Key Legislation Moving Closer to Governor’s Desk

This has been a very interesting year in the California Legislature. Our work began in January with a massive budget deficit and the introduction of hundreds of bills. Over the course of the year, we’ve worked to balance the budget while protecting school funding and critical programs, and we’ve refined legislation on topics big and small as bills have worked their way through both houses. Many of these bills will have an outsized effect on California’s future. Several of them are mine.

At the top of every Californian’s mind is housing. Millions of Californians grapple with housing affordability and, in markets like our region, the problem is even more pronounced. While we certainly need to expand our housing stock by building, there are other steps we can take to help residents, especially tenants in our rental market.

Most of us have at some point in our lives been renters. If you’ve been a renter, you probably also know the frustration of seeing your deposit docked upon moving out for various cleaning fees, even when the unit was restored to its original state. Deposits in the rental market can be a significant hurdle and many renters depend on a refund of the deposit in order to move into their next home. This year I have a bill, AB 2801, that will ensure tenants receive their deposits back with transparency on any fees charged by a landlord.

What most people do not realize is that the law says so long as your apartment is as clean as it was upon move in, with no damage besides the expected wear and tear, your deposit should be returned to you in full. We all know that is rarely the case. AB 2801 will ensure that your deposit is returned in full or your landlord must show you photographic proof of why your deposit was withheld. My office worked with the California Apartment Association on the bill to add needed guidance and clarity to apartment owners to ensure that their rights are protected as well.

Over the course of my years in the Legislature, I have been a dedicated to strengthening environmental protections in California. This year, I have two bills that will make massive differences in the environmental landscape.

AB 2875 will reinstate key protections for our wetlands. Wetlands are valuable for water quality improvement, plant and wildlife habitat, flood protection, groundwater recharge, shoreline erosion control, recreation and aesthetics. When the United States Supreme Court stripped more than half of U.S. wetlands of federal protections last year, it left our ecosystem vulnerable to catastrophic threats. AB 2875 will restore protections to those wetlands here in California.

The second bill is focused on one of the biggest dangers to our biodiversity and environment today: the casual poisons that enter our food chain, kill our wildlife and sometimes even our pets and humans. Among the worst of those are first generation anticoagulant rodenticides. When you see pictures of mountain lions, coyotes and even cats and dogs with mange, it’s an indicator that they’ve been poisoned with rodenticides, specifically first generation anticoagulant rat poisons that function by causing them to bleed internally and die.

While rodents can be managed through less invasive and toxic means, there are also safer rodenticides than the decades-old anticoagulants that were created before we understood their long-term environmental impacts. My bill, AB 2552, will finally end the sale of those first generation anticoagulant poisons. AB 2552 comes with teeth, allowing the attorney general and other governmental entities to impose financial consequences on those violating the law.

On the criminal justice front, I have a bill to bring justice to college students who have been the victims of sexual assault or harassment. We’ve all seen the headlines and read the stories about college professors and staff that commit sexual assault or harass students, resign from their positions only to simply to be hired at another university. As a result, campuses simply pass the abuser, placing more students and staff at risk. Because existing background checks at our colleges and universities only look for criminal convictions, they do not find the substantiated cases of sexual assault or harassment that were adjudicated at the last place of employment. My bill, AB 810, will require colleges and universities to perform due diligence checks and inquire about adjudicated cases of sexual assault and harassment that occurred at the previous place of employment.

On the local Los Angeles front, I have two bills designed to bring financial assistance to the County of Los Angeles. AB 761 is expected to bring in $22 billion that will allow LA Metro to fund the completion of the Northern K Line Extension. AB 930 will provide California’s communities with financing options to refurbish languishing downtown areas that were once flourishing business centers. The bill allows cities to access funds needed to convert empty office spaces into housing and to build transportation that will better connect homes and jobs.

There are also several other revolutionary bills winding their way through the Legislature. Of particular note for our entertainment industry are the artificial intelligence (AI) bills including AB 2602, which I’m proud to jointly author with Assemblymembers Kalra and Bryan. AI systems are trained by scraping large amounts of data, data currently provided by working, paid artists. You may recall that this was a central piece of the writers’ and actors’ strikes last year. If AI can replicate a performer’s work or likeness, will the industry rely upon replicas instead? AB 2602 allows technology to evolve but ensures that performers provide informed consent and have proper representation when executing a contract for any transfer of rights of that individual’s likeness or voice.

At the end of August, the Legislature will adjourn and I’ll be wrapping up my time in the Assembly. It’s been an honor to serve as your representative for the past eight years, and I look forward to sharing an overview of our success in the months ahead. In the meantime, I’d like to hear your thoughts on our budget, legislation or any general comments or concerns. You can reach my District Office at (818) 558-3043, or by email at: Assemblymember.Friedman@Assembly.ca.gov.