Plan advances for 3rd gender option on ID documents

SACRAMENTO — California would offer a third gender option on driver’s licenses and birth certificates for nonbinary people who do not identify as male or female under a bill headed to Gov. Jerry Brown.

SB179 by state Sens. Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, and Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, passed the Legislature on Thursday and is among the hundreds of bills lawmakers have sent to Brown over the past week.

The bill to create a nonbinary option on driver’s licenses beginning in 2019 received its final vote in the Senate 26-12 before heading to

Brown. SB179 also creates a process for parents of a transgender youth to apply to change the gender listed on their child’s birth certificate and removes a requirement under state law that a physician provide a sworn statement attesting to a gender change to have that reflected on identifying documents.

“Many of us have an ID that matches our gender presentation, and so showing it is hassle-free,” Atkins said. “But for Californians who have an ID that does not match their gender presentation, showing it at airports, in shops or to law enforcement can be extremely stressful and lead to harassment.”

Brown hasn’t indicated whether he will sign the bill.

Friday marks the final day of the legislative session, with much work left for lawmakers to do. The Senate is scheduled to take up major affordable housing legislation.

Late Thursday night, the Assembly passed SB2 by Atkins, which would create a new $75 to $225 recording fee on real estate documents and property transactions, such as deeds and notices of default. The fee would not include home sales. The bill needed two-thirds approval and garnered the bare minimum 54 votes after an hour of armtwisting of a handful of reluctant Democrats.

The Assembly also approved a $4 billion bond that would be put before voters next year under SB3 and changes to state law that would force reluctant cities to build more low- to middle-income housing under SB35. The housing bond under SB3 passed with the minimum 54 votes.

“We are living during the worst housing crisis our state has ever experienced,” said Assemblyman David Chiu, D-San Francisco, chair of the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee. “Every corner of our state is experiencing this housing crisis.”

Other bills facing lawmakers Friday include whether to create sanctuary state policies, end lifetime registration for sex offenders, require the state to receive all of its power from renewable sources by 2045, and allow some counties — including Alameda and San Francisco — to create safe injection sites to reduce opioid overdoses.

A bill to require middle and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m. was several votes short and pending in the Assembly on Thursday night.

Lawmakers also sent Brown a bill Thursday that would prohibit pet stores from working with breeders and instead require that the dogs, cats and rabbits they sell come from shelters and rescues. AB485, by Assemblymen Patrick O’Donnell, D-Long Beach, and Matt Dababneh, D–Encino (Los Angeles County), said they introduced the bill to stop the cycle of mass breeding for profit that leads to full shelters at taxpayers’ expense.

“Californians spend more than $250 million a year to house and euthanize animals in our shelters,” O’Donnell said. “Protecting the pets that make our house a home is an effort that makes us all proud.”

The bill to allow safe injection centers came up two votes short in the Senate on Tuesday, but Wiener said he plans to take it up again before the Friday deadline.

“There are some people who say why would we want to encourage people to inject drugs?” Wiener said. “That’s not what we are doing. People are already injecting drugs, but they are doing it in front of people’s houses. They are doing it in parks.”

The bill, AB186 by Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, drew strong opposition from Republicans, while a handful of Democrats either did not vote or voted against it.

“Let’s not tell people who are slaves to drugs that the best we can do for them is a clean welllighted place for them to throw away their lives,” said state Sen. Ted Gaines, R-El Dorado Hills. “We can do better than that.”

Supporters of the bill say criminalizing users doesn’t work and that research from injection sites in other countries has shown offering a safe place where intravenous drug users can legally shoot up under the supervision of on-site medical personnel reduces the risk of overdose. The sites also offer services for those trying to overcome their addiction.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a resolution in April to create a safe injection sites task force, saying that unsupervised drug use creates dangerous conditions on public streets.

The task force will present its first report at a public hearing in October.

“We have to treat this issue differently because what we’ve been doing isn’t working,” said state Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens (Los Angeles County).