San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Some notable bills survive at midpoint of Legislature
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers are moving into the closing stretch of their legislative session. Bills on major issues such as housing, police use of force and vaccine exemptions have until September to reach the governor’s desk.
But some of the highest-profile measures have already died, failing to make it out of either the Senate or Assembly by a key deadline May
31. At this midpoint, here are some notable proposals that are still progressing and those that have fallen by the wayside. Housing: SB50 by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, was perhaps the most talked-about bill of the year. It generated enormous debate over whether its proposals to make it easier to build apartments and condominiums around public transportation and in wealthy suburbs would actually help solve California’s housing crisis. But it was shelved last month amid intense opposition from local government offi
cials, who objected to losing control over how their communities develop.
That has left more modest bills that seek to spur housing production, such as a measure by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, that would limit the restrictions that cities with high rents and low vacancy rates can place on construction for the next five years.
Bills by Assemblymen David Chiu, D-San Francisco, and Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, include provisions similar to Wiener’s SB50. But these measures would apply only to affordable housing projects — not to buildings intended to be sold or rented at market rates. Assemblyman Tim Grayson, D-Concord, is pushing a bill to rein in the fees that local governments can charge for housing construction. Developers say such fees make it prohibitively expensive to build in California.
Chiu’s bill to create a Bay Area agency that would raise public funds to build housing and provide emergency rental assistance is also still alive.
Efforts to establish greater protections for renters have struggled. Chiu got a bill that would cap annual rent increases at 7% plus the regional cost of living through the Assembly last week, after striking a deal to scale back how much housing would be covered. But Grayson and Assemblyman Rob Bonta, DAlameda, could not muster enough support for a measure establishing just causes for eviction. Another bill by Bloom, which would have allowed cities to adopt rent control for newer housing stock, never even got a committee vote.
Education: With Gov. Gavin Newsom endorsing the concept in his budget proposal, a bill by Assemblyman Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles, to provide students with a second year of free community college tuition unanimously passed the Assembly.
All seven bills in a package to crack down on for-profit colleges also advanced. They include a measure by Chiu that would penalize careertraining programs that turn out graduates who do not make enough to pay off their loans, and legislation by Assemblywoman Susan Eggman, D-Stockton, that would lower the cap on how much of a school’s tuition revenue can come from federal and state financial aid.
Teachers unions and other opponents of charter schools had mixed success. The Assembly passed legislation that would give school districts more latitude to reject new charter petitions by considering the potential negative impact of a charter school on its budget. But a companion measure to create a statewide cap on the number of charter schools fell short. So did a proposed two-year moratorium on establishing new charter schools.
Environment: Both the Senate and Assembly advanced measures to reduce the amount of waste generated from single-use plastics by 75% over the next decade. On the other hand, a bill by Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, to eventually ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in California died without even a committee hearing.
Business: The Assembly passed a “gig-work” bill that would adopt into law a California Supreme Court ruling about who can be classified as an independent contractor, though more changes to exempt certain jobs and industries are expected in the Senate.
Lawmakers also gave their support to a Ting bill to ban stores from providing paper receipts unless a customer requests one, and Wiener’s legislation to allow San Francisco, Oakland and several other cities to test out a 4 a.m. closing time for bars.
Democratic Sens. Jerry Hill of San Mateo and Steve Glazer of Orinda pulled a measure to ban the sale of flavored tobacco after lawmakers significantly weakened it.
Soda: Lawmakers still angry over a vote last year to prohibit cities from passing new soda taxes introduced five bills this session on sugary beverages, but they found few allies. Only one is still standing: a measure that would label the drinks with warnings about their health risks. Proponents of a statewide soda tax may pursue a ballot initiative after a bill to impose one stalled.
Criminal justice: An unexpected compromise between Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, and law enforcement means AB392, to raise the legal standard for when California police can shoot a suspect, is on its way to becoming law.
The Senate passed a bill that would eliminate administrative court fees for defendants, as well as a measure by Wiener that would end automatic sex offender registration for certain crimes that he argues single out gay people.
Lawmakers are also considering a Ting proposal to ban facial recognition surveillance technology statewide. It would be similar to a measure that San Francisco supervisors just adopted.
PG&E: Hill, a longtime critic of Pacific Gas and Electric Co., introduced several bills this year to tighten control over the troubled utility amid its bankruptcy proceedings. The Senate passed two of the measures — to require the California Public Utilities Commission to mandate a schedule for when electric utilities inspect their transmission lines and to prohibit the commission from approving a change in control of a large electric or gas company unless the shift improves safety. A third measure, to give the Legislature final approval over any PG&E rate increases, was held in committee.
To prevent another utility from declaring bankruptcy in the future, lawmakers are still exploring how to create an insurance fund to help the companies pay for the cost of disasters such as wildfires.
Health: Despite tremendous pushback from some parents, the Senate passed SB276 by Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, which would tighten the rules for California students to get a medical exemption from required vaccinations. Newsom recently expressed concerns with the idea, however, introducing new complications for the bill. A proposal by Wiener that would allow patients to get their first 30 days of anti-HIV medication without a prescription also advanced. The Assembly approved Chiu legislation, prompted by San Francisco General Hospital’s previous billing practices, that would prohibit California hospitals from sticking patients with huge emergency room costs that their insurers won’t cover.
Miscellaneous: A bill that would have made it easier to sue under California’s upcoming consumer data privacy law is dead. But we are one step closer to ending the biannual changing of the clocks: The Assembly unanimously passed AB7 by Assemblyman Kansen Chu, D-San Jose, which would move the state to year-round daylightsaving time, pending congressional approval.