SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Nine bills authored by Sen. Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) have moved forward in the state Assembly:
SB 179, the Gender Recognition Act, has cleared the Assembly Judiciary Committee and has been sent to the Assembly Transportation Committee. The bill creates a third gender marker on state-issued identification documents for people who identify as nonbinary – neither male nor female – and streamlines the process for transgender, intersex and nonbinary Californians to obtain identification documents that accurately reflect their gender.
SB 214 has cleared the Assembly National Resources and Appropriations committees. The bill strengthens the capacity of the San Diego River Conservancy to protect and enhance historic, cultural and natural resources within the watershed along the 52-mile San Diego River. It adds representation from the City of Santee and the Kumeyaay Diegueño Land Conservancy to the conservancy’s Board of Directors. It also provides the conservancy with greater ability to enter into joint-powers agreements.
SB 223 has cleared the Assembly Health Committee and has been sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The bill requires health plans in California to meet the higher nondiscrimination, consumer-protection and language-assistance standards that exist in the Affordable Care Act – no matter what happens to the ACA – ensuring equal access to affordable healthcare, regardless of race, religion, national origin, ethnicity, age, sex, sexual orientation or disability.
SB 285 has cleared the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee and has been sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The bill makes it clear under the law that public employers are prohibited from deterring or discouraging public employees from becoming or remaining members of union.
SB 310, the Name and Gender Act, has cleared the Assembly Judiciary Committee and has been sent to the Assembly Public Safety Committee. It establishes the right of people in state prisons and county jails to access the courts to obtain a name or gender change. It also requires corrections officials to use the new name of a prisoner who has successfully obtained a name change.
SB 379 has cleared the Assembly Education Committee and has been sent to the Assembly Health Committee. The bill clarifies that schools that offer free oral-health assessments may facilitate dental screenings by requiring parents to opt-out if they do not want their children to receive an assessment, although any treatment would require active consent. It also requires schools to report to counties aggregate data on tooth decay and encourages schools to report oral-health data to the state.
SB 462 has cleared the Assembly Judiciary Committee and has been sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The bill clarifies that probation departments may access juvenile-justice data in order to fulfill reporting requirements or conduct research to improve their programs. It also permits courts to authorize probation departments to provide third-party researchers to with limited access to juvenile case files to conduct research on juvenile-justice populations and the programs that serve them. SB 462 ensures that no personally identifying information from a juvenile case file may be released, disseminated or published.
SB 548 has cleared the Assembly Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee and has been sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The bill ensures that public-employee grievances that involve claims of bad-faith bargaining are eligible to be expedited by the Public Employee Relations Board (PERB).
SB 667 has cleared the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee and has been sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The bill enables the Riverine Stewardship Assistance Program (RSAP), which was created in the 2016-17 fiscal year state budget. The RSAP provides technical and financial support for stream restoration, reduced flood risk and improved habitat corridors, empowering communities to reconnect with and take pride in their neighborhood waterways.
