• U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara) helped introduce legislation that would restore guardrails on federal enforcement activities to protect immigrant communities at sensitive locations, according to a press release from his office. Since 2011, the Department of Homeland Security’s sensitive locations policy prohibited immigration enforcement actions in places that provided vital services such as schools, houses of worship, and food banks. President Donald Trump rescinded that policy. “No one should have to face the fear of being detained while taking their children to school or seeking medical care,” Carbajal said in the release. “In light of the increasing attacks on our immigrant and mixed-status communities, this legislation will be critical to ensuring immigrant families can continue to access health care, education, and other services without the fear of being detained or separated from their loved ones.” The Protecting Sensitive Locations Act introduced by Carbajal and 12 other lawmakers in February would re-establish the policy that Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection can’t take enforcement actions within 1,000 feet of sensitive locations—this includes medical treatment and health care facilities, public and private schools, early childhood learning centers, preschools, places of worship, federal and local courthouses, DMVs, Social Security offices, polling places, and more.
• On Feb. 11, State Sen. Monique Limón (D-Santa Barbara) introduced a bill that would establish a voluntary California Do Not Sell List that allows state residents to proactively prevent themselves from purchasing firearms by adding their own name to a state registry. If passed, the Department of Justice would be required to develop a system by Jan. 1, 2027, where individuals can voluntarily submit a form to a local sheriff’s office or municipal police department to be added to the list, which would then be reflected in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The bill would also allow a person to request removal from the list. Limón introduced a similar bill in the last legislative session. Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) put forward a similar bill in 2023, which also failed. In 2018, then Assemblymember Rob Bonta—now the state’s attorney general—authored a bill directing the Justice Department to study options and recommend an approach to develop a system that would allow a person to register themselves on a list to prohibit them from purchasing a firearm. It passed the Legislature and was vetoed by then Gov. Jerry Brown. In his veto note, he said that while he thought it was interesting, “I do not believe that we need to mandate additional study of this type.”
• On Feb. 11, California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced some changes to California FAIR Plan—an insurance safety net that the state requires insurance companies to operate—in the wake of the fires in Los Angeles. As part of those changes, he approved insurers’ request to put an “assessment” on Californians’ home insurance bills in order to raise the funding necessary to help pay for the $1 billion in additional funding needed to help wildfire survivors who had insurance under the FAIR Plan recover. “Insurance companies may issue a temporary supplemental fee as a percentage of the policy premium,” the announcement said. The FAIR Plan provides state-sponsored wildfire insurance to those living in the state’s highest wildfire risk areas who are unable to get coverage from a private insurer, including those who recently lost their homes in the Palisades and Eaton fires. “I took this necessary consumer protection action with on goal in mind: The FAIR Plan must pay claims just like any other insurance company,” Lara said in the announcement. “We must rebuild stronger and be better prepared for future wildfires through common-sense mitigation.”
This article appears in Feb 20 – Mar 2, 2025.