It is with deep sorrow and love we announce the passing of Betty Jean “Jeannie” Medley on August 28, 2024. Jeannie died peacefully in her sleep at home in the midst of family members. Her kindness, strength, and endless love shaped our lives in so many beautiful ways. Jeannie was preceded in death by her parents Jim Giles and Dess Martin, her daughter-in-law Priya Medley, her grandson Russell Taylor, and her great-grandson Silas Vickers.

Betty Jean was born in the Southern California town of Wilmar on January 26, 1937, to James Lamont Giles and Opal Odessa Dockens. She was loved and cherished by her parents, older brother Jim and younger sisters Alice and Doris.

Betty Jean and family lived in the Las Vegas area for a few years. She got to ride home in a police car when she missed the bus after kindergarten. Her older brother Jim couldn’t understand why she was so distressed after such a grand opportunity. They all soon moved back to Southern California and Betty Jean decided “Jeannie” was a better fit. In the fourth grade, Jeannie took dance lessons at her best friend’s mom’s studio. Her dad Jim used to dive off the Long Beach pier and would also take Jeannie “way out” past the waves on long swims.

When Jeannie was a young teenager, she loved going to the “Cliffie Stone Hometown Jamboree,” a Country music radio and television show broadcast from the Legion Stadium in El Monte, California.

Jeannie was a Dancer at El Monte High School and during her Senior year, in the Spring of 1954, she danced a solo, the “Tahitian Conga”, during the Student Union Benefit Show. She later wrote next to her name in the program - “boy was I scared.”

Jeannie met “Dee” on a blind date, they hit it off and began to spend lots of wonderful times together - they were often at the beach together and with their friends.

Jeannie graduated from El Monte High School in 1954, and moved to Utah to go to Brigham Young University. Jeannie experienced some feelings of “homesickness” and her High School Biology teacher, Ruth Durham, wrote her a letter including these encouraging words, “Be your sweet, unselfish Jeannie and you will make a place for yourself in the hearts of all you meet. One of your strongest characteristics is your high degree of social development. You are at home with everyone and make them happy to be with you”. Dee apparently agreed and sold his car and moved to Provo. Dee and Jeannie’s romance continued. They both relocated to Southern California after a year at BYU. Dee, ever the teaser, asked for his fraternity pin back; paused for effect- and then offered Jeannie an engagement ring and proposal for marriage. Dee, Jeannie, and both their parents all traveled to Salt Lake City and were married on September 2, 1955, in the beautiful pioneer-era Mormon Temple.

Dee and Jeannie made their home in Southern California. They lived in a small home near Dee’s parents in Temple City. Dee began a seven year school journey preparing for a career in dentistry and Jeannie made the small home a slice of heaven for the fast expanding family. Jeannie would often refer to these days of young children as some of the most rewarding of her life. Dee had what seemed like a crazy idea to take the whole family camping, “it’ll be fun,” he said. Turns out it was, and the family of 7 kids (and babysitter) all piled into the 1963 Volkswagen beetle and headed out to the desert.

Dee graduated from Dental school in 1968 and the family moved to West Covina. Jeannie loved their new residence and helped create a loving supportive home for the whole crew. Dee and Jeannie made lots of friends in their church congregation and community. Jeannie was always involved with the youth group activities her children attended. They continued to take their family camping, with the new addition of the family “dune buggy” — the converted 1963 VW that seated two adults and eight kids. The family joined an off road club and went on regular outings. If the dirt road was too steep for the well laden buggy, Jeannie and the eight kids would pile out and walk while Dee navigated the 40-horsepower rig and met them at the top.

In 1978, an opportunity came to relocate to Humboldt County. Dee and Jeannie left their beloved home and friends in Southern California and moved to Bayside, Humboldt County, California. Dee and Jeannie spent the next 46 years creating an amazing home and family environment in the beautiful redwood setting on Washington Creek. Dee built zip lines, rope swings and “Papa’s Pond.” Jeannie organized incredible family reunions, cooked and baked, decorated their home with needlepoint and other art, loved their grandchildren, and kept Dee on schedule building and making unique Christmas gifts for their grandchildren. Dee and Jeannie worked together and remodeled and customized their home. Jeannie partnered with Dee at their Arcata dental practice for many years, she was the office manager, dental assistant and made appointments. She was also Dee’s stress manager, as on Friday’s she would keep particularly difficult Monday schedules secret so Dee could enjoy the weekend!

