The Legislature adjourned on September 14. The governor had until October 14 to sign or veto bills. The list below is the bills of concern and the governor’s action
ASSEMBLY BILLS
AB 5. (Forcing public-school employees into LGBTQ cultural competency training.) This bill requires the CA Department of Education to develop an online training curriculum and online delivery platform by July 1, 2025, to support LGBTQ+ cultural competency training for teachers and certificated employees.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
AB 28. (2nd Amendment Rights) Beginning July 1, 2024, this bill will impose an excise tax in the amount of 11% of the gross receipts from the retail sale in this state of a firearm, firearm precursor part, and ammunition. By doubling the excise tax law-abiding hunters and shooters already pay on all firearms and ammunition, AB 28 would effectively raise the total tax rate on these items to nearly 30% – notably reducing their sales and, in turn, the associated federal funding allocated back to California for critical wildlife conservation and management efforts.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
*AB 223. (Attack on parental rights) Requires any legal documents associated with a minor's legal request to change his or her gender, or sex identifier, to be kept confidential and restricts access to the minor, the minor's parents, the adults who signed the petition, any individual who shows cause related to the petition, and any attorney representing these parties.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
*AB 230. (Transgender craziness) Requires public schools to place menstrual products in restrooms for grades 3-12 in all girl's restrooms, all-gender restrooms, and at least one boy's restroom beginning in the 2024-2025 school year.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
*AB 571. (Protection from medical malpractice for doctors performing abortion or gender-affirming care, i.e., the Kaiser lawsuit; supporters claim it protects from other states’ laws) Prohibits an insurer from denying coverage for liability for damages arising from offering, performing, or rendering abortion, contraception, gender-affirming health care, or care related to those health care services.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
AB 576. (Requires taxpayer funded abortion) Requires the State Department of Health Care Services to fully reimburse Medi-Cal health care providers that provide abortion pills.
Mifepristone is one of two drugs that’s taken to terminate a pregnancy—it stops a pregnancy, and then a second drug, misoprostol, induces contractions to expel the tissue—and it is approved for use up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy, though in practice it’s often used until weeks 12 or 13. VETOED by Governor Newsom
AB 659. The bill was amended to no longer be a mandated vaccine. Students and parents will be advised to receive the HPV vaccine when entering 8th grade and college.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
*AB 665. (Referred to as the state sanctioned kidnapping bill) Gives minors complete medical autonomy and requires doctors to ask the minor if they want to notify their parents of their mental health counseling or not. This bill will not require a minor to present proof of physical or mental harm to themselves or others to consent to mental health treatments and be placed in a shelter or group home.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
*AB 957. (Applies to custody battles which can be either during or after a divorce) The bill will require California courts to deny custody to a parent who does not affirm his or her child's gender identity when making custody determinations.
VETOED by Governor Newsom
AB 969. Bans hand-counting of votes after hand counting been passed by a few counties. The exceptions to the ban were very narrow circumstances — in regular elections with 1,000 registered voters or fewer eligible to vote, and special elections with 5,000 voters or fewer.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
*AB 1078. (More promotion of gender education) Places additional requirements on CA school districts by changing the criteria for prohibiting textbooks, instructional materials, and curriculum. Also changes the requirements of social science curriculum by including "people of all genders", the role of LGBTQ+ Americans, and members of different religious and socioeconomic status to the development of California and the U.S.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
AB 1228. FAST FOOD RESTAURANT TAKEOVER. If a franchisor has 60 or more locations nationwide, locations in California will be regulated by a new state agency - the Fast Food Council. It will act as a de facto labor union establishing wages and working conditions, raising wages to $20/hr effective April, 2024 with possible wage increases annually. Of the 9 members 5 are appointed by the governor and 4 by Speaker and Senate Rules.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
AB 1720. (Intended to restrict use of crisis pregnancy centers use of ultrasound) Restricts the use of ultrasound to certain facilities. The bill would impose a civil penalty for the violation of this provision in the amount of $2,500 for a first offense and $5,000 for each subsequent offense, defined as each ultrasound conducted outside of the specified settings.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
SENATE BILLS
SB 2. (More gun control, this one putting Christians in jeopardy) Prohibits people with a license to carry a concealed weapon from carrying in select places, including churches, unless the church posts a clear and conspicuous sign on the property indicating that license holders are permitted to carry firearms on the property. (All 29 prohibited places for CCW holders are worth reading.)
