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Portantino’s First Senate Session Sends Seven Bills to Governor’s Desk
Arcadia Weekly Sep 18, 2017
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The Pasadena City Hall. –Courtesy photo/ Michael Chen (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
As the first year of the 2017–18 Legislative session came to an end, Senator Anthony J. Portantino (D – La Cañada Flintridge) sent seven bills to the Governor’s desk, passed several important Senate resolutions and co-authored historic parks bond and Veterans housing initiatives. Senator Portantino continued his focus on education, public safety, mental health, housing, and parks and open space. Below are the bills that were sent:
– SB 304 – Requires County Offices of Education and County Probation Departments to provide a strong educational plan and guidance for juveniles leaving court schools and returning to public school.
– SB 318 – Provides transparency and accountability for the California State Universities when contracting for services.
– SB 400 – Provides stability for SR 710 tenants by freezing rents for two years. In the wake of MTA’s historic action to end the pursuit of the 710 tunnel, this establishes protections for long-residing tenants in state-owned properties.
– SB 478 – Requires California Community Colleges to provide a transfer degree to students who complete their undergraduate requirements. This ends a practice of students transferring without the degrees they have earned.
– SB 497 – Provides peace officers regulations for safely storing handguns in locked center consoles of vehicles that do not have trunks.
– SB 565 – Requires mental health facilities to notify a patient’s family member or friend at least 36 hours in advance of the patient’s possible release, and calls for release hearings to have a time and date certain. SB 565 has already been signed into law by Gov. Brown.
– SB 599 – Allows CalPERS to offer health benefits plans at regional rates to California Association of Highway Patrol (CAHP) and Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) Trust members.
– SB 5 – Principal Co-Author – Senator Portantino is one of two principal co-authors of SB 5, the historic $4 billion parks and open space bond that will provide significant resources for the 25th Senate District and the State of California.
– SB 3 – Co-Author – Senator Portantino is a co-author of SB 3, which provides $4 billion for affordable housing and Veterans homeownership.
In addition, Senator Portantino authored several important resolutions that passed this session:
– SCR 8, which designates a portion of SR 134 from SR 2 to I-210 the “President Barack H. Obama Highway” in recognition of President Obama’s time as a resident of Pasadena and student at Occidental College.
– SCR 25, which requests Caltrans to erect signs directing motorists to the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial off of the Fair Oaks Avenue exit of I-210.
– SR 29, which commemorates the Armenian Genocide of 1915–1923 and calls on Turkey to end religious persecution and return Christian churches and other places of worship to their rightful owners.
The Governor has until Oct. 15 to sign or veto the bills sent to his desk.
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