Senator Wiener’s Housing, Solar Power, LGBT & Nightlife Bills All Advance from Senate Appropriations Committee to Senate Floor

Sacramento –  Today the Senate Appropriations Committee approved bills by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) to address California’s housing shortage, dramatically expand the use of solar power, guarantee rights for LGBT seniors in long-term care facilities, strengthen food access for low-income communities, modernize HIV criminalize laws, and allow communities to choose to extend the sale of alcohol as late as 4 AM in bars and restaurants. These bills will go to the full Senate for a vote next week, with the deadline for passage being June 2. Those bills approved by the Senate will then move to the Assembly. 

“These bills confront a wide range of issues in California, including addressing our housing shortage so that people can actually afford to live in our state, expanding the use of renewable energy to fight climate change and its effects, protecting marginalized communities like LGBT seniors and people living with HIV, and supporting nightlife culture and businesses in our cities,” said Senator Wiener. “I’m proud of each of these bills moving forward, and I look forward to passing them out of the Senate next week so we can get to work on moving them through the Assembly.” 

The following bills were moved off of Appropriations suspense today and will head to the Senate for a floor vote next week:

SB 35 – Creates a streamlined approval process for housing when cities are not meeting the housing creation goals required by the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA).

SB 71 – Authorizes the implementation of a solar mandate, which would require solar panels to be installed on most new buildings in California.

SB 219 –Strengthens protections for LGBT seniors living in long-term care facilities against discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or HIV status.

SB 239 – Reforms outdated HIV criminalization laws enacted during a time of fear and ignorance to make them more consistent with laws involving other serious communicable diseases

SB 278 – Makes CalFresh, the state’s federal nutrition assistance program, more cost-effective while protecting recipients who might be affected by major government errors, negligence, or fraud.

SB 282 – Improves CalFresh by creating employment opportunities and increasing access to prepared food in participating restaurants, which is critical for homeless, elderly, and disabled people who can’t access cooking facilities or have trouble cooking for themselves.

SB 384 – Allows, but does not require, local communities to extend the hour of alcohol service to as late as 4 AM in bars and restaurants.

SB 421 – Creates a tiered system that will make the sex offender registry a more effective tool for law enforcement to investigate sex crimes.

SB 700 – Creates the Energy Storage Initiative to provide rebates to electricity customers for the installation of home and business energy storage systems, which will spur the expansion of the solar energy storage market.

SB 765 – Grants charter schools the first right of refusal to purchase property owned by school districts when that land is put up for sale.