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
SB 14. This excellent bill includes human trafficking of a minor within the definition of a serious felony for all purposes, including for purposes of the Three Strikes Law. (Revealing legislative history. Republican Senator Groves introduced this bill which passed unanimously in Senate. Then the Assembly Public Safety Committee Democrat members all voted No Vote Recorded (NVR) effectively killing the bill for lack of a majority. Governor Newsom intervened, and the bill passed committee and both houses unanimously. The NVR votes in committee were shamefully deceptive.)
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
SB 58. Decriminalizes the possession, preparation, transfer, and transportation of certain hallucinogenic drugs.
VETOED by Governor Newsom
SB 274. Removes disruption of school activities and willful disobedience as valid reasons to suspend or expel students. (An extension of the removal of consequences for actions that is now destroying public safety.)
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
*SB 345. (Puberty blocking harmones and abortion pills through the mail.) Allows people who are patients of a doctor in California to obtain abortion medication or trans medication, even if the state they are in prohibits it. Replaces the phrase "unborn child" and "unborn person" with "fetus" in various sections of California law.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
SB 385. Allows trained physician assistants to conduct surgical abortions without direct supervision by a physician. It also would expand training options for physician assistants who want to learn how to perform abortions.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
*SB 407. (Christians locked out of foster care) Creates new standards of selecting people to become foster parents by assessing their ability to affirm and support LGBTQ+ foster youth.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
*SB 487. (Protection for health care providers who provide abortions and gender-affirming care) Establishes protections for health care providers who contract with health plans and insurers, or are enrolled as Medi-Cal providers, from contract termination, discrimination, or suspension of enrollment, when such adverse action is based solely on adverse legal action or professional discipline in other states for conduct that is not prohibited in California (such as provision for abortion or gender-affirming care).
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
SB 541. Requires public schools to make condoms readily available to all students free of charge. Also requires public schools with grades 7-12 to allow the distribution of condoms during "educational or public health programs and initiatives." Requires insurance to cover human papillomavirus vaccinations. (Mandates have been proven to increase the cost for insurance.)
VETOED by Governor Newsom
SB 596. (Empowering school boards to arrest “disorderly” parents at meetings.) A parent, guardian, or other person involved with substantial disorder at a governing board meeting of a LEA is guilty of a misdemeanor. Neither the bill nor current law define “materially disrupts” or “substantial disorder.” Punishable by a fine of not less than $500, or more than $1,000, or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both.
VETOED by Governor Newsom
*SB 760. (Taxpayer funding to accommodate transgenderism) Requires public schools, county schools, and charter schools to provide at least one all-gender restroom for students.
SIGNED by Governor Newsom
* These bills promote transgenderism.
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
ACA 1. Qualified for the November 2024 ballot. "ACA 1 repeals one of the most important protections in Proposition 13 by lowering the existing two-thirds vote threshold for both local bonds and special taxes to 55 percent for a myriad of purposes." Howard Jarvis Tax Association
ACA 5. Qualified for the November 2024 ballot. ACA 5 will replace "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California." in the state Constitution with the following broad and non-specific statement: "The right to marry is a fundamental right." The danger is less about the wording this amendment will delete than with the replacement language. While those supporting the amendment deny that it is anything more than conforming California law to federal law regarding same-sex marriage, this tidbit belies that claim. “The Civil Court of the City of New York's Judge, Karen May Bacdayan, broke precedent last year in her ruling that polyamorous partners, called “non-traditional” family members, should not automatically be denied legal rights.” In other words, polygamy is okay in NY. And, on another front as the name suggests, the North American Man/Boy Love Association has advocated since its founding in 1978 that sexual relationships between men and teenage boys be legalized and that age of consent laws be reversed. Perhaps that is reminiscent of the call of past decades for sodomy laws to be reversed and same sex marriage be legalized.
If the resulting proposition passes, only a simple majority-vote legislative change in statute can allow for any number of perverse relationships to be legalized and declared constitutional.
ACA 13. Qualified for the November 2024 ballot. (SEIU was the bill’s sponsor.) "The initiative process is a vital tool for Californians to voice their concerns, propose changes, and stand up for their values. It allows citizens to bypass the usual legislative channels and bring about changes that matter deeply to them. However, ACA 13 risks diminishing these voices, shifting power away from the people and towards the Legislature in a drastic and unprecedented way. Under ACA 13, the power to increase voter thresholds for new and higher taxes would vest solely with the Legislature, taking away a fundamental and often-used tool for voters looking to better control their cost of living and higher taxes. However, the power to reduce voter thresholds would remain with both citizens and the Legislature, creating significant power imbalance and an unlevel playing field." – The CA Business Roundtable