Legislative Bulletin

A number of labor bills made it out of the Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees and will now advance to the floors of their respective houses: AB 196 by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) would increases the wage replacement rate for paid family leave (PFL) claims to 100% a worker’s highest quarterly earnings in the…

Assemblymember James Gallagher’s (R-Yuba City) bill to require local governments to post local campaign finance documents online within two days of applicable filing deadlines is on hold for the rest of the year. AB 322 passed out of the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee unanimously in March, but was referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee’s…

The Assembly Appropriations Committee yesterday on an 18-0 vote gave the nod to Assemblymember Vince Fong’s (R-Bakersfield) AB 289, which would create a CPRA Ombudsperson in the State Auditor’s Office to review denials of CPRA requests by state agencies. The bill will now head to the Assembly floor for a vote by the entire house.…

AB 1776 introduced by Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-Marin County) that would repeal the sales tax on newspapers was unanimously passed by the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee on a 10-0 vote on Monday. CNPA is the sponsor of the measure. AB 1776 will likely be heard by the Assembly Appropriations Committee at its hearing next…

Assemblymember Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) has decided to pull AB 700 from consideration by the Legislature this year. The bill, which would have created a new exemption in the CPRA for records related to research being done at public colleges and universities, was opposed by CNPA. Since it was introduced, AB 700 has faced mounting scrutiny.…

The Assembly on Monday unanimously voted its approval of a bill that would allow CPRA requesters to use their own equipment, such as a cell phone, to copy public records. AB 1819 by the Assembly Judiciary Committee has the strong support of CNPA, as it allows requesters a way to copy public records without facing…

Legislation that would have allowed a majority of members of a local agency to communicate with constituents as well as each other via Facebook or Twitter failed to secure enough votes to get it out of the Assembly Local Government Committee. AB 992 by Assemblyman Kevin Mullin (D-South San Francisco) would have allowed the use…

AB 1184, a measure introduced by Assemblyman Todd Gloria (D-San Diego) that would prohibit agencies from destroying email or text messages for at least 2 years was strongly backed by the Assembly Judiciary Committee in late April on a 10-1 vote. The bill now sits on the suspense file of the Assembly Appropriations Committee. CNPA…

Senator Maria Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles), who recently amended her SB 749 to add provisions that would create protections for requesters who deal with reverse-public records actions, decided to delete the provisions from the measure before the bill’s first policy committee hearing. CNPA supported the measure based on the inclusion of the reverse-CPRA protections but…

A measure introduced by Senator Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont) that would prohibit the use of settlement offers in Public Records Act litigation was unanimously voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 5-0 vote and placed on the suspense file of the Senate Appropriations Committee. SB 510 would clarify that offers to compromise made under…