Volume 2, Issue 15, (August 23, 1999)
In This Issue:
Legislature Returns to Sacramento
Child Support Reform Measure Goes to Governor
Recycling Measure Moves Forward
Breast and Gynecological Cancer Treatment Measure Moves Forward
Transportation Financing Measure Clears Assembly Panel
Saturday Night Special Bill Advances
Davis Gets Bill Outlawing Covert Videotaping
Dog Attack Measure Goes to Governor
Mobile Home Resident Protection Bill Goes to Governor
Campaign Finance Reform Bill Goes Forward
Reagan License Plate Bill Advances
Legislature Returns to Sacramento
The state Legislature returned to Sacramento on August 16th to complete its work on the 1999 legislative session. On Monday, committee hearings and Senate and Assembly floor sessions kicked off a schedule that will continue through September 10th, in which hundreds of legislative proposals are expected to be considered. Pressing issues that will be considered during the last weeks of session include HMO reform, long-term transportation financing, child support collection reform, and workers' compensation reform, among many others.
Child Support Reform Measure Goes to Governor
Assembly Bill 196, which would reform the state's child support collection and enforcement program, received the final nod from the state Assembly and goes to the Governor. The bill, authored by Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica), was approved with a 42 to 33 vote.
AB 196 would take responsibility for collecting child support and enforcement of child support orders away from local district attorneys and instead place it with new local agencies, which would be supervised by a new state agency. Two companion measures are also expected to reach the Governor's desk in the coming weeks: SB 542 by Senate President Pro Tempore John Burton (D-San Francisco) and AB 150 by Assemblywoman Dion Aroner (D-Oakland).
There is as much as $13 billion in overdue child support payments owed to as many as 4 million children in California.
Recycling Measure Moves Forward
One of the more controversial measures moving through the legislative process this year continues to advance amidst a series of amendments designed to remove opposition. Senate Bill 332 by Senator Byron Sher (D-Palo Alto) was approved by the Assembly Appropriations Committee on a 13 to 2 vote following the adoption of amendments taken to alleviate concerns by soft drink manufacturers and the plastics industry.
SB 332 adds several more containers to the list of drink containers that would have a refund value and could be recycled, including carbonated and non-carbonated water, noncarbonated soft drinks and sport drinks, noncarbonated fruit drinks, coffee and tea drinks. The measure would cover more than 2 billion additional glass, plastic and metal containers each year.
SB 332 also reduces the minimum recycled content requirement for bottle manufacturers to 25 percent; increases the funding for curbside recycling programs from $5 million to $15 million; revises the amount paid to processors and recycling centers for each bottle processed; changes the formula of processing fees paid by manufacturers; and requires the Department of Conservation to spend $10 million annually in 2000 and 2001 to conduct a statewide public education and information campaign.
Sher was able to garner support from legislators who have levied significant opposition against SB 332 by eliminating a provision in his bill that would have doubled the deposit on 20-ounce plastic soda containers.
The bill now goes before the full Assembly.
Breast and Gynecological Cancer Treatment Measure Moves Forward
The Assembly Health Committee has approved, on a 12 to 2 vote, a measure that would create the California Breast and Gynecological Cancer Treatment Program. Senate Bill 1154, by Senator Jackie Speier (D-San Francisco), authorizes the program, which would offer up to 24 months of treatment for uninsured and underinsured women who are diagnosed with breast or gynecological cancer.
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. California accounts for over 10 percent of the 180,000 American women diagnosed with the disease in 1998.
Transportation Financing Measure Clears Assembly Panel
The Assembly Transportation Committee has approved Senate Constitutional Amendment 3 by Senate President Pro Tempore John Burton (D-San Francisco) with a 10 to 6 vote. Two days later, the measure was considered and approved, on a 5 to 1 vote, by the Assembly Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments Committee. It will be heard next by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
SCA 3 would place a measure on the March, 2000 ballot that would allow, by a two-thirds vote, voters to authorize a local one-half cent sales tax for a 20 year period, the from which the proceeds would be used for transportation infrastructure funding improvements.
Saturday Night Special Bill Advances
The state Assembly has approved a measure that would ban the sale of cheap, unsafe handguns in California. Senate Bill 15 by Senator Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) was approved with a 43 to 26 vote, and goes to the Senate for a final vote before being sent to Governor Davis. Davis has indicated he will sign the bill into law.
The measure would make it illegal to manufacture, import or sale handguns that fail to meet strict safety tests and do not have safety devices. Only handguns that pass firing tests and drop-safety tests at state certified laboratories could be sold in California. Violation of the law could bring up to one year in jail.
SB 15 was approved despite intense opposition by the National Rifle Association and other pro-gun organizations.
Davis Gets Bill Outlawing Covert Videotaping
With a final vote of 64 to 0, the state Assembly sent Assembly Bill 182 by Assemblyman Dick Ackerman (R-Fullerton), which would make it illegal to secretly videotape, beneath or through another person's clothing without their knowledge for the purposes of sexual gratification.
The bill was introduced after police in Orange County caught men secretly videotaping women as they stood in line or stepped off rides at Disneyland, the beach and public events staged last year. However, since no law prohibited the activity, police could not arrest the men.
The Governor has not yet taken a position on the bill.
Dog Attack Measure Goes to Governor
The Legislature has sent a bill to the Governor to allow felony charges to be brought against the owners of dogs who viciously attack humans. Senate Bill 103 by Senator Maurice Johannessen (R-Redding) was approved by the Senate with a 33 to 0 vote.
If the measure is signed into law by Governor Davis, felony charges could be brought against dog owners who train their dogs to attack or kill, and subsequently the animal seriously injures or maims a human. Johannessen introduced the bill after a young boy lost an arm last year after being mauled by dogs trained to attack. The law currently does not provide for stiff penalties for owners of vicious dogs.
Mobile Home Resident Protection Bill Goes to Governor
The Senate provided final approval on a measure designed to protect mobile home park residents. Senate Bill 476 by Senator Wes Chesbro (D-Arcata) was approved with a 31 to 8 vote to provide a cap on the mark-up of propane sold to residents by mobile home park management. No more than a 10 percent mark-up could be charged by the park owner or management.
Campaign Finance Reform Bill Goes Forward
A measure to give the voters yet another opportunity to vote for or against campaign finance reform has been approved by a key Senate panel. Senate Bill 1169 has been approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 7 to 6 vote, advancing now to the full Senate.
If signed into law, this bill will give voters in the March 2000 primary the chance to limit contributions to candidates for legislative office and to provide partial public funding of general election nominees for legislative office. Candidates who accept public funds would be limited in the amount of money they could spend during the election.
In 1996, voters approved Proposition 208, which enacted a campaign finance reform law which imposed contribution limits and prohibited the transfer of campaign funds between candidates. Prop. 208 was subsequently invalidated in federal court, which ruled the contribution limits were so low that they precluded candidates from conducting a meaningful campaign, thereby infringing free speech.
The contribution limits set forth in SB 1169 are considerably higher than those set forth in Prop. 208 ($2,000 per individual contributor vs. $500 per individual contributor).
Reagan License Plate Bill Advances
Assembly Bill 1041 by Assemblyman Tony Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks), which would create a California license plate honoring former President and California Governor Ronald Reagan, has been approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on a 8 to 1 vote. The bill now goes to the full Senate for consideration.
The special plates would cost an additional $50, with the proceeds going to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Account to fund education services related to the Library. These services would include school visit grants to pay the costs of field trips for elementary school students to visit the Reagan Library.
The Department of Motor Vehicles would design the plates in conjunction with the Reagan Presidential Library Foundation.