Hold onto Your Hats: California Legislature Will Pass Hundreds of Bills in a Little Over a Week

• AB 1539 (Krekorian) that allows for resentencing of terminally ill prisoners;

• AB 1109 (Huffman) on light bulbs that will lead to the banning of the sale of some that are not efficient or have toxic substances in them;

• AB 1470 (Huffman) on solar water heaters.

All of these Assembly bills and many more are in line for a California State Senate floor vote. Senate President pro Tem Don Perata said last week that the Senate will be adjourning a week from today on September 11 because the calendar prepared by the Joint Rules Committee which has a September 14 date of adjournment did not take into account that Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and a High Holy Day, is taking place next week.

The Assembly may return after Rosh Hashanah and complete its work on September 14, a week from Friday.

Both houses will have floor sessions today and through Friday. This means the Assembly will have 7 legislative session days and the Senate may have only 6 if the schedule announced by the leaders holds.

Then there is talk of a special session being called by the Governor on health and perhaps other issues that have been waylaid by the after effects of the prolonged budget standoff in the Senate.

The Senate has approximately 429 bills on its agenda, most of them from the Assembly, the larger body. The Assembly has about 283 bills in its file, most of them from the Senate.

Among the bills being considered by the Assembly are:

• SB 210 (Kehoe) establishing a low carbon fuel standard;

• SB 456 (Simitian) prohibiting commercial products containing artificial butter flavoring that causes "popcorn worker lung," a serious health condition affecting those working in movie houses in particular;

• SB 850 (Maldonado) that allows for the issuance of a certificate of stillbirth;

• SB 936 (Perata) on permanent disability benefits paid to seriously injured workers;

• SB 974 (Lowenthal) on pollution and other effects from goods moved through California's ports.

Many bills have already gone to the Governor for his signature, veto, or allowance to become law without his signature. The Governor has 12 days to act on these measures, however, on those passed at the end of this year's regular session he has 30 days to act.

Bills not acted upon by September 14 may be considered next year for passage. Only with a special session, and according to the terms set out by the Governor, can measures be adopted after then to take effect on January 1.

We will be covering as many of these bills as possible between now and adjournment and then following up with the Governor's actions. If you have articles on these bills, please send them to us to help us keep up with the end of session crush.