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Friday marks the Legislature’s house of origin deadline, which means it’s the last day for Assembly bills to pass through the Assembly, and for Senate bills to pass through the Senate.
You ready for this? Here’s a quick, incomplete snapshot of some of the bills from San Diego lawmakers that made it through the deadline. (Reminder: Plenty of bills have already passed through, this is just a roundup of the ones that have passed in this week’s last-minute flurry.)
From Sen. Joel Anderson:
SB 156 makes information regarding citizenship obtainment more accessible to non-citizens who serve or have served in the armed forces.
SB 336 provides exit services for the wrongfully incarcerated.
From Sen. Toni Atkins:
SB 179 would create a third gender marker on state-issued identification documents for people who identify as nonbinary.
SB 223 requires all health plans in California to meet certain standards, regardless of what happens to the Affordable Care Act.
SB 310 establishes the right of people in state prisons and county jails to access the courts to obtain a name or gender change.
SB 379 clarifies rules for schools that offer free oral-health assessments.
SB 562 establishes a single-payer health care system in California.
SB 587 allows certain probation officers to display blue warning lights on their vehicles when responding to emergencies.
SB 625 re-establishes an “honorable discharge” program for juvenile offenders.
SB 667 enables the Riverine Stewardship Assistance Program, which supports waterway restoration efforts.
From Sen. Ben Hueso:
SB 649 establishes a statewide framework for streamlining the permitting process of small cell wireless facilities.
From Assemblyman Rocky Chavez:
AB 547 requires state agencies to pay certified Disabled Veteran Business Enterprises within 30 days of receiving a properly completed and undisputed invoice.
From Assemblyman Todd Gloria:
AB 607 ensures public assistance recipients can still receive benefits if they’re displaced from their homes by a natural disaster.
AB 1151 requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to take steps to protect the endangered vaquita porpoise.
AB 1406 would create a state Homeless Youth Housing Program that would provide grant funding to groups focusing on ending youth homelessness.
From Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher:
AB 216 requires county election officials to distribute vote-by-mail ballots with the postage already paid.
AB 480 adds diapers to the category of expenses that can be reimbursed for parents enrolled in California’s welfare-to-work program.
AB 569 prohibits employers from taking action against employees based on employees’ reproductive health decisions.
AB 570 strikes a provision of state workers’ compensation laws that allow physicians to assign a portion of a woman’s injury to a current or prior pregnancy.
AB 668 calls for $450 million in bonds to upgrade California’s voting systems. (The bond would still require voter approval as well.)
AB 746 requires school districts to test for lead contamination in their water supplies, and to notify parents if any lead is discovered.
AB 805 reforms the SANDAG board and voting structure.
AB 1070 establishes consumer protections for Californians who purchase solar power systems.
AB 1099 requires ridesharing apps to include the option to tip drivers.
AB 1209 requires large companies to report salary data to the secretary of state.
AB 1221 directs the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control to develop a training program for alcohol servers.
AB 1312 creates a Sexual Assault Victims Bill of Rights.
AB 1485 would create the nation’s first body overseeing the health and safety of college athletes.
From Assemblyman Brian Maienschein:
AB 1006 requires agencies that work with foster children to provide mental health treatment information to prospective adoptive families.
From Assemblyman Randy Voepel:
AB 353 allows employers to give hiring preference to veterans.
AB 382 allows up to $1 million collected through the state’s new gas tax to be transferred from the State Parks and Recreation Fund to the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund to support off-road vehicle recreation.
From Assemblywoman Shirley Weber:
AB 90 reforms the CalGang database system.
AB 1220 reforms the process by which public school teachers gain tenure.
AB 1321 takes steps to ensure transparency in the Local Control Funding Formula process that funds K-12 schools, including requiring the reporting of per-pupil expenditures down to the school site, and developing standards for collecting and reporting the info.
No Drought of Water Use Bills
A few months after Gov. Jerry Brown ended the state’s multi-year drought emergency, lawmakers are trying to impose new regulations on water use for years to come.
A half dozen bills – all by Democrats, including one from the governor – could create new mandates for water use efficiency. Some of the bills are in direct conflict with others, so a group of Assembly members is trying to work out a compromise. The governor could also step in and jam something through on short notice as part of the budget.
On the tame side is AB 1323 by San Diego Assemblywoman Shirley Weber. Her bill, backed by the San Diego County Water Authority, requires the state Department of Water Resources to form a working group to recommend new water use targets and enforcement requirements to the Legislature.
On the tougher side is AB 1669 by Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, who represents Burbank and Glendale. Her bill gives the State Water Resources Control Board power to create new standards for indoor, outdoor and industrial water use.
“That’s one approach,” said Glenn Farrel, a San Diego County Water Authority lobbyist. “It’s not an approach we like.”
Instead, the agency wants most rules to be crafted by elected officials, rather than dictated by regulatory agencies. If local water agencies got to pick who regulated them, they’d pick the state Water Department, because the State Water Resources Control Board is considered a bigger fan of cutbacks.
While San Diego water officials have been criticized by environmentalists for fighting recent conservation requirements, water use in the region has declined even as the population has grown and the region never faced a water shortage despite a historic drought.
None of the bills on the table prevent the governor from ordering emergency water cuts in the future, as he did during the most recent drought.
– Ry Rivard
Golden State News
• California has the toughest bar exam in the nation. Opinions are starting to shift about whether that’s a good thing. (Wall Street Journal)
• End of an era alert: Dan Walters is leaving the Sacramento Bee. (Sac Bee)
• Three-fourths of black male students in California didn’t meet state reading and writing standards on the last round of tests. (CalMatters)
• The governors of California, New York and Washington have agreed to form a climate alliance in the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision to exit the Paris climate agreement. (Politico)
• “Increasingly fond of locally grown produce, Californians are far less enthusiastic about locally housed farmworkers.” (L.A. Times)