said of her 299 missed votes, more than 200 were due to excused absences.“Many, if not most, were while I was participating in critical discussions with global policy leaders about government’s role in fostering AI innovation while ensuring the safety of our communities,” Bauer-Kahan said.

Her office didn’t answer questions about whether the public should be able to more easily determine if their lawmakers missed votes because they weren’t there.

Nguyen said in an email that 75% of her 313 missed votes were due to absences, but she said she believes abstaining is a “responsible tool that reflects careful judgment” when a lawmaker doesn’t fully support a bill.

She also doesn’t feel the vote-tracking system needs fixing, saying the Legislature shouldn’t add more bureaucracy “because the system already makes clear whether a member voted yes, no, or did not vote.”

Republicans Lackey and DeMaio said they’d prefer the option of voting “present” as members of Congress do when they don’t want to take a position on a bill. At least that way, Lackey said, people would know they were at work that day.

Fleischman said it would be relatively easy for legislative leaders to change the vote tally to reflect absences on the Legislature’s website.

“You’ve got ‘NVR’ for ‘no vote recorded,’ and you should have an ‘ABS’ for ‘absent,’ ” he said.

Bains, the Kern County Democrat, said she thinks it’s worth considering such a change.

“I think that transparency would be welcomed by both sides,” she said. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t be.”

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Digital Democracy’s Foaad Khosmood, Forbes professor of computer engineering at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, contributed to this story.

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With five weeks until election day, the fight over changing congressional districts in California to favor Democrats has already become one of the most expensive ballot measures in recent state history.

The official campaigns supporting and opposing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Proposition 50 reported raising more than $215 million as of Oct. 2, with more than $100 million raised in September alone – the third most of any proposition for at least the past decade. Campaigns only spent more money on Prop. 22 in 2020, which would have changed the employment status of Lyft and Uber drivers, and Prop. 27 in 2022, which would have legalized online gambling.

The campaign to support Prop. 50, led by Newsom, raised more than $138 million with $49 million, or about 40% of the total, coming from donors who gave less than $100. Most of those contributions were reported by the House Majority PAC. Five major donors collectively contributed a little more than $25 million. They were:

• $10 million: House Majority PAC, a SuperPAC focused on electing Democrats to Congress;
• $10 million: George Soros’ Fund for Policy Reform, which focuses on drug policy and electoral reform, according to IRS filings;
• $6.9 million: MoveOn.org, a liberal grassroots organization;
• $3 million: The California Teachers Association, a powerful union with close ties to Democrats;
• $3 million: The National Education Association, the largest teachers union in the country that gives overwhelmingly to Democrats.

Newsom also transferred $2.6 million from his 2022 gubernatorial campaign. More than 68,000 unique contributors gave money to the “Yes” campaign, according to a CalMatters analysis of data from the California Secretary of State.

The groups opposing the redistricting measure are relying on two major donors who gave more than 90% of the $77 million raised for their campaign. They have a smaller share of small donors, raising $8,300 from people who gave less than $100. Below are the top five donors:

• $42 million: The Congressional Leadership Fund, a Super PAC controlled by Republican leadership in Congress;
• $33 million: Charles Munger Jr., who contributed to the original ballot measure that created the independent redistricting commission;
• $1 million: Kevin McCarthy, former Republican Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, who transferred the money from his campaign account, far less the $100 million he said he would raise a few weeks ago;
• $1 million: Thomas Siebel, a Bay Area billionaire businessman who is related to First Partner of California Jennifer Siebel Newsom;
• $50,000: Republican donor Susan Groff.

Other groups unaffiliated with the campaigns are spending money, too. At least fifteen organizations spent more than $540,000 in support through ad buys and outreach, while at least seven groups spent more than $570,000 in opposition.

Newsom proposed the ballot measure after the Trump administration pressured the state of Texas to gerrymander its congressional districts in a way that would flip five Democratic seats to Republican in the upcoming 2026 midterm election.

Newsom needs voter approval because Californians created an Independent Redistricting Commission through a 2008 ballot measure. Prop. 50 would suspend the maps drawn by that independent commission until 2030.

June 28, 2025. Taken far too soon. Kelli Ann Welch was born May 15, 1962 in Eureka. Kelli was raised in Humboldt and Trinity counties. Living with her Auntie in Salyer is where she had her fondest childhood memories. As an adult Kelli favored Humboldt County because it was neither too hot nor cold.

After graduating from Hoopa High School Kelli worked in hospitality at a motel her mom, Betty, managed. Later at a clothing store called Bistrin‘s. At first she was timid approaching customers. But honestly she found her calling here. Kelli worked at the Times-Standard newspaper in advertising, and then at Cox Cable.