When the kids left home Dee and Jeannie kept active together. They continued to travel to Southern Utah and off road travel through the scenic red rock canyon country. Dee and Jeannie owned a fifth wheel travel trailer for a time and made trips across the USA. They started backpacking together in the slot canyon area of Escalante, Utah. They hiked a total of over 800 miles over approximately 20 years.

Dee and Jeannie enjoyed their retirement years together. Their Bayside home was the scene of yearly July family reunions. Jeannie was the heart of the matter and made everyone feel loved and valued. She made a quilt for every new grandchild born and sent birthday cards to all generations of her family. Jeannie always knew the life situations of all her family. She was involved and interested in the details of their lives. She treated all her grandchildren as if they were her favorite.

Jeannie had to slowly give up doing the things she loved as Parkinsons and old age took their toll. Children and grandchildren continued to visit to spend time with their wonderful “Grama Jeannie”. Sooner than we liked, family members were coming to say good bye. Our family is deeply grateful to all the caregivers that provided such loving assistance to Jeannie. Thank you Hospice, Visiting Angels, and Bill R. We are grateful beyond words for what you have done.

Jeannie is survived by her husband Woodruff Dee Medley, their eight children - Ric (Mary) Medley, Cindie (Mike) Stowe, Mike (Lola) Medley, Julie (Mike) Turner, Debbie (Bill) Taylor, Cathie (Scott) Price, Rob (Carmen) Medley, John (Val) Medley, 36 grandchildren, and 59 great-grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life will be held for Jeannie on October 5, 2024, at 11 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2806 Dolbeer Street, Eureka, California. Available by Zoom on request.

William Robert Warf (Bill) met Dana, the love of his life, in 2018. They married on July 9, 2022. For six years, they shared their passion for hiking, nature and gardening on 80 wild acres. They lived in the straw-bale, solar-powered home Bill designed and built. Perched above the Pacific Ocean and nestled in trees, Bill remained on the land he loved, with Dana, until the end, as was his wish.

Bill was born in Oakland on May 4, 1955, to James Warf and Carolyn Cleland. He grew up in Ukiah and spent many days with his grandfather, McGee, who taught him to hunt, fish and round up cattle. This experience planted the seed to one day purchase his own plot of land.

Bill was a man of substance, his kindness forming the core of his character. He lived by the principle expressed in one of his favorite books, “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein: “There is no dishonor in losing the race. There is only dishonor in not racing because you are afraid to lose.” This philosophy served him well, as evidenced by his victories in solar car races in Hawaii and Denmark. Despite his competitive success, Bill remained modest, often quoting Lao Tzu: “It is because he does not contend that no one in the world can contend against him.” A voracious reader with a rare combination of attentiveness and compassion towards others, Bill embodied the balance between achievement and humility.

During high school, he occupied himself completely rebuilding a classic MG, re-engineering the windshield washer nozzles to turn 180 degrees and spritz unsuspecting passersby. Bill then attended the University of California, Davis, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.

He began his career as a design engineer, working for Peterbilt in Fremont, Remco Hydraulics in Willits and Retech Systems in Ukiah. After Bill designed and built an electric car he named the “Peregrin,” Volkswagen recruited him in 1998. He moved to Wolfsburg, Germany, to oversee VW’s prototype hybrid electric cars division. Later, he returned to the United States to serve as Program Manager of Electric Transportation at Sacramento Municipal Utility District.

Bill realized his dream of purchasing a parcel of land above Ferndale and moved there. He applied his sharp intellect to master solar power technology and electrical systems with relative ease. Those who knew him were impressed by his quick wit and gentlemanly demeanor. He owned and operated Wildcat Solar in Ferndale, serving property owners throughout Humboldt County until his recent retirement.

