Now it's up to the governor

With the final adjournment of the Legislature Monday, Aug. 31, hundreds of bills were forwarded to the governor, who now has until Wednesday, Sept. 30, to decide their fate.

There’s often lots of controversy in Sacramento, but contrary to what may be a common impression, many bills pass with overwhelming support from both parties. This session was no different.

For example, we passed Assembly Bill 1710, written by Assemblymember Jim Wood, D-Santa Rosa, to allow pharmacists to administer FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines. We also passed Assembly Bill 1577, written by Assemblymember Autumn Burke, D-Inglewood, conforming state law to federal law to exclude CARES Act and Paycheck Protection Program loans from state income taxes.

Senate Bill 1447, written by Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Gardena, provides tax credits for small businesses that hire new employees, and in another effort to help workers and small businesses, we passed Assembly Bill 1731, written by Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, D-Encinitas, to ease the availability of the work sharing program so that workers can remain on the job. And Senate Bill 872, written by Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, expands homeowners’ insurance protections during states of emergencies.

Bills impacting animal welfare included Senate Bill 573, written by Sen. Ling Ling Chang, R-Diamond Bar, which requires microchipping of shelter dogs and cats, along with Assembly Bill 1974, written by Assembly members Adam Gray, D-Merced, and Edwin Chau, D-Monterey Park, to help protect and advance the health, safety, welfare and aftercare of race horses.

We passed Senate Bill 803, which I co-wrote with Sen. Jim Beall, D-San Jose, to support a mental health peer specialist certification program for counties that wish to help workers dealing with mental health or substance abuse issues.

Other bipartisan bills included Assembly Bill 2421, written by Assemblymember Bill Quirk, D-Hayward, a bill to speed installation of stand-by generators for cell towers in hard-pressed rural areas, and Assembly Bill 1138, written by James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, to require parental consent before an online user account can be created for a child.

It’s now up to the governor to decide the fate of these bills. If you’d like to request that any bill be signed or vetoed, the governor’s office can be reached at https://govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov40mail/.

Assembly Republican Leader Marie Waldron, R-Escondido, represents the 75th Assembly District in the California Legislature, which includes the communities of Bonsall, Escondido, Fallbrook, Hidden Meadows, Pala, Palomar Mountain, Pauma Valley, Rainbow, San Marcos, Temecula, Valley Center and Vista.