Governor Brown Reaches Bill Deadline, Acts on More than 1,200 Bills Passed in 2018
For his final time as governor of California, Jerry Brown reached Sunday’s constitutional deadline to sign or veto bills passed by the California Legislature at the end of the legislative session. Brown cleared his desk on Sunday evening of the last of the last of the more than 1,200 bills passed by the California Legislature in 2018, encompassing a wide range of issues and topics – including climate change and the environment, net neutrality, and sexual assault prevention and response.
Below, we highlight notable actions taken by Governor Brown during the final days prior to Sunday’s deadline. For results of all actions taken by Governor Brown, CHEAC has issued a final bill chart available here.
Should you have any questions about measures and results of actions on tracked bills, please contact your CHEAC Staff.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
AB 3115 (Gipson) – Oppose
Vetoed by Governor
AB 3115 by Assembly Member Mike Gipson was vetoed by Governor Brown. Recall, the measure was a late gut and amend bill that sought to codify community paramedicine programs for five years and place onerous and restrictive requirements on local EMS agencies that operate a program. The measure would have also made permanent changes to the State EMS Commission, required local EMS agencies to create or modify existing emergency medical care committees, and required programs to grant public providers the first right of refusal in providing community paramedicine services.
CHEAC took an active role in opposing the measure, along with CSAC, UCC, and EMSAAC, due to modifications of medical oversight, county authority, and modifications to membership of the EMS Commission. The governor’s veto message is available here.
Environmental Health
SB 212 (Jackson) – Support
Signed by Governor
Governor Brown signed SB 212 by Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson which will establish a comprehensive statewide stewardship program for home-generated pharmaceutical drug and sharps waste. The measure was the result of extensive negotiations between stakeholders from pharmaceutical entities to fully fund and participate in or create a waste stewardship program to be overseen by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle).
Drug and Alcohol Services
AB 186 (Eggman) – Watch
Vetoed by Governor
Governor Brown vetoed AB 186 by Assembly Member Susan Talamantes Eggman which would have authorized the City and County of San Francisco to approve entities to operate overdose prevention programs, including supervised injection sites. In his veto message, Governor Brown concluded that the disadvantages of the bill far outweighed possible benefits and claimed that “enabling illegal and destructive drug use will never work… AB 186 is all carrot and no stick.”
Tobacco Control
AB 1097 (Levine) – Support
SB 835 (Glazer) and SB 836 (Glazer) – Support
Vetoed by Governor
For the third year in a row, Governor Brown resisted attempts to limit smoking and disposal of cigar and cigarette waste at state parks and state coastal beaches. AB 1097 by Assembly Member Marc Levine sought to prohibit smoking at any picnic area of state parks and coastal beaches. SB 835 and SB 836 by Senator Steven Glazer sought to prohibit smoking at state parks and state coastal beaches, respectively. Claiming in his veto message that the “third time is not always a charm,” Governor Brown indicating his opinion on the matter had not changed from the two previous attempts to prohibit smoking in these “wide open spaces.”