Bill excelled at growing Black Krim tomatoes in his self-built greenhouse and generously shared jar after jar of Thai peppers. His culinary skills, nurtured since childhood, included baking exceptional blackberry and apple pies in a special wood stove tin. His fresh-baked, whole-grain bread and chocolate chip cookies were praiseworthy, while his strong pour-over coffee fueled many cozy family mornings.

Bill found satisfaction hiking his woods, chainsaw in hand, and created artful stacks of alder firewood. They warmed his home through winter’s chill, and now, like a well-tended fire, the memory of his kindness and curiosity continues to warm our hearts.

Bill is survived by his wife, Dana Murguia, and his beloved rescue dog, Loki; his son, Thomas Warf (Emma); his daughters, Inge Warf (Michael Linder-Madsen) and Rachel Warf; his stepchildren, Zachary Murguia Burton, Owen Murguia Burton, Delanie Linden and Sidney Hinton; three grandchildren, Carl (9), Liza (7) and Adele (6); his sister, Elizabeth (Al) Gress, and nephew, Theo; his two first cousins, Melissa Ballard and Melanie (Jared) Willson; his step-siblings, Holly Chapin, Cindy (Charlie) Haug and Kit (Carol) Cleland; and many beloved friends too plentiful to list by name.

Memorial service will be held October 5 at Ferndale City Hall Auditorium, 834 Main Street, Ferndale, from 2 to 4 p.m. Friends and family are invited to share their cherished memories of Bill during the service.

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Jimmy was born on Sept. 15, 1962 at St. Joseph’s Hospital to Beverly and Jimmy Huffman. He sadly passed away on Sept. 7, 2024 in Cameron Park, Calif., with his daughters by his side.

Jimmy was born and raised in Eureka, where he met Debbie Huffman (Tomich). They married July 6, 1985 and went on to have three daughters together — Trisha, Katrina and Shiloh. He spent many years working for City Garbage here in Eureka.

If you were lucky enough to know him you know he would do anything for those he loved. Jimmy would give you the shirt off his back. He loved adventure and spending time with family and friends. Jimmy loved music and dancing, even if it was in his living room. He had the blessing of having seven grandkids that he loved and adored — Kailey, Anthony, Kira, Brooklyn, Bryson, Amiya and Addisyn.

The last few weeks of his life he was surrounded by those who he loved most — his mother, Beverly; his sister, Debbie; and brother-in-law Nick. Growing up Jimmy and Debbie had many fun times together. Debbie will always remember how her “Jimbro” would come in and kill spiders that were in her room no matter how late or tired he was. His daughters loved spending time with him in his greenhouse, picking vegetables and showing them how things grow. He would take his girls to the park to throw a football or down to the pier to go fishing. He will be remembered as the best son, brother, father, uncle, grandfather and friend.

Jimmy leaves behind his mother, sister, daughters, grandkids, nephew (Tyler), aunts and uncles and friends. He is proceeded in death by many grandparents, his father Jimmy Huffman Sr., daughter Katrina Huffman and granddaughter Amiya Huffman.

A celebration of life potluck gathering will be at the Eureka Womens’ Club at 1531 J Street Eureka on October 20 at 1 p.m. Please bring stories and/or pictures you have of him to share if you would like.

The Humboldt chapter of the Health Care for All-California organization hosted State Assembly candidate Chris Rogers today in a meeting this afternoon at the Sanctuary in Arcata. Rogers talked about his views on health care and his plans for California if elected. 

Rogers is a strong advocate for single-payer health care, which he thinks is cheaper and fairer than the current system. 

“There’s no reason, in the richest state in the richest country in the world, that people should be going broke just because they’re sick,” Rogers said. 

About 30 people showed up to the meeting, mostly retired professionals and activists. Reactions to Rogers were positive, though many were disappointed in how unlikely it seemed that a single-payer health care would ever be implemented. 

“I’d like to see universal health care before I die,” one elderly member of the audience joked. 

Rogers is from Santa Rosa, where he was on the city council and served as mayor. Rogers announced his candidacy last year. He beat five other Democratic candidates to make it on the ticket this November. 

Rogers stressed his rural background and promised that he’d push for more equitable treatment of less-populated areas. 

