Friday, September 13 was the deadline for the legislature to send bills to the Governor for his consideration. We have been following 21 bills this session and we’ve got great news and good news!

First, the great news!

The governor has already signed two of our priority bills:

• AB 392 (Weber) – Redefines the circumstances in which use of police use of deadly force would be considered justifiable to be in self-defense
• SB 200 (Monning) – Ensures that every Californian has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible drinking water

Six of our priority bills have passed both houses of the legislature and are on the way to the Governor’s desk for his review. He has until October 13 to either sign these bills into law or to veto them. If he does not take any action, the bill will become law by default.

• AB 32 (Bonta) – Prohibits California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from entering into or renewing contracts with private, for-profit detention centers
• AB 857 (Chiu) – Gives municipalities and the power to create their own public bank
• AB 1482 (Chiu) – Prevents rent gouging and protects people who rent from unfair evictions by requiring landlords to have a “just cause” for any eviction
• SB 47 (Allen) – Requires ballot initiative, referendum, or recall signature gatherers to disclose top funders/endorsers
• SB 136 (Wiener) – Fights mass incarceration by repealing an ineffective and unnecessary sentencing enhancement for people with a prior prison conviction
• SB 139 (Allen) – Requires counties with more than 250,000 residents to establish an independent redistricting commission, ensuring a more fair, nonpartisan system for drawing the lines of county supervisorial districts

Now for the good news!

None of our priority bills that we support have died by being voted down in a committee or floor vote or by a veto by the Governor. These bills may not have passed through the legislature this year, but, because this is the first year of the two-year session, these bills may be revived in January.

• AB 4 (Bonta) – Expands Medicaid to undocumented immigrants of all ages
• AB 177 (Low) – Create a statewide holiday for election day
• AB 363 (Gonzalez) – Requires voting centers in all counties to be open the Saturday, Sunday, & Monday before an election.
• ACA 6 / AB 646 (McCarty) – Restores voting rights to people on parole
• AB 1080 (Gonzalez) / SB 54 (Allen) – Requires a 75% reduction by 2030 of waste generated from single-use packaging and single-use plastic products in the state
• AB 1217 (Mullin) – Requires issue ads to disclose top funders/endorsers
• AB 1276 (Bonta) – Develop and implement the Green New Deal with the objective of reaching specified environmental outcomes within 10 years
• AB 1332 (Bonta) – Prohibits localities from entering into new contracts or investing in with entities that work with ICE/CBP by sharing data or providing detention facilities
• AB 1611 (Chiu) – Prohibits surprise bills from “out-of-network” ERs, and caps prices to bring down health costs
• SB 29 (Durazo) – Expands Medicaid to undocumented immigrant seniors
• SB 386 (Caballero) – OPPOSE – Undermines our clean energy future by allowing large hydro to count toward our Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) for 2 districts

So, what are your legislators doing now? They are on a recess until the legislature reconvenes on January 6, 2020. This would be a great time to set up an office visit and let them know how well they did this year and what you expect them to do next year! Here is our guide to make your visit a success.