SACRAMENTO – Senator Steve Padilla released the statement below following the California State Assembly’s decision to deny a hearing to Senate Bill 10, his legislation addressing the cross-border pollution crisis at the Tijuana River:

SACRAMENTO - In a win for working people wanting to change careers or better themselves by going to law school, Senator Dave Cortese’s SB 550 authorizing the integration of a law school at San Jose State University as the first public law school in the California State University system
today passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

SACRAMENTO – Senator Dave Cortese’s housing legislation that would change the structure of housing finance in California by using the state’s credit to increase the housing supply faster today passed the Assembly Judiciary Committee and now heads to Assembly Appropriations.

SACRAMENTO – Legislation by Sen. Catherine S. Blakespear, D-Encinitas, to extend funding to acquire, restore and enhance wildlife habitats across the state to 2035 on Tuesday passed the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.

SACRAMENTO –  State Senator Dave Cortese’s SB 429 that will help homeowners understand their property’s wildfire risk today was passed by the Assembly Emergency Management Committee. It creates the nation’s first-of-its-kind public wildfire catastrophe model to assess wildfire risk and help inform insurance rates.
The bill now moves forward to Assembly Appropriations.

SACRAMENTO – California Governor Gavin Newsom today signed into law Senator Dave Cortese’s Senate Bill 61 which will expedite cash payments to construction contractors and subcontractors for their work on privately financed projects.    

Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday signed into law SB 846, legislation by Sen. Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton) that will help protect California farmworkers from wage theft.

SAN JOSE, CA – In a newly published op-ed in San José Spotlight, Senator Dave Cortese makes the case for creating Santa Clara County’s first-ever public law school:
“It’s hard to believe that here, in the heart of Silicon Valley, we still lack an affordable, accessible public law school for aspiring legal minds. For a region like ours, the economic engine of our state, that’s simply unacceptable.”

SACRAMENTO – California could soon close a critical loophole allowing dirty, decommissioned diesel locomotives to keep polluting in other communities and countries. The State Assembly Transportation Committee today passed state Senator  Dave Cortese’s SB 30 that would prohibit public agencies from selling, donating, or transferring older high-polluting engines.

"Terrorizing children is never the answer."