May 11, 2015
Anti-life bills set for key votes
By Lori Arnold
Research Analyst
Just one day after Americans celebrated the high calling of
motherhood, Sacramento legislators may vote to assault it.
The California State Assembly is poised to penalize nonprofit
Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRCs) for their dedicated work in
supporting women with unplanned pregnancies. Assembly Bill (AB)
775 (Chiu D-San Francisco) would force PRCs to promote and refer clients to abortion clinics. After passing through two committees,
and some last-minute shenanigans to avert a third one, the full chamber could take a final floor vote any time after AB 775 passed its
second reading this morning. So, once again, we desperately need your help.
Please take a moment NOW to call your Assembly Member and ask them to either vote no (or abstain from voting) on AB
775. You can find background information, including talking points, which California Family Alliance prepared for a previous hearing
here.
In addition, you can find a compelling article on the issue by Jay Hobbs. Writing on LifeSite News, Hobbs reminds readers that
“No woman has ever died in a pregnancy help organization.”
You can contact your legislator through this link. To find out who your representative is, click here.
Unfortunately, AB 775 was not the only dangerous anti-life bill scheduled for a vote today. The Senate Appropriations Committee
was also scheduled to hear Senate Bill (SB) 128 (Wolk-Vacaville) this morning but it was moved to the suspense file, which means it
will likely be revised after the budget picture becomes clearer. Wolk’s legislation would legalize assisted suicide, placing the poor,
elderly, disabled, depressed, and terminally ill at risk. Despite purported safeguards, patients would face undue pressure to end their
lives rather than continue with medical treatments or palliative health care—an option that is anything but dignified.
Please join us in prayer that both of these egregious bills would be stopped before more lives are put in danger.
Legislative actions: Week of May 4
AB 431 (Gray D-Merced) Gambling: Internet poker.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Passed Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, as amended, 20-0
Assembly second reading, amended, re-referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee
AB 775 (Chiu D-San Francisco) Reproductive FACT Act.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Passed Assembly Health Committee, as amended, 12-5
Passed Assembly Judiciary Committee, 7-3
Withdrawn from Assembly Appropriations Committee
Ordered to Assembly second reading
AB 827 (O’Donnell D-Long Beach) Teachers: in-service training: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning pupil
resources.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Passed Assembly Education Committee, 6-1
Assembly second reading, amended, re-referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee
AB 1051 (Maienschein R-San Diego) Human trafficking.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Passed Assembly Public Safety Committee, as amended, 6-1
Assembly second reading, amended, re-referred to Assembly Appropriations Committee
SB 703 (Leno D-San Francisco) Public contracts: prohibitions: discrimination.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Passed Senate Governmental Organization Committee, 7-3
Passed Senate Judiciary Committee, 5-1
Senate Appropriations Committee, to suspense file
Scheduled floor action: week of May 11
Monday, May 11
AB 775 (Chiu D-San Francisco) Reproductive FACT Act.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Summary: Billed as the Reproductive FACT (Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency) Act, the bill
requires pregnancy care clinics to post a notice in at least 22-point type stating “California has public programs that provide
immediate free or low-cost access to comprehensive family planning services, prenatal care, and abortion, for eligible women.”
The bill would also require pregnancy care centers that provide counseling but not medical care to post a “scare notice” in at least
48-point type stating, among other things, that the facility “is not licensed as a medical facility by the State of California.” In
addition, both types of Pregnancy Care Centers would be forced to make the statements available in all advertising.
Failure to comply carries a $500 fine for first offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense. The bill authorizes the Attorney
General, city attorney, or county counsel to impose the civil fines.