In 1989 Kelli gave birth to her son, Shan. Everything she did evolved around him. Kelli started a jewelry business when Shan was young. Shan would help his mom, sometimes setting up for jewelry parties. To expand her jewelry business Kelli took classes at the College of the Redwoods to become a silversmith. She excelled in silversmithing and over the years made some exceptional pieces of jewelry.

As Kelli continued her jewelry business part time, she caught the Fire and Light “bug.” With much excitement, Kelli would attend Fire and Light seconds sales. Kelli loved finding the great deals!

Years later, Kelli would go to work for Fire and Light full-time. She was enamored by this job. She love talking to people and she love the glass product. She sometimes got to take small groups on tours of the facility. Kelli would often tell us how many thousands of pounds she would move in one day. It was hard to imagine but completely believable. Kelly lived a life with a spirit full of kindness and brought joy and love to people around her.

Losing our Auntie Rose and her job with Fire and Light (closed permanently) in 2019 was really hard on Kelli. Auntie Rose and Kelli were more like sisters, with only nine years between them. Kelli was a survivor. She had a great sense of humor, and was competitive by nature. Kelli was independent in life and loved spending time with family and friends. She’d loved card games, going to ladies bingo, playing pool and checking out all the local thrift stores. She loved camping and swimming. Kelli was an excellent baker, baking homemade pies and chocolate chip cookies. During the holidays Kelli never showed up empty-handed. She always had a gift or goodies in hand. It was important to her that everyone feel included.

Kelli was proud to say she paid off her house. She was tickled that she had something to leave Shan when it was her time to go.

The world should’ve stopped the day she died. She is missed.

There will be a celebration of life Saturday, October 25. Pop in from noon to 4 p.m. Food and dessert will be served. For information, call 707-839-1203. A head count will be appreciated.

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Press release from North Edge:

Households in Humboldt County spend an average of 43% of their income on child care for two children, far above the California average of 30% and the national average of 27%. A recent survey also found that 75% of parents report missing work or relying on household members for care due to high costs, limited availability, and scheduling challenges.

To address this urgent need, families in Humboldt County now have additional support through the Humboldt Child Care Stabilization Fund Parent Subsidy.

The program provides one-time payments of $600 for part-time care and $1,200 for full-time care for parents with children under the age of five who are enrolled in child care or preschool. The payments are made directly to licensed child care providers, ensuring funds go toward covering the cost of care. Providers also receive a small administrative stipend. Because the subsidy is paid to providers rather than families, the assistance does not count as income and will not affect eligibility for other income-tested programs.

Parents who live or work in Humboldt County are eligible if their household income is at or below 105% of the threshold required for existing child care subsidies. To date, about $400,000 has already been distributed to parents. A total of $1.5 million has been set aside for these parent subsidies, which will continue until October 2026 or until funds are depleted.

In spring 2022, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors allocated $4.86 million of State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) to support the county’s child care industry. The Parent Subsidy Program is one part of that investment.

“This program provides immediate relief for families while also strengthening our child care system,” said North Edge Program Director, Susan Seaman. “Access to affordable, quality care supports parents, children, and our local economy.”

Applications can be completed online at this link. The application requires information from both the parent and the child care provider. Completed applications can be emailed to Child Care Stabilization Administrator, Kelly McGowan at kelly@northedgefinancing.org, mailed, or dropped off at North Edge, 707 K Street, Eureka, CA 95501. The program will remain open until October 2026 or until all funds are distributed.

North Edge, the administrator for this program, is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) committed to delivering responsible, affordable lending to help economically disadvantaged people and communities join the economic mainstream. North Edge provides loans and support to entrepreneurial, innovative business and community endeavors, such as the Humboldt Child Care Stabilization Fund. Head to www.humboldtchildcare.org to learn more about the financial aid available to Humboldt Child Care providers and families, or contact Kelly McGowan at kelly@northedgefinancing.org with any questions. 

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PREVIOUSLY:

• Armed Man Arrested at Arcata City Council Meeting Last Night

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Press release from the Cal Poly Humboldt University Police Department:

On October 2, 2025, at approximately 9 a.m., the Cal Poly Humboldt University Police Department (UPD) arrested 36-year-old Shaine Scott Haugen at the University’s Samoa Corp Yard facility.

At about 3 a.m., UPD officers, assisted by the Arcata Police Department, responded to a motion-activated burglary alarm at the facility. Haugen was discovered barricaded inside an overhead storage space inside the facility and refused to come out. At about 9 a.m., after several hours of negotiation, officers were able to safely take him into custody.

