Assembly candidate dies + Bill closing ‘loophole’ to be heard + Help honor AAPI change makers

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

GOP ASSEMBLY CANDIDATE ERIC RIGARD DIES

Republican Assembly District 10 candidate Eric Rigard has died, age 65.

His wife, Jacqueline Rigard, announced his death in a June 21 Facebook post. The cause of death remains unclear.

Eric Rigard had been running in third place, behind Democrats Stephanie Nguyen and Eric Guerra in the race for the Assembly seat that covers Elk Grove and parts of Sacramento.

Both Democrats took to Twitter last week to offer their condolences to Rigard’s family and friends.

“Today, I received a sad news that Eric Rigard, Assembly District 10 candidate, suddenly passed away. While we disagreed on many issues and did not share the same political ideology, I am deeply saddened by his passing,” Nguyen wrote in a tweet. “Eric Rigard was a strong community member and was doing his best to make our community a better place to live. I send my deepest condolences to his family and friends through this difficult time. May he Rest In Peace.”

Guerra wrote in a tweet that he had “a heavy heart” at the news.

“He was a compassionate man who was devoted to his community and his faith. I had nothing but the utmost respect for his dedication and service - his passing is a loss for us all,” Guerra wrote. “My deepest condolences to his family and friends, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.”

BILL TO CLOSE RECORDING INDUSTRY ‘LOOPHOLE’ TO BE HEARD TUESDAY

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday is set to hear testimony on AB 983, originally authored by former Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, and now authored by Assemblyman Ash Kalra, D-San Jose.

AB 983 grants recording artists the protection of California’s “Seven Year Rule” that limits personal services contracts in the state to that length, according to bill supporters.

“Record labels hold significant bargaining leverage compared to artists,” write economists Hal Singer and Ted Tatos, in a statement provided by Steven Maviglio. “While an artist may choose to go elsewhere to obtain better royalty payments, these departures apply to future albums. Labels generally own the copyrights in an artist’s albums and, as a result, royalty payments for past albums still remain under the control of the previous record label. Only by staying with that label instead of going elsewhere can the artist renegotiate those terms.

“Thus, the artist remains ‘locked-in’ with respect to albums she has already created for the record label. Further, an artist’s production over seven years offers a sufficient period for the recording label to recoup any investment, particularly given the fact that the label can continue profiting from these recordings after this period.”

Singer and Tatos, the latter of whom is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, note that the Beatles wrote their entire catalog over seven years; Led Zeppelin did seven of eight albums in seven years; The Doors released eight of nine albums over a five-year period.

The bill is opposed by the California Music Coalition, a recording industry-backed group which wrote in a legislative analysis of the bill that AB 983 will undercut California’s music economy in several ways, including by eliminating a recording company’s ability to recover damages if an artist breaches their contract and disincentivizing risk taking “and putting a thumb on the scale of for commercial acts and established stars.”

“The bill represents a purported ‘solution’ in search of a nonexistent problem and risks doing severe harm just as our state’s music community is starting to enjoy real momentum after years of decline. California is today an undisputed music capital of the world. The current system is producing the highest artist advances and royalties for artists in the history of the music business, with a record number of new artists choosing a diverse number of options with record labels,” the group wrote.

HELP US HONOR AAPI CHANGEMAKERS

Via service journalism reporter Hanh Truong...

Individuals in the Asian American community throughout the region have invigorated Sacramento with their vision, authenticity and creativity. We want to honor them.

These leaders walk among us everyday.

They’re educators teaching in classrooms, artists dousing the city in color, entrepreneurs creating jobs, doctors saving lives and legislators writing new laws.

In partnership with Nehemiah Emerging Leaders Program, The Bee is seeking nominations for top AAPI change makers in the Sacramento area.

Candidates should be problem solvers who find solutions to critical issues through community organization, education, arts and entertainment, entrepreneurship, law, medicine and health care, science, politics, nonprofit leadership, or activism.

You can send your nominations here.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Want to know what you can do to impact the coming election? Find an 18-25 year old. You know some - family, family friend, neighbor - make sure they’re registered and make it your mission to see that they vote.”

- California GOP consultant Mike Madrid, via Twitter.

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• California will become the first state to remove immigration status as a barrier to health care, making all low-income undocumented residents eligible for state-subsidized insurance regardless of age, via Mathew Miranda.

• The mother of three girls who were killed by their father at an Arden Arcade church publicly spoke out on Monday, her first remarks since her children were shot Feb. 28. Around 50 people attended a news conference Monday at the Capitol in support of a bill that would force family court judges to learn more about domestic violence, with the aim of applying that to contested custody cases, via Ariane Lange.

• One of California’s closest November races for the United States House of Representatives is set, via Gillian Brassil.