California State Senate Judiciary Committee chairwoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) announced Thursday that only “gender neutral” pronouns will be permitted during committee hearings. No more will Sen. Jackson allow “he” or “she” to be used when referring to a male or female; “they” will be the only allowed pronoun.

Acknowledging this incorrect grammar, Jackson said since California passed a law recognizing the non-binary designation as a gender, “he and she, we are now merging them so we are using what my grammar teacher would have had a heart attack over: we are using the phrase ‘they’ and replacing other designations so it’s a gender neutral designation.”

“In the spirit of gender neutrality for the rules of this committee, we now designate the chair as ‘they,’” Jackson said, referring to herself as “they.” Or should we say “oneself,” referring to a gender neutral subject with a reflexive pronoun? And isn’t Sen. Jackson a “chairwoman” and not a “chair?”

As silly as this sounds, Sen. Jackson has the authority to make this change. Pursuant to the California Constitution, the Legislature has authority to do what they want for their committee rules.