News

Friday, October 11, 2019
AB 1596 will also set standards on property cleanup procedures where the drug was used
 
Evan Symon, California Globe
 
Fentanyl became the second drug in California to have specialized decontaminate laws after Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1596 into law earlier this week.
 
AB 1596 revises the Methamphetamine Contaminated Property Act to the Methamphetamine or Fentanyl Contaminated Property Cleanup Act. Under the newly revised act, statewide cleanup standards will be created and enforced by health officers.
 
Before the addition of Fentanyl, only methamphetamine had been listed in California as a type of drug that would contaminate a property to such an extent that it made it unlivable for the next tenant until it was cleaned.
 
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Monday, October 7, 2019
Olivia Buccieri, The Daily Californian
 
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of 22 bills for California’s wildfire mitigation and preparedness efforts Wednesday, building on the $1 billion allocated for wildfire and emergency investment in the budget.
 
Multiple Assembly members and senators contributed individual bills related to wildfire intervention, ranging from fire prevention techniques to mitigating climate change through clean energy policies.
 
Lenya Quinn-Davidson, an area fire advisor for the UC Cooperative Extension, worked closely on AB 38 with Assemblymember Jim Wood’s office, D-Santa Rosa. AB 38 works to develop community-wide resilience through home-hardening techniques and defensible space development. Assemblymember Bill Quirk, D-Hayward, author of AB 1584, wrote about the relevance of climate change in enhancing wildfire risk.
 
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Thursday, October 3, 2019
I recommend a petnup.
 
Steven Petrow, New York Times
 
“I have some good news,” my divorce lawyer told me during our second consultation in her downtown Durham, N.C., office. Before divulging it, she asked a question: “Are you willing to pay $16,000 for Zoe?”
 
In our first meeting I’d explained to the lawyer, Milan Pham, that I didn’t really care about our “stuff.” “North Carolina state law is clear,” she told me. “Community property — property acquired during the marriage — is to be divided equally.” Anything Jim and I had owned separately before the marriage was still his and his.
 
But Zoe was not “stuff.”
 
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Tuesday, September 10, 2019
AB 733 directs Department of Toxic Substance Control to implement modern methods
 
Business Wire
 
SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The California Senate has shown unanimous support for Assembly Bill 733, authored by Assemblymember Bill Quirk. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and Social Compassion in Legislation are co-sponsoring the bill, which could save tens of thousands of fish every year.
 
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Friday, September 6, 2019
Laura Mohoney, Bloomberg 
 
A bill to ban California cities from giving a portion of their sales-tax revenue to companies like Apple Inc. and Best Buy Co., to entice them to locate in their boundaries, is on its way to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
 
S.B. 531 by Sen. Steve Glazer (D) passed the Assembly 43-16 Sept. 5, six days after members voted it down with a 35-21 vote. Eleven Democrats who didn’t cast votes Aug. 30 voted in favor on the second try. The bill passed the Senate in May.
 
“We want to prevent right now a race to the bottom where billions are given away to corporations when other cities are deprived of that revenue,” Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D) said as he presented the bill on the Assembly floor.
 
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Friday, August 30, 2019

California lawmakers rejected a bill to ban incentive deals like the one that has paid Apple Inc. $70 million in local sales taxes collected by its hometown of Cupertino, Calif. over the past two decades.

S.B. 531 by Sen. Steve Glazer (D) failed with a 35-21 vote on the Assembly floor Aug. 30. It needed a majority of 41 votes to pass and head to the desk of Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

The bill targets a practice among some cities to redirect a portion of local sales taxes they collect from consumers on e-commerce purchases to major companies that have distribution centers or headquarters in their boundaries. Cities would be allowed to keep existing deals in place, but would be barred from entering into new ones.

Assembly members granted reconsideration to the bill, meaning it could come up for a vote again before lawmakers adjourn for the year on Sept. 13.

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Wednesday, July 24, 2019
Steven Tavares, East Bay Express
 
A secret software program created by Ticketmaster to help buyers purchase large quantities of tickets to sporting events and concerts and then later re-sell them on the secondary market with huge mark-ups in price has caused an uproar in the ticket-selling industry ever since the practice was highlighted in an investigative report last year.
 
A bill introduced by Hayward Assemblyman Bill Quirk banning the use of software by ticket sellers in California was unanimously approved by the State Legislature two weeks ago and signed into law Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
 
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