By Assemblymember Marie Waldron
This year, the “House of Origin Deadline” was May 24th, the final day for bills to pass the house in which they were first introduced – either the Assembly or the Senate. Any bills that failed to pass by the 24th have died.
Bipartisan bills that benefit all Californians often receive little press attention. This year, these include my bill, AB 1819 (Waldron), authorizing the establishment of Infrastructure Financing Districts in high fire severity zones to finance heavy equipment used for brush clearance, firebreaks, undergrounding utilities and other measures that reduce the threat of wildfires. Another bill, AB 2538 (Grayson) will allow Cal Fire to employ seasonal firefighters longer than 9 months — the current limit, if staffing levels are insufficient to meet existing conditions.
In an attempt to reduce Sexually Violent Predator placement in rural areas (including rural San Diego County), I have co-authored SB 1074 with Senator Brian Jones, which makes public safety the highest criteria for housing SVPs in any area.
Health-related legislation includes AB 1975 (Bonta) which requires Medi-Cal to cover special diets used to treat chronic conditions that respond to food-based treatments.
I also supported AB 3059 (Weber) allowing hospitals to store and distribute human milk obtained from a mothers’ milk bank for use in Neonatal Intensive Care Units.
And I supported AB 2074 (Muratsuchi & Alvarez) which makes the state’s plan to implement the “California English Learner Roadmap” a priority so that teaching English to non-English speakers can be coordinated and enhanced throughout the state.
These bills all passed their House of Origin without opposition prior to the deadline, which should mean prospects are bright for final legislative approval. As always, the Governor will have the final say.
Assemblymember Marie Waldron, R- Valley Center, represents the 75th Assembly District in the California Legislature.
