[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Legislation by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and Senate President pro Tem Don Perata (D-Oakland) providing immediate relief to homeowners caught in the mortgage crisis is on its way to the Governor’s desk. As we learn in this Assembly Web Report, SB 1137 would require lenders to contact property owners to attempt to avoid foreclosure, provide tenants additional time to move from a foreclosed property and mandate maintenance of foreclosed properties to diminish the impact on the value of neighboring homes. The legislation is an urgency measure, meaning it will become law once the Governor signs it.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Thousands of pre-paid phone cards are bought every year but there are no regulations to insure the consumer gets what they paid for. California State Assemblymember Hector de la Torre (D-South Gate) is pushing legislation through the state capitol to make sure consumers don’t get ripped off by unscrupulous phone card sellers. Assembly Bill 2885 would regulate the phone card companies the same way land line and cell phone companies are regulated. Here’s more in this Assembly Web Report.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

As the mortgage meltdown in America continues to cause stress and strain for thousands of families, Assembly Democrats in the California State Legislature are working to reform the mortgage industry, hoping the proposed regulations will mitigate the financial pain. Led by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblymember Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), Assembly Democrats have crafted a package of legislation design to change the way home loans are prepared and implemented. Here’s more on the Assembly Democrat’s mortgage crisis relief and reform package in this Assembly Web Report.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Protecting the privacy of cell phone users is the goal of new legislation from California Assemblymember Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael). Assembly Bill 3011 will expand existing law which prohibits the disclosure of a person’s residential landline calling records to apply to cell phone consumers as well. Assemblymember Huffman says nothing in current state law specifically prohibits cell phone companies from simply releasing cell phone records to anyone without a customer's consent. Here’s more in this Assembly Web Report.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Good dental health not only results in good smiles, it produces better students. With that in mind Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblymember Mary Hayashi (D-Hayward) met with dental health providers at a low income health clinic in the Bay Area. As we learn in this Assembly Web Report programs to provide dental health care to low income children are facing potential budget cuts.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Following this week’s release of the Governor’s revised budget proposal for 2008-09, Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) called for a more balanced, thoughtful approach to balancing the state’s books. Speaker Bass, who was sworn in as the 67th Assembly Speaker the day before the Governor released his revised budget, went on to say the Governor’s spending plan includes cuts that unfairly hurt struggling California families and solutions that may be no more than risky schemes. However, Speaker Bass added she does applaud the Governor for embracing her proposal for a budget commission that will study ways to bring the state’s revenue collection into the 21st century. Assembly Budget Committee Chair John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) also criticized the governor’s May Revise proposal, saying it’s bad for our economy, lays off teachers and is based on risky assumptions. Here’s more in this Assembly Web Report.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

When railroad construction crews working in Los Angeles discovered human remains of Chinese railroad workers from the 1800s it became apparent California does not have a system in place to deal with the discovery of non-Native American human remains. Assemblymember Mike Eng stepped in and developed Assembly Bill 2514. As we learn in this Assembly Web Report, AB 2514 will create a system similar to the process used today when Native American remains are discovered.