Eureka, CA: Opposition to Bill 1040-CS reaches boiling point

Eureka, CA – Over the past two months, a community members have been voicing their serious concerns over Bill No. 1040-C.S., a bill that would make camping and resting in public spaces punishable by misdemeanor. It would also put law enforcement in charge of a “rehabilitation” program called LEAD, or Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion, which could lead to the misdemeanor being dropped if the arrestee completes the program.

While the Eureka city council claims that the program will provide opportunities for the homeless population, this has come under scrutiny from social workers, community members and local organizations alike.

Rick Toledo, a organizer from Students for a Democratic Society at Cal Poly Humboldt (SDS Humboldt) voiced his organization’s strong opposition to the bill, stating, “According to the Eureka city council, the proposed LEAD program can only manage ten cases at a time, but we have over 650 homeless people in Eureka. Since the proposed program would give everyone arrested a misdemeanor charge, and only ten people the opportunity to remove it at a time, it effectively criminalizes homelessness.

Toledo continued, “This also creates a greater risk to homeless community members who are suffering from mental health or substance abuse issues. Nearly half of all people who are killed by police have a mental health disability; so, putting police in charge of their supposed ‘safety’ and ‘rehabilitation’ is completely void of morality and absolutely inexcusable.”

SDS Humboldt has also made it clear that their organization will work to pursue litigation against the city of Eureka if Bill 1040-C.S. is passed.

Local social workers and social work students have also begun organizing around this issue, taking strong stances against the bill. Seth Geddes, former owner of the Beneficial Living Center, and a social work graduate student at Cal Poly Humboldt, had this to say, “This ordinance criminalizes basic human acts like sitting or lying down, affecting not just unhoused individuals, but everyone’s lawful use of public space for everyday behavior. It relies on unchecked police discretion to selectively enforce through profiling, violating the Equal Protection Clause and Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Similar laws have failed in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, where costly enforcement did nothing to reduce homelessness.”

Amy Scott and Anna Amezcua have also been actively opposing the bill in city council meetings and working to bring the community together to put a swift end to it. Scott stated, “When it comes to the criminalization of homelessness, the recommendations from research and policy orgs are unanimous – these kinds of ordinances are not just cruel, but ineffective, inefficient and costly! They exacerbate the problems communities experience, make it harder for services to be received, and are three to four times as expensive as what actually works: supportive affordable housing. It’s not rocket science – housing, not handcuffs.”

While the city of Eureka posits itself as a leader in supporting local indigenous peoples, they do not address the fact that a large number of the homeless population in their city are from these communities.

Amezcua states, “It’s estimated that between 20-30% of the unhoused population in Eureka is Native American, a gross overrepresentation of a population that makes up only around 6% of the current population in the county. The sickening irony is that there are multiple people in the city government who are still pushing to make it illegal for anyone to sit and rest in Eureka.”

Amezcua continued, “While proposed ordinance 1040 C.S., the “no camping, sitting or lying” bill, will most likely only be used asymmetrically to make the lives of our unhoused community members more difficult than they already are, which alone should outrage all of us in its unconstitutionality, the bill leaves much up to the discretion of law enforcement, and at any point could be used against any citizen or visitor, at the whim of anyone in power, now or in the future.”

Amezcua went on to say the solution to this problem lies in initiatives to provide more housing and resources to the unhoused population, and not in the criminalization of their community.

A march will be taking place from the Halvorsen Community Park Amphitheater to Eureka City Hall on May 20 at 4 p.m. Once there, all participants are encouraged to voice their opposition to Bill 1040-C.S. during the 6 p.m. Eureka city council meeting.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) is a national student-led organization, with over 40 chapters across the country. They organize around social justice, economic, anti-genocide and anti-war campaigns on our campuses and within our communities.

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