Education
Benefits for Part-Time Community College Faculty – AB 706
Removes an arbitrary cap on part-time community college faculty members’ ability to transfer their earned sick leave benefits to another district. This law ensures that community college faculty do not inadvertently lose out on CalSTRS service credit at retirement.
$15 billion for Preschool, K-12, and Higher Education – AB 48 (O’Donnell / Glazer)
Places a $15 billion bond measure for facilities improvements at preschools, K-12 schools, and higher education institutions on the March 2020 ballot. This bond measure will address deferred maintenance backlogs and ensure that our students have the opportunity to learn in facilities designed for the 21st century.
Elections & Voting Access
Character-Based Names on the Ballot – AB 57
Standardizes the way in which character-based names appear on the ballot to ensure that candidates do not intentionally misrepresent themselves to voters. This bill curbs abuse of the translation process and provides recourse for candidates whose transliterated names would deem them unrecognizable to voters.
Health
Fighting Opioid Abuse – AB 528
Changes the timeframe in which pharmacists are required to report dispensed prescriptions to the CURES prescription monitoring database from seven days to the following working day. This law will prevent patients seeking opioids from abusing the existing seven day timeframe to fill multiple opioid prescriptions before their history is updated.
General Government
Branded Beer Glassware – AB 1133
Allows beer manufacturers to provide promotional glassware to retailers, bringing beer into parity with wine and spirits and allowing manufacturers to pair specialty glassware to specialty beers.
Universally Recognizable Cannabis Vape Cartridges – AB 1529
Amends the size requirement for the universal cannabis marker symbol that is printed on cannabis vaporizer cartridges to ensure that industry can comply with the intent of the law and that consumers can easily identify a cannabis vape product. This bill further safeguards consumers from unknowingly consuming a cannabis product.
LGBTQ Rights
Compassion, Dignity, and Equality for LGBTQ Californians – ACR 99
Reiterates previous findings of the California State Legislature, including that being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, etc. (LGBTQ) is not a mental illness or disorder. This resolution calls upon Californians to embrace the benefits of social acceptance, model equitable treatment of all people, and acknowledge the dangers of conversion therapy.
Consumer Protections & Sunset Bills
Business & Professions Code Cleanup – AB 496
Cleans-up the California Business & Professions code in order to update outdated language, neutralize gender throughout the entire code, and replace references to obsolete or renamed agencies and committees.
Acupuncture Practice Location Licenses – AB 779
Closes a loophole in the place-of-practice registration requirements under the acupuncture practice act. This law requires an acupuncture licensee that opens a new place of practice to register the new place of practice in the same manner as a change in the location of a licensee’s place of practice to ensure that the California Acupuncture Board can track wall licenses and that consumers can easily access licensee information.
Dental Board of California Sunset – AB 1519
Extends the Dental Board of California’s sunset date until January 1, 2024, and makes technical changes and reforms to issues raised in the committee’s background paper and oversight hearing. These changes include: transitioning authority for approving foreign dental schools from the DBC to a national accreditor, clarifying that professional responsibility laws are enforceable regardless of how services are delivered, and providing a baseline standard for review of patient health prior to orthodontia in any setting.
Court Reporters Board of California Sunset – AB 1520
Extends the operation of the Court Reporters Board until January 1, 2024.
California Board of Accountancy Sunset – AB 1521
Extends the sunset date of the Board of Accountancy by four years.
Board for Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists Sunset – AB 1522
Extends the sunset date for the Board of Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Geologists until January 1, 2024.
State Athletic Commission Sunset – AB 1523
Extends the operation of the California State Athletic Commission until January 1, 2024.
