(CALMATTERS) – With 830 bills in the dreaded Senate and Assembly suspense files, legislators were busy Thursday killing about a third of them, write CalMatters Capitol reporters Sameea Kamal and Jeanne Kuang.
Bills that got the ax included a handful of high-profile crime measures:
- Sexual violence: A bill by Senate GOP leader Brian Jones of San Diego would have ensured that public safety is a priority for the State Department of State Hospitals when considering the conditional release of sexually violent predators. After it was nixed, Jones said that Assembly Democratic leaders are “now complicit in helping the Newsom Administration protect these predators over families.”
- Fentanyl and threats: Two bills by former-Democratic-now-Republican Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil of Modesto would have classified two crimes as felonies: Carrying a loaded firearm while in possession of fentanyl and making general threats against a school or a place of worship.
After the appropriations committees finished, more than 500 bills are still alive. But these measures still must get final legislative approval by Aug. 31 to head to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk. Among the proposals that did survive:
- Reparations: Three bills, including Senate Bill 1403 to create the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency, which would supervise state reparations programs.
- Octopus farming: Bans commercial octopus farming and the sale of the farmed creature. Animal rights activists say the practice is inhumane, even though it hasn’t started yet in California, reports CalMatters politics intern Jenna Peterson. Read more about the bill in Jenna’s story.
- Youth treatment: Expands reporting requirements for state-run facilities that treat young adults over the use of restraints and “seclusion rooms.” In response to its passage out of the appropriations committee, media personality Paris Hilton, a proponent of the bill, says it is critical “to hold these facilities accountable and increase transparency.”
Learn more about the suspense file hearings in Sameea and Jeanne’s story.
A couple of bills were also pulled by legislators before the hearings even began:
- Ethnic studies: A bill to expand disclosure requirements for school districts when implementing ethnic studies courses was held by the California Legislative Jewish Caucus and the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California. The organizations said the bill was narrowed so much that it couldn’t ensure antisemitic and anti-Israel content would not appear in ethnic studies curricula. The groups plan on introducing “something stronger next year.”
- Metal shredding: Establishes more streamlined regulations by the Department of Toxic Substances Control for metal shredding facilities, which are critical for recycling the material. Democratic Sen. Ben Allen of El Segundo shelved his bill because it “would benefit from more time to hear more from all interested parties.”