Free Now Foundation is proud to be working with our incredible legal counsel at Facts Law Truth Justice. This post is a reprint of their September 5 Legislative update and can be found on FACTS LAW TRUTH JUSTICE.

This article was originally published on September 5, 2023 on the FLTJ Substack

LAST 7 DAYS OF SESSION START IN T-MINUS 8 HOURS. READ + SHARE + RISE:

Recall that last Friday, September 1, was the last day that every bill moving through the Legislature had to pass out of “fiscal” committees in order to potentially become law. If it did not – either because those committees voted it down or because they voted it into the “Suspense File” and subsequently “could not resolve” the financial concerns plaguing the bill so that it languished and died, unable to advance – it would not have been able to advance to the floors for house and concurrence votes, or to Gavin’s desk for review and signing.

Many of our 2023 Bad Bills – and two Good ones – were hanging precariously in the “Suspense Files” of the Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees. Fortunately, your actions and words were heard and seen, creating a ripple effect of change and victory in favor of Children, Families, Health, Science, and Law that shifted the course of this session in our favor:

MAJOR VICTORIES:

• Senate Bill 407 (Wiener, D-SF): MAJOR AMENDMENT – Senator Scott Wiener, Assemblyman Alex Lee, and Assemblyman Evan Low were forced to GUT their bill in response to our demands and it will no longer require foster families to sign a “document” (legally-binding contract subject to claims and damages if breached) promising to affirm! Now, the State Department of Social Services will simply have to develop and use “assess[] the ability to care for and supervise children and youth of all sexual orientations and gender identities.”
  • Call your Assemblyperson + Senator to register your OPPOSITION and ask for theirs.
    • DISCLAIMER: While this can be abused to target and exclude more conservative or religious families who are not willing to blindly affirm children suffering trauma they might express it in gender confusion, it will much easier to meet this burden of showing that you are a decent human being who will love, support and care for a child regardless of whether or not they are experiencing trauma and gender-confused instead of being forced to promise to affirm, in writing, which could be enforced in the court of law (which the Legislature (Wiener, Lori, Carrillo, Ashby) are shoving into the direction of affirmation, only).
• AB1028 (Wicks-D, Berkeley, Piedmont; Wiener, D-SF):DEAD – “In committee. Held on submission.”
  • Would have removed the requirement that a health practitioner report to law enforcement when they suspect a patient been assaulted or abused, unless the injury was by firearm, child abuse, or elder abuse. Way to go, Buffy and Scotty!
• SB729 (Menjivar, D-Burbank, San Fernando, Wicks, D-Berkeley, Piedmont):DEAD – “September 1 hearing postponed by committee.”
  • Would have (1) “revise[d] the definition of infertility,” to include trans people who cannot have children not due to a reproductive complication, but the fact that men cannot get pregnant or birth babies; (2) “remove[d] the exclusion of in vitro fertilization from coverage,” thereby forcing insurance companies (you) to pay for “the diagnosis and treatment of infertility and fertility services””; and (3) “delete a requirement that a health care service plan contract and disability insurance policy provide infertility treatment under agreed-upon terms that are communicated to all group contractholders and policyholders.”
    • AS AN ASIDE: isn’t it wild to see how much effort Buffy has put into giving people the right to get pregnant, and also the right to kill their babies, no questions asked??? Weird.
    • AS ANOTHER ASIDE: do you think these are the values of the people of the Burbank and San Fernando Valley? If you live in either of these areas in Menjivar’s district, you should let her know how you feel about this.
• SB 14 (Grove-R, Bakersfield): PASSED UNANIMOUSLY with minor amendments to the Legislative Findings and to add co-authors, now heading to Assembly floor for vote on or before 9/14 in order to become law. Will need to be heard, again, by Senate because amended out of passing out of this, its “house of origin”; however, since passed unanimously, no need to work, here.
  • Call your Assemblyperson to register your SUPPORT and ask for theirs
    • Will add human trafficking of a minor to the definition of a serious felony “for all purposes, including for purposes of the Three Strikes Law,” which means plea bargaining and “social justice credits,” such as “time off for ‘Good Behavior,” to reduce jail time, will be prohibited.
• SB635 (Menjivar-D, Burbank, San Fernando, Portantino-D): PASSED out of the Suspense File and is finally headed to the Assembly Floor more than 5 years in the making. Needs to pass out of Assembly and back to Senate since it was amended, previously, after passing out of its “house of origin.” Since it passed unanimously out of Senate, anticipating near-unanimous support in Assembly but TBD.
  • Call your Assemblyperson to register your SUPPORT and ask for theirs
    • Will require health insurance policies to cover hearing aids for enrollees and insureds under 21 years of age, if medically necessary. [How this is not already a law based on the bill’s analysis and LOGIC is sick and beyond me. My heart breaks for all the children who have suffered cognitive, physical and emotional delays because of readily-available relatively inexpensive therapies (compared to the costs of resources they will need almost in perpetuity due to the delay) they could have received for a medical condition they were born with].
• AB665 (Carrillo-LA, Wiener -SF): has NOT been assigned a jockey and has not been brought to floor vote. No one wants to touch this bill.Keep the pressure up – without a jockey, it cannot be brought for vote!!!
  • Call your Assemblyperson + Senator to register your OPPOSITION + ask for theirs + demand they not step up to jockey this horrible bill.
• AB957 (Wilson-Solano, Contra Costa, Sacramento, Wiener-SF):Senator Tom Umberg has offered to jockey this bill; however, it was not brought to floor for vote before the break because your opposition is being heard. Keep up the pressure up!
  • Call your Assemblyperson + Senator to register your OPPOSITION + ask for theirs.
  • Call Tom Umberg and tell him NOT to bring AB957 for vote.

