The California legislature is on summer recess until August. But before they left, there was a flurry of activity to meet a critical deadline: policy committees had to pass all bills to either the Appropriations Committee or to the floor of the current house.

Of the priority bills that we are following, the majority passed those deadlines and are now awaiting action in the Appropriations Committees of the second house (i.e., Assembly bills are in the Senate Appropriations Committee and vice versa).

Senate Appropriations Committee

Most of these bills are scheduled for a hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee on August 6, 2018. You can stream the gory details on The California Channel.

If your Senator is on this committee, it’s time to let them know how you want them to vote! There’s no need to call sponsors of the bill, so check the link before you call.

Police Reform

• AB 3131 – Gloria, Todd (D, AD 78) – Requires police and sheriffs to hold open public hearings and transparency reporting when acquiring military-grade equipment. We are proud to be co-sponsoring this bill with the ACLU of California Center for Advocacy & Policy, American Friends Service Committee, Friends Committee on Legislation, and Anti Police-Terror Project.
• AB 931 – Weber, Shirley N. (D, AD 79) – Permit lethal force by police only when it’s “necessary,” meaning when there’s no other way to prevent “imminent” injury

Gun Violence Prevention

• AB 3 – Bonta, Rob (D, AD 18) – Raises age to 21 for buying a gun and prohibits anyone from buying more than one gun per month

Criminal Justice Reform

• AB 1793 – Bonta, Rob (D, AD 18) – Allows automatic expungement or reduction of a prior cannabis conviction

Healthcare and Immigration

• AB 2965 – Arambula, Joaquin (D, AD 31) – Extends Medi-Cal to all those eligible, regardless of immigration status

Women’s and Reproductive Rights

• AB 3118 – Chiu, David (D, AD 17) – Requires statewide audit of existing rapekit backlog

Environment

• AB 1775 – Muratsuchi, Al (D, AD 66) – Prohibits the development of new oil pipelines and other infrastructure in coastal waters controlled by the California State Lands Commission

Assembly Appropriations Committee

If your Assemblymember is on this committee, it’s time to let them know how you want them to vote! There’s no need to call sponsors of the bill, so check the link before you call.

Police Reform

• SB 1186 – Hill, Jerry (D, SD 13) – Requires law enforcement agencies to develop and publicise a proposed Surveillance Use Policy for the use of each type of surveillance technology
• SB 1421 – Skinner, Nancy (D, SD 09) – Permits public disclosure of records of police officers using firearms or other weapons, or involved sexual assault

Gun Violence Prevention

• SB 1100 – Portantino, Anthony J. (D, SD 25) – Raises age to 21 for buying a gun and prohibits anyone from buying more than one gun per month

Criminal Justice Reform

• SB 10 – Hertzberg, Robert M. (D, SD 18) – California Money Bail Reform. Bases a person’s eligibility for pretrial release on community safety and that person’s likelihood of showing up in court, not on their ability to post bail

Healthcare and Immigration

• SB 974 – Lara, Ricardo (D, SD 33) – Extends Medi-Cal to all those eligible, regardless of immigration status

Women’s and Reproductive Rights

• SB 320 – Leyva, Connie M. (D, SD 20) – Requires every student health center at public universities to offer abortion by medication
• SB 1449 – Leyva, Connie M. (D, SD 20) – Requires testing of rape kits

Environment

• SB 100 – de León, Kevin (D, SD 24) – Establishes a state policy that renewable and “zero-carbon” generating facilities supply all electricity procured to serve California end-use customers no later than December 31, 2045
• SB 834 – Jackson, Hannah-Beth (D, SD 19) – Prohibits the development of new oil pipelines and other infrastructure in coastal waters controlled by the California State Lands Commission

Net Neutrality

• SB 822 – Wiener, Scott D. (D, SD 11) – Net Neutrality: Prohibits internet service providers from blocking, throttling, and prioritizing paid tiers of traffic if they use state-provided funding or infrastructure, like utility poles

Passed all committees 🙂

Two bills have passed all committees and are awaiting action on the floor of the Assembly:

• SB 183 – Lara, Ricardo (D, SD 33) – Prohibits ICE from entering public schools, community college campuses, and state buildings without a warrant
• SB 1346 – Jackson, Hannah-Beth (D, SD 19) – Bans bump stocks

One bill has passed all committees and has been returned to the Assembly Rules Committee with the recommendation that it is placed on the consent calendar:

• SB 419 – Portantino, Anthony J. (D, SD 25) – Protects legislative staff and legislative advocates from retaliation for reporting all forms of harassment in the Capitol

Dead 🙁

Four of our priority bills have died in the legislature:

• AB 1745 – Ting, Philip Y. (D, AD 19) – Requires all new vehicle registrations (under 10,000 gvw) to be zero-emission by 2040
  • Never made it out of the Assembly Transportation Committee
• AB 2066 – Stone, Mark (D, AD 29) – Remove eligibility barriers to immigrants for California Earned Income Tax Credit
  • Died in the Assembly Appropriations Suspense file
• SB 562 – Lara, Ricardo (D, SD 33) – CA single-payer healthcare
  • Held in the Assembly Rules Committee (last year)
• SB 651 – Allen, Benjamin (D, SD 26) – Requires state and local initiative, referendum, and recall petitions to include a statement identifying the three largest contributors of $50,000 or more
  • Died in the Assembly inactive file