Senator Wiener’s Legislation to Expand Conservatorships, Improve Pedestrian & Bike Safety, Increase Access to PrEP, and Reduce Mass Incarceration Pass the Legislature
Sacramento– Last week, 7 of Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) bills were approved by the Legislature and await the Governor’s decision. The governor has 30 days to sign or veto the legislation.
The full list of Senator Wiener’s bills heading to the Governor are:
SB 34- The Dennis Peron and Brownie Mary Compassionate Care Act
Exempts compassionate care programs from paying state commercial cannabis taxes when they are providing free medical cannabis to financially disadvantaged people living with serious health conditions. Due to an oversight in how Prop 64 was drafted, these not-for-profit donation programs, that have been serving medical cannabis patients for decades, are now being forced to pay taxes meant for businesses, which are forcing these charity programs to shut down.
SB 40- Updates to Senator Wiener’s Conservatorship Law
Makes changes to legislation authored by Senator Wiener that allows San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties more flexibility in expanding the reach of the conservatorship system, modernizing its administration, and assisting individuals who suffer from chronic homelessness, accompanied by debilitating mental illness, severe drug addiction, repeated psychiatric commitments, or excessively frequent use of emergency medical services.
SB 127- Creating Complete Streets
Requires Caltrans to make roads safer for people walking, bicycling, or using transit when repairing or upgrading state-owned roadways in urbanized areas.
SB 136- Repealing Unnecessary and Common One-Year Sentence Enhancements
Repeals a commonly used one-year sentence enhancement that is added to each prior prison or felony jail term that an individual has served.
SB 142- Requiring Lactation Accommodation for Working Mothers
Ensures working mothers have access to lactation facilities in the workplace, and helps create more family friendly work environments.
SB 159- Increasing Access to HIV Prevention Medication
Authorizes pharmacists to furnish pre- and post- exposure prophylaxis (PrEP and PEP) without a physician prescription and also prohibits insurance companies from requiring prior authorizations in order to obtain PrEP coverage.
SB 268- Enhanced Transparency For Local Tax Measures
Expands transparency for local tax measured by requiring key financial measures to be included in the voter information guide.
The bills authored by Senator Wiener and already signed by the Governor are:
(Passed through the Budget) Streamline Navigation Center Permitting
Streamlines the production of high-quality homeless shelters to address the number of homeless individuals and families who do not have reliable access to shelter
(Passed through the Budget) Increasing Access to Income Assistance
Ensures more individuals are able to access income assistance through the CalWORKs program in order to move more children out of poverty and help families meet basic needs. The bill does so by repealing the so-called “asset test,” which forces low income people to choose between income assistance and saving money in order to climb out of poverty.
SB 30- Expanding Domestic Partnerships to Opposite Sex Couples
Expands domestic partnerships beyond same-sex couples and opposite sex couples age 62 and over to all couples
SB 233- Improving Sex Worker Health and Safety
Prohibits the arrest of people involved in sex work when they come forward as a witness or victim of a specified violent and serious crime. It also provides that the possession of condoms may not be used as evidence to arrest someone for engaging in sex work
SB 271- SDI Benefits for Motion Picture and TV Production Workers
Increases access to unemployment insurance, state disability insurance, and paid family leave benefits for motion picture and TV production workers that are traveling to other states for work but are still California residents.
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