SKIRMISHES:

• Assembly Bill 5 (Zbur, D-Los Angeles): amended and passed out of suspense, but means now has to pass out of the Senate then goback to Assembly for concurrence vote before 9/14 so we have two more opportunities to kill this bill.
  • Call your Assemblyperson + Senator to register your OPPOSITION + ask for theirs.
    • Will make teacher and staff training to create a “safe and supportive learning environment” for LGBQT+ and questioning pupils mandatory; training includes how to profile possible LGBQT+ students and “LGBQT+ hostile” families; show students how to change name and gender ID, access opposite-sex facilities and health care services, locate organizations that support LGBQT+ youth (e.g. residential shelters, Glitter Families, Chosen Families), and form secret clubs; no training on how to support desisting or de-transitioner pupils.
• Assembly Bill 1078 (Jackson, D-Riverside): MAJOR AMENDMENTS to strike out or remove (1) doxing school board members (imagine that!) and (2) elevated 2/3 vs. simple majority vote to remove any materials. With these significant amendments, AB 1078 passed out of suspense, but means now has to pass out of the Senate then goback to Assembly for concurrence vote before 9/14 so we have two more opportunities to kill this bill.
  • Call your Assemblyperson + Senator to register your OPPOSITION + ask for theirs.
    • Will strip local school boards of their authority to decide what curriculum and materials are best-suited for their community’s values and needs by defunding, investigating, and fining school districts and doxing individual board members for rejecting State-selected content; prohibiting removal of “diverse” or “inclusive” materials; and raising threshold for removing “any other” materials from simple majority to 2/3 majority vote.
• Assembly Bill 659 (Aguiar-Curry, D-Napa, Yolo, Sonoma): passed out of the Suspense File without amendment, as expected, since Aguiar-Curry has had to comply with amendments in almost every committee to get it even that far. Since AB 659 was previously amended after leaving the Assembly, its house of origin, it now has to pass out of the Senate then goback to Assembly for concurrence vote before 9/14 so we have two more opportunities to kill this bill.
  • Call your Assemblyperson + Senator to register your OPPOSITION + ask for theirs.
    • Will authorize state-sanctioned false advertising, fear-mongering, and propaganda for Big Pharma companies (Merck will be the first). School districts will be required to send out letters to every 6th grade-aged child advising them of the State’s “recommendation” that they be fully immunized against HPV before admission or advancement to 8th grade. The D.O.F determined this bill is duplicative and not necessary due to prior legislation, the fact that children 12+ already have access to the HPV vaccine, and schools currently include standardized curriculum regarding sexually transmitted diseases.
      • DISCLAIMER: for as much as we at FLTJ do not like fear-mongering-propaganda-false-advertising by the government on behalf of Big Pharma, which funds it, we do not believe this bill will be killed. Legislators from both houses and sides, including Aguiar-Curry, herself, have gone out of their way to water down this bill but also support her personal mission (she lost family members to cancer).
• Senate Bill 596 (Portantino, D-Los Angeles): passed without amendment out of Suspense File; however, since was previously amended after leaving the Senate, its house of origin, it now has to pass out of the Assembly then goback to Senate for concurrence vote before 9/14 so we have two more opportunities to kill this bill.
  • Call your Assemblyperson + Senator to register your OPPOSITION + ask for theirs.
    • Will silence and criminalize concerned adult citizens demanding answers and solutions from elected officials by jailing them up to 1 year and/or fining them up to $1,000 for “substantially disrupting” a board meeting, or harassing or threatening school board members. [Note: we do not condone harassing or threatening anyone ever; however, because there are current laws prohibiting this (e.g. PC 422, 646.9) SB596 is unnecessary given its chilling effect on legitimate exercises of constitutionally-protected, fundamental rights].
      

MAJOR LOSS:

• AB 19 (Patterson, R-Placer, El Dorado): Would have required all 10,000 public schools in California to maintain two units of naloxone, a life-saving medication used to reverse the effects of fentanyl poisoning to mitigate the risks posed by fentanyl exposure, and provide immediate assistance to affected students, staff, and visitors on campus. The bill was fully funded, therefore, there was no reason for it not to have passed Senate Appropriation.
  • Contact the Senate Appropriations Committee Members to let them know how you feel about this:
    • Anthony Portantino, Chair
    • Angelique Ashby
    • Steven Bradford
    • Aisha Wahab
    • Scott Wiener
    • Kelly Seyarto (thank for support)
    • Brian Jones (thank for support)

THE BATTLE CONTINUES

In sum, we literally have SEVEN (7) DAYS – September 5 through September 14 – to kill the Bad Bills and make sure the Good Ones pass. Call your Assemblyperson and Senator to:

OPPOSE:

• AB5
• AB1078
• AB665
• AB957
  • Reminder to call Tom Umberg too to tell him not to bring the bill to vote.
• SB407
• SB596

SUPPORT:

• SB14
• SB635

RISE UP!

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About the Author, Aria Morgan

Aria Morgan is the Managing Editor of Free Now Foundation. Aria is a passionate and accomplished editor with a diverse background in writing for various industries, including music, film, health and yoga, and with published covers and feature credits in national magazines. Aria is dedicated to protecting civil rights and promoting health and medical freedom, and is thrilled to be a part of the Free Now Foundation team.