Governor Gavin Newsom met the constitutional deadline to sign or veto bills passed by the Legislature on Wednesday, September 30, officially concluding the 2020 legislative year. During this second year of the 2019-20 legislative session, and despite COVID-19 related interruptions, the Governor signed 457 bills and vetoed 56. This week, the Governor held multiple virtual…
Read More »Today, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a handful of legislative measures to reform the state’s behavioral health care system, including reforms aimed at improving access to mental health and substance use disorder services and behavioral health services for individuals experiencing homelessness. Most notably, Governor Newsom signed into law AB 1976 (Eggman) to expand court-ordered Assisted Outpatient…
Read More »On Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed two bills to provide protections to specified workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The measures signed by Newsom include SB 1159 by Senator Jerry Hill and AB 685 by Assembly Member Eloise Gómez Reyes. SB 1159 expands access to workers’ compensation by creating a rebuttable presumption for specified employees, including…
Read More »Just days after receiving final legislative approval and being signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom, California’s flavored tobacco ban faces yet another challenge by the tobacco industry. SB 793 by Senator Jerry Hill bans the sale of flavored tobacco products statewide, including mint and menthol products. The measure faced significant opposition from the tobacco…
Read More »In the early morning hours of Tuesday, the California Legislature concluded its 2019-20 Regular Legislative Session, marking the end of a tumultuous and historic session repeatedly interrupted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Legislators were met with significant time constraints, challenges associated with remote voting, and contentious policy and process debates leading up to the conclusion…
Read More »In a legislative year that has constantly changed, this week was no different. On Wednesday, the Senate cancelled their planned floor session due to a member of their chamber testing positive for COVID-19. Despite the positive case in the Senate, the Assembly elected to continue their scheduled hearings and floor session. On Thursday, the Senate…
Read More »On Thursday, the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees worked through their suspense files, with several short breaks taken during the meetings for this abbreviated legislative year. Both committees dispensed with the significantly limited number of bills moving through their houses this year – 180 measures considered in the Senate and 89 considered in the Assembly…
Read More »This week, the California Legislature continued committee meetings with packed though truncated agendas for a variety of policy committees. Despite curtailing the number of bills heard in committees, meetings often took several hours as most testimony was provided over a conference line and extended cleanings took place between hearings. CHEAC’s sponsored measure AB 3224 (Rodriguez),…
Read More »After a few hiccups last week, the Legislature resumed this week with a busy calendar of policy committee hearings, special hearings, and floor sessions. The Assembly Health Committee convened on Tuesday to hear several bills including SB 793, Senator Jerry Hill’s measure to ban flavored tobacco statewide. After lengthy testimony and a spirited debate amongst…
Read More »This week, the Legislature reconvened under compressed timelines and very busy calendars. Complicating things a bit, there appears to be some irritability between the houses as the Senate, with the lion’s share of bills to consider, has opted to not hear several Assembly passed bills. Assembly Speaker Rendon cancelled several hearings on Tuesday in response….
Read More »