Capitol Briefs: Storming toward the crossover deadline

Note: Last Friday was the deadline for bills to get out of their house of origin, forcing lawmakers to address hundreds of bills in short order. Here is just a sampling of some of those measures. We’ll be updating this story all week. 

Senate public safety package headed to the Assembly: Senate pro tem Mike McGuire (D-North Coast) announced that his colleagues have approved all 15 bills in the Senate’s public safety package, sending them to the Assembly for consideration. McGuire reiterated that none of them make significant changes to Proposition 47. He said they were hopeful of getting them to the governor’s desk within the next few weeks, but noted that he and others will continue to talk with proponents of a ballot measure that would make substantive changes to the law.

McGuire said it is up to those proponents whether or not they go forward with the ballot measure, but noted that California Retailers Association President and CEO Rachel Michelin believes the bills currently advancing in the Legislature “will do more for retailers – keeping employees safe, keeping shoppers safe, assisting the bottom line – will do more for retailers than amending Prop 47.”

In a statement, Californians for Safer Communities, the group behind the ballot measure, said the legislative measures “only incrementally address the serious issue of serial retail crime and the fentanyl crisis we face today” and called for “thoughtful” and “commonsense” reforms to Prop 47.

Skinner bill to protect minors from social media passes out of Senate: A landmark bill to protect children from social media by Sen. Nancy Skinner has passed out of the state Senate and is headed to the Assembly.

SB 976 by the Berkeley Democrat, known as the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act, proposes a first-of-its-kind law that would prohibit online platforms from serving up addictive social media feeds to minors without the consent of their guardian. The bill passed out of the Senate this week on a bipartisan vote, 35-2.

“Social media companies have designed their platforms to addict users, especially our kids,” Skinner said in a press release announcing the bill’s passage. “Studies show that once a young person has a social media addiction, they experience higher rates of depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. But social media companies have been unwilling to voluntarily change their practices. With SB 976, the state Senate has sent a clear message: When social media companies won’t act, it’s our responsibility to protect our children.”

Among the bill’s provisions is prohibition on social media platforms sending children notifications from midnight to 6 a.m. and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on school days without parental consent and daily time limit for how long children can browse a platform, also to be set by parents.

Wiener bills addressing housing production, freelance workers, speed governors also pass out: Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) also got bills out of the Senate this week which seek to increase housing production SB 937, which would provide basic labor protections for freelance workers (SB 988) and which would make California the first state to require new cars to have passive speed governors (SB 961) that warn drivers when they have exceeded 10 mph over the speed limit.

“I’m delighted to see the Senate advance these crucial measures to provide stability for Californians,” the San Francisco Democrat said in press release announcing the passage of SBs 937 and 938. “By giving freelancers the protections they deserve and making it easier to build homes under volatile market conditions, these bills provide the support Californians need to flourish.”

SB 937 attempts to address housing production in the Golden State by deferring development fees imposed by local governments for new homes until a certificate of occupancy is issued. The idea is to not let development fees hang up housing production during tough economic times.

SB 988, known as the Freelance Worker Protection Act, would provide freelancers with basic protections like mandatory contracts, 30-day payment terms and payment agreement protections.

In a separate release on SB 961, Wiener said “The evidence is clear: Rising levels of dangerous speeding are placing all Californians in danger, and by taking prudent steps to improve safety, we can save lives.”

Assembly endorses AI impact assessment measure: The Assembly endorsed AB 2930, a measure from Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) that would require developers and users of automated decision making tools (ADT) to conduct and record an impact assessment of those tools, including the intended use, the makeup of the data, and the rigor of the statistical analysis. The data reported must also include an analysis of potential adverse impact on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, sex, religion, age, national origin, or any other classification protected by state law. It moves to the Senate.

Speaking of AI: The Senate overwhelmingly approved SB 1047, Wiener’s proposal to establish “clear, predictable, common-sense safety standards for developers of the largest and most powerful AI systems.”