“There’s no one-size-fits-all approach that will work for everyone,” Rogers said at the meeting. “That doesn’t work.”

Rogers faces Republican candidate Michael Greer, a member of the board of directors of the Del Norte School District on the Nov. 5 ballot.

PREVIOUSLY:

• Eureka Police Seek Suspect Involved in This Morning’s Stabbing at Del Norte Pier

Press release from the Eureka Police Department:

On September 21, 2024 at approximately 10:45 a.m., Eureka Police Officers were dispatched to the foot of Del Norte Street in Eureka on a report of a stabbing. Officers arrived on scene and located the male victim who was suffering from multiple stab wounds. The victim was transported to a local hospital for significant injuries that required emergency surgery but is currently in stable condition.

The investigation to this point has revealed that an altercation took place between at least two individuals over a bicycle. During the altercation, the victim was stabbed multiple times with what has been described as a handheld gardening rake. The victim’s bicycle was stolen during the altercation and the suspect was last seen riding the bike south on the Hikshari trail from W. Del Norte.

The investigation has been turned over to EPD’s Criminal Investigations Unit. So far, details are limited to uninvolved witness statements as the victim has been uncooperative with investigators. However, EPD does believe that the victim knew the suspect.

This is an ongoing and active investigation and EPD is asking anyone that may have information about this assault to contact Detective Donald Bailey at 707-441-4300.

Jessica Alvarez Castañeda was sick of low-paying jobs. For years, the 39-year-old mother of four had been “breaking her back for almost nothing” as a cashier, nursing assistant, babysitter, house cleaner and cook.

She was familiar with the skilled trades, which include careers such as carpentry, roofing and painting, because her three brothers worked as pipefitters.

But she hadn’t seriously considered pursuing a trade herself until 2022, when she learned that a friend of a friend — also a woman — had completed a training program to become a sheet metal apprentice.

“I had grabbed a hammer before, but I mean, that’s pretty much it,” said Alvarez Castañeda, who lives in Mountain View, with a laugh. “That was my major concern, that I wasn’t going to be strong enough when I’d be expected to do the same work as a man.”

Women make up about 11% of the construction industry nationally, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, underrepresented for reasons such as misperceptions of the industry, family pressures, and treatment in the workplace. But many California trades provide six-figure salaries within a few years, along with health benefits, a pension and union representation — an attractive career path as women increasingly serve as family breadwinners.

With funding from California’s Department of Industrial Relations, training programs and building trades councils are trying to increase the number of women and nonbinary people in a workforce historically dominated by men. They are finding success with targeted recruitment, childcare stipends and one-on-one mentoring.

Alvarez Castañeda signed up for the Trades Orientation Program, hosted by Santa Clara County nonprofit Working Partnerships USA. The program’s yearly enrollment of 90 to 100 people is now about one-third women, said Louise Auerhahn, the nonprofit’s director of economic and workforce policy, a big jump from just one woman in the pilot 2014 class who “was there because her boyfriend was there, too.”

“We’ve found that because there is such a social stricture that says construction is for men, you have to be really up front about, ‘This is for women, and that’s who we’re looking for,’” Auerhahn said. Working Partnerships USA now creates separate fliers, social media ads, photo campaigns and recruitment events to target women and nonbinary people.

But introducing women to the trades is just the first hurdle. Research shows that difficulty finding childcare is a central reason that women consider leaving the trades, creating a “massive barrier” to retention, said Beli Acharya, executive director of Construction Trades Workforce Initiative, a nonprofit that works with building trades councils, unions, and community organizations in Alameda, Napa, Contra Costa and Solano counties. California is among the most expensive states for childcare.

Pre-apprenticeship participants of the Trades Orientation Program in Santa Clara County at the Ironworkers Training Center of San Jose City College in San Jose on Sept. 17, 2024. Photo by Laure Andrillon for CalMatters

“So much of the industry’s collective efforts has been, ‘Hey, let’s get them in,’ but a lot of folks are dropping out after the first or second year of being an apprentice, and we’re not really achieving the ultimate goal of getting more women in leadership,” Acharya said. “Contractors are trying to figure out how to deal with it, unions are trying to figure out how to deal with it, because if we’re going to try and target more women, we need to address the needs of women.”

