New California laws boost family leave, protect trans youth. Here’s what Newsom signed, vetoed
California’s legislative season is coming to a close, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed or vetoed hundreds of bills — decisions that will have a significant impact on millions of state residents for years to come.
Newsom on Friday signed one of the last high-profile measures on his desk, a bill from Sen. María Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, extending a temporary boost in family leave benefits.
California approved a benefit hike in 2018, increasing funding from 55% of wages to between 60% and 70%, based on applicants’ income levels. That boost will expire next year if the governor does not sign Senate Bill 951.
The measure would also increase benefits to 70 to 90% of wages starting in 2025.
On Thursday night, the governor vetoed a bill from Assemblyman Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, that would have limited solitary confinement to 15 days in prisons, jails and private immigration detention facilities. Assembly Bill 2632, also known as the California Mandela Act, would have prohibited solitary confinement entirely for prisoners younger than 25 and older than 65, pregnant people and inmates with certain disabilities.
In his veto message, Newsom called the measure “overly broad” and said it would “categorically prohibit the placement of large portions of the incarcerated population in segregated housing — even if such a placement is to protect the safety of all incarcerated individuals in the institution.”
On the same night, Newsom signed a bill from Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, that would protect transgender children seeking gender-affirming care in California.
Among the bills still awaiting the governor’s signature is from Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Campbell, which would penalize doctors for spreading COVID-19 misinformation.
Here is a list of the key bills Newsom has signed or vetoed this month.
Abortion
Vetoed: Creation of a five-county pilot program to improve reproductive healthcare at primary care clinics, especially for patients from marginalized groups.
Signed: A bill that bars criminal or civil liability in the event of a pregnancy loss.
Signed: Measures that prohibit health care providers and law enforcement from cooperating with out-of-state criminal or civil cases against abortion patients or providers.
Animals
Signed: A ban on most toxicity testing on dogs and cats in California.
Environment
Signed: A package of environmental bills aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including measures to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, set clean energy targets and create buffer zones around oil and gas wells.
Signed: A bill to keep Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in San Luis Obispo County open through 2030 to protect California’s power grid. The measure would allow the state to loan PG&E $1.4 billion to keep the plant running past 2025, when it was set to close.
Signed: Allowing people to have their remains composted rather than buried or cremated.
Vetoed: A $1,000 tax credit to households with no registered vehicles.
Criminal justice
Vetoed: A 15-day limit on solitary confinement in prisons, jails and private immigration detention facilities.
Signed: Allowing convicted felons to have criminal records automatically sealed if they finish their sentences and stay conviction-free for four years.
Housing/homelessness
Signed: A package streamlining housing production in areas zoned for big box stores, offices and parking lots in exchange for paying prevailing wage or employing union labor.
Signed: Reduction of parking requirements for housing developments located within a half-mile of public transit stops.
Signed: Creation of Newsom’s CARE Court system requiring California counties to help residents with severe untreated mental illness.
Labor
Signed: Creation of a fast food council with employers, employees and government officials to negotiate wages and working conditions for workers.
Signed: A United Farm Workers-sponsored bill to make it easier for farmworkers to organize unions.
Signed: Streamlining of health permitting process for street vendors.
Vetoed: Extension of unemployment benefits to undocumented workers.
Signed: Extension of an increase in paid family leave benefits and boost in funding starting in 2025.
Equity
Signed: Requirement that California companies with 15 or more employees include salary ranges in job postings and to disclose them to workers upon request.
Signed: A bill preventing companies from selling products for different prices using gender-based marketing.
Signed: Allowing undocumented Californians to apply for state identification cards.
Signed: Renaming of UC Hastings College of Law, named after a man who committed genocide against Native Americans.
Signed: A bill ordering slurs against Native American people removed from place names across the state.
Signed: Ban on employers discriminating against employees for off-hours marijuana use.
Signed: A bill protecting families with transgender children seeking gender-affirming care from from out-of-state investigations.
Signed: A prohibition against prosecutors using rap lyrics and other forms of creative art as evidence in court.
Vetoed: Extended deadlines for the California Reparations Task Force.