2025 Legislation
SB 451 Gambling Control Act: Investigations and prosecutions
- SB 451 establishes a structured framework for investigating illegal unlicensed gambling by the Department of Justice, closing a major enforcement gap that currently allows illegal operators to thrive with little oversight. Following a report by the State Auditor in 2022, the Department of Justice has no longer been able to use Indian Gaming Special Distribution Funds to go after and investigate unlicensed gaming in California. This has coincided with increased levels of unlicensed gaming in Southern California, where we have illegal operations in both residential and commercial areas, fueling violent crime, drug activity, and financial fraud. The bill creates an Illegal Gambling Enforcement Fund financed through penalties and fines from illegal gambling prosecutions that will allow the State to once again be able to investigate and prosecute unlicensed gambling in California.
- SB 793 would prohibit a person from selling, or distributing a counterfeit or unsafe lighter that does not comply with specified ASTM International standards. China and other countries have imported counterfeit, unsafe pocket and utility lighters into the United States for decades. These unregulated items have led to thousands of injuries, millions of dollars in damages, and hundreds of deaths including children. More than 300 million imported lighters entered the U.S. in 2017. Lighters made to look like toys or firearms, marketed towards children, have caused accidental fires and harm and would be banned under this bill as well. This is a common sense public safety solution that will protect children and stop the sale of dangerous lighters in California.
SB 349 Parole: Blue Emergency Lights
- SB 349 will improve public and officer safety by authorizing parole officers to display blue emergency warning lights from their emergency vehicles after completing a training course. Without blue warning lights, other law enforcement and first responders are less likely to recognize, assist and support parole officers in the performance of their duties. This is especially important in cases where an officer is transporting someone who is suffering a medical emergency. When this happens, every second counts. Parole officers may also be called upon for assistance by other law enforcement during emergencies but cannot display blue warning lights to alert other officers on scene, creating unnecessary confusion for all and an unnecessary safety risk for the general public.
SB 537 Reform of Parole for 1st and 2nd Degree Murder Convictions
- Murderers sentenced to life terms should be appropriately supervised on parole with the option of returning them to CDCR custody if necessary to ensure public safety. The enactment of conflicting Parole reform efforts by California has led to unintended consequences in the administration of parole for inmates convicted of serious crimes like murder. As such, SB 537 restores lifetime parole and penalties for parole violations for those convicted of 1st and 2nd degree murder, which are critical steps to ensuring accountability and protecting public safety. Similar to sex offenders, this bill would exclude murderers from early parole termination and allow such parole violators to be returned to custody for violations of parole.
- SB 667 will increase public and operator safety in California’s heavy rail sector by requiring a railroad to operate a network of wayside detector systems on or adjacent to its tracks, limit the total length of trains originating in California, and require the that stationary trains blocking at-grade railroad crossings be cut, separated, or moved to allow passage of emergency vehicles. This measure addresses critical safety gaps in California's rail system by implementing targeted measures informed by recent derailments, industry operational changes, and evolving understanding of rail safety best practices.
SB 536 – Workers’ compensation insurance fraud reporting
- SB 536 is needed due to substantial underreporting or misreporting of payroll to insurers by dishonest employers, which directly impacts the competitiveness of honest businesses and California’s ability to collect taxes. Honest employers simply should not have to pay more than their fair share due to those engaging in premium fraud. This bill is designed to help EDD identify and prevent tax evasion by businesses who misrepresent their payroll data by allowing EDD to limitedly compare payroll data with Insurers to identify fraud. This builds off of a successful Pilot Program initiated by the State Fund in Coordination with EDD and would extend these fraud protections to the remaining 90% of California’s Insurance market.
SB 409 – Public Contracts: County-Owned Buildings
- SB 409 would raise, from $50,000 to $175,000, the force account limit for performing alterations or repairs on county-owned facilities. After more than 40 years, increasing the force account to reflect the normal costs of inflation will enhance counties’ capacity to maintain infrastructure effectively and will permit counties to expedite vital repairs and upgrades, ensuring county facilities remain operational and effective. The limit increase will help communities affected by natural disasters by avoiding bottlenecks related to contractor availability ensuring they can undertake the tens of millions of dollars in private and public recovery projects needed to get communities’ housing, public buildings, businesses, and other infrastructure built as quickly as possible. An increase in the force account limit enables the trades to focus on large revitalization and construction projects while public agencies can use their work force to do modest projects quickly and professionally.
