Sacramento and San Bruno CA: Assemblyman Kevin Mullin Has 6 Bills Clear Suspense File

Speaker pro Tem Kevin Mullin Has Six Bills Clear the Assembly Appropriations Suspense File

Bills Address Social Equity, Elections and Voter Access and Transportation

Today, six bills introduced by Assemblymember Kevin Mullin cleared the Assembly Appropriations Committee and now move on to the Assembly Floor for consideration.

A major highlight was the approval of the Speaker Pro Tem’s AB 44, which would provide a state-funded, full manual recount option for any statewide office or ballot measure where the margin of victory is 0.015% or 1,000 votes, whichever is lower. This reform addresses the serious flaws exposed in the existing recount system during the June 2014 State Controller’s primary race.

“Recounts are rare and should be fair to everyone involved,” Mullin said. “Ensuring accurate election outcomes and maintaining the integrity of the ballot should be a priority for the state.”

Another elections bill, ACA 2, also passed out of committee. This bill would allow 17-year-olds to vote in a primary election if they will be 18 years of age by the general election. By involving them in the entire election cycle, this measure seeks to increase voter turnout and engage young voters in the elections process.

Three bills addressing Social equity issues were successful: AB 50 expands the scale of the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) and other evidence – based programs to Medi-Cal eligible recipients in California. Expanding the reach of evidence based public health like NFP programs will provide grants for voluntary nurse home visiting programs for expectant first-time mothers, their children, and their families.

AB 371, also known as the CalWORKs Family Unity Act of 2015, removes the deprivation requirement in CalWORKs that currently results in a denial of aid to two-parent families when parents are employed, regardless of whether or not their income and assets qualify them for aid.

AB 762 requires the Dept. of Social Services to adopt regulations by 2018 to implement an integrated license for day care centers serving children from birth to preschool-age, streamlining the administratively burdensome licensing process currently used by only 2 states in the nation.

Finally, AB 516 requires the Department of Motor vehicles to establish a mandatory temporary license plate system for new and used auto dealers to install “temp tags” at the point of sale. This will improve public safety and boost transportation funding by enabling law enforcement and toll operators to identify these vehicles should they break the law after they leave the lot.

All six measures will be heard on the Assembly Floor next week, prior to the June 5th legislative deadline to pass bills from their house of origin.

Four other bills did not pass off of the suspense file: AB 544 sought to conform the calculation of the California research credit to the federal methods of calculating the credit. It would have provided businesses conducting research in California with a simplified calculation option and reduce recordkeeping requirements.

AB 674 would have eliminated a barrier to the purchase and installation of clean, onsite energy generation by requiring customers to pay all applicable utility fees based only on the electricity they purchase from the grid, not on the electricity they would generate for themselves.

AB 1092 would have created a registry for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologists and required reporting of serious accidents involving MRI.

AB 45 was held in the Committee as a two-year bill. It requires local jurisdictions to divert a percentage of Household Hazardous Waste from landfills by 2020. Local jurisdictions that deploy convenient residential collection programs will be given more time to achieve the diversion objective. Assembly Member Mullin will continue to work this policy with industry and various stakeholders in the coming months and potentially amend the bill to pass out of the Committee at a later date.

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Kevin Mullin represents the 22nd Assembly District and is the Speaker pro Tempore of the California State Assembly. He chairs the Select Committee on Biotechnology and serves on the following committees: Budget, Budget Subcommittee #4 on State Administration, Business and Professions, Elections and Redistricting, Housing and Community Development and Revenue and Taxation. The 22nd district includes the cities of Belmont, Brisbane, Burlingame, Foster City, Hillsborough, Millbrae, Pacifica, Redwood City, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Mateo, portions of South San Francisco and the San Mateo County Coastside communities of Montara and Moss Beach.

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Robert Riechel

Senior Correspondent – San Bruno Patch

Photo Credit: San Bruno Patch Archives

Source Credit: CA Assemblyman Kevin Mullin

http://SanBrunoPatch.com

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