Press Releases

October 11, 2023

October 10, 2023

Last Saturday – on the Jewish holidays of Shabbat and Simchat Torah, as well as the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur War – Hamas terrorists invaded Israel in an act of war, killing over 1,000 civilians and abducting at least 150 hostages to Gaza. These are innocent civilians who’ve done nothing wrong, and their lives were cut short. The tragedy — and the vile atrocities by Hamas that led to it — is so immense it’s almost incomprehensible. 

This unprecedented attack marks the deadliest day of violence against Jews since the Holocaust. 

October 10, 2023

SACRAMENTO – Governor Newsom signed Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill 365, which levels the legal playing field for workers and consumers with respect to forced arbitration. 

“Workers should have a level playing field with corporations in our justice system,” said Senator Wiener. “This bill does that by ending a loophole that allowed corporations to tie up even frivolous disputes in endless process. This is a win for good government, and I thank the Governor for his signature.”

October 7, 2023

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill 90, which caps the cost of insulin at $35 per month. The bill had previously passed the Assembly 79-0 and passed the Senate on concurrence 39-0.

September 17, 2023

SACRAMENTO – At the Opening Ceremony of Climate Week NYC, Governor Gavin Newsom announced his intention to sign Senate Bill 253, the nation’s first comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions disclosure requirement, authored by Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). In response, Senator Wiener issued the following statement:

September 13, 2023

SACRAMENTO – As the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) continues to demonstrate increasingly astonishing capabilities, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) unveiled SB 294, the Safety in Artificial Intelligence Act. SB 294 presents a framework for California to ensure the safe development of AI models within its borders. Under the framework, AI labs would be required to practice responsible scaling by testing the most advanced models rigorously for safety risks and disclose their planned responses to the State if safety risks are discovered.

September 12, 2023

SACRAMENTO – The Senate approved Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill 253, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act — a first-in-the-nation measure requiring carbon disclosures from large corporations that do business in California. The bill — part of the Climate Accountability Package introduced by Senator Wiener, Senator Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles), and Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) — passed 27-8 and heads next to the Governor for final approval.

 

September 8, 2023

SACRAMENTO – The Senate approved Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill 58, which removes criminal penalties for the personal possession and use of a limited set of naturally occurring psychedelics, including psilocybin/psilocyn (mushrooms), Dimethyltryptamine (“DMT”), and mescaline (excluding peyote). The bill also triggers an administrative process to craft policy proposals for assisted therapeutic use of psychedelics. The bill passed 21-14 and heads next to Governor Newsom’s desk for his final review. 

 

September 8, 2023

SACRAMENTO – Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) announced today that he is pausing Senate Bill 339 in the Assembly after the Assembly Appropriations Committee inserted a harmful amendment to the bill. SB 339 improves access to PrEP and PEP, a powerful preventative HIV medication, by ensuring pharmacists can furnish PrEP without a prescription. The bill deals exclusively with ensuring pharmacists are able to provide PrEP.

 

September 8, 2023

SACRAMENTO – The Assembly passed Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) Senate Bill 423, legislation to extend Senator Wiener’s SB 35 (2017), one of the state’s most successful tools for accelerating development of affordable housing. The bill passed 52-8 with bipartisan support and heads next to the Assembly, where it must pass by September 14.