Senator Wiener’s Legislation to Streamline Housing Production, Cap The Price of Insulin, and Require Corporate Greenhouse Gas Disclosures Among Those to be Heard by Full Senate

SACRAMENTO -  13 of Senator Scott Wiener’s (D-San Francisco) bills will be taken up for a full Senate vote after passing the Senate Appropriation Committee. The deadline for the Senate to approve these bills is June 2.

“This year’s bill package is one of the strongest I have ever carried, and I’m overjoyed to have my colleagues’ support so many bills even in this difficult budget year,” said Senator Wiener. “California is facing serious challenges, but these measures to streamline and encourage affordable housing development, expand access to affordable healthcare, and hold corporations accountable for climate pollution take bold steps toward addressing them. I look forward to working with my colleagues and a wide array of stakeholders to get these bills across the finish line.”

The bills heading to Senate floor from Appropriations are:

SB 4 (Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act) — Allows faith institutions (such as churches, synagogues, and mosques) along with nonprofit colleges to build affordable housing on their property by-right, even if local zoning prevents this housing

SB 70 (Medication Access Act) — Improves access to medication by limiting the circumstances in which health plans can change a patient’s medication for financial, rather than medical reasons

SB 76 (Entertainment Zones Act) — Allows municipalities to create temporary Entertainment Zones that allow neighborhood businesses — which are currently barred from selling alcoholic beverages to-go during festivals — to participate on equal footing with outside vendors

SB 90 (Insulin Affordability Act) — Caps the out-of-pocket cost of insulin at $35 for a 30-day supply and bans health plans from imposing a deductible on insulin prescription drugs

SB 97 (Righting Wrongful Convictions Act) —  Smooths the process by which the wrongfully convicted can prove their innocence and overturn wrongful convictions

SB 238 (Youth Mental Health Access Act) — Removes barriers to youth accessing mental health treatments by requiring that any private insurance treatment denials be automatically referred to the state’s existing Independent Medical Review process

SB 253 (Corporate Climate Data Accountability Act) — Requires all large corporations that do business in California to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas emissions

SB 339 - Increases access to the HIV prevention drug PrEP by resolving issues in the implementation of SB 159 (2019), which allowed pharmacists to furnish a limited supply of PrEP without a prescription.

SB 365 — Allows a worker’s, consumer’s, or government’s lawsuit to move forward even if a corporate defendant files an appeal to a trial court’s ruling that a forced arbitration clause is invalid or non-existent.

SB 407 - requires the Department of Social Services to take additional steps to ensure foster families are affirming to LGBTQ youth.

SB 423 — Extends and strengthens SB 35 (Wiener, 2017), which streamlines and accelerates housing permits in areas that underperform their housing targets. SB 423 removes the sunset on SB 35, which is set to expire at the end of 2025.

SB 532 - improves voter transparency in the ballot measure process by allowing more complete financial disclosures in the voter information guide.

SB 770 - requires the California Secretary of Health to engage in waiver discussions with the federal government on a concrete timeline toward the establishment of a unified healthcare financing system

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