Sacramento – Today, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced legislation that would expand the jury pool to include any state tax filers. This would ensure that jury pools would be more diverse and demographically representative of California’s population. Currently, juries are selected using lists of registered voters and licensed drivers or identification card holders. However, these lists are not demographically representative, and thus the jury pool pulled from these lists tend to skew whiter, wealthier, and overall less diverse than the state actually is.
Press Releases
Sacramento- Today, in response to a request from Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) to audit law enforcement usage of Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR), the California State Auditor released a report which found that law enforcement using this mass surveillance technology in cities across the state lacked necessary safeguards against privacy violations and are noncompliant with state law. Senator Wiener requested the audit due to privacy concerns, understanding this technology could be easily over- and misused without regulation and guidelines.
Sacramento- Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) and Assemblymember Todd Gloria (D-San Diego), on behalf of the California Legislative LGBTQ caucus, sent a letter to Governor Gavin Newsom asking him to nominate an LGBTQ judge to the vacancy on the California Supreme Court. With Associate Justice Ming W. Chin retiring, Governor Newsom is able to nominate a new judge to the Supreme Court. The text of the letter follows:
“Dear Governor Newsom,
Sacramento – Yesterday, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced new legislation to prohibit utilities from levying discriminatory and anti-competitive fees on owners of distributed energy resources (DER) such as rooftop solar panels and onsite energy storage. More than one million Californians, and many businesses, have installed energy sources such as rooftop solar panels on their property in order to generate cleaner and cheaper electricity.
Sacramento - Today, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced new criminal justice reform legislation, Senate Bill 938. This bill would amend the standards used for evaluating expert testimony and forensics in court pre- and post-conviction. Faulty forensic and scientific evidence, provided by expert witnesses, are the second most common reason that individuals are wrongfully convicted for crimes they did not commit. Today, courts have discretion over which expert testimonies are admissible.
SACRAMENTO - Yesterday, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) introduced legislation, SB 932, to address the major increase in syphilis infections by authorizing HIV counselors to perform rapid syphilis tests. Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) is principal coauthor of the bill. HIV counselors are authorized to perform rapid HIV tests, but not rapid syphilis tests. This test is inexpensive, simple to use with minimal training, and produces results in about 10 minutes.
Sacramento - Today, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) will introduce legislation which would turn PG&E into a publicly owned utility, the Northern California Energy Utility District. The legislation will fundamentally and structurally reform PG&E, whose faulty power lines have caused deadly wildfires, killing hundreds, incinerating thousands of homes, and destroying an entire community.
SACRAMENTO – Today, Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) issued the following statement regarding Governor Newsom’s pardon of Bayard Rustin, a gay civil rights hero who was wrongfully convicted in 1953 on “lewd conduct” charges for violating a morality offense that was often used to discriminate against Black and LGBTQ communities and has since been repealed. He was arrested for having consensual sex in a parked car.
Rustin was a close confidante of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and was one of the chief organizers of the Great March on Washington in 1963.
Sacramento - Senator Scott Wiener (D- San Francisco) released the following statement after SB 50’s failure on the Senate floor: