California State
In the last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom has been busy signing these and many other legislative bills for California residents.
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 13, signed a first-of-its-kind social media transparency measure to protect Californians from hate and disinformation spread online. AB 587 by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) will require social media companies to publicly post their policies regarding hate speech, disinformation, harassment and extremism on their platforms, and report data on their enforcement of the policies.
Assemblymember Gabriel said the law will finally pull back the curtain and require tech companies to provide meaningful transparency into how they are shaping the public discourse, as well as the role of social media in promoting hate speech, disinformation, conspiracy theories and other dangerous content.
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 17, signed legislation to assist LGBTQ veterans discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” or DADT in updating their records and accessing education, health, burial and other benefits available to honorably discharged service members.
Though LGBTQ service members could serve openly following the repeal of DADT, veterans discharged less than honorably under the policy face a burdensome process that can require legal counsel and other assistance to obtain an upgrade to their discharge classification.
AB 325 by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks) establishes the Veteran’s Military Discharge Upgrade Grant program to help fund service providers that will educate veterans about the discharge upgrade process and assist eligible veterans to apply.
Watch a video message from Governor Newsom on AB 325.
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 18, signed several measures to strengthen California’s cannabis laws, expand the legal cannabis market and redress the harms of cannabis prohibition.
Though the state has made significant progress since the legalization of cannabis, local opposition, rigid bureaucracy and federal prohibition continue to pose challenges to the industry and consumers. The Governor is calling on legislators and other policymakers to redouble efforts to address and eliminate these barriers.
The Governor signed SB 1326 by Senator Anna Caballero (D-Merced), which creates a process for California to enter into agreements with other states to allow cannabis transactions with entities outside California. SB 1186 by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) preempts local bans on medicinal cannabis delivery, expanding patients’ access to legal, regulated cannabis products.
The Governor also signed two bills to further unwind California’s failed history of cannabis prohibition. AB 1706 by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland) ensures that Californians with old cannabis-related convictions will finally have those convictions sealed. And AB 2188 by Assemblymember Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) protects Californians from employment discrimination based on their use of cannabis off-the-clock and away from the workplace.
These bills build on the Administration’s efforts to strengthen California’s cannabis legalization framework. As part of this year’s state budget, the Governor signed legislation to provide tax relief to consumers and the cannabis industry; support equity businesses; strengthen enforcement tools against illegal cannabis operators; bolster worker protections; expand access to legal retail; and protect youth, environmental and public safety programs funded by cannabis tax revenue.
To expedite policy reforms that prioritize and protect California consumers’ health and safety, the Governor has directed the California Department of Public Health to convene subject matter experts to survey current scientific research and policy mechanisms to address the growing emergence of high-potency cannabis and hemp products. The Governor has also directed the Department of Cannabis Control to further the scientific understanding of potency and its related health impacts by prioritizing the funding of research related to cannabis potency through its existing public university grants.
Details: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
SACRAMENTO – Amid an increase in hate-fueled violence across the country, Governor Gavin Newsom today signed legislation to equalize and strengthen penalties for using hate symbols and bolster security for targeted religious and community-based nonprofits.
AB 2282 by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) brings parity to penalties for burning crosses and using swastikas and nooses. Currently, using a noose as a hate symbol carries the lightest penalty of the three while cross burning is the most highly penalized. Under AB 2282, individuals who use any of the three symbols of hate will be subject to the strongest of these criminal penalties.
Watch a video message from Governor Newsom on AB 2282.
In addition, AB 2282 equalizes the restrictions on where the symbols can legally be used and expands restricted locations for each to include K-12 schools, colleges, cemeteries, places of worship, private property, public spaces and places of employment, among other locations.
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 19, announced that the California Department of Housing and Community Development or HCD and the California Department of General Services or DGS are seeking qualified developers to develop housing on five state-owned properties. This is the latest offering under one of the first executive orders (N-06-19) that Gov. Newsom issued upon taking office in 2019, creating the Excess Land for Affordable Housing program. To date, this program has brought 16 partnerships between the state, affordable housing developers, and local communities to produce sustainable, innovative, and cost-effective housing on state-owned excess sites, creating a pipeline of more than 4,400 new homes in various stages of development.
Gov. Newsom also announced the signing of SB 561 by Senator Bill Dodd (D-Napa), AB 2233 by Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva (D-Fullerton), and AB 2592 by Assemblymember Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento) – all passed by the Legislature to create more affordable housing, and codify and build upon the success of the Excess Land for Affordable Housing program.
The sites announced Sept. 19, aim to create hundreds of new housing units for low-income Californians. They include former office buildings of the state Water Resources Board in Fresno, former offices of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in Covina, a single-story commercial building in Midtown Sacramento, a vacant California Department of Transportation site in Oceanside, and a buffer zone near the Atascadero State Hospital in Atascadero.
SB 561 codifies the Excess Land for Affordable Housing executive order by requiring DGS and HCD to identify state surplus land that can be used for affordable housing development.
AB 2233 also helps to codify the executive order, requires the California Housing Finance Agency, HCD, and DGS to identify and prioritize surplus properties that can be used for cost effective housing developments – and it generates a progress report to the Legislature.
AB 2592 requires DGS to prepare a report to the Legislature on a streamlined plan to transition underutilized multistory state buildings into housing for the purpose of expanding affordable housing and adaptive reuse opportunities.
SACRAMENTO – On Sept. 16, California enacted some of the nation’s most aggressive climate measures in history as Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a sweeping package of legislation to cut pollution, protect Californians from big polluters, and accelerate the state’s transition to clean energy. The Governor partnered with legislative leaders this session to advance measures to achieve carbon neutrality no later than 2045 and 90% clean energy by 2035, establish new setback measures protecting communities from oil drilling, capture carbon pollution from the air, advance nature-based solutions, and more.
This is an essential piece of the California Climate Commitment, a record $54 billion investment in climate action that exceeds what most countries are spending and advances economic opportunity and environmental justice in communities across the state.
Over the next two decades, the California Climate Commitment will:
Taken together, these measures represent the most significant action on the climate crisis in California’s history and raises the bar for governments around the world.
The climate package signed Sept. 16 includes:
Details: http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
The multicity amicus brief lays out the arguments for why the federalization of the National…
Over the last 50 years, the state’s clean air efforts have saved $250 billion in…
Unified command agencies have dispatched numerous vessels and aircraft to assess the situation and provide…
Since February 2022, Ethikli Sustainable Market has made it easy to buy vegan, ethically sourced,…
John Horton was murdered in Men’s Central Jail in 2009 at the age of 22—one…
The demand for this program has far outstripped available funds, further underlining the significance of…