Assemblymember Kristin Olsen (R-Riverbank) announced this week that several of her bills from her 2016 legislative package have passed the Senate and will be heading to the Governor’s desk in the coming days. Below is a status update on each bill.
“This year I have remained focused on providing educational opportunity for students, protecting neighborhoods from human trafficking, and improving the business climate for employers to invest in our state and create jobs,” said Olsen. “I am proud that so many of these measures will create positive change in the lives of Californians.”
Educational Opportunity & Child Welfare
AB 2738 – (School Bond Protection) – Protects taxpayers by preventing school and community college districts from withdrawing funds from voter-approved bond measures to invest on the open market. AB 2738 passed the Senate Floor on a 37-0 vote, and is on the Governor’s desk.
Economic Need
AB 54 – (Commission on Disability Access Complaint Forms: Standard Formatting) – Requires disability access complaint letters to be submitted to the Commission on Disability Access in a standardized format, in order to streamline the Commission’s ability to evaluate complaints and identify high-frequency litigants. AB 54 passed the Senate Floor on a 38-0 vote, and is on the Governor’s desk.
AB 2551 – (Water Storage Projects: Alternative Delivery) – Authorizes surface storage projects that receive Proposition 1 funding to use alternative methods of project delivery, thereby expediting project completion. AB 2551 passed the Senate Floor on a 36-1 vote, and will head to the Governor’s desk in the coming days. Joint-Authored with Assemblymember James Gallagher (R-Nicolaus).
AB 2805 – (Cargo Theft Task Force) – Establishes the California Agriculture Cargo Theft Crime Prevention Program consisting of a task force charged with developing and adopting standards for detecting and tracking cargo theft. The task force will be comprised of members from diverse law enforcement groups and businesses from participating counties. AB 2805 passed the Senate Floor on a 38-0 vote, and will head to the Governor’s desk in the coming days.
AB 2632 – (Private Investigator Licenses: Hours of Experience) – Specifies that persons seeking to be licensed as private investigators may use the hours performed in investigative journalism when applying to sit for the licensing exam. AB 2632 passed the Senate Floor on a 37-0 vote, and is on the Governor’s desk.
SB 269 – (ADA Reform) – Strikes a balance between the need to ensure that the disabled community has greater access to private and public buildings with the need to ensure that small businesses of 50 or fewer employees have the ability to correct access violations without being sued. Those who have hired a Certified Access Specialist (CASp) have 120 days to make minor repairs to their establishments before they could be sued. Businesses that have been made aware of lawsuits filed against them have 15 days to address violations before lawsuits could proceed. The legislation also requires state agencies and local government building departments to send regular updates of changing ADA laws. SB 269 was signed into law by Governor Brown on May 10, 2016. Co-Authored with Senators Andy Vidak (R-Hanford) and Richard Roth (D-Riverside).
Government Reliability/Transparency
AB 1546 - (Intaglio Print Alternative) – California state law requires that birth and death certificates and marriage licenses be printed on chemically sensitive paper that features Intaglio print, water marks, fluorescent fibers and other security features. However, last fall, Sekuworks, the only company in the United States to produce paper with Intaglio print went out of business without warning, causing the Stanislaus County Clerk-Recorder’s office to limit the number of vital records citizens could obtain, and was eventually forced to redirect them to the State for assistance. AB 1546 will require the State Registrar to study the feasibility of California’s current vital records security features, allow local registrars and county offices to share non-confidential birth and death indices, and grant the State Registrar the power to suspend vital records security features by the means of an All County Letter. This legislation will search for the long term solution to California’s vital records, and will ensure that Californians can still receive their most precious documents in the event of another vital records paper shortage. AB 1546 passed the Senate Floor on a 39-0 vote, and is on the Governor’s desk.
Human Trafficking
AB 1730 – (Human Trafficking Victims: Safe House Funding) – Provides funding to probation officers in San Joaquin County, and other counties across the state, to provide temporary housing and comprehensive wraparound mental-health, educational, and other services to children who have been commercially sexually exploited. AB 1730 passed the Senate Floor on a 38-0 vote, and will head to the Governor’s desk in the coming days. Principal Co-Authored with Assembly Speaker Emeritus Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) and Assemblymember Susan Eggman (D-Stockton).
Assemblymember Kristin Olsen, R-Riverbank, represents the 12th Assembly District in the California Legislature, which includes portions of Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties in the Central Valley, including the communities of Oakdale, Riverbank and Escalon. Follow her on Twitter: @KristinOlsenCA