SB 480 – Autonomous vehicles: Automated Driving System (ADS) Lamps
- SB 480 would authorize an autonomous vehicle to be equipped with automated driving system (ADS) marker lamps beginning on January 1, 2026. Authorizing vehicles with automated driving systems to be equipped with marker lamps will strengthen public safety and promote acceptance of automated driving systems by clearly communicating to pedestrians, law enforcement, and other road users when the systems are engaged.
SB 374 Pupil enrollment: Class size report.
- SB 374 seeks to reduce the amount of Annual reports school districts have to report each year. Currently, local educational agencies are required to annually produce 170 reports nearly equivalent to the statutorily required 180 instructional days in the school year. School district staff are spending an inordinate amount of time in the office gathering, compiling, drafting, formatting, and submitting reports that could otherwise be focused on the needs of our students. The sheer number of reports can be suffocating for school districts and detracts from their ability to meet the educational needs of students. This bill will help alleviate the administrative costs and burdens placed on school districts while maintaining accountability and providing cohesive relevant data to support better policy development and improved outcomes for our public education system.
SB 779 – Contractors: Civil Penalties
- SB 779 would increase enforcement fine “minimums” to be commensurate with recent statutory maximum increases for certain violations under the Contractors State Licensing Board. Administrative law judges (ALJs) frequently and significantly reduce fines during citation appeals, these reductions result in fines that do not adequately support Enforcement Division workload, do not provide an incentive to comply with the Contractors State License Law, and provide minimal ability for the Board to recuperate the cost of litigating an administrative citation.
SB 296: Property Tax Exemption
- This measure expands the disabled veteran’s exemption to allow a full property tax exemption for 100 percent disabled veterans. Veterans, like all Californians, are feeling the pressure of rising housing costs. SB 296 seeks to provide a helping hand with much needed tax relief for disabled veterans throughout the state. There are several states that waive property taxes for 100% disabled veterans, including Florida, Texas, Virginia, New Mexico, and Hawaii. As we look to the future, we must continue to ensure that we utilize every tool at our discretion to help keep veterans in their homes and in California. This disabled veterans’ exemption honors their bravery and commitment to our nation while also assisting those who are struggling with the high cost of living in California.
SCA 4/SB 623: Veteran Homeowner Exemption
- This bill would allow a Veteran that receives the veterans’ exemption or the disabled veterans’ exemption to also receive the homeowners’ exemption. The Civilian exemption is nearly twice the amount of the veteran's exemption and existing law does not permit a qualifying property owner to claim more than one exemption. Therefore, the number of veterans claiming this exemption is minimal, and the Board of Equalization notes that their most recent data indicate ZERO applications for this exemption. This exemption has become obsolete and is in need of reform. Veterans throughout the state deserve a homeowner exemption that provides families with a meaningful tax relief to help combat the cost of living in California.
- SB 759 was introduced in direct response to the shooting death of Officer Keith Boyer of the Whittier Police Department in 2017 by an individual on post-release. The community of Whittier continues to mourn the February 20, 2017 fatal shooting of Whittier Police Officer Keith Boyer and wounding Whittier Police Officer Patrick Hazell. It was the first killing of a police officer in nearly 40 years in the City of Whittier. Officer Boyer’s death not only impacted the City of Whittier but resonated with cities and towns across California, highlighting the need for effective management of post-release supervision. This bill provides enforcement and oversight for individuals on post release community supervision to ensure communities are safe from dangerous criminals.
SB 571: Firefighter/Law Enforcement Impersonators and Looting
- This bill would ensure accountability for those who take advantage of peoples’ pain and disarray during states of emergency resulting from natural disasters. It would guarantee those who loot and steal within an affected county during and within 180 days of the termination of an emergency order will serve a mandatory minimum of 180 days in county jails with no opportunity of a reduced sentence. Additionally, any person who seeks to take advantage of a community by impersonating a first responder will face up to a year in county jail and/or a fine of up to $20,000. People suffering through natural disaster have enough to deal with, no one should be preying on their pain.