Passed Assembly Health Committee, as amended, 12-5
Passed Assembly Judiciary Committee, 7-3
Withdrawn from Assembly Appropriations Committee
Ordered to Assembly second reading
Scheduled committee hearings: week of May 11
Monday, May 11
SB 128 (Wolk-Vacaville) End of life.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Summary: This bill would enact the End of Life Option Act authorizing an adult who meets certain qualifications, and who has
been determined by his or her attending physician to be suffering from a terminal illness, as defined, to make a request for
medication prescribed pursuant to these provisions for the purpose of ending his or her life. The bill would establish the procedures
for making these requests. The bill would also establish the forms to request aid-in-dying medication and under specified
circumstances an interpreter declaration to be signed subject to penalty of perjury, thereby imposing a crime and state-mandated
local program.
Passed Senate Health Committee, 6-2
Passed Senate Judiciary Committee, as amended, 5-2
Senate Appropriations Committee
SB 305 (Bates D-Carlsbad) Enhancements: concentrated cannabis.
CFA’s Assessment: Support
Summary: This bill adds concentrated cannabis to a list of crimes in which additional enhancement sentences can be applied if a
child under the age of 16 is in a home where a person manufactures, compounds, converts, produces, derives, processes, or
prepares a controlled substance. It also applies to the possession of specified chemicals with the intent to manufacture a
controlled substance.
Passed Senate Public Safety Committee, as amended, 6-0
Senate Appropriations Committee
SB 731 (Leno D-San Francisco) Foster children: housing: gender identity.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Summary: This bill would eliminate existing law that prohibits children of the opposite sex from sharing a bedroom in out-of-home
facilities unless each child is under five years of age. Instead, foster children and nonminor dependents in out-of-home-care would
be required to be placed according to their gender identity, regardless of the gender or sex listed in their court or child welfare
records.
In addition to existing anti-discrimination protections, this bill would also specify that all minors and nonminors in foster care have
the right to be placed in out-of home care according to their gender identity, regardless of the gender or sex listed in their court or
child welfare records.
Passed Senate Human Services Committee, 3-0
Passed Senate Judiciary Committee, 5-1
Senate Appropriations Committee
Scheduled floor votes: week of May 11
Tuesday, May 13
AB 827 (O’Donnell D-Long Beach) Teachers: in-service training: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning pupil
resources.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Summary: Existing law establishes the system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state and provides for the
establishment of local educational agencies to operate these schools and provide instruction to pupils. Existing law states the
policy of the State of California to afford all persons in public schools, regardless of their disability, gender, gender identity, gender
expression, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or any other specified characteristic, equal rights and
opportunities in the educational institutions of the state.
This bill would require each school operated by a school district or county office of education and each charter school to provide inservice training every school year to teachers of pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, on schoolsite and community resources for the
support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning pupils, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local
educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Passed Assembly Education Committee, 6-1
Assembly second reading, amended,
Assembly Appropriations Committee
AB 865 (Alejo D-Salinas) State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission: grants and loans:
diversity.
CFA’s Assessment: Oppose
Summary: This bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to require that each
recipient of a grant or loan, as a condition for the receipt of that grant or loan, annually submit a detailed and verifiable plan for
increasing procurement from women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises, as defined, in all categories,
including, but not limited to, renewable energy, advanced technologies, and demonstration projects, and furnish an annual report
regarding the implementation of programs established pursuant to this requirement.
Passed Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee, as amended, 10-3
Passed Assembly Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy Committee, as amended, 6-1
Assembly Appropriations Committee
Scheduled committee votes: week of May 18
Monday, May 18
AB 1371 (Lackey R- Palmdale) Personal income taxes: deduction: education expenses.
CFA’s Assessment: Support The bill is similar to one introduced last year by Assemblywoman Kristin Olsen. Despite offering
parents a much-needed tax break for education expenses, Olsen’s billed died in committee.
Summary: The Personal Income Tax Law allows various deductions in computing income that is subject to tax under that law.
This bill, for taxable years on or after January 1, 2016, and before January 1, 2021, would allow a deduction from adjusted gross
income, not to exceed $2,500, for the cost of education-related expenses of the taxpayer's dependent child or children attending
public or private school, as specified.
This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Assembly Revenue and Tax Committee, amended