Senator Wiener’s Bills to Increase Housing Affordability, Strengthen Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Care, and Make Expanded Outdoor Dining Permanent Are Among Those to be Voted on by the Assembly

SACRAMENTO - 8 of Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) bills, including legislation to strengthen mental health and substance use disorder care, increase the amount of housing affordable to working families, and help small businesses recover from COVID-19 by making outdoor dining permanent, will be taken up for a full Assembly vote over the next two weeks. The bills will then need final sign-off (“concurrence”) by the Senate.

The deadline for the Legislature to approve bills is Friday, September 10.

Senator Wiener’s SB 10 has already passed the full Assembly and will move to the Senate for a concurrence vote shortly.

The full list of bills heading to the Assembly floor are:

SB 73 - Repeals certain mandatory minimum jail/prison sentences for drug offenses and provides judges with more discretion to order probation and other alternatives to incarceration.

SB 110 (Recovery Incentives Act) - Legalizes the substance use disorder treatment known as contingency management, and authorizes Medi-Cal to cover it. Contingency management has proven to be the most effective method of treatment for methamphetamine addiction, and is frequently used as a treatment program by the Veterans Affairs Administration.

SB 221 - Ensures patients receive timely follow-up mental health and substance use disorder treatment.

SB 314 (Bar and Restaurant Recovery Act) - Helps California’s restaurants, bars, and music venues recover economically from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by creating more flexibility in how they can serve alcohol, including where they can serve and how they can share spaces with other businesses (for example, making permanent the popular and successful outdoor dining and parklet regulations currently in place because of the pandemic).

SB 339 (Gas Tax Alternative Pilot) - Extends California’s Road Charge Pilot Program, providing a potential future source of transportation and road funding.

SB 357 (Safer Streets for All Act) - Repeals discriminatory loitering law that targets sex workers and trans women of color

SB 477 (Housing Data Act) - Strengthens California’s housing data collection to ensure the state and the public understand the impact and effectiveness of state housing laws.

SB 478 (Housing Opportunity Act) - Ensures that areas already zoned to allow multifamily housing up to ten units are able to legally accommodate this type of housing, doing away with abusive requirements that make it effectively impossible to build anything other than a large single-family home despite the multi-family zoning.

“My legislation in 2021 is focused on helping Californians by making housing more affordable, expanding mental health and addiction treatment options, and supporting small businesses as they recover from COVID-19,” said Senator Wiener. “I am thrilled that so many of our most important bills made it over the hurdle of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. We are on track to see many of these bills become law, and I will continue to work hard to get them across the finish line.”