Caucus News

SACRAMENTO – Legislation from Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, that would place an independent third party such as Cal Fire in charge of overseeing electric utility corporations’ compliance with tree and vegetation-trimming requirements was approved by the full Senate today.

“The public needs to know that there is real, independent oversight, not just someone in an office reviewing paperwork submitted by utilities," said Sen. Dodd. "This bill will help prevent future wildfires and ultimately reduce costs to ratepayers. Because it is clear that the current standard is not working.”

SACRAMENTO – Legislation from Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, that would allow Napa County to negotiate with the state Department of General Services to buy the 850-acre Skyline Wilderness Park was approved by the full Senate Monday afternoon.

Senate Bill 20 would ensure the prime land with popular hiking trails and views of the Bay Area remains a public open space forever.

SACRAMENTO – Legislation from Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, that would help the state manage its water, protecting the precious resource for people and the environment, cleared the full Senate Monday afternoon.

“You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” Sen. Dodd said. “Stream gages provide important information in this era of droughts and flooding, driven in part by climate change. This bill is an important step toward managing our water for the long run.”

SACRAMENTO – As other states continue to ban or severely restrict abortion, the California State Senate today approved the “College Student Right to Access Act” by Senator Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) that will ensure access to medication abortion on California public university campuses for students who seek to end their pregnancy during the first ten weeks.

SACRAMENTO – Legislation from Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, that would eliminate the confusion and delays caused by uninformed, out-of-state or multiple insurance adjusters during the 2017 North Bay wildfires cleared the full Senate today by unanimous vote.

Senate Bill 240 requires the California Department of Insurance to produce information on the most significant state insurance laws related to disasters and set training standards for agents handling catastrophic events. It also mandates that insurers provide a single point of contact for customers to make processing claims easier.

Senate Bill SB 639 now goes to the Assembly. No hearing date has been set.

CALIFORNIA – Federal, state and local elected leaders today issued the following statements in response to the Aliso Canyon root cause analysis:

SACRAMENTO – California Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego) issued the following statement on calls to remove SB 50 from Appropriations Committee jurisdiction:

SACRAMENTO, CA – This week, Senator Melissa Hurtado’s (D-Sanger) entire legislative package advanced through Senate Suspense Appropriations. The bills, addressing preventative health services, health care coverage, access to clean water and economic development projects, will advance to the Senate Floor.

SACRAMENTO, CA – This week, Senator Melissa Hurtado’s (D-Sanger) entire legislative package advanced through Senate Suspense Appropriations. The bills, addressing preventative health services, health care coverage, access to clean water and economic development projects, will advance to the Senate Floor.