Editor’s note: Sacramento Snapshot is a weekly series during the legislative session detailing what Orange County’s representatives in the Assembly and Senate are working on — from committee work to bill passages and more.
Bills from Democrats and Republicans in Sacramento – ideas about healthcare, homelessness, education, elections, the fentanyl crisis and more – cleared a major deadline on July 14, when legislators broke for a month-long summer break.
Some of the proposals would embed unique codes on semiautomatic pistols, go after the sale of fentanyl on social media, require the state’s largest public transit agencies to track safety issues and create an inventory of public restrooms.
Here’s a roundup of several bills still in the works to keep an eye on.
Education
Already on the governor’s desk is an effort from Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton, to provide foster youth the opportunity to return to schools to collect belongings and, when feasible, connect with teachers and classmates.
Because foster youth are more likely to change schools during an academic year, and even multiple times, the idea is to allow them to “move with dignity,” according to Quirk-Silva. The bill ensures they have the chance to collect belongings they might have stored in the school and say goodbye to friends and teachers, adding it to the foster youth bill of rights already in place.
Schools may have help stocking albuterol, a drug that can help someone suffering from an asthma attack, with legislation from Assemblymember Phillip Chen, R-Yorba Linda. His bill, which has received bipartisan support, gives schools the ability to access federal funds earmarked for stocking albuterol and encourages education departments to provide an emergency stock of the inhalers.
Another closely watched education bill is an effort from Sen. Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, to prevent school boards from firing their superintendents or assistant superintendents without…
Read the full article here