Haugen was transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility and booked on the following charges:

• PC 459—Burglary (entering a structure with intent to commit theft or any felony)
• PC 594—Vandalism (malicious destruction or defacement of property)
• PC 69—Resisting an Executive Officer (using force or intimidation to prevent an officer from carrying out duties)
• PC 148—Resisting Arrest
• PC 12022.1—Commission of a Felony While Released on Bail or Own Recognizance
• HS 11377—Possession of a Controlled Substance

Haugen’s bail has been set at $55,000.00.

Haugen was previously arrested on September 17, 2025, by the Arcata Police Department for disrupting an Arcata City Council meeting.  

UPD would like to thank the Arcata Police Department, the Eureka Police Department, and the Arcata Fire District for their assistance during this incident.

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PREVIOUSLY

• NEW LAND ABOVE THE HIGHWAY? The ‘Arcata Cap’ Project Would Build Five Acres Suspended Over Highway 101

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An Arcata city council member voted “no” on a motion for the first time in a year and a half last night — the first time that’s happened in almost 130 straight votes — but a motion to award a $300,000 contract to design firm Smith Group Inc. to start development on the Reconnecting Arcata project still passed 4-1.

The project, a complex, ambitious plan to facilitate pedestrian and cycling travel over Arcata’s freeways, has been in limbo since it was announced last year. Though Caltrans promised Arcata a portion of $128 million from their Reconnecting Communities fund, California’s recent budget woes means the city still hasn’t received it — and some city staff and council members worry it never will, though City Engineer Netra Khatri said Arcata was likely to. 

Without that funding, the project, which may involve building five very expensive acres of land suspended over Highway 101, will be dead on arrival. Any money spent on designing the project would have been wasted. By funding the design process, the council members hope that they’ll be buying time, and a vision that will likely take a couple decades to complete might be done a little sooner, and it also signals to grant-givers that Arcata is serious about actually starting construction.

The funding will pay for “planning, community outreach and preliminary concept design” from Smith Group.

A motion to kickstart the process at the last city council meeting two weeks ago by awarding a larger $500,000 contract to Smith Group was tabled, and spending the multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars it’ll take to start designing Reconnecting Arcata spooked some of the councilmembers. 

Meredith Matthews, the sole dissenter, pointed out that Arcata has a lot of other fish to fry at the moment, including the Annie and Mary Trail, a water fund slowly drying up and other street improvement programs. Finance Director Tabatha Miller also said that Arcata is overspending its street tax fund by about $1.5 million annually.

“It’s a great program, but it’s money that we don’t have,” Matthews said. “This is money that we’re taking out of our reserves… I feel like we funded a lot of things and there’s a lot of great projects, but I am really hesitant to pull money out of reserves for something that will happen eventually, but I think we should focus on what we need to happen in the next one, two, three years [rather] than in the next 10 or 20 years.”

The council decided that they would try and ask Cal Poly Humboldt, whose students would benefit from easier access to and from campus, to kick in some money for some future development.

Councilmember Kimberley White was an outspoken advocate for the project. She lives in the Valley West neighborhood, which is difficult to get in or out of without a car, at one point calling trying to get over the freeway “real-life Frogger.”

“Valley West is always losing out…right now we are so isolated that if there was anything that would happen, we don’t have anywhere to go,” White said. “People out there don’t have cars. Most of the unhoused community don’t own a car. They ride bikes, and there’s just no safe pathway for that.”

Mayor Alex Stillman took a slightly longer-term view.

“Maybe my grandchildren will see it happen,” she said. “I know I won’t.”

Some interesting data

Matthews’ “no” vote was the first nay on any motion in the Arcata City Council since March 20, 2024, when White voted against re-electing Scott Davies to the planning commission. Since then, the council voted 125 times straight without a single “no,” though there were some abstentions and plenty of absences. 

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office:

On October 1, 2025, at approximately 1:15 p.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a man making criminal threats toward a community member and their family at a residence on Spring Road in Shelter Cove.

The victim, a 43-year-old male, reported that a person known to him, 39-year-old Matthew James Hayes, arrived at his residence and threatened to kill the victim and his family. Hayes then left but returned a short time later, acting aggressively and attempting to lure the victim outside.

Deputies arrived and learned that Hayes was wanted on an outstanding felony warrant for assault on a peace officer with a deadly weapon and additional charges stemming from a prior vehicle pursuit that occurred on Sept. 21, 2025.

Deputies then responded to Hayes’ residence, located on the 100 block of Eileen Road in Shelter Cove. Hayes initially refused to comply with commands and attempted to barricade himself inside a bedroom. Deputies were ultimately able to take Hayes into custody without incident.

Hayes was transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility, where he was booked on the following charges:

• P.C. 148(a)(1) - Resisting arrest
• P.C. 422(a) - Criminal threats
• P.C. 978.5- Bench warrant / failure to appear on felony charge

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.