2023-2024 Legislative

SB 50 – Pretexual Stops - SB 50 would prohibit police from making traffic stops for low-level, non-safety violations. This will reduce the potential for more harm to innocent members of the public. We’ve all seen far too many times how these traffic stops can rapidly escalate and turn deadly. SB 50 will enhance public safety by allowing law enforcement to focus on serious crimes that actually impact public safety, instead of lower-level administrative tasks that could be handled with a letter sent to the vehicle’s owner.

SB 51 – Cannabis Equity Provisional Licenses – SB 51 promote greater diversity in the cannabis industry by authorizing the Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) to issue a provisional license for local cannabis equity applicants for retailers for up to five years. This bill would authorize the DCC to renew a provisional license until it issues or denies the provisional licensee’s annual license or until five years from the date the provisional license was originally issued, whichever is earlier.

SB 384 – Barbering and Cosmetology – Allows licensed barbers and cosmetologists who receive a first violation for a minor safety infraction to take a training course and have the violation removed from their record. Similar to traffic school for a first driving offense, SB 384 will allow workers to protect their licenses and livelihoods while receiving additional education on safety compliance.

SB 392 – Tied House Inglewood Arena – Similar to the exemption granted for nearly all professional sports facilities, SB 392 will allow the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood to sell alcoholic beverages at events and also offer alcohol-related advertising on the arena property.

SB 413 – Interdistrict Attendance – SB 413 would repeal the sunset and make permanent the extended timeline for the state's largest county offices of education to hear and process the large number of appeals regarding whether a pupil should be permitted to attend school in the district in which the pupil desires. Keeping the current 60 day timeline in place ensures that county school officials have the needed time to work with parents and the school districts to resolve appeals in a timely manner.

SB 429 – Natural Gas Surcharge - SB 429 requires the California Public Utilities Commission to direct gas corporations to apply the California Climate Credit to customers’ utility bills in February—reducing what are typically the highest gas bills of the year.

SB 441 – Criminal Procedure Discovery – SB 441 will make our criminal justice process more just and more efficient by giving someone accused of a felony access to vital information called discovery earlier in the legal process. This would eliminate long and costly legal motions over the disclosure of evidence obtained by prosecutors and law enforcement, and ultimately reduce the risk of wrongful arrests and convictions.

SB 449 – Police Officer Decertification – SB 449 makes technical changes to our state’s police decertification system to allow the POST Commission to better implement and administer the decertification process. When a police officer violates the public’s trust, California now has a process to ensure that person can never have the responsibility of wearing a badge again.

SB 490 – Extending the Reparations Task Force – In 2020, California established the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for African Americans. Their responsibility is to examine the institution of slavery and recommend potential remedies of compensation, rehabilitation, and restitution for African Americans, with a special consideration for the descendants of persons enslaved in the United States. The Task Force is now in the final preparation of its report and recommendations to the Legislature and Governor.

SB 530 – Exoneration Compensation – SB 530 would improve compensation for individuals who prove they were convicted of crimes they did not commit, by providing compensation for time the individuals were wrongfully required to register as a sex offender, and ensuring that claimants get to keep their awards, by reimbursing attorney’s fees, costs and expenses incurred in overturning the wrongful conviction or obtaining a pardon, and in obtaining compensation for wrongful conviction.

SB 661 – Student Athlete Bill of Rights – Now that student athletes can benefit financially from their name, image, and likeness, it’s important they have the knowledge to manage their money. SB 661 will require colleges and universities provide student-athletes with proper instruction in financial literacy. This vital knowledge is rarely shared with young people and can have lifelong negative impacts.

SB 673 – Ebony Alert – SB 673 create an Ebony Alert notification system in California to help locate missing Black youth or young Black women between the ages of 12 – 25 years. Research has proven that Black missing persons receive less attention than their white counterparts. SB 673 would give law enforcement an additional resource to help locate them. The Ebony Alert would encourage news organizations including television, cable, online, radio and social media outlets to cooperate with sharing the information.

SB 700 – Employment Discrimination: Cannabis Use – SB 700 will prevent employment discrimination against adults who legally consume cannabis while on their own time. SB 700 will ban employers from asking job applicants about prior cannabis use. Cannabis use in California is legal for adults ages 21 and over. It is vital that anyone who chooses to exercise this right off the job not face discrimination in the workplace.

SB 860 – Telecommunications: Moore Universal Telephone Service Act   SB 860 requires local and state governments who interact with low-income California households, to create an awareness campaign and distribute information regarding broadband affordability offered through the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP).

SB 873 – Prescription Drug Costs: Cost Sharing – SB 873 would ensure patients are better able to afford their medications by reforming the state’s prescription drug rebate system to ensure that 90% of manufacturer rebates are passed on to the customer at the pharmacy counter. By lowering out-of-pocket costs at the pharmacy counter, SB 873 helps patients better afford their medicines, leading to improved health outcomes.

SCR 24 – Alternative to Cobalt Mined in Africa Using Child Slave Labor – SCR 24, which declares that the Legislature should pass laws that halt the importation of cobalt or any product using cobalt mined in Africa using child slave labor. Large deposits of lithium and cobalt can be found in California's Salton Sea and we should not turn our backs on the harm being placed on children as California increases its reliance on these important raw materials.