2022 Legislation
I authored eight bills that Governor Newsom signed into law this past year to improve public safety, support our military veterans, and to make transportation safer for our communities and the environment:
SB 277 – Fireworks: dangerous fireworks: seizure: management: Provides the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s (CAL FIRE’s) Office of the State Fire Marshal (OSFM) the authority to manage – instead of only dispose of – illegal fireworks.
SB 950 – Vet Cal Fresh: Requires the State Department of Social Services to submit a request to the United States Department of Agriculture to exclude the basic allowance for housing for members of a uniformed service from countable income in the calculation of CalFresh eligibility.
SB 954 – Operating Engineers Database: Requires the Department of Industrial Relations to establish a database of electronic-Certified Payroll Records that is accessible to both multi-employer Taft-Hartley trust funds (29 U.S.C. Sec. 186(c)(5)) and joint labor-management committees established pursuant to the federal Labor Management Cooperation Act of 1978 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 175a).
SB 984 – CALANGUS – Military Leave: Allows state employees who are members of the National Guard to use military leave if called to active military duty and active emergency military duty for the first thirty calendar days of such active service.
SB 1076 – Lead Paint Conformity: Requires, among other things, the State Department of Public Health, to conform California’s program regulating lead-related construction work to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule.
SB 1111 – Best Safety Act: Requires a person or entity who sells or provides a trash receptacle or storage container that meets certain size criteria to mark the receptacle or container with a reflective marking on each side to improve nighttime visibility, enabling more reaction time and safer roads for drivers and cyclists at night.
SB 1291 – Hydrogen Permitting: Requires local governments to expand their existing administrative approval process for the permitting of zero-emission vehicle infrastructure to include hydrogen-fueling infrastructure and allows for denials of those permits based only on health or safety impacts.
SB 1428 – Board of Psychology Tech: Creates a new category of registered mental health professional, psychological testing technicians, to meet the growing need for psychological and neuropsychological services while protecting consumers and payers.
2021 Legislation
I am committed to improving the quality of life and public safety of all the communities in my district. I work on bills that deliver something for everyone: funding for organizations that support military veterans, a statewide study on hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle infrastructure to meet our zero emission targets, and safer protocols for waste haulers to reduce accidental fires that cause wildfires and contribute to climate change.
The seven bills I sent to the Governor’s desk in 2021 for his signature were:
SB 244 – Requires Cal Fire in consultation with relevant state agencies, the waste industry, and local governments to develop protocols for the proper management of the disposal of lithium-ion batteries, including safe handling, detection, and the suppression of fires originating from discarded lithium-ion batteries to follow to prevent fiery waste loads from lithium batteries that lead to wildfires.
SB 268 - Authorizes establishment of the Lower San Gabriel River Recreation and Park District and make changes to the initial board of directors for the Lower Los Angeles River Recreation and Park District.
SB 392 - Will improve accessibility to important documents and reduce delivery costs by requiring homeowner associations (HOAs) to communicate with homeowners via email, unless a resident chooses to receive communications via another method, such as traditional mail.
SB 484 – Protects consumers while allowing them to choose a licensed plumbing contractor to conduct a sewer lateral inspection and make any needed repairs, even if the plumber’s company has performed a home inspection on the same property.
SB 614 – Makes necessary revisions to ensure the CA Military Department Foundation (CMDF) can expend donated funds for Servicemembers and supports the CMDF in collaborating with like-minded organizations to ensure that Servicemember needs are met.
SB 643 – Requires the California Energy Commission, in consultation with the California Air Resources Board and the Public Utilities Commission, to prepare a statewide assessment of the fuel cell electric vehicle fueling infrastructure and fuel production needed to support the adoption of zero-emission trucks, buses, and off-road vehicles.
SB 800: Improves oversight of real estate and real estate appraiser professionals, while expediting applications for honorably discharged military service members and military spouses with qualifying education, training or credentialing experience.
As our communities strive to safely reopen and make the long-term planning that is necessary to operate efficiently, I will be there to support them in any way possible. I will be their partner and advocate by continuing to work on common sense legislation. Moreover, I will continue to deliver budget wins to support the immediate and long-term funding that our communities rightfully deserve.