State legislators put in a 48-hour marathon session before going on recess, passing hundreds of bills on to Governor Brown who must pass or veto them by October 15.
Cal Matters, a group with whom we collaborated on our election coverage last year, has created a website summarizing some of the most important legislation to come out of the most recent session in Sacramento. The group highlighted 15 key bills, or packages of bills, that California lawmakers passed in the last couple of days.
Cal Matters’ top pick was a package of affordable housing bills. That includes a $4 billion bond that could come before voters next year, and a bill from San Francisco Senator Scott Weiner that would ease regulations on some affordable housing developments.
There’s also Senate leader Kevin de Leon’s bill to limit local law enforcements cooperation with federal immigration agents. This one – also referred to as Sanctuary State legislation – is supported by most Democrats, and it’s opposed by the California State Sheriffs' Association.
Another bill in front of the Governor now would require community water authorities to test for lead in water systems in schools built before 2010. There’s no organized opposition to this, but there’s concern about who would pay for problems, since schools already lag behind the national average in per pupil spending.
Cal Matters highlights a host of others: from better labeling of chemicals in cleaning products; to bills that would level gender pay gaps; to free community college tuition across the state (following the lead of City College of San Francisco).
State legislators have done their work for the year, and they’re not due back in Sacramento until January. But the hundreds of bills they rolled through are now on Governor Brown’s desk. And he’s got until October 15th to sign or veto them. Historically, he’s signed most.