That challenge has prompted new efforts, fueled by the Department of Industrial Relations’ Equal Representation in Construction Apprenticeship or “ERiCA” grants, to provide childcare to those most in need. Between 2023 and 2025, the department awarded $2.1 million to the Construction Trades Workforce Initiative to identify around 200 single-parent apprentices and pre-apprentices to receive between $5,000 and $10,000 in childcare support.

Fifty-six people have received Construction Trades Workforce Initiative’s stipends so far, more than half of whom are women.

Sharon Brown, a 40-year-old painting apprentice from Oakland and a single parent to three kids, received an $8,000 stipend from the nonprofit. The stipend allowed Brown to hire a consistent caregiver to bring her six-year-old daughter to and from school during her early-morning shifts, rather than relying on family.

The stable routine has “helped in ways that I couldn’t even imagine,” Brown said, in part because her daughter is on the autism spectrum and nonverbal. Recently, the caregiver and her daughter came up with a personal handshake. “To see her remember the handshake and actually execute it out, it’s like — wow. It’s really paying off, the time you’re spending with her,” Brown said. “I can’t stop thinking about, what would it be like if I didn’t have this person to help?”

First: Emily Morse raises her hand to ask a question during class at San Jose City College in San Jose on Sept. 17, 2024. Last: Instructor Tom Ward welcomes Felicia Preston, a carpenter and a graduate of the Trades Orientation Program, as she shares her experience with current students, during a class at San Jose City College in San Jose on Sept. 17, 2024. Photos by Laure Andrillon for CalMatters

Organizations are also embracing mentorship for women. Tradeswomen, Inc., a Bay Area-based nonprofit, recruits women into pre-apprenticeship programs and guides them throughout the entire job-seeking process. “God’s honest truth, you’re going to face some discrimination, and we want you to be prepared,” said Felicia Hall, Tradeswomen Inc.’s workforce development manager. “We’re still there for them, we’re holding their hand, being their motivation and support system.”

During her pre-apprenticeship, Alvarez Castañeda likewise received a female mentor who helped her with apprenticeship practice tests, coached her through career decisions, and brought her on a last-minute trip to buy work boots and equipment when she began her sheet metal apprenticeship.

Alvarez Castañeda is on track to make $36 hourly this year — up from $26 hourly in her most recent job as a cook at Google’s Sunnyvale campus — and is building a pension. Plus, her two daughters think her job is “cool,” she added.

For women who are considering entering the trades, “Don’t think that you can’t do it,” Alvarez Castañeda said, “because you can.”

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Financial support for this story was provided by the Smidt Foundation and The James Irvine Foundation.

CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Californians for the past 54 years have relied on the state’s “lemon law” to fight back against car makers that sell them defective vehicles.Now, critics say Californians’ ability to recoup their money after buying a clunker could become more difficult, due to a hastily passed bill that lobbyists representing U.S. auto manufacturers and powerful attorneys groups drafted in secret.

Gov. Gavin Newsom hasn’t signed or vetoed Assembly Bill 1755. His spokesperson, Brandon Richards, on Friday said “the measure will be evaluated on its merits” before Newsom’s Sept. 30 bill-signing deadline.

But how the bill came to end up on his desk is the latest example of how influential lobbying groups write laws impacting millions of Californians behind closed doors — and how the measures are often passed with little time for public input or legislative debate.

“There wasn’t a single person who represents the people of California who knew about this and was a part of those conversations – for months,” Democratic San Ramon Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan told her colleagues on the Assembly Judiciary Committee last month in the final days of the legislative session.

“They dropped this in our lap, and they expect us to buy an argument related to the urgency that feels, to be honest, not real. And we’re supposed to move this in a week’s time.”

The bill seeks to address a massive uptick in lemon law lawsuits clogging the state’s court system, but it started out earlier in the session as a measure dealing with child support.

