Caucus News

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, today unveiled the “Housing Crisis Act of 2019,” a sweeping new initiative that will speed up the creation of new housing in California at a time when the state is facing an extreme housing crisis in both supply and affordability. The act would suspend, for a 10-year period, specific local rules and regulations that are recognized as obstacles to housing production, and it would establish reasonable time periods for processing housing permits.

SACRAMENTO – With strong bipartisan support, the California State Senate today passed important legislation authored by Senator Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) and Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach) that will require charter school governing boards to comply with the same accountability and transparency laws that traditional school district governing boards already follow.

Watch, listen to Sen. Holly J. Mitchell's recent Budget Forum by click HERE or on the button below.

SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger), along with principal co-author Assemblymember Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) and co-author Sen. Jim Beall (D-San Jose), introduced SB 331, legislation that emphasizes a more proactive approach on preventing suicides. The bill will require that all California counties develop a suicide prevention plan while focusing on the staggering rise in deaths among adolescents.

(SACRAMENTO, CA) – In an effort to combat the obesity and type-2 diabetes crisis perpetuated by the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), Senator Bill Monning (D-Carmel) introduced Senate Bill (SB) 347, which requires sugary beverages sold in California to have a safety warning label. 

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As the Trump administration is poised to roll back federal clean car standards, 200 legislators from 14 states joined together today in calling on the auto industry to oppose the rollback and instead support the lifesaving and money-saving standards. A letter signed by the lawmakers was sent to 20 automakers and appeared in an ad in The Hill.  

SACRAMENTO – Senate Majority Leader Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) and Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) today introduced legislation that calls for a dramatic decrease in the amount of treated wastewater that is dumped into the ocean each year.

State Senator Jerry Hill introduced legislation today to require clergy of all faiths to report suspected child abuse or neglect to law enforcement without regard to the circumstances under which the clergy member learns of the suspected crime.

Sacramento–Today, AARP California, the voice of over 3 million Californians over age 50, has signed on as a supporter of Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill 50 — the More HOMES Act — legislation designed to lead to abundant, affordable housing near transit, jobs, and services concentrated in urban areas. SB 50 eliminates hyper-low-density zoning near public transit and job centers, thus legalizing apartment buildings and affordable housing in these locations so that more people can live there.

Sacramento, California–Senator Anthony J. Portantino, D–La Cañada Flintridge has reintroduced SB 328 the science based, landmark School Start Time Bill.