In the News

LA Daily News: Last call for alcohol? Let cities decide when

July 5, 2017

At least 20 states across the nation provide local jurisdictions the flexibility to decide alcohol service hours or permit alcohol sales after 2 a.m., a misdemeanor in California. This includes major cities across the country, such as Atlanta, Chicago, Las Vegas, Louisville, New York City and Washington, D.C., which have alcohol service hours past 2 a.m. This puts cities in California attractive to tourists at a particular disadvantage.

We think it’s time to grant the same kind of discretion to local governments in California, and Senate Bill 384, introduced by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, would do just that.

Read more

Santa Cruz Sentinel: State Sen. Scott Wiener wants to speed affordable housing approval

June 30, 2017

Wiener introduced Senate Bill 35, which would trigger a speedier over-the-counter permit process for multifamily affordable housing projects when cities lag in meeting housing goals assigned by the state. The faster process would apply to housing types with unmet needs such as low-income housing.

In some cities, these housing goal numbers “sit on a shelf and collect dust,” Wiener said.

Read more

Bay Area Reporter: Federal workers mark Pride in San Francisco

June 29, 2017

Gay California Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) provided a legislative update that included several bills he authored or co-authored, including Senate Bill 179, the Gender Recognition Act of 2017, which would allow people to choose "non-binary" as the gender on their birth certificates and other documents.

Read more

Sacramento Bee: Is LGBT community moving forward or falling back?

June 23, 2017

State Sen. Scott Wiener will be in San Francisco’s LGBT Pride parade this Sunday with a message: “We must gather our strength for the battle ahead.”

Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, said under President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, he considers the rights of LGBT people under direct attack.

Read more

San Francisco Examiner: Legislators propose sales tax to help fund Caltrain

June 21, 2017

The tax measure has wide support from politicians across the region, including co-authors state Sens. Jim Beall (D-San Jose), Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont) and Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), and assemblymembers from San Jose, South San Francisco, Monterey and San Francisco.

“These funds are crucial to modernizing and improving our regional rail, which has been ignored and underfunded for decades,” said Wiener in a statement. “We need to get serious about improving gridlock on our highways.”

Read more

San Francisco Chronicle: An unceasing housing crisis

June 20, 2017

This year, state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, has a bill, SB35, with similar goals to the governor’s.

Streamlining the state’s regressive zoning and development laws in exchange for the housing we need is not an easy compromise for state legislators, but it’s a wise one. The alternative is the status quo — a housing crisis that’s pricing out more and more Californians.

Read more

Sacramento Bee: Think rent is high in California? Here’s why it probably will get higher

June 19, 2017

“By not building enough housing, we are driving up evictions and homelessness, pushing people out of our state and jeopardizing the success of young people,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco in a recent statement as Senate took up a range of bills aimed at boosting supply and streamlining construction of affordable housing.

Read more

San Francisco Chronicle: Right fix for California’s housing crisis

June 5, 2017

Senate Bill 35, sponsored by Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, provides for streamlined approvals of multifamily developments that meet a series of conditions in cities that are falling short of local housing needs. It earned bipartisan support in the Senate and is now before the Assembly, which should follow suit.

Read more

KQED: California Lawmakers Move Towards New Renewable Energy Goals

June 1, 2017

Solar energy production could rise as a result of another measure approved by State Senate on Wednesday.

SB 71 from Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) would require solar panels to be installed on many new buildings in the state.

“To meet our goals, we need solar and other renewable energy in every city and neighborhood in California,” said Wiener.

Read more

SFist: State Senate Approves Bill To Protect LGBT Seniors

June 1, 2017

A bill authored by state Senator Scott Wiener and sponsored by Equality California to protect the rights of LGBT seniors in long-term care facilities was passed Wednesday by the California state Senate in a vote of 26-12. SB 219, dubbed the LGBT Senior Long-Term Care Bill of Rights, is a major step forward in advocating for the vulnerable and often marginalized LGBT senior population in the state, and it will now head to the Assembly for their vote.

Read more