• Several bills authored by Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) will become law in California on Jan. 1.
Senate Bill 1005, or Modernizing California Law to Reflect Marriage Equality, updates the terms “husband” and “wife” in various code sections to the gender-neutral term “spouse.” This is to reflect that same-sex couples can legally marry in California. The law also recognizes the rights of same-sex couples in domestic partnerships and includes registered domestic partners in the code changes.
Senate Bill 1200 will require the Department of Justice to include animal cruelty data in its DOJ Data Collection and Reporting Responsibility publication and will be forwarded to the FBI.
“With the proven connection between animal abuse and human violence,” Jackson stated in a press release, “the goal of SB 1200 is to protect innocent animals and reduce the possibility of further acts of violoence against humans.”
Aiming to prevent sexual assault and encourage healthy relationships, Senate Bill 1435 requires that California public schools provide age-appropriate information on resolving disagreements without bullying and harassment to students from kindergarten to eighth grade.
Senate Bill 1189, which was jointly authored by Jackson and Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), requires that autopsies be conducted only by licensed physicians and that autopsy reports are accurate and unbiased.
Senate Bill 1375 requires schools posting the name and contact information of their Title IX coordinator, as well as students’ and schools’ rights and responsibilities under Title IX, on their website. Title IX is the federal law that prohibits gender discrimination in schools.
Senate Bill 1180 helps disabled military veterans who work in public schools by giving them an additional 12 days of sick leave in the first year of employement. The law applies to teachers as well as other school employees. Disabled veterans who work 10 months of the year will receive 10 days of additional sick leave.
Senate Bill 122 improves access to California Environmental Quality Act documents by requiring them to be posted online.
To help prevent the dumping of unused medication in the water supply, Senate Bill 1229 encourages pharmacies to participate in prescription drug take-back programs by establishing reasonable care standards for pharmacists and limits their liability with take-back bins.
• Salud Carbajal, the former 1st District Santa Barbara Supervisor elected to represent California’s 24th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, was sworn in on Jan. 3. He succeeds Democratic Rep. Lois Capps, who served the district for the last 18 years.
Capps was elected in 1998 to succeed her husband Walter Capps in a special election following his death. She delivered her final speech on the House floor Dec. 7.
“I may be retiring, but I do not want to consider myself retiring,” Capps said. “I prefer to say I’m graduating to continue working lawfully on issues that have defined my time in Congress.”
Carbajal, who represented the county’s 1st District for 12 years, will be succeeded by former California Assemblyman Das Williams.
Also, outgoing 3rd District Supervisor Doreen Farr will be succeeded by former county planning commissioner Joan Hartmann.
• Jordan Cunningham, who was recently elected to represent California’s 35th Assembly District, was officially sworn in to office on Dec. 5. Cunningham succeeds Katcho Achadjian and will represent all of San Luis Obispo County and a portion of Santa Barbara County.
• Newly-elected Monique Limon was also sworn into the state Assembly on Dec. 5. She succeeded Das Williiams to represent the 37th District.
• Dan Hilker, a retired UC-Santa Barbara police officer and brewmaster for Santa Maria Brewing Company, succeeded Tim Bennett to represent Area 2 with the Allan Hancock College Board of Trustees.
This article appears in Jan 5-12, 2017.