California Capitol Update Friday, January 10, 2020 

The Legislature is back in session this week after the winter break; this is the second year in their two-year session. Because of this, we will see many bills introduced last session that didn't make the cut resurrected this year. This means that they don't have to go through the entire legislative process, many bills will be taken up exactly where they left off. Some linger in Appropriations Committees, some stuck in their house of origin. Many new bills will be introduced this session as well, with the Democrats and Governor Newsom announcing this week that their legislative priorities will be homeless and housing. Since they got very little accomplished passed last session on those fronts, it will be important for some progress to be made. Californians are fleeing the state in droves, with a recent USA Today article stating that middle to low income families (those making $100,000 and less) are leaving the state in the highest numbers, with San Francisco county taking the top spot of residents leaving. There are battles brewing in the legislature, so please read your Capitol Update weekly to stay on top of what's happening under the dome in Sacramento.

When January 1^st came and went, many new bills passed last session came into effect. Here are some important ones to know:

AB 5-  A bill that stifles our gig economy, AB 5 requires previously employed independent contractors to be reassigned as employees of the company. Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have already said they will work to overturn this bill through a ballot measure.

AB 51- This bill prohibits employers from forcing workers into mandatory arbitrary agreements.  

AB 375- This is the California Consumer Privacy Act. You may have been reading about this in the news already. This expand your online privacy rights, giving you the right to decline the sale of your information from Google and Facebook, the right to know what data is being collected from you, and the right to delete your data.

AB 652- This bill protects your right to display religious decorations in your home or on your property. Landlords and homeowners associations cannot ask you to remove crosses, menorahs, etc, as long as they are 26 by 12 inches or less.

AB 1482- Statewide rent control is here, despite Californians voting this down last election. The law limits rent increases to 5% each year, plus inflation, and never above 10%. It also makes it much harder for landlords to evict tenants.

AB 1707- Voters can now take their smart phones into vote centers to cast a ballot as long as they do not violate any other election law.

SB 3- Another minimum wage hike for California. This raises our state's minimum wage to $12 an hour for companies with 25 employees or less and to $13 for larger companies.

SB 104- California is now the first state in the nation to offer free healthcare to illegal immigrants who are between the ages of 19-25. We already provided this to illegal immigrant children, this is an expansion of that program.

Largest Budget Ever

Governor Newsom unveiled his 2020 budget this week and it clocked in at $222 billion, the largest spending plan in our state's history. The Governor's priorities include more money to expand Medi-Cal, more money to address homelessness, and more money toward education funding. $700 million is proposed to expand Medi-Cal to include illegal immigrants 65 years old and older, as well as an ambitious plan to create the first state-run prescription drug manufacturer. $750 million would be doled out to localities to tackle homelessness in our communities. The Governor stated the money would be used for building shelters, providing housing, or paying rent for homeless Californians. Other budget items include closing a state prison by 2024, creating a Department of Cannabis Control, moving animal shelters toward a "no-kill" state by 2025, and shortening probation terms for felons. The Governor and the Legislature will be in negotiations and committee hearings between now a May 1^st, when Governor Newsom will submit his budget revise. From there the legislature will have until June 15^th to pass the budget. In just a decade, our state budget has grown by almost $90 billion. But what does California have to show for it? Assemblyman Kiley (R-6) released a statement highlighting what little impact the increased spending has had on the quality of life for Californians. "Despite the $64 billion in additional Medi-Cal spending, researchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research did not detect significant improvements in patient health", according to Assemblyman Kiley. Furthermore, "after a $39 billion increase in education spending, the National Assessment of Educational Progress finds that Californian's 8^th grade math and reading scores continue to decline". And finally, Assemblyman Kiley stated that "despite $7 billion in additional spending on social and welfare programs, the Census Bureau reports California continues to have the highest level of poverty in the nation." This is the legacy of the tax and spend Democrat legislative majority over the past decade. These are the issues that the California Republican Women Federated need to be educating voters about.

CFRW / California Federation of Republican Women

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