Bevy of Bills Signed by Gov
Jackson and Williams Wrap Up Year
Following Elliot Rodger’s shooting rampage in May, State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson and Assemblymember Das Williams quickly announced they had coauthored legislation that would allow family members or law enforcement personnel to petition courts to keep guns temporarily away from persons believed at risk of harming themselves or others. The bill was one of the last Governor Jerry Brown signed on September 30 — the last day he could do so — and brought the total number of bills he has signed to 930. He vetoed 143.
It appears Jackson and Williams had a productive year. They each authored more than a dozen bills; Brown did not veto any of Williams’s and just one of Jackson’s. That bill would have given franchisees more freedom in their contracts with corporations.
Here’s a sample of Jackson’s bills that Brown signed:
GUNS AND WELFARE: Law-enforcement officers will be required to search the state database of gun purchases before performing “welfare checks.”
YES MEANS YES: As colleges grapple with how to address sexual violence, this law makes California the first to adopt a standard for consent on campuses. It also mandates that resources be available for victims and that staff be trained to handle assault cases.
SIGN ’EM UP: Teens will be allowed to preregister to vote at age 16. They will still not be able to vote until they turn 18, but they can fill out applications to prepare — online, by mail, at the DMV, or in civics classes in high school.
GETTING BACK TO WORK: People who have been unemployed for six months or longer will be given special consideration for the 7,750 state grants that are set aside for job training; priority will be given to training for booming industries with high demand for workers and higher wages.
FORCED STERILIZATIONS: After media reports revealed forced or coerced sterilizations were occurring in California prisons or correctional facilities for the purpose of birth control, Jackson authored this bill to outlaw the practice.
And here are a handful of the bills authored by Williams:
COMPOST THAT: This bill encourages “green waste” to be composted rather than sent to landfills. By 2020, local governments will no longer receive recycling credit for sending yard brush to landfills.
HIGHER ED: All public higher-education institutions will have to post accreditation documents on their websites. Another education bill will allow California State University faculty to stay on the Board of Trustees for a year after their term expires if the governor has not appointed a successor.
TUBERCULOSIS: Created to address the shortage of tuberculin used for TB skin tests, public school teachers and aides will be able to take a tuberculosis risk assessment rather than undergo the full examination, which they are required to do once they are hired and once every four years.
THE BEES KNEES: This bill will require the Department of Pesticide Regulation to adopt new control measures for neonicotinoids — which have been linked to losses of honeybee colonies — within two years of its next routine reevaluation.
Other notable bills sponsored by other state legislators included those to limit suspensions for disruptive students, to ban plastic bags, to provide $3 million in legal aid for unaccompanied immigrant children from Central America, and to allow 15 community colleges to experiment with granting bachelor’s degrees. Brown vetoed a bill that would have required law-enforcement agencies to obtain warrants before using drones.
