Caucus News

Sacramento, CA –A bill that created a simple solution to a growing problem – communities being swamped by issues related to online vacation rentals – will continue to move forward next legislative session when it proceeds as a two-year bill, Senator Mike McGuire announced this week.

Twenty-three bills by State Senator Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo/Santa Clara Counties, were approved by the State Senate before it closed down for the week today in advance of Friday’s deadline for legislation to be passed out of the house of origin.

SACRAMENTO – The California Senate has endorsed efforts by Sen. Fran Pavley to protect California’s underground drinking-water supplies from oil-related contamination.With a 22 to 18 vote, Senators approved and sent to the Assembly SB 248. The bill requires regulators to boost controls over the petroleum industry’s disposal of potentially tainted water by injecting it into underground aquifers.

(SACRAMENTO, CA) – Today, the End of Life Option Act, authored by Senators Monning (D-Carmel) and Wolk (D-Davis), passed off the Senate Floor with a vote of 23-14.  Senate Bill (SB) 128 will allow a mentally competent adult in the final stages of life due to a terminal disease to request aid-in-dying medication from a physician. 

SACRAMENTO – The Senate today approved a bill by Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León to increase state oversight of hazardous waste facilities like the Exide battery recycling plant in Vernon that operated unpermitted for decades.

“It’s bad enough that facilities handling toxins and hazardous waste are often located in or near underserved communities,” said Senator de León, “But it is absolutely unacceptable when they’re allowed to operate without oversight. We can never allow another Exide.” 

Sacramento, CA – Senator Mike McGuire’s groundbreaking legislation creating an all-encompassing regulatory framework for the medical marijuana industry, passed off the Senate floor Thursday morning with significant support.

SB 128 now moves on to the Assembly
SACRAMENTO – Senate Bill 128: The End of Life Option Act, by Senators Wolk and Monning, passed off the Senate Floor today with a vote of 23-14. SB 128 would allow mentally capable, terminally ill adults the option to request a doctor’s prescription for aid-in-dying drugs to painlessly and peacefully hasten their dying process.

SACRAMENTO – Cutting traffic fines, helping the poor and turning around abysmal voter turnout will be among the key proposed laws Sen. Bob Hertzberg will be pushing after their passage this week by the state Senate.

SACRAMENTO – Senator Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) announces that the California State Senate today approved critical legislation which will require the testing of drinking water at schools to ensure water quality and safety.  Moreover, SB 334 requires that—when water provided at school is not clean—school districts must provide alternative sources of clean water.  

Sacramento – Dr. Richard Pan’s Senate Bill 573, which would require California to adopt an open-data policy that will foster economic development, boost transparency and accountability, and reduce workloads while increasing cost saving at our state agencies, was passed by the State Senate today on a vote of 28 to 11.