Caucus News

SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom, Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego), and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) announced a $536 million funding plan to help improve California’s resilience to wildfires. They released the following statement:

SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, the California Senate Health Committee passed a bill by Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) that will help reduce racial disparities in childhood chronic diseases and illnesses by 2030.  

Senate Bill 682 requires the California Health and Human Services Agency, in collaboration with departments under its purview and relevant agencies and stakeholders, to reduce the disparities by 50% by 2030 by establishing clear goals, and developing and implementing a plan to meet those targets.

SACRAMENTO – The Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee today approved a bill by Senator Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont) to strengthen notification requirements on assigned debt collection and give consumers more rights to request information from the collectors.

SACRAMENTO – Legislation from Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, that would ensure people with disabilities have access to complex rehabilitative services and equipment such as individually fitted wheelchairs cleared a key committee today.

SACRAMENTO – Earlier this week, on Monday April 5, 2021, Senator Thomas J. Umberg (D – Orange County) presented Senate Concurrent Resolution 2 (SCR 2) on the California State Senate floor to proclaim the month of April as Black April Memorial Month.

SACRAMENTO - Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco)’s legislation, Senate Bill 252, also known as the PET (Prohibiting Extraneous Testing) Act, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 7-1. The PET Act ends the suffering of cats and dogs by prohibiting these household pets from being used in toxicity tests for products such as pesticides, food and color additives, and drugs. This bill exempts the testing of pet medications and pet products and testing for biomedical research.

SACRAMENTO – The California State Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill by Senator Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont) today that cracks down on arbitration companies and businesses delaying a worker or consumer’s right to a speedy resolution to their dispute.   The bill, SB 762, passed unanimously.

SACRAMENTO, CA – Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) passes SB 310 out of Senate Judiciary Committee with unanimous bipartisan support (14-0). This critical bill will ensure our most vulnerable cancer patients have access to life saving cancer medication by creating a cancer medication donation program.

Sacramento - Senate Bill 57, authored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), has passed the Senate Public Safety Committee by a vote of 4-1. This legislation would legalize overdose prevention programs, also known as safe consumption sites or safe injection sites, as a pilot program in San Francisco, Oakland, and the County of Los Angeles. Each of the pilot areas will decide locally whether to participate, and SB 57 simply removes the state prohibition that currently makes such programs illegal.

SACRAMENTO - Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) legislation, Senate Bill 519, which decriminalizes the possession and personal use of certain psychedelic drugs, passed the Senate Public Safety Committee by a vote of 4-1. Research from top medical universities shows that these substances can have significant benefits, particularly for treating mental health and substance use disorders, and decriminalizing their personal use is part of the larger movement to end the racist War on Drugs and its failed and destructive policies.