Because the Legislature prepares to reconvene from its spring recess on April 10, right here’s an replace on among the payments proposed by members of the Legislature who signify North County:
Senate
Catherine Blakespear, D-Thirty eighth District
- SB 7
Certainly one of two payments that Blakespear introduced after her swearing-in ceremony, together with SB 8, SB 7 would add “homeless” as an earnings class within the Regional Housing Wants Allocation course of. The RHNA course of offers each neighborhood within the state with various new housing models it wants to offer in any respect earnings ranges primarily based on tendencies in inhabitants development.
“Homelessness in California is an pressing situation and must be thought of in native regional housing wants assessments,” the invoice reads.
SB 7 has been referred to the Senate’s Housing Committee, of which Blakespear is a member.
- SB 8
Launched by Blakespear and Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-San Francisco, this invoice would make California the primary state within the U.S. to require gun homeowners to have legal responsibility insurance coverage that covers negligent or unintended firearm utilization.
SB 8 remains to be going via committee hearings. It’s newest cease was a March 27 referral to the Senate’s Insurance coverage Committee.
“Firearms are much like automobiles in that they’re inherently harmful and are in extensive circulation,” Blakespear stated in a press release after the invoice was launched in January. “If a automotive by accident causes harm to an individual or property, the insurance coverage coverage will compensate the sufferer. The identical method ought to apply to accidents attributable to weapons.”
Brian Jones, R-Fortieth District
- SB 3
To handle the continuing homelessness disaster, SB 31 would supply a system to “compassionately” clear encampments close to colleges, daycare facilities, parks and libraries. It could require 72 hours of discover earlier than an encampment sweep to provide the folks dwelling there an opportunity to maneuver, and officers must give them details about shelters, psychological well being providers and different assets.
Coauthors of the invoice embrace Sen. Invoice Dodd, D-Napa.
“We should work collectively to maneuver folks from encampments into higher lodging the place they will have entry to providers,” Dodd stated.
- SB 236
By means of SB 236, district attorneys would obtain funding for “vertical prosecution” that enables the identical prosecutors to stick with human trafficking circumstances from starting to finish, versus having completely different prosecutors on every part of the method.
The Senate’s Public Security Committee permitted SB 236 5-0 on March 28.
“Human trafficking is a type of modern-day slavery,” Jones stated. “We should use each useful resource out there to assist shield victims from additional trauma and convict the evil individuals who purchase and promote people for their very own profit, usually throughout jurisdictions.”
Meeting
Brian Maienschein D-76th District
- AB 253
This invoice would require every county to submit a report on suspicious baby deaths by July 1 of every yr. Counties have already got to provide the report not less than yearly, however the invoice provides an annual deadline and different provisions on investigating baby deaths and reporting info to the general public.
AB 253 was permitted 8-0 by the Meeting’s Public Security Committee on Feb. 28.
The invoice reads, “A state with an annual finances of over $200 billion can and may spend the modest sums wanted to implement present federal and state legal guidelines and finest practices to trace, consider, and report upon baby deaths to allow the opportunity of enacting or reforming insurance policies and practices that may forestall youngsters from dying sooner or later, if doable.”
- AB 367
With the proliferation of fentanyl coming throughout the border, AB 367 would add as much as 5 years of extra jail time for anybody who causes “nice bodily harm” to a different individual via fentanyl distribution. Fentanyl deaths have been on the rise all through the nation.
The invoice has been referred to the Meeting’s Public Security Committee.
“Fentanyl has had devastating results in San Diego County and all through the state, and the info reveals us that motion to handle this epidemic is critically overdue,” Maienschein stated. “My invoice would assist California maintain drug sellers accountable for the destruction and trauma they trigger by knowingly distributing this lethal substance.”
Tasha Boerner Horvath, D-77th District
- AB 45
This invoice would encourage extra blue carbon initiatives throughout development in coastal zones, which may also help take away greenhouse gases close to lagoons, bays, wetlands and different areas. Blue carbon refers to carbon captured by ocean and coastal ecosystems. Environmental activists have pointed to the depletion of blue carbon in California over time.
The Meeting’s Pure Sources Committee voted 8-0 to approve the invoice on March 13. It has been referred to the Appropriations Committee and added to the suspense file, the place payments go if they’d have an annual price of greater than $150,000. Payments on the suspense file are thought of later within the legislative course of, when lawmakers have a greater concept of what the state finances will seem like.
“We should use each instrument at our disposal to fight the local weather disaster,” Boerner Horvath stated. “This invoice will promote Blue Carbon initiatives and assist them play a direct function in revitalizing California’s nature-based carbon sinks, serving to to naturally take away greenhouse gases from the surroundings.”
- AB 1188
With extra e-bikers hitting the roads, native leaders have been in search of methods to advertise visitors security for everybody who makes use of the roads. AB 1188 would require state transportation officers to start distributing a bicycle security handbook that outlines legal guidelines and finest security practices that apply to bicycles and e-bikes. It could be out there on-line, at DMV workplaces and different state-owned amenities.
The invoice was referred to the Meeting’s Transportation Committee.
Chris Ward, D-78th District
- AB 223
This invoice would preserve petitions filed by minors for adjustments of gender or intercourse identifier underneath seal. Ward stated the invoice would assist shield transgender youth as a result of “lots of our paperwork have grow to be digitized and are too simply accessible to those that would do these youth hurt.”
AB 223 was permitted 10-1 by the Meeting’s Judiciary Committee, adopted by a 63-0 vote on the Meeting ground. Seventeen Meeting members didn’t file a vote.
- AB 251
After a long time of prioritizing cars when constructing roads and different infrastructure, leaders all through the state have been making an attempt to make the streets extra hospitable to cyclists, pedestrians and everybody else. AB 251 would require the California Transportation Fee to check the connection between automobile weight and deaths or accidents to pedestrians and cyclists.
The Meeting’s Transportation Committee permitted AB 251 on an 11-3 vote on March 20.
“Our pedestrian fatality fee is larger than the nationwide common, and no state has extra pedestrian deaths on its roadways,” Ward stated in a press release after the committee vote. “We owe it to all Californians to look into the connection between these autos and fatalities, so we are able to create an surroundings the place everybody, together with drivers, pedestrians and cyclists, can all really feel secure on our roadways.”
Payments will proceed to be vetted by committees en path to the Meeting and Senate flooring over the subsequent few months, main as much as the Oct. 14 deadline for the governor to signal or veto those which can be permitted by each chambers.
