Caucus News

SACRAMENTO – Today, the Senate Rules Committee, chaired by Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego), appointed Tamika Nelson to the California Rehabilitation Oversight Board. Ms. Nelson fulfills the requirement for one county chief probation officer to be appointed to this office.

SONOMA – The iconic Swiss Hotel, a family-owned Sonoma Plaza restaurant and hotel that has been serving guests from around world for nearly a century, has been named Sonoma County Small Business of the Year by Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa.

SACRAMENTO – Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, will co-chair a joint informational hearing Wednesday on two competing November ballot initiatives that seek to legalize sports wagering – Propositions 26 and 27.

Senator Dave Cortese (D-Silicon Valley) and Assemblymember Evan Low’s (D-Silicon Valley) bill, SB 1100, to address the increased number of public meeting disruptions local governments are facing statewide is heading to the Governor’s desk after passing through the California Assembly Floor.
The Ralph M. Brown Act was originally enacted in 1953 to govern the conduct of public meetings for local legislative bodies, but many provisions in the Brown Act remain antiquated.

SACRAMENTO – Reducing energy costs through more efficient access, providing care for pets owned by the unhoused and promoting ways low-income residents can obtain health coverage are among the proposed laws Sen. Bob Hertzberg will be pushing when this year’s legislative session resumes Monday.

Below are some of the top bills the outgoing San Fernando Valley Democrat hopes are approved and sent to the governor prior to the Legislature’s scheduled Aug. 31 adjournment.

Sacramento, California – On Sunday, July 24, Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – Burbank) received the 2022 Bebe Moore Campbell National Minority Mental Health Award from the Urban Los Angeles National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).   The award was presented to the Senator during a celebration of National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month.  Senator Portantino was honored for championing policies that remove the stigma associated with issues of mental health and for authoring SB 224, which expands mental health instruction in schools.

SAN FRANCISCO - Today, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) released the following statement calling on San Francisco and California to declare a State of Emergency due to the growing Monkeypox outbreak:

“Monkeypox is a public health crisis, and we need to treat it as such. In San Francisco alone, we have 222 cases – one of the highest rates in the United States. Given that spread and that Monkeypox is now being detected in our sewage, we know that cases are high and will continue to grow. Monkeypox is painful and isolating, and no one should have to experience it.

SACRAMENTO – Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) released the following statement today regarding the announced retirement of California Supreme Court Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye:

Modeled after Texas’ abortion law upheld by SCOTUS, California to become first state allowing individuals to sue for damages those spreading illegal weapons
 

Santa Monica, California - Today, Governor Gavin Newsom signed SB 1327, a major gun reform bill jointly authored by Senators Bob Hertzberg and Anthony Portantino. SB 1327 allows private citizens to sue a person who manufactures, distributes, transports, imports, or sells assault weapons, .50 BMG rifles, ghost guns, or ghost gun kits in California.