AB 5, a new Assembly bill by Tom Ammiano, aims at decriminalizing homelessness. Titled The Homeless Person’s Bill of Rights and Fairness Act, the bill aims at providing legal representation against quality of life offenses, access to social services, and the right to rest in public spaces and in their cars around the clock.
The California Progress Report sees this bill as a prison reform bill as much as a civil rights issue.
When stripped of the rhetoric, it seems that Ammiano is trying to override municipal sit/lie ordinances, whose impact on the homeless population has been heavily protested against both in cities in which they passed (like San Francisco) and where they failed (like Berkeley in the last election.)
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Props to Eric Chase for the link.
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AMEN!