CA State Legislature Introduces Bills

On February 17, the CA State Legislature introduced 2,632 bills and 11 Constitutional Amendments. Members of the Assembly have introduced 1,751 bills and 8 Constitutional Amendments, and Members of the Senate have introduced 881 bills and 3 Constitutional Amendments. This is the most bills introduced in more than a decade. More than 1,000 are “placeholder” bills without specific language. As a reminder, more bills are typically introduced in odd-numbered years, the first year of the Legislature’s two-year sessions.

Last year, when about 2,000 bills were introduced, the Legislature passed almost 1,200 of them — and nearly 1,000 became law with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature.

Here are a list of potential bills the Chamber will be reviewing, among others:

Housing and homelessness

• AB 799, by Assemblymember Luz Rivas: Creates an accountability framework for cities, counties and organizations receiving state funds.

• AB 1418, by Assemblymember Tina Mckinnor: Bans penalties for tenants who have interactions with law enforcement.

• AB 1700, by Assemblymember Josh Hoover: Limits the use of noise and population growth as factors violating CEQA, the state’s environmental review law.

Health care

• AB 1690, by San Jose Assemblymember Ash Kalra: Revives the effort to create a single payer health care system.

Workers’ rights

• SB 497, by Sen. Lola Smallwood-cuevas, from Los Angeles: Strengthens protections for workers from retaliation by employers.

• SB 525, by Sen. María Elena Durazo, also from Los Angeles: Revives the effort to increase the minimum wage for some healthcare workers to $25 an hour.

• AB 1672 by San Francisco Assemblymember Matt Haney: Creates a framework to address labor disputes between employee organizations who represent independent in-home caregivers and the state.