Caucus News

(Monterey, CA) – Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D- Carmel Valley), Senator Bill Monning (D- Carmel), Senator Anna Caballero (D- Salinas), Assemblymember Mark Stone (D- Scotts Valley), Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D- Hollister), Supervisor Chris Lopez (Greenfield), and Supervisor Mary Adams (D- Pebble Beach) today issued the following statement regarding the devastating wildfires in Monterey County.

(Santa Cruz, CA) – Senator Bill Monning (D- Carmel), Assemblymember Mark Stone (D- Scotts Valley), and Assemblymember Robert Rivas (D- Hollister) today issued the following statement regarding the devastating wildfires in Santa Cruz County.

SACRAMENTO – As dozens of wildfires continue to rage throughout California, measures by Senator Henry Stern (D-Calabasas) to help Californians reduce the likelihood of such blazes in the future and better protect themselves when wildfires ignite moved to the Assembly and Senate floors. 
 

MADERA, Calif. –  Assembly Bill 2040 (R-Bigelow), to provide redress and financial relief for Madera County and its residents, passed from the Senate Appropriations Committee’s suspense file due to the efforts of State Senator Anna Caballero and Assemblyman Frank Bigelow.   

Co-authored by Senator Caballero and sponsored by the Madera County Board of Supervisors, AB 2040 would right a wrong in Madera County that, if not corrected, would penalize the County’s budget by approximately $5 million dollars. 

The Assembly Appropriations Committee passed Senate Bill 793 today, sending the bill to restrict store sales of flavored tobacco products to the full Assembly for consideration. “Thanks to Appropriations Chair Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez and my colleagues on her committee, we are closer than ever before to saving lives and protecting our kids and our communities with Senate Bill 793,” said Senator Hill.

California Fights Flavors: Today, the coalition of organizations who have come together to pass SB 793 (Hill), a bill that would end the sale of flavored tobacco products in California, unveiled a new TV ad to respond to Big Tobacco’s record-breaking million-dollar deceitful media blitz that is swamping legislators in Sacramento. Featuring spoken-word art from SixFootah the Poet, the breakthrough piece shows the devastating toll menthol cigarettes take on Black lives. 

SACRAMENTO ­– Yesterday, Governor Newsom signed AB 1460 – California State University Ethnic Studies, authored by Assemblymember Dr. Weber (D- San Diego) and sponsored by the California Faculty Association (CFA), which requires undergraduates to complete a minimum of one three-unit course in Ethnic Studies to graduate, effective beginning with students graduating in the 2024–25 academic year.

California Fights Flavors: Black leaders across the state came together to denounce a new ad campaign Big Tobacco is using to desperately strong-arm legislators into opposing SB 793. “Big Tobacco is snatching up ad space on TV and online, spending millions, all in an effort to deceive legislators,” said Assemblymember Kevin McCarty. “They market flavors that gets kids hooked on tobacco from an early age and have no place in CA Health Care policy."

NAPA – Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, issued the following statement today on the destructive wildfires burning in five Northern California counties, including large parts of Senate District 3, known collectively as the LNU Lightning Complex fires:

“My thoughts are with first-responders as they risk life and limb to keep our communities safe,” Sen. Dodd said. “We need maximum resources to attack what has become a significant threat, leading to the evacuation of thousands of families. It is absolutely essential that people be prepared to evacuate and get out when told to do so.”

News Release: State Senator Jerry Hill and Assemblymembers Jim Wood and Kevin McCarty sent a letter of complaint to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and urged the agency to prohibit Swedish Match North America from making misleading claims about its snus and ZYN products. Bonnie Halpern-Felsher, the Stanford pediatrics professor who is founder and executive director of Tobacco Prevention Toolkit, UCSF professor of medicine Stanton Glantz, and law and policy expert Lauren K.