Friday marks the last day that the California State Legislature can send bills to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his signature. Below are some of the highlights from this legislative session, including bills that have already been signed into law, are awaiting signature or are in limbo until next year.
Health
SB 24: State lawmakers are expected to pass a bill that would require student health centers at all 34 state campuses to provide medication abortions.
If the measure becomes law, it will be the first of its kind in the U.S. The bill’s supporters say they want to remove the obstacles women face accessing medical abortion off campus.
While a consortium of women’s groups that support abortion rights has promised to pay for all the required ultrasound equipment and upfront training costs of providing the abortion pill on campus, eventually universities would likely need to dip into tax dollars or student fees for ongoing costs — which abortion opponents object to.
SB 276/SB 714: California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a pair of bills into law earlier this week to crack down on doctors who write fraudulent medical exemptions for schoolchildren’s vaccinations.
The news laws would create state oversight of medical exemptions for vaccines required by most schools and day care centers in California. Under them, the state would begin collecting medical exemptions electronically by Jan. 1, 2021. But health department officials would review them only when a school’s immunization rate falls below 95% or when a doctor writes more than five medical exemptions per year (beginning in 2020).
The laws would also allow officials to revoke any medical exemptions written by doctors who have faced disciplinary action.
Since being introduced last year, hundreds of parents have protested the legislation, insisting it would disrupt confidential doctor-patient relationships and scare doctors from writing new exemptions.
SB 343: Under legislation signed into law last week, Kaiser Permanente will have to share more information — like other insurers do — on revenue and expenses at each of its facilities, The Sacramento Bee reported. The legislation was introduced on behalf of Kaiser’s largest union, the Service Employees International Union, which has been in contract negotiations for roughly a year.
Housing
AB 1482 marks the biggest victory for California renter protections in decades. It would create a statewide limit on rent increases of 5% plus inflation, and requires that landlords provide a “just cause” when evicting tenants who have been renting for a year. The limits on rent hikes don’t go nearly as far as local rent control laws in places like San Francisco and Oakland, but it would cover millions of Californians whose units don’t already have such protections.
The measure exempts units under 15 years old, but it was opposed by real estate agents who argued that the legislation would discourage construction of rental housing. Newsom has committed to signing the bill, which will sunset after 10 years.
AB 1487, which has been sent to Newsom, would allow for a Bay Area regional ballot measure to raise money for affordable housing. Previous measures on ballots in the nine counties have raised taxes to pay for transportation and bay restoration. The executive board of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) would decide what form a potential revenue-raising measure would take.
SB 330, which has been sent to Newsom, would prohibit local governments from downzoning by either placing a moratorium on development or lowering the number of housing units permitted. It also would speed up the permitting process for development. The provision sunsets after five years.
Law Enforcement
SB 230: Newsom has signed this bill, meant to reduce the use of force among law enforcement agencies, into law.
The new law requires agencies to maintain a policy providing guidelines on the use of force. That policy must also include de-escalation techniques and other alternatives to force, and specific guidelines for when deadly force can be used. In addition, the agencies’ policies must include a way to evaluate and review all use- of-force incidents.
SB 230 is meant to be used in conjunction with AB 392, which Newsom signed into law in August. It states law enforcement can use deadly force only when “necessary,” rather than just “reasonable.”
AB 61 would expand the scope of people able to request a gun violence restraining order against a person they believe is a danger to themselves or others. Currently, only immediate family members and police are allowed to make a request. This measure would allow employers, co-workers, schoolteachers and employees to request a restraining order as well. The legislation has been sent to Newsom for his signature.
AB 1215 places a three-year ban on the use of facial recognition technology on body cameras by the state and local law enforcement agencies.
The bill was supported by the ACLU, which said the technology is not ready for prime time. To prove its point, the ACLU entered photos of all 120 state legislators into a database of mugshots. The software incorrectly identified 26 of the lawmakers as criminals.
San Francisco and Oakland have already passed similar legislation. The bill has been sent to Newsom for his signature.
Prisons
AB 32 would ban the use of private for-profit prisons and detention centers in California.
Bill author Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) said there’s no room for the facilities in the state. “California should not be home to companies that are profiteering from the tearing of innocent children from their families. This is inhumane and goes against who we are as Californians and Americans,” Bonta said.
Critics say the measure would reduce the state’s options for dealing with prison overcrowding and put more pressure on local jails to hold dangerous inmates. The legislation has been sent to Newsom for his signature.
SB 132, which would allow transgender prisoners in the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to be housed according to their gender identity, and not their sex assigned at birth, will be carried over to the next session.
California would be the third state in the nation to pass such legislation.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco, said the coalition supporting the legislation had decided to make it a two-year bill so they could “come to a solution that works for” the community, CDCR and Newsom.
“Transgender people in our prison system are among the most marginalized people in society, and we must protect them,” he said Friday in a statement. “Over the fall recess, I will join community leaders to visit several state prisons to meet with transgender people who are incarcerated there. This listening tour will help us craft the best legislation possible.”
The Environment
AB 1080 and SB 54: The legislation is the most significant environmental legislation of the year. If passed, the plastic pollution rules will be the strongest in the U.S.
The plan requires plastics manufacturers to take responsibility for the fate of their products — from coffee cup lids to takeout boxes to plastic packaging.
Businesses must ensure that plastic forks, for example, are recyclable or face a potential ban. All of the state’s single-use plastic utensils must be recyclable or compostable by 2030, and companies must reduce waste from plastic packaging by 75%.
Wildfires
SB 160: This bill mandates that counties include “cultural competence” into emergency plans. It’s partially a response to elderly and non-English-speaking residents who missed emergency alerts during the state’s recent wildfires.
The bill, which has been sent to Newsom for his signature, calls for local communities to hold public forums that represent residents of many backgrounds when counties plan their emergency protocols.
SB 520 would give utilities like PG&E the designation of “provider of last resort” in the areas they serve. Utilities already enjoy that privilege in practice, but the law sponsored by Sen. Robert Hertzberg would enshrine it in the law.
Critics say the bill could limit the options that cities and counties have to wrest control from utilities and run them municipally, and limit opportunities for community choice aggregation just as they are starting to thrive. The legislation has been sent to Newsom for his signature.
Other Notable Bills
SB 206: NBA icon LeBron James threw his weight behind SB 206, the “Fair Pay to Play” bill by East Bay Sen. Nancy Skinner that would allow student-athletes at all four-year colleges in California to sign endorsement deals and receive compensation for the use of their names, images or likenesses.
But NCAA President Mark Emmert wrote in a letter to Newsom that signing the legislation could make it “impossible to host fair national championships.” He also implied that if the bill became law, athletes at California schools could be barred from competing in NCAA national championships.
Nonetheless, the Senate and the Assembly passed the bill without any opposition. Now — will LeBron be there for the bill signing?
AB 44: Anti-fur advocates have long sought a ban on killing animals for their fur. And if Newsom signs this bill, which he said he will in a tweet, California will become the first state in the nation to ban the creation of new fur products. Republican critics said the state was once again telling Californians what they can and cannot do (the nanny state argument) and that it was disrespectful to Native Americans, whose cultures value fur. The mink, rabbit and coyote communities are no doubt pleased.
SB 313: Another victory for furry citizens of California, this bill would ban the use of wild animals in circus acts, including bears, elephants, tigers and monkeys. If signed by Newsom, California will become the third state after New Jersey and Hawaii to enact such a ban.
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