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Amid Voter Dissatisfaction, Legislators Introduce over 1500 Bills


Amid Voter Dissatisfaction, Legislators Introduce over 1300 Bills
In last week’s Dateline Sacramento, we discussed the Legislature’s dysfunction and its potential impact on California families. We noted in the article that Californians would pay the price for the legislative partisanship and special interest bias displayed in recent weeks. As California’s economy continues to struggle, citizens are becoming increasingly disillusioned and untrusting of their elected representatives. 
A recent poll affirmed California’s frustration and dissatisfaction with Governor Schwarzenegger and the Democrat-controlled Legislature, finding that 52% of all respondents believe every member of the Legislature should be voted out of office. The Datamer poll’s conclusions further illustrate the grim condition into which the state has descended. Without new leadership that is focused on addressing California’s fiscal and economic problems, the future of the state is at risk.
As legislators continue efforts to resolve California’s estimated $20 billion deficit and address an estimated 1500 bills introduced last week, growing public anger may cause a change in their recent course of antics. However, efforts to circumvent the two-thirds vote requirement to raise taxes, and to exclude Republicans in addressing part of the budget deficit is not a good sign. Still, potential opportunities remain for bipartisanship as policy committees gear up to consider new bill proposals. 
Over the next month, legislative committees, staff, special interests groups and citizens will pour over bills introduced in the 2010 session to ascertain their impact. CFC staff will be reviewing measures that potentially affect California families, keeping you informed as the bills move through the process.  Following is a look at some of the bills introduced this year:
SB 906 (Leno) – Creates a new classification of marriage – “civil marriage” – which will be used to incrementally circumvent California’s constitutional definition of marriage. 
AB 1841 (Buchanan) – Prevents a public agency from continuing to provide special education or related services to a child whose parents have withdrawn their consent in writing.
AB 1933 (Brownley) – Allows a foster student to continue at the school of origin of the foster child’s initial placement, allowing for the continuity of educational services.
AB 1943 (Fletcher) – Requires the Department of Social Services to provide each county welfare department with health and education information of the foster children within their jurisdiction.
AB 2020 (Fletcher) – Provides that a judgment of paternity by another man does not remove a court’s previous paternity findings as it relates to child support. The measure relates to the action of terminating parental rights.
AB 2229 (Brownley) – Requires health practitioners or medical social workers who are mandated to report child abuse to also disclose all known health needs of a child, including the child’s exposure to HIV.
AB 2319 (Swanson) – Defines as human trafficking the act of depriving or violating the liberty of a minor under the age of 16 for the purpose of any lewd or lascivious act, or the purchasing of a minor in order to create material depicting sexual conduct.
AB 2416 (Cook) – Protects parents serving in the military from losing their custodial or visitation rights while they are on active duty.
AB 2700 (Ma) – Authorizes registered domestic partners who are also “married” to one another to petition the court to dissolve both their domestic partnership and their marriage in one proceeding.
AB 2735 (de Leon) – Provides that co-owners of a residence in which both owners live, may transfer ownership of the residence without a tax reassessment upon the death of one of the owners to the surviving owner/tenant. This   benefit is currently extended exclusively to married couples. 
SB 1064 (Alquist) – Reorganizes the Independent Citizen’s Oversight Committee, which oversees the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) and requires CIRM to create a succession and transition plan to allow the stem cell research program to continue when current bond funding runs out.
SB 1202 (DeSaulnier) – Requires initiative committees, such as the Proposition 8 committee, to provide to the Secretary of State the names of the 5 highest contributors to the initiative’s qualification efforts and the total contributions made by each contributor. The measure further requires the Secretary of State to disclose this information in the voter guide.
SB 1204 (Runner) – Prohibits a registered sex offender from opening or participating in an online social networking account, such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.
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