In the News

March 27, 2017

After last year’s fire at the Ghost Ship warehouse in Oakland killed dozens of young music fans, people in nightlife — musicians, club owners, civic leaders and patrons — have been looking for ways to prevent a another such tragedy.

Many, including state Sen. Scott Wiener, believe that one solution is to make later serving hours legal.

In February, Wiener (D-San Francisco) proposed the Let Our Communities Adjust Late Night Act (LOCAL), a bill that would allow municipalities to permit alcohol sales until 4 a.m. in some cases.

March 24, 2017

“Our immigrant neighbors should know that simply going to work to put food on the table is not going to expose them to deportation or ICE agents,” Wiener said. “Children shouldn’t be fearful watching their mothers and fathers leave for work, not knowing if they are going to come home at the end of the day.”

March 21, 2017

Treatment of HIV, the virus that leads to AIDS, has grown by leaps and bounds since the epidemic was at its height in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

It’s time for our state law regarding the disease to evolve, too.

March 17, 2017

But the effort that could revive our embattled arts and music scene overnight, and even trigger a nightlife renaissance, is the LOCAL Act, endorsed by state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco. Starting where former state senator, Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, left off, Wiener’s Senate Bill 384 will allow California cities the option to extend last call to 4 a.m. California is a huge state — bigger than many European countries — with the sixth-largest economy in the world. A blanket law that forces San Francisco County to have the same liquor laws as Yolo County is just bad government.

March 16, 2017

“One of the strengths of the Jewish caucus is that it’s very diverse,” said Sen. Scott Wiener, a former San Francisco supervisor. He represents the state’s 11th District, which includes his hometown city and regions to its south. “In terms of giving more voice to our issues, having that formal caucus really helps — and it helps getting people elected. Having organized Jewish leadership brings us a certain strength.”

March 15, 2017

At the state level, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, has introduced a ballot measure that would create a California estate tax, but only if Trump and congressional Republicans carry out their vow to kill the federal estate tax.

In 2015, the federal estate tax brought in $17.1 billion, of which $4.5 billion or 26 percent came from California, even though California accounts for only 12 percent of the U.S. population. The proposed California estate tax would have the same rates and rules as the federal one, but the billions it raises would go to California instead of federal coffers, Wiener said.

March 13, 2017

Wiener said he worries public safety will be compromised if crime victims or witnesses fear going to the police with information. Anxiety about the Trump administration’s policies on immigration is widespread, he said. “What gives me fear and a lot of people fear,” he said, “is that we have children who are scared to go to school because they’re worried they’ll come home from school and their mom or dad might be gone.”

March 13, 2017

Democratic state Sen. Scott Wiener has proposed Senate Bill 239 to repeal the laws, saying they do not reflect current HIV medical practices, and have not helped stop the spread of HIV and AIDS.

“We’re very serious about this reform, and moving away from this criminalization model around HIV and going to a more public health approach,” Wiener said. “Fundamentally, HIV is a public health problem, not a criminal justice problem, and it needs to be treated this way.”

 

March 7, 2017

Sen. Scott Wiener, a freshman Democrat from San Francisco, is taking up the worthy cause of helping to bring more affordable housing to California’s urban areas, including his own.