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With the attempt to recall him from office thoroughly beaten back, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) got down to more normal gubernatorial activity this week by addressing many of the scores of bills awaiting his action.
Some of the most notable include bills dealing with housing and homelessness, labor protections, voting, medical marijuana, policing reform and abortion rights.
California has some of the most expensive housing costs in the nation, trailing only Hawaii in median home pricing. It is a problem-driven in many ways by a lack of availability – estimates place the state’s housing shortage at between 1.8 and 3.5 million units.
Producing more affordable housing has been at or near the top of Newsom’s agenda from before he was elected, and to that end, he inked his name to 27 bills last Tuesday aimed at boosting the state’s housing production and availability.
That brings to 31 the total number of housing measures he has signed this session. Earlier this year he also signed two measures committing $22 billion in states funds to housing issues, with $10 billion going toward affordable housing and another $12 billion for services to the homeless or those close to becoming homeless.
Newsom told the San Jose Mercury News he expects the state funding to eventually produce 84,000 new housing units. He acknowledged this is a far cry from his stated campaign goal of 3.5 million new units, but said it is important that the state make at least some positive headway with the problem.
“This is the number-one pre-existing condition in this state,” Newsom said. “And look, if I have five more years as governor, we will not have solved the housing crisis. But I am committed to a path where there’s momentum, and there’s an irresistible desire to continue to do better and more than we ever have in the past — and make that an expectation of whoever comes behind me."
Other bills the governor recently signed include SB 9, which changes state zoning laws to allow up to four dwellings on lots where previously only one was acceptable, and SB 10, which allows a local government to rezone single-family parcels to allow as many as 10 units near public transit hubs and within urban areas.
The governor also announced the creation of a new Housing Accountability Unit that he says will hold cities and counties accountable for approving enough new housing units to serve their populations.
Some of the other housing bills signed last week:
AB 215, which requires cities to meet certain checkpoints in that process. Those that fail will be forced to develop more development-friendly policies.
SB 791, which creates another new state agency to help local city councils, county boards of supervisors and school districts turn their unused government-owned land into housing.
AB 787, which incentivizes local governments to convert market-rate apartment complexes into middle-income housing in exchange for property tax breaks.
Newsom followed that up by signing another seven bill package on Wednesday aimed at reducing homelessness by expanding mental health services and behavioral health housing. That package included AB 977, which creates a series of controls and oversight on how state homelessness funds are spent.
One of the most closely watched bills lawmakers sent Newsom this session was aimed directly at Amazon, and specifically complaints that the online retail giant’s policies for warehouse workers were unfair and abusive.
Newsom signed AB 701, which makes California the first state to require warehouses to inform workers of quotas or work speed standards and the potential penalties for not meeting them. It also bans companies from setting standards that make it difficult or impossible for workers to take legally mandated breaks or follow health and safety laws. Workers may also now sue employers who set such targets.
Newsom also signed another first-in-the-nation bill, SB 62, which requires garment industry workers to be paid an hourly wage unless they collectively bargain a per-piece rate. The bill had drawn strong opposition from business groups and the garment industry.
“These measures protect marginalized low-wage workers, many of whom are women of color and immigrants, ensuring they are paid what they are due and improving workplace conditions,” he said in a statement.
Other pro-labor bills Newsom signed include SB 639, which bars employers from paying workers with disabilities less than the California minimum wage, and AB 1003, which makes an employer’s intentional theft of wages, benefits or compensation in an amount greater than $950 for one employee or more than $2,350 for two or more employees in a consecutive 12-month period punishable as grand theft. Prosecutors would have the option of charging it as a misdemeanor or a felony.
But Newsom also vetoed two bills labor strongly supported:
AB 616, a bill that would have allowed farmworkers the option to vote remotely in union elections.
AB 123, which would have gradually increased the percentage of income California workers would receive while using the state’s Paid Family Leave program from the current rate of 60 percent to 90 percent.
Newsom said he would work with lawmakers on revised proposals for both measures next year.
Newsom also signed a measure (AB 37) ensuring that every active registered voter receives a mail-in ballot in future Golden State elections. According to Ballotpedia, California joins at least seven other states - Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington – and the District of Columbia in automatically providing voters with a mail-in ballot.
With some states now seeking to severely limit abortion services, Newsom went the other direction by signing two measures intended to safeguard the procedure:
AB 1356, which makes it a crime to post personal information or images of a reproductive health care patient online. Violators face up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine. That fine can increase to as much as $50,000 if the offense results in bodily injury.
AB 1184, which imposes stricter privacy standards on health insurers regarding patients receiving “sensitive” health care services, including abortions, gender-affirming care, mental health treatment, and services related to substance use and intimate partner violence.
The governor also quietly addresses medical marijuana use, signing a measure (SB 311) that allows terminally ill patients to use cannabis inside health facilities. He vetoed a similar bill in 2019 but did not indicate what had changed to convince him to sign it this time around.
Newsom signed several immigration-related bills last week as well, including:
AB 1096, which will replace the word “alien” with language more reflective of today’s legal terminology, such as “noncitizen” or “immigrant,” in the California State Code.
AB 263, which requires private detention facilities, including those used to house and detain immigrants in California, to comply with local and state public health orders.
SB 334, which requires private, for-profit detention facilities operating in California to uphold basic health and safety standards for people being detained in these facilities and maintain minimum levels of insurance coverage related to medical professional liability and liability for civil rights violations.
AB 600, a bill that clarifies that existing law includes immigration status under the definition of “nationality” so that crimes targeting people due to their immigration status are considered a hate crime.
Newsom also acted on several policing reform proposals, including:
SB 2, a measure that grants the state Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training the power to decertify an officer for misconduct and create a citizen review board to review misconduct claims and make recommendations to the Commission on that revocation.
AB 16, which expands the types of police personnel records that are subject to public disclosure.
AB 89, which makes 21 the minimum age for police officers and creates a required curriculum in the community college system.
AB 48, which bars officers from firing rubber bullets or tear gas at a protest unless it is a life-threatening situation.
AB 490, which bans police from using chokeholds or other restraints and transport methods that carry a substantial risk of suffocating the suspect.
AB 26, which redefines what police agencies must include in use-of-force policies regarding officers intervening when they see excessive force by their colleagues.
AB 958, which makes it a fireable offense for police officers to be part of a “law enforcement gang” that participates in a pattern of unacceptable on-duty behavior.
The governor has until October 10th to finish addressing the remaining bills sent to him this year.
Among the most closely watched include a proposal that would bar secret settlement agreements between employers and workers who accuse them of harassment or discrimination (SB 331), a proposal to require students to pass an ethnic studies course to graduate high school (AB 101), a huge expansion of the state’s Cal Grant student loan program (AB 1456) and a proposal to require health insurance plans to make coverage available to their members’ dependent parents (AB 570).
SNCJ will continue to track these and all the remaining measures awaiting the governor’s action.
--By RICH EHISEN
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has signed legislation (AB 37) continuing the practice of sending a vote-by-mail ballot to every active registered voter - adopted as a temporary measure during the coronavirus pandemic - in all future elections. Five other states already conduct all their elections entirely by mail, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.