Then on August 20, with less than two weeks left in the session, the bill was stripped through the secretive “gut-and-amend” process. Its language was replaced with a 4,200-word bill that seeks to reform how lemon law disputes are resolved. The bill is so complicated its legislative analysis, which lawmakers should read to fully understand a measure’s consequences, was more than 10,000 words.

Former Los Angeles Democratic Assemblymember Mike Gatto said it’s unlikely that lawmakers actually read all that in those final chaotic days of the session with hundreds of other consequential bills still pending.

“Unfortunately, when the Legislature makes complex policy like that with great haste, it increases the reliance on non-elected personnel,” Gatto said. “And it increases the reliance on special interest groups who tell the legislators what the legislation contains. It’s very hard during that chaotic last week of session to, you know, be able to review things of great length like that.”

Downey Democratic Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco, an attorney, told her Judiciary Committee colleagues she wasn’t comfortable voting for the bill because she wasn’t sure what it would do.“I want to make sure that consumers are protected as well,” she said. “Those are our constituents. And so that is what we really should be caring about. And I don’t know if consumers are really protected.”

Lawmakers acknowledge secret negotiations

The bill by two Democrats, Santa Ana Sen. Tom Umberg and San Jose Assemblymember Ash Kalra, nonetheless easily passed the Assembly committee, as well as the full Assembly and Senate.

Umberg’s office declined to answer CalMatters’ questions about the bill. Kalra’s office replied to an interview request with an emailed statement.

“AB 1755 went through the full legislative process with two robust committee hearings, consideration of amendments and all procedural steps,” Kalra said. “Despite concerns over process, the vast majority of members in both houses concluded this was a better policy for consumers and we could build upon the policy framework in subsequent years.”

Kalra acknowledged in his testimony that the measure was a product of negotiations between the groups behind the bill.

“AB 1755 represents a compromise between the consumer attorneys, (civil) defense attorneys, and some auto manufacturers, most notably General Motors,” Kalra told the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

Opposing the bill were Tesla and foreign auto companies including Volkswagen and Toyota as well as consumer groups such as the Consumer Federation of America, the Center for Auto Safety, and Consumers For Auto Reliability and Safety, according to the Digital Democracy database.

Sen. Roger Niello, a Republican whose family owns car dealerships in the Sacramento area, said he was troubled that the bill split groups that are typically aligned on legislation.“My concern about this bill is the process by which it was developed,” Niello told his colleagues on the Senate floor. “And all you have to look at to question that is the support and opposition. This is very unusual. We don’t see this very often. … We have people, organizations from similar sources with opposite views on this. There’s something wrong with that.”

Assemblymember Ash Kalra at the state Capitol in Sacramento on June 13, 2023. Photo by Semantha Norris, CalMatters.

The alliances were unpredictable. Consumer attorneys fed up with clogged courts backed the bill, while consumer advocates opposed it. And while U.S. carmakers lobbied for it, foreign automakers argued it didn’t go far enough and was too friendly toward trial attorneys.

As Kalra and Umberg pitched their bill to lawmakers in those frantic, waning days of the session, they said AB 1755 would address a growing backlog of lemon law cases that have been increasingly causing havoc in the state’s civil court system.

The number of lemon law cases in California courts climbed from nearly 15,000 filings in 2022 to more than 22,000 last year. In Los Angeles County, nearly 10% of all civil filings are now lemon law cases, according to the bill’s analysis.

The growing caseload is driven by a handful of aggressive law firms that file most of the suits, according to the Civil Justice Association of California. The association wasn’t listed as having a position on the bill in the Digital Democracy database.

“What it does is it reduces the number of filings, which I think logically would lead you to believe that it also reduces the amount of money spent on lawyers,” Umberg told the Senate last month.

The California Judges Association also supported the bill.

Will lemon law bill make it harder for vehicle owners?

Under the proposed law, starting next year, auto companies and car buyers would be required to try to settle their disputes through mediation before beginning the “discovery” process that takes place after a lawsuit is filed.

Discovery is when the parties in a lawsuit gather evidence from each other that they think they’ll need to prove their case. The proposed law also sets rules for what evidence can be requested. One of the reasons the courts are so backlogged from lemon law cases is due to tedious discovery hearings, the bill’s advocates say.It also would shorten the window during which a consumer can sue over a detective vehicle.

