California Senate Sends Governor Bills Requiring Open UC and CSU Meetings on Executive Compensation, Banning Trans Fats in Schoo

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

The California Senate passed over 100 bills yesterday, many of them going to the Governor, and others requiring agreement by the Assembly in amendments before the big guy will get his hands on them. They'll be back at it today.

Here are a few of the bills that the Senate passed that caught our eye. There are at least a dozen major stories here--and we'll try to catch up on some of those as well as today's developments in the Capitol.

SB 490 (Alquist) Bans trans fats at schools (K-8th) from vending machines and cafeterias starting in July 2009. Passed 21 to 14.with all Republican Senators except Maldonado opposed. Goes to the Governor.

SB 609 (Romero) Snitch Testimony- Provides a court may not convict a defendant, find a special circumstance true, or use a fact in aggravation based solely on the uncorroborated testimony of an in-custody informant. Passed 23-14 To the Governor.

SB 850 (Maldonado) This bill enacts the Missing Angels Act and requires a local registrar of births and deaths to issue a Certificate of Still Birth for each naturally occurring fetal death after the 20th week of uterogestation, upon request. (22-11) Senator Maldonado was the only Republican to vote for the bill and all votes against it were by Republican Senators. Originally as drafted this bill was quite controversial as it had language that could have affected a woman's right to choose. That language was amended out so that those who go through a heartbreaking stillbirth can gain some consolation with a certificate. To the Governor.

SB 152 (Florez) A somewhat controversial bill which allows a city, county, or city and county that has a gambling ordinance in effect on July 1, 2007, prohibiting more than 12 tables, to modify its ordinance to increase the number of gambling tables by an amount not to exceed 45 percent, without having to obtain voter approval. The California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion opposed the bill because it will expand gambling in California. Passed 24-9 and goes to the Governor.

SB 594 (Romero) appropriates $6 million to Witness Relocation Program. According to Senator Romero, the CWPP is substantially under funded and had only $3 million to reimburse all 58 county prosecutors for witness relocation costs--the same level of funding originally established in 1998. As a result, witnesses have been terminated from the program almost immediately after testifying. Passed 38 to 0. It goes to the Governor.