Pasadena Assemblymember Chris Holden Sees 13 of His Bills Pass State Senate Committee

Friday, 13 of Assemblymember Chris Holden’s bills passed the Senate Committee on Appropriations. 

Some of the bills have provoked controversy.

The bills include: AB 41 –Telecommunications: The Digital Equity in Video Franchising Act of 2023:, AB 43  – Greenhouse gas emissions: building materials: credit trading platform and compliance system, AB 249 – Water: school sites: lead testing: conservation, AB 289 –Mental Health Services: youth representation, AB 262 – Children’s camps: regulation, AB 280 Segregated confinement, AB 299 – Hazing: educational institutions: civil liability, AB 304 – Domestic violence: probation, AB 323 – Planning and land use: parcels: changes in use, AB 610 – Youth Transit Pass Pilot Program: free youth transit passes, AB 647 – Grocery workers, AB 776 – Route 210, and AB 1244 – Private Security Services and Private Investigators: qualified managers.

“As we approach these final steps in the legislative process, I am thrilled to see my bills reach this step, as I know they will enhance the lives of so many constituents.  I am confident my bills will serve the direct and future needs and concerns of Californians,” Holden said.

AB 41 would build on the progress of AB 2748, introduced in 2022 to help bridge the digital divide by ensuring broadband-capable infrastructure is available to more Californians.

AB 43 would express the intent of the Legislature to enact an Embodied Carbon Trading System within the program created by AB 2446, or the Low Carbon Product Standard (LCPS), to facilitate a credit-trading platform for building materials.

AB 249 would require a community water system that serves a school site to test for lead in each of the school site’s potable water system outlets on or before January 1, 2027.  If the lead level exceeds five parts per billion (ppb), this bill requires the local educational agency (LEA) or school to take immediate steps to make it inoperable and shut down from use all fountains and faucets where the excess lead levels may exist, and ensures that a potable source of drinking water is provided for pupils.

AB 289 would include youth or youth mental health organizations in the list of stakeholder counties must confer with when developing their three-year expenditure plans under the Mental Health Services Act.

AB 262 would direct the Department of Social Services (DSS) to lead a stakeholder group to develop recommendations through a report to the Legislature on future regulations that would protect children while attending day and overnight camps.

AB 280 would allow California to join other states including New York and Colorado in ending solitary confinement for specific populations, and join the international community in recognizing that solitary confinement constitutes torture and put a limit on how long any individual can be held in isolation.

AB 299 would allow for civil action to be brought against an educational institution for an instance of hazing in which one or more students were involved if that educational institution knew or reasonably should have known of the dangerous hazing practices of an affiliated organization.

AB 304 would restructure the oversight of the rehabilitation process domestic violence offenders must undergo, in an effort to reduce recidivism and increase overall education within the system.

AB 323 would protect homeownership pathways for low-income families.

AB 610 would create the Youth Transit Pass Pilot Program to fund the development and implementation of fare free transit passes to California students. The bill also requires a report on the program’s outcomes, including whether the program increased transit ridership among student users, to be submitted to the Legislature.

AB 647 would prevent mass layoffs of trained and skilled grocery store and pharmacy workers and ensure a consistency in food safety and pharmaceutical knowledge among communities by strengthening statewide grocery worker retention and adopting grocery worker recall and rehiring laws.

AB 776 would rename Route 210 and require the California Department of Transportation, through the erection of highway signs, to identify locations of historical and cultural importance to the California tribes local to, or historically located along Route 210.

AB 1244 would require a qualified manager under the Private Investigator Act and the Private Security Services Act to hold a current and valid qualified manager’s certificate issued by the director, and would require the director to issue a qualified manager’s certificate to a person who meets the requirements of the act, as applicable. 

“My goal is always to service my community above all else. I believe these bills exemplify my due diligence in achieving that goal, by creating solutions to solve key issues, developing roadmaps for new innovations and improved functionality, and generating a pathway for equal opportunity.  I will continue to work with my colleagues in the Legislature and Governor Newsom to fully implement these measures,” Holden said.