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California Bills Newsom has Signed into Law

AB 979 (Assemblyman Chris Holden, D-Pasadena)

AB 979 requires quotas based on race, ethnic, sexual preference, and transgender status for publicly held corporations headquartered in California. By the end of 2021 corporations need to have at least one board member from an underrepresented community, such as people of color or LGBT people. Corporations would be fined if they fail to comply, and the target would increase in 2022, requiring at least two or three directors from underrepresented communities, depending on the size of the board.

AB 2218 (Miguel Santiago, D-Los Angeles and Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco) 

This bill gives taxpayer grants to gender clinics to pay for cross-sex hormones and surgeries known to cause sterilization children and adults. Newsom praised the bill for “strengthening protections for LGBTQ+ Californians” and providing an “additional step forward” in “our march towards equality.”  It was initially proposed to be $15 million dollars but appears to be under discussion for a higher budget.

SB 145 (Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco)  

The new law removes the mandatory sex offender registration requirement for adults convicted of homosexual sex acts with minors as long as the sex is consensual, the victim is 14 or older, and the perpetrator is within 10 years of age of the victim. Therefore, a 24-year-old who has sex with a 14-year-old may not be on the sex offender registry. Judges can still mandate sex registration within these parameters, but they aren’t required to.  

AB 890 (Jim Wood, D-Santa Rosa

This bill allows nurse practitioners (NP) the ability to practice without physician supervision.  After completing a doctorate of nursing practice (DNP), nurse practitioners are able to call themselves “Doctor.” This title could cause confusion in patients’ minds between nurse practitioners and medical doctors. AB 890 was opposed by both the Medical Board of California and the Board of Registered Nursing because “this bill asks the nursing board to develop standards for the practice of medicine, which is beyond their expertise and represents a danger to patient safety. NPs do not have adequate training or years of education to be qualified to practice medicine without physician oversight…” (California Medical Association). The author of the bill states the purpose of the bill is to “address the serious shortage of primary care physicians.”  However, rather than proposing a solution to that problem, this legislation may increase the likelihood that patients will be pushed by insurance company bureaucrats and hospital administrators to be treated by someone other than a physician. 

AB 1145 (Cristina Garcia, D-Downey) 

This lowers the mandated reporting requirements for some statutory rape cases. The bill stipulates that reporting of child abuse will no longer be required if the perpetrator is younger than 21 years old and the victim is 16 years old or older. For example, if a teacher suspects a 16-year-old student is having sex with a 20-year-old man, the teacher is no longer required to report it to authorities. 

AB 3121 (Shirley Webber, D-San Diego)  

On September 30 Governor Newsom signed into law a bill that creates a nine-member task force to study reparations for slavery for African Americans despite the fact that California was a free state.

SB 384 (Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco) 

This bill establishes a three-tier system of registration for convictions of specified sex crimes. If an individual is convicted of certain sex crimes with a minor, he or she is able to petition to be removed from the sex offender registry after serving 10 years or 20 years. This law will go into effect on January 1, 2021.

SB 132 (Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco) 

This bill mandates that transgender inmates be housed in prisons based on the gender with which they identify or feel safest. Therefore, biologic males who identify themselves as female could be housed in a correctional facility designed for female inmates and vice versa.

AB 2542 (Ash Kalra, D-San Jose and Scott Weiner, D-San Francisco) 

Under this bill, the state is prohibited from “seeking or obtaining a criminal conviction, or from imposing a sentence, based upon race, ethnicity or national origin.” Therefore, “practically every single conviction that has ever occurred in California can be reopened and potentially reversed” if a person charged or convicted of a crime alleges racial bias or alleges that offensive or discriminatory “words or images” were used by anyone involved in their case or alleges there are “statistical disparities” in charging or sentencing based on racial bias. Any retrial would also increase cost to the taxpayers. The California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) and California State Sheriffs’ Association (CSSA) opposed AB 2542.  

Pending Approval by the Governor: 

SB 1004 (Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara)

Planned Parenthood supports this bill which requires in part that health insurance companies not disclose to parents any “sensitive” services received by their adult or minor children, including abortions and mental health treatment, even though the child is covered on the parents’ policy. According to a fact sheet from Jackson, SB 1004 will establish “automatic confidentiality” provided by the insurer instead of the patient and will “expand the definition of sensitive services” to include those “related to mental health, reproductive health, sexually transmitted infections, substance use disorders, transgender health including gender affirming care, and intimate partner violence.”  

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