Umberg, a former federal prosecutor, and Kalra, a former public defender and law professor, told their colleagues that consumers would still be able to get their money back from a defective car. They argued that California’s lemon law, which Gov. Ronald Reagan signed in 1970, still would be stronger than that of any other state.

But Rosemary Shahan, president of Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, said the bill would harm car owners stuck with a lemon vehicle in several ways.

It would limit the amount of “negative equity” refunds consumers could get for their defective car, and it would shorten the period in which consumers can use the lemon law to just six years, even when their warranty lasts longer, she said.

“This is a big deal for folks who pay extra for a vehicle with a warranty from the manufacturer, in order to avoid getting hit with a large unexpected repair bill,” she said in an email.

California State Senator Thomas Umberg speaks before the Senate Judiciary Committee about SB1338, the Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court Program on April 26, 2022, in Sacramento. Photo by Fred Greaves for CalMatters

The bill also would require that consumers notify their manufacturer in writing that their car is a lemon, instead of just taking it into a dealer for repairs and starting the process of getting their money back there, she said.

It also would limit the amount of time a consumer can file a lemon lawsuit from four years after a claim is filed to just a year from the expiration of a vehicle’s warranty, she said.“This would make it easier for unscrupulous auto manufacturers to get away with doing cheap ‘Band-Aid’ type repairs – instead of fixing the underlying problem – until the warranty expires,” leaving consumers on the hook for a massive bill, she said.

The bill’s supporters include General Motors, Stellantis (formerly Chrysler) and Ford Motor Company, as well as RV manufacturers.

Combined, Ford and GM have given sitting lawmakers at least $1.5 million since 2015, according to the Digital Democracy database.The Consumer Attorneys of California has given at least $2.2 million during the same period.

The bill “addresses urgent procedural problems with how lemon law cases are handled in the state of California, while keeping our lemon law the strongest in the nation,” Nancy Drabble, a lobbyist for Consumer Attorneys of California, told lawmakers last month.

She argued that the proposed revision would be an improvement for car buyers since it would shorten the window that auto companies must respond to a consumer complaint to just 30 days, and it would require car companies to fix a defective car or replace it within 30 days after that.“I think you will see an increase in buybacks of vehicles within that 60-day period, which will not even have a lawsuit filed,” lobbyist Michael Belote told lawmakers, saying he represented GM.

‘Transparency suffers’ when lawmakers rush

In an interview Friday, Belote said his lobbying firm also represents other parties involved in the negotiations, and he was speaking to CalMatters on those groups’ behalf – and not GM’s.

Belote said he rejects “the premise that it watered down the lemon law.”

He said the law itself wouldn’t change. All the bill does, he said, is set clear rules for consumers and for auto companies that will reduce time-consuming court hearings, cut down on plaintiffs’ attorney fees and speed up the process of resolving disputes.

“There is a strong reason to believe that this will get consumers what they need more quickly,” he said, “And what they need … is a car to get to work and get their kids to school.”

But why the rush? Why not wait until January when lawmakers reconvene for the new two-year session — when they could fully vet and debate the bill?

One reason was proponents had threatened to take their case to voters. Belote and Shahan said that as part of their proposed ballot initiative, the groups threatened to put a 20% cap on the fees lawyers could collect from lemon law cases, creating a financial incentive for the attorneys’ groups to negotiate with the car makers.

Belote also disputed the suggestion that lawmakers didn’t know what they were voting on.

“There was an enormous lobbying campaign on both sides that hit, I believe, every member of the Legislature repeatedly in a very short time,” he said. “There was, you know, really a tsunami of information for legislators who had lots of questions that were answered.”

Regardless of whether lawmakers fully grasped the issue, any time complicated legislation such as AB 1755 gets rushed through at the last minute, it harms the Legislature’s credibility and makes it harder for voters to trust their elected leaders, said Gatto, the former lawmaker.

“Transparency suffers,” he said, “And all the different stakeholders that keep the Legislature honest, whether it’s the electorate or the media, it makes it a lot harder for us to do our jobs.”

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.