Bill blitz results in winners — and a loser
With four minutes to midnight Sunday, Brown quashed lingering questions about dozens of bills
New parents, women, undocumented immigrants and future community college students won major legislative victories this year in California — as did the perennial lobbying powerhouse, the California Chamber of Commerce.
With a final dispatch sent four minutes to Sunday’s midnight deadline, Gov. Jerry Brown ended a session defined by progressive social policy, anti-Trump resistance and a business-friendly ethos. California passed climate and transportation-tax deals that drew sharp criticism from some environmentalists for their concessions to industry, while a clean-energy bill, a single-payer health care proposal and other measures favored by the left — but opposed by business or labor interests — stalled.
“A big winner in this session is the political center in California — a mixture of business groups and environmental groups that want to build a California towards the future,” said Thad Kousser, who
teaches California politics at UC San Diego.
If there was a clear loser this session, Kousser and other observers agreed, it was President Donald Trump. Brown approved more than a dozen bills carried in direct response to the president’s campaign promises and early actions in office — each aiming to undermine the president’s plans for immigration, health care and climate change, among other areas. The biggest blow to the president’s administration was signed into law earlier this month: Senate Bill 54, known as the ‘sanctuary state’ bill, which will prohibit local law enforcement from helping to carry out federal immigration enforcement.
Trump “got lots of disrespect,” said Jack Pitney, a professor of American politics at Claremont McKenna College. “The one thing he wants most in life is respect, and it’s something the Legislature didn’t give him.”
However, Brown nixed a bill that would have required presidential candidates to release their tax returns to appear on California’s primary ballot. Trump has broken with tradition and kept his returns secret.
“Today we require tax returns, but what would be next?” Brown wrote in his veto message for Senate Bill 149. “Five years of health records? A certified birth certificate?”
Overall, the governor vetoed just 118 of the 977 bills that came to his desk, one of his lower veto rates in recent years. Paradoxically, Kousser said, that is a sign of power. “When governors are actually getting what they want out of the Legislature,” he said, “they end up vetoing things less.”
Here are some of the winners, or winning issues, in this year’s legislative session:
California Chamber of Commerce: The power of business interests is crystallized in its lobby’s scorecard: Just two of the 24 bills on the chamber’s “Job-Killers” list will make it into law. Just three of those bills even made it to Brown’s desk, and he vetoed one of them. Assembly Bill 1209, by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, DSan Diego, would have required large companies to report pay differences by gender to the state.
Community college students: Though far from solving the college affordability crisis, California is cutting many first-year community college students a break on tuition. Brown signed Assembly Bill 19 by Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, which which allows community colleges to waive tuition for all first-time, full-time students for one year. The Department of Finance estimates it could cost the state more than $30 million annually.
New babies (and their parents): Parents who work at small businesses will be able to take time to bond with their babies or adopted children and still have a job to return to after 12 weeks. Brown last week signed Senate Bill 63 by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, to extend 12 weeks of unpaid maternity or paternity leave job protections to new parents who work at businesses with 20-49 employees. This was a significant feat, as Brown had vetoed a similar bill in the past and SB 63 appeared on the aforementioned “job-killers” list. Brown also signed a bill by Assemblyman Ian Calderon, D-Whittier, a new father, to require diaper changing stations in more public places — accessible to dads as well as moms.
Women: Equal pay, maternity leave, and free tampons in low-income school bathrooms are just three of the nine bills promoted by the Legislative Women’s Caucus that Brown signed this year. Although Brown vetoed Gonzalez Fletcher’s equal-pay bill, he signed legislation with a similar goal by Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, that makes it illegal for an employer to ask for an applicant’s salary history.
Affordable Care Act defenders: Amid continued efforts from Washington to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act, the Legislature passed — and Brown signed — bills to protect the state’s health care system. California increased Medicare payments to doctors and passed Senate Bill 133 by Sen. Ed Hernandez, D-West Covina, which will allow Californians to continue a “course of treatment” with the same doctor — such as a pregnancy, chemotherapy or a scheduled surgery — even if their insurer leaves the market and they are forced to switch health plans. Brown also signed Senate Bill 17, a bill fought by the pharmaceutical lobby, that will force drug companies to give advance notice before jacking up prices.
Housing advocates: After years of delay, the Legislature passed a package of 15 bills aimed at shoring up the state’s inadequate housing supply and to help homeless Californians get off the street. Senate Bill 2, by Sen. Toni Atkins, narrowly passed by a two-thirds vote on the final day of the session. It will provide roughly $250 million a year for the construction of affordable housing. Senate Bill 3, by Sen. Jim Beall, D-Campbell, will put a $4 billion affordable housing bond on the ballot next year.
Pothole haters: It feels like ages ago that the Legislature passed Senate Bill 1, by Beall — better known as the gas tax. The collection of new taxes and fees will begin to kick in Nov. 1, generating some $5 billion for pothole relief, along with improved public transit. One caveat: Assemblyman Travis Allen, a Republican candidate for governor, is trying to get a gas-tax repeal on the ballot.
There were other winners, too. Californians will be able to choose “nonbinary” as a gender on their driver’s licenses and more easily change their birth certificates to reflect their gender identity under Senate Bill 179, a bill by Sen. Toni Atkins, D-San Diego. Brown also approved Senate Bill 5, a$4 billion parks and water bond; a bill to make it illegal for pet stores to sell dogs or cats that aren’t rescue animals; and a bill requiring companies to list the chemicals in the cleaning products they sell. He vetoed Senate Bill 649, which would have allowed telecom companies to more easily install cellular equipment on city-owned utility poles, public buildings and traffic lights.