Legislation Watch

California Legislation, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

By Orlean Koehle, March 26, 2023

Believe it or not, we actually have quite a few good bills that Republicans can get behind and support. Let us hope they can make it through a few committees and actually be voted on by the whole Assembly and Senate. We need letters of support for them to start flooding in to our legislators. This information comes from https://cfrw.org/category/capitol-updates/and also californiafamily.org that has a legislative watch list, that gives a running update on 55 bills.  To write letters through the portal system go to:  https:/calegislation.lc.ca.gov/Advocates/faces/index.xhtml. The portal system sends your letters on to each following committee. 

· Support Assembly Bill 1314, parental rights legislation by Bill Essayli (R-Riverside) and James Gallagher (R-Yuba City) - would require teachers, counselors, and other school staff to notify parents in writing within three days if they find a student who is identifying as a gender other than what is stated on their birth certificate. This bill would bring an end to the current controversial policy of keeping the gender transition of students secret in California, depending on whether the child wants to tell his or her parents. No committee date assigned yet. 

· Support SB 236 – Human Trafficking – by Senator Brian Jones ® - allocates $2.6 million to 11 counties for the prosecution of human trafficking crimes.  Will be heard March 29

· Support SB 31 – Encampment, Sensitive Areas – by Senator Brian Jones ®: This bill would prohibit homeless encampments from being on a public right of way within 1,000 feet of a sensitive area such as schools, parks, daycare centers. Hearing March 28.

· Support AB 802 – Curriculum – Right to Examine – by Joe Patterson, ® This bill would require all schools to send a notice to parents of their right to examine the curriculum and materials that will be used in the classroom for their students. The notice must be posted on the school internet website. Will be heard March 29.

· Support AB 446 – Pupil Instruction – Handwriting - This bill would require handwriting instruction for grades 1 to 6, inclusive, to include instruction in cursive or joint italics in the appropriate grade levels.

· Support AB 984, - Pupil instruction: high school graduation requirements: personal finance. This bill will add a one semester course in personal finances to high school graduation for all public and charter schools.

· Support SB 472 - Pupil health: opioid overdose reversal medication. This bill would require all public and charter schools to maintain at least 2 doses of naloxone hydrochloride or opioid antagonist for emergency use. 1st Hearing was March 22.

· Oppose AB 957 - Family law: gender identity - by Lori Wilson D Livermore and Scott Weiner D San Francisco - A judge must “strongly affirm” that a transgendering child will only be allowed to stay with the parent who supports him in his transition. The parent who refuses to support him will have all rights to be with the child removed. Was heard 3/20 and passed the Judicial Committee.  

· Oppose SB 541 – Condom Bill – by Senator Menjivar D San Fernando Valley – would require all public schools and charter schools to provide free “internal and external” condoms, no matter the age or sex of the students and to post a notice about them. It would also require all retail stores to sell contraceptives no matter the age of the person wanting to buy them. Hearing March 29. 

· Oppose SB 274 –Suspensions and expulsions: willful defiance – Senator Nancy Skinner D. No children will be expelled or given suspensions from school for willful defiance or misbehavior. They will just be taken into a special room, but not sent home. We see how well that has already worked in the recent stabbing and one death, March 1, of two students at Montgomery High School in Santa Rosa. It will be heard April 12

· Oppose AB 665 –Minors: consent to mental health services – by Wendy Carrillo D - All children age 12 and older can decide for themselves if they need mental health services, without any parents’ notification or approval. It is through the “mental health” counselors that so much of the gender confusion is being promoted. It will be heard March 28 in the Judiciary Committee.

· Oppose AB 1120 – Would require schools to allow for “universal” mental health screening for students from 6th grade through 12.  Will be heard March 29 in the Education Committee.

· Oppose AB 760 – School Facility – All Gender Bathroom – Senator Newman (D) Every school from the ages of K-12 will have to have at least one all-gender bathroom and stocked with menstrual products, unlocked and free for access of any child. Set for hearing April 12.

Oppose AB 659 - HPV Cancer Prevention Act.  This bill would have made it so that the HPV vaccine, called Gardasil, would be added to the list of mandatory vaccines in California for all 8th grade girls. It has now been amended (because of much opposition) to make it mandatory for age 18-21 year-old girls to be able to attend any community college or Cal State or UC university. HPV is a sexually transmitted disease. It is not transmissible just by being around others in a school setting. The vaccine is highly controversial, having caused much harm to young women who have taken it. My neighbor is one of those, who started having seizures shortly after she took it; had to quit her job, could not work. This lasted for five years. Other women have died; most are left not able to have children. One family sued Merck, the German manufacturer of Gardasil, for the fact their daughter (age 11) was left in a wheelchair, unable to walk after taking the vaccine. In the process of discovery, the ingredients inside the vaccine had to be disclosed. There was aluminum, fluoride, borax, terrible things that do cause sterility and autoimmune disorders. I updated my first letter of opposition to include opposition to the amendment and sent it through the portal again. The next hearing is postponed! That is a good sign. It shows all the letters of opposition are working. Maybe, it will just die without a hearing