2021-2022 Legislation

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Summary of 2021 Legislative & Budgetary
Accomplishments
 

Public Safety & Criminal Justice Reform:

  • SB 2: Police Decertification Act of 2021
    Jointly Authored with President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins
    Signed into law by the Governor on September 30, 2021. (Chapter 409, Statutes of 2021)
    Creates a statewide process to revoke a peace officer’s certification for a criminal conviction and certain acts of serious misconduct without regard to conviction. Additionally, the bill will remove some of the more egregious immunities used to avoid full civil rights enforcement using the Bane Act.
     
  • SB 567: Determinate Sentencing
    Signed into law by the Governor on October 8, 2021. (Chapter 731, Statutes of 2021)
    Requires the court in criminal sentencing proceedings to only impose the upper/maximum term if sufficient aggravating facts are first considered by a jury.Further permits the defendant and other parties to dispute facts in the record or present additional facts for sentencing purposes.
     
  • SB 586: Police Decertification
    Signed into law by the Governor on September 30, 2021. (Chapter 429, Statutes of 2021)
    Makes clarifying changes and addresses statutory drafting issues with SB 2, Statute of 2021, Chapter 409.

Economic Justice:

  • SB 796: Returning Bruce’s Beach to its Rightful Owners
    Signed into law by the Governor on September 30, 2021. (Chapter 435, Statutes of 2021)
    Allows the County of Los Angeles to return Bruce’s Beach to the remaining descendants of the Bruce family, from whom it was wrongfully taken in 1929. This restores the family’s namesake and corrects a historical injustice inflicted because of racism and prejudice.
     
  • SB 26: Fair Pay to Play Act 2.0
    Jointly Authored with Senator Nancy Skinner
    Signed into law by the Governor on August 31, 2021. (Chapter 159, Statutes of 2021)
    Moves up the implementation date of SB 206 (Skinner/Bradford, Statutes of 2019, Chapter 383), the Fair Pay to Play Act, which allows NCAA collegiate athletes to earn money for the use of their name, image, and likeness; also allows athletes to earn money from their athletic reputation.

Diversity & Equity:

  • SB 655: Insurance Diversity
    Signed into law by the Governor on September 28, 2021. (Chapter 390, Statutes of 2021)
    Expands the Supplier Diversity Survey and Governing Board Survey to more companies and requires stronger diversity goals.
     
  • SB 694: Electric Utility Workforce Diversity
    Signed into law by the Governor on October 8, 2021. (Chapter 733, Statutes of 2021)
    Requires electrical utilities to report a detailed summary of their workforce development efforts, including specific information about how that includes state and community conservation corps crew members, as well as formerly-incarcerated CDCR fire camp crew members

Labor:

  • SB 788: Workers’ Compensation
    Vetoed by the Governor
    Prohibits the reduction of workers’ compensation benefits on the basis of race, gender, sexual identity, genetics, and other factors.

Budget:

  • More than $140 million in direct, equitable investments for Senate District 35, including:
    • $60 million to California State University Dominguez Hills to address infrastructure needs;
    • $50 million for Charles Drew University to construct a medicine and science building and to support more people of color going into the health profession;
    • $10 million to Martin Luther King, Jr., Community Hospital to provide infrastructure and workforce support;
    • $8.5 million for the Inglewood Market Street Streetscape Improvement Program and the Market Street Facade and Tenant Improvement Program;
    • $6 million to support the development of the AltaSea Center for Innovation, an ocean STEM and workforce development facility;
    • $1.2 million to the Boys & Girls Club of the Los Angeles Harbor for restoration of the Cheryl Green Center for children to play and learn;
    • $3.5 million for the Los Angeles Black Worker Center to create the Workforce Equity Demonstration Project to assist more workers in obtaining government jobs; and,
    • $1 million to the Mervyn M. Dymally African American Political & Economic Institute at California State University Dominguez Hills.
       
  • Additional resources to increase equity in the cannabis industry, including:
    • $20 million in additional funding for local equity grant programs;
    • $30 million in new funding for fee waiver and deferral grants to local equity applicants and licensees; and,
    • A groundbreaking statewide definition of cannabis equity to guide the fee waiver and deferral program listed above.
       
  • Reform to excessive criminal and vehicle fees, including the elimination of 17 fees that disproportionately harm poor people of color who cannot afford to pay them, consistent with changes proposed in SB 586 (Bradford, 2021). This action includes $25 million in funding for fee reform in Fiscal Year 2021 and $50 million in funding for fee reform in Fiscal Year 2022.

Resolutions:

  • SCR 6: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
    (Resolutions Chapter 2, Statutes of 2021)
    Honors the late reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and commemorates Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of 2021.
     
  • SCR 10: Black History Month
    (Resolutions Chapter 5, Statutes of 2021)
    Recognizes February as Black History Month and celebrates the accomplishments of African Americans, while encouraging Californians to recognize the many talents of African Americans and the achievements and contributions they have made to our country.
     
  • SCR 41: Juneteenth
    (Resolutions Chapter 99, Statutes of 2021)
    Recognizes June 19, 2021, as Juneteenth and as a day to honor and reflect on the significant role that African Americans have played in the history of the United States and how they have enriched society through their steadfast commitment to promoting unity and equality.
     
  • SJR 7: Surveillance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
    Passed by the Senate, pending action by the Assembly
    This measure calls for the removal and destruction of the immorally-recorded Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) surveillance tapes on Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. During his involvement with the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955, the FBI began monitoring Martin Luther King, Jr., and engaged in immoral and defaming covert operations against him throughout the 1960s, resulting in the wrongful creation of recordings that are currently held under seal by the National Archives & Records Administration.

 

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Senator Bradford is the Chair of the Senate Committee on Public Safety, Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, and represents the Los Angeles County communities of Carson, Compton, Gardena, Harbor City, Hawthorne, Inglewood, Lawndale, Lennox, San Pedro, Torrance, Watts, Willowbrook, and Wilmington.

For the latest information on the Senator and his legislation, please visit his website at www.Senate.ca.gov/Bradford