New California laws are being made as the legislative session winds down. Here are some that affect the Inland Empire and the courts, and how your elected representatives voted on them.
SB 836, by Sen. Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco), prohibits a person’s immigration status from being disclosed in court unless the presiding judge determines the status is permissible in an in-camera hearing.
Approved by all Inland Empire representatives except Sens. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa), Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore); and Assemblymembers Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale), Thurston Smith (R-Hesperia) and Kelly Seyarto (R-Murrieta).
SB 1100, by Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San Jose), would allow the presiding member of a legislative body, including a school board, to order an individual removed from a meeting. The member must warn the individual they will be removed first.
Sens. Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) and Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa); and Assemblymembers Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale), Kelly Seyarto (R-Murrieta), Phillip Chen (R-Yorba Linda) and Thurston Smith (R-Hesperia) voted against the bill. Sen. Richard Roth (D-Riverside) did not vote.
Family law
AB 2495, by Assemblymember Jim Patterson (R-Fresno), establishes an embryo or semen donor is not a parent to the resulting child.
All Inland Empire representatives voted aye.
AB 2866, authored by Assemblymember Jordan Cunningham (D-San Luis Obispo), requires juvenile court to use clear and convincing evidence to determine whether reasonable services were provided to legal guardians when a court is considering taking custody of the child.
All Inland Empire representatives who voted approved the bill. Sen. Richard Roth (D-Riverside); and Assemblymembers Sabrina Cervantes (D-Riverside), Phillip Chen (R-Yorba Linda) and Jose Medina (D-Riverside) did not vote.
AB 2159, by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles), will allow juvenile courts to reunite a child with a parent who is in custody and awaiting a conviction.
Most Inland Empire representatives voted aye. Sen. Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore); and Assemblymembers Kelly Seyarto (R-Murrieta) and Thurston Smith (R-Hesperia) voted against the bill. Assemblymember Phillip Chen (R-Yorba Linda) did not vote.
Business law
AB 2745, by Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks), requires a person applying for a real estate broker’s license to have their two years of required real estate experience within the last five years prior to their license application.
It was approved by all Inland Empire representatives except Sen. Richard Roth (D-Riverside), who voted against it.
AB 2015, authored by Assemblymember Thurston Smith (R-Hesperia), gives veterans a 50% discount for contractor licensing fees.
It was approved by all Inland Empire representatives except Sen. Richard Roth (D-Riverside), who voted against it.
AB 2037, by Assemblymember Heath Flora (R-Ripon), would allow bars to be polling places.
It was approved by all Inland Empire representatives except for Sen. Richard Roth (D-Riverside) and Assemblymember Phillip Chen (R-Yorba Linda), who did not vote.
Passed the legislature, waiting for governor’s signature
AB 1706, by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Alameda) would require courts to clear marijuana related sentences, established before the drug was decriminalized, by March, 2023. Although a process to clear these records already started under 2018’s AB 1793, San Bernardino and Riverside superior courts have a backlog.
Sara Rodriguez, who still has her felony marijuana count on her criminal record sued the state last month. She claims that the state periodically funds Inland Empire’s courts with inadequate resources for them to clear sentences as required by that 2018 law. Read our coverage here.
It was approved by every Inland Empire representative except Sen. Richard Roth (D-Riverside), who did not vote.
“Unfortunately, the implementation of AB 1793 has been inconsistent across the state. While some counties were proactive in implementing the legislation, others were not, and the statute lacks certain deadlines to ensure completion of the process. Though the legislation contains a now-passed deadline of July 1, 2020 for county district attorneys to provide necessary data to the courts, there was no deadline by which local courts needed to process these cases, and no oversight to ensure timely processing of records occurred,” the Last Prisoner Project, which sponsored the bill, wrote in argument.
Killed bills
AB 2408, by Assemblymembers Jordan Cunningham (R-San Luis Obispo) and Buffy Wicks (D-Berkeley), would have permitted prosecutors to bring civil lawsuits against social media companies for features they know will addict children.
The bill was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Assemblymembers Phillip Chen (R-Yorba Linda), Jose Medina (D-Riverside), James Ramos (D-Highland), Freddie Rodriguez (D-Pomona) and Thurston Smith (R-Hesperia) voted against the bill. It passed the Assembly with the support of other Inland Empire representatives, but was never voted on by the full Senate.
SB 1000, by Sen. Josh Becker (D-Menlo Park), would have forced all radio communications to be unencrypted. Inland Empire police scanners have been encrypted
The bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Sens. Connie Leyva (D-Chino) and Richard Roth (D-Riverside) voted for the bill. Sens. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa) and Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) voted against the bill. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) did not vote. Assemblymembers Kelly Seyarto (R-Murrieta) and Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) voted against the bill in the Assembly’s Public Safety Committee.
“For 80 years, news outlets, journalists and the public have had access to police radio communications. This access is important for police transparency, accountability, and reporting activity to the public. However, in October 2020, the California Department of Justice’s California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (CLETS) issued a memo regarding the requirement for police agencies to protect identifying information via encryption,” Becker wrote in argument.
