SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In his second State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Joe Biden recognized California hero Brandon Tsay for stopping the Monterey Park mass shooter from continuing his spree.
“He wrestled the semi automatic pistol away from the gunman who had already killed 11 people in another dance studio," Biden said. "He saved lives. It's time we do the same. Ban assault weapons now!”
UC San Diego Political Science Professor Thad Kousser said California has already done it.
“California has a set of gun control laws that are the strongest in the nation, including an assault rifle ban, which is something he called for at the national level,” Kousser said.
Biden also called for higher taxes on the rich.
“Pass my proposal for the billionaire minimum tax," Biden said.
Taxing the rich is part of California's tax structure.
“We've passed many taxes in the last few years, often through the initiative process, on high income earners millionaires," Kousser said. "That's what Joe Biden, that's part of his overall tax and spending package that he floated was keeping taxes the same for people making under 400,000, but let's tax the rich. That's again, putting him just in line with where blue California has been over the past decade.”
Biden urged Congress to protect abortion rights.
“Congress must restore the right that was taken away in Roe v Wade, and protect Roe v Wade," Biden said.
California enshrined the right to abortion in November.
Some proposals the president mentioned, like the one dealing with social media, are in the works in the Golden state.
“We must finally hold social media companies accountable for experimenting or running children for profit," Biden said.
But there are some limitations to going all the way with that in California.
“California lawmakers have been reticent to take some of the strongest actions against social media because they're worried about killing the golden goose, " Kousser said. "Let's face it, these tech giants, Meta in Palo Alto, they are part of what feeds California's tax base, what feeds the job base of the Bay Area, and they wield a lot of influence because California lawmakers know that they're responsible for a lot of the well being of their constituents back in their home districts.”
In his speech, Biden also said workers have a right to form a union.
"I'm so sick and tired of companies breaking the law by preventing workers from organizing," Biden said.
Biden weighed in on a controversial bill last year that allowed Farmworkers to more easily unionize, and Newsom eventually signed it into law.
California has some of the most union friendly laws in the nation, but last year there was also an attempt to allow the staff that work within the Capitol to unionize, and failed.
Kousser said it can’t hurt that the president, in a way, chimed in.
WATCH RELATED: President Biden's State of the Union Address key moments (Feb. 2023).