Appropriations apocalypse hits California Legislature

Forget floor votes and the governor's pen -- the road by which bills become law travels first through Appropriations. And with today being the final day for bills to get out of fiscal committees, we'll know by the close of business which bills march on to the next step and which ones will expire or be left to shrivel on suspense file. Some of the more significant legislation whose fate will be revealed:

Senate
-A bill that would hike California's minimum wage
-Several different gun control bills
-A bill to grant drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants
-A bill altering which agency oversees the state's drinking water fund
-This year's loudly trumpeted attempt at a so-called "Domestic Workers Bill of Rights"
-A bill tweaking CalWORKS rules to allow women who get pregnant while on welfare to claim benefits for the child
-A bill nixing the use of lead bullets
-A bill creating a new program allowing medical translators to gain union representation
-A bill expanding the time frame in which the families of fallen cops and firefighters can claim compensation


Assembly
-A bill restricting nonprofit campaign activity that has unified counties and cities in opposition
-A bill expanding what nurse practitioners can do and a scope-of-practice bill affecting pharmacists.
-A bill punishing cities whose charters exempt them from prevailing wage requirements
-Even more in this year's raft of gun control bills
-A bill to regulate hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking"
-An earthquake warning system bill
-Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg's CEQA bill
-A bill restricting the use of solitary confinement for juveniles
-A bill cracking down on parolees who remove their tracking devices

VIDEO: The Legislature reaches an important milestone today, Dan Walters says.

COVERED CALIFORNIA: A day after California's coming-soon health insurance marketplace revealed its advertising campaign, Covered California executive director Peter V. Lee will hold a town hall on what to expect. At Sacramento City college, starting at 2 p.m.

BIRTHING DAY: Well, this adds some meaning to the term "Labor Day." On Monday, people affiliated with the organization ImprovingBirth.org will be rallying at the State Capitol building to advocate for fewer Cesarean section births. Starting at 10 a.m. on the west steps.

Via: The Sacramento Bee

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