Caucus News

SACRAMENTO - Today Senators Beall, McGuire and Portantino introduced SB 795 a bill to increase the production of affordable housing units in California. In midst of homeless crisis, state must fund production efforts aimed at low and very-low income Californians.

Amid mounting concerns for the health and safety of young people, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, 30 state lawmakers, and a strong coalition of health, youth and community advocates are backing a tough new bill [to be] introduced today to ban sales of any flavored tobacco product in California stores. Flavored tobacco products are the gateway to nicotine addiction,” said Senator Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, who authored SB 793 with 29 senators and assemblymembers.

SACRAMENTO – Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) announced today that he has appointed Drew Liebert, whose public service career of over 25 years in the California Legislature includes 18 years as chief counsel of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, as his new chief of staff.

State Senator Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, encourages Peninsula and Silicon Valley residents to submit their bill ideas to his 12th Annual “Oughta Be a Law...Or Not” Contest. The deadline for contest entries is January 17, 2020.

SACRAMENTO – On January 1st, five bills authored this year by Senator Henry Stern (D-Calabasas) and signed by Governor Newsom will become state law.

Sacramento, California – State Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – La Cañada Flintridge) has accepted Disability Rights California’s legislative award for his continued work to promote greater rights and protections for Californians with disabilities.

SACRAMENTO – Senator Henry Stern (D-Calabasas) is encouraging local residents to take a moment this month and see if the State Controller’s office is holding onto money in their name. In areas represented by Senator Stern, about $751 million in property – most of which is money in bank accounts, uncashed cashier’s checks and stocks – is waiting to be claimed. 

BY ANISCA MILES

California Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed landmark legislation introduced by Senator Holly J. Mitchell that addresses the inequities of maternal care for black mothers and infants.

Senate Bill 464, the Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act, requires implicit bias training for perinatal providers involved in services at hospitals and birth centers.

It also requires the Department of Public Health to track and publish data on maternal mortality rates and pregnancy-related conditions.

San Francisco – Today, the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 to endorse Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill 50. SB 50 eliminates hyper-low-density zoning near transit and job centers, thus legalizing apartment buildings and affordable housing in these locations so that more people can live near transit and near where they work. It also reduces or eliminates minimum parking requirements for new developments. California has a 3.5 million home deficit, equal to the housing deficit of the other 49 states combined.

SACRAMENTO – Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, and Assemblymember Adam Gray, D-Merced, will convene a joint Senate-Assembly informational hearing Jan. 8 in Sacramento on a proposal to legalize sports betting in California.