Local lawmakers awash in bills
SACRAMENTO Legislators representing Santa Monica are up to their eyeballs in bills.
State Sen. Sheila Kuehl and freshman Assemblymember Julia Brownley have introduced nearly 40 pieces of legislation in the current session on everything from establishing universal health care for all Californians to making it easier for students to apply for financial aid.
The legislative package focuses heavily on health care, education and the environment, while also focusing on issues closer to home, such as naming a section of Interstate 10 in Santa Monica after Ricardo “Rick” Crocker, a member of the Santa Monica Police Department and a major in the U.S. Marine Corps. who was killed March 2005 while conducting combat operations in Iraq.
“I’m very excited about this package of bills,” Brownley, a former president of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, said. “I think it is a diverse package that addresses issues I have been concerned about, and others that have been presented to me along the campaign trail … So far the support I’ve garnered up here is encouraging and positive, but in the end we have to go through a pretty hefty process and at the end of the day the governor can or cannot sign it.
“The advice I’ve been giving is to not get married to every bill, because they all might not get passed, but I’m very hopeful and have been getting support from both sides if the isle, which is a good sign,” Brownley added.
Some bills could take years to pass, and no one knows that better than Kuehl, a 12 year-veteran of the Legislature, having authored 160 bills that have been signed into law.
In what may be her biggest legislative challenge yet, Kuehl in February reintroduced SB 840, the California Universal Healthcare Act. If approved, the bill would insure every Californian with comprehensive healthcare coverage; guarantee their right to choose their own doctors; control the cost of healthcare and lower the cost of prescription drugs, all while preserving the private competitive character of medical care, Kuehl said.
SB 840 provides comprehensive medical, dental, vision, hospitalization and prescription drug coverage to every California resident.
SB 840 was passed by both houses of the legislature last year and vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger. The passage by both houses marked the first time that the California Legislature, or the legislature of any state, passed a comprehensive healthcare reform of this magnitude. Since then, the Governor has taken up the call for expanding health-care coverage, offering a series of suggestions for new legislation.
Two other plans for reforming aspects of the healthcare crisis, authored by Democratic legislators, will be also considered this year.
“SB 840 genuinely empowers consumers, because it allows each of us uninterrupted access to the doctors we trust,” Kuehl, chair of the Senate Health Committee, said. “We will be free to move on from our jobs; start a business; start a family, continue our education and change our residence, knowing that our healthcare will follow us.”
As part of her legislative package, Kuehl will also be focusing on strengthening renters’ rights by requiring developers to own a property for five years before evicting all tenants under the Ellis Act and demolish or renovate a complex to create condominiums. In the last five years alone more than 11,000 rental units have been taken off the market because of “Ellising,” with thousands more in other cities like Santa Monica, San Francisco and San Diego, Kuehl said.
To further protect victims of domestic violence, Kuehl is also fighting to have family pets included in protective orders. SB 353 was introduced because victims of domestic violence have overwhelmingly reported that their pets are being threatened, harmed or killed by their abuser as a form of intimidation and to instill fear, Kuehl said. As a result, some victims are afraid to go into a shelter or seek help elsewhere because of what may happen to a pet left behind.
In that same vein, Kuehl has introduced SB 129, which would amend the penal code regarding threatening or obscene phone calls to include contact made by cell phones, text messages and by e-mail. The bill would make such acts a misdemeanor punishable by six months in county jail or a $1000 fine or both.
With more than $40 billion in bonds soon to be available to pay for construction and the improvement of highways and infrastructure, Kuehl authored SB 68, which would prevent counties and cities from developing or issuing permits to develop on land where there are mineral deposits if that development which preclude access to these mineral resources. Raw materials, including sand and gravel needed for the construction, will most likely come from California mines.
In the Assembly, Brownley has authored 22 bills to date, ambitious for a newly-elected legislator, political pundits said. However, Brownley is determined to do as much as she can during her term in office.
One piece of legislation that has garnered some attention recently is AB 920, which Brownley is carrying for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The bill would make any peace officer who sells personal information about a celebrity or anyone else for that matter, guilty of a misdemeanor. Any person who solicits information form a peace officer would suffer the same fate.
“I’m getting a lot of press on it because I’m a legislator from Santa Monica, where there are a lot of celebrities,” Brownley said. “When Mel Gibson was arrested [for driving under the influence on Pacific Coast Highway] his mug shot was on the news that evening as well as what had occurred. Apparently the alleged victim of Kobe Bryant had something similar happen to her. It’s not prolific, but it is happening and they [law enforcement] are just trying to nip it in the bud.”
In addition to protecting one’s privacy, Brownley is also looking out for the working man, authoring a bill — AB 435 — that would require employers to maintain employee records for 10 years, extending the time available for an employee to file suit to recover wages.
Brownley is also hoping to decrease “E-waste” through greater recycling efforts, require residential hotels to install lockable mail boxes and have pharmacists include drug information inserts that are printed large enough so that people with impaired vision can read them. Other legislation addresses the reporting process for sewage spills, sex education in schools, and ways to help high school students demonstrate they are proficient in other ways than passing the California High School Exit Exam.
“You are only guaranteed two years in office, so I want to make sure that I address as many issues as I can that I feel are important,” Brownley said. “Some of my bills are very straightforward and may pass through quickly, but others are more complex and may need to take two years. I’m committed to that and understand the reality.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 16, 2007. Read the original PDF.