2020-2021 Legislative Session
5 bills signed
- AB 1061 - Protecting Mobile Home Residents
- Water service fees in mobile home parks are ambiguous and often increase without explanation. These fees can add up and be burdensome, and AB 1061 protects mobile home residents from these unfair water service charges.
- AB 1337 - Keeping BART Safe
- With the new Milpitas and Berryessa/North San Jose stations, it's unclear whether BART police have the authority to enforce certain measures because Santa Clara County is not part of the three-county District and VTA's ownership of the extension. AB 1337 makes changes to allow BART police to implement transit security measures to keep our BART stations safe.
- AB 898 - Enhancing the Accuracy of Trial Court Records
- This bill seeks to ensure conviction expungements and reductions are correctly represented so that people eligible for relief are not held back from reentering society due to inaccurate court records.
- AB 1157 - Local transportation funds: State Transit Assistance Program reports
- This bill provides the State Controller’s Office (SCO) with additional time to identify errors and resolve issues which will help ensure accurate allocations are made to transit operators.
- AB 1228 - Probation Detention Reform
- The cornerstone of America’s justice system is the presumption of innocence. This legislation reforms the probation department so that an individual accused of violating probation is only detained if a court finds it necessary for the public’s safety.
Vetoed
- AB 339 - Keeping Digital/Call-in Options for Government Meetings
- During the pandemic, local governments transformed the way meetings were held, allowing the public to make comments and have their opinions heard through remote options from the comfort of their homes. AB 339 would have preserved that ability for cities and counties with populations of 250,000+.
Note: While AB 339 was vetoed, accessibility, transparency, and integrity are core democratic values and it continues to be important to modernize government for constituents.
- AB 1444 - Protecting Small Businesses
- Small businesses have barely stayed afloat with their narrow margins becoming increasingly smaller due to high fees from third-party ordering apps. AB 1444 would have prohibited food delivery platforms from charging fees for forwarded calls unless the call directly resulted in a paid order. It would have also required a disclosure if an order resulted in extra fees to restaurants and for business contracts to be more transparent with their fees.
Note: While AB 1444 was vetoed, the practice of rerouting calls for the purpose of charging commissions has ceased.
Introduced
- AB 20 - Banning Corporation Political Contributions
- Each year, business entities contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to campaigns across California, with over $785 million spent on the 2020 election in California alone. This bill proposed to ban business entities from contributing to candidates for office. This way, more power can be restored to everyday individuals.
- AB 387 - Building Housing for All
- California needs new, innovative ways to address the severe shortage of affordable homes for both low- and moderate-income households. California could lead a national paradigm shift by funding and building social housing, a concept which has been successfully implemented in Asia and Europe. Currently in America, the closest thing to social housing is what is known as public housing which is often in old, crumbling buildings filled only with low-income residents. But in Europe, South America, Asia and elsewhere, it's state-built homes, generally on publicly owned land, well-maintained, and for people of all incomes. Through social housing, we have an opportunity to reshape how we view housing: not as a commodity, but as a fundamental human right.
- AB 854 - Protecting Renters/Preventing Homelessness
- In the past few years, the Ellis Act's loopholes have been used to buy up rent control housing, evict tenants, and sell the property for a higher profit. These tenants that are evicted are usually some of our most vulnerable including low-income and senior residents that are quickly at risk of becoming homeless. This bill would reform the Ellis Act and end the speculator eviction loophole by requiring a 5-year holding period before the Ellis Act can be invoked to evict tenants.
- AB 946 - Creating More Homeownership
- While Mortgage Interest Deductions are important for first-time homeowners, people are receiving additional deductions for their empty vacation homes and California is spending millions to subsidize these empty homes to the primary benefit of wealthier individuals. By reallocating this money to a first-time home buyer program, we would foster a new generation of homeowners in California that can build generational wealth.
- AB 1290 - Student representation
- This bill aimed to improve student representation on the California Student Aid Commission by adding two additional student commissioners to the Student Aid Commission so that there are four student members, one from each type of higher education institution. The four student aid commissioners would be appointed, with one representative from each of the following: the University of California, the California State University, the California Community Colleges, and a California private postsecondary educational institution.
- ACA 8/AB 310 - Extreme Wealth Tax
- While the California income tax is successful at taxing most Californians, it is not very effective at taxing the ultra-wealthy who can avoid the California income tax as long as they do not sell their stocks. The California Tax on Extreme Wealth Act proposed to impose an annual excise tax at a rate of 1% on extreme wealth in excess of $50M and at a rate of 1.5% on extreme wealth in excess of $1B.