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Where are we? We are nearing the end of the second year in a 2-year legislative session. Several deadlines have come and gone leaving us with just a few more before the end of this session. The upcoming deadlines include:
06/29/2018 Last day for policy committees to hear and report fiscal bills to fiscal committees
07/06/2018 Last day for policy committees to meet and report bills
08/17/2018 Last day for fiscal committees to meet and report bills
08/20/2018 8/20/2018 – 08/31/2018 Floor session only. No committees may meet for any purpose
08/24/2018 Last day to amend on the floor
08/31/2018 Last day for each house to pass bills
A recent notable deadline was June 2nd which was the last day for bills to be passed out of their house of origin and just a few days before that (May 26th) was the last day for any bill that had a cost to it be heard in the respective appropriations committee. Hundreds of bills go into the Appropriation Committee and not so many make it out. A saying I have heard quite often over the years is that the Appropriations Committee is where good bills go to die. Unfortunately, I have not just heard that but also experienced it this year with one of our sponsor bills AB 2359 Sexual Assault: Crimes Against People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. This bill would have allocated $2.6 million for a pilot project that would have allowed up to eleven counties to apply for a grant dedicated to developing or strengthening vertical prosecution in cases that involved sex crimes against people with I/DD.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Assembly Member Brian Maienschein for championing this bill and being such a great advocate for people with I/DD, especially in the realm access to justice. We are not giving up, we will continue to advocate for developing and strengthening vertical prosecution in these cases. To read more about the importance of vertical prosecution click here.
There are still several other bills that we are working on that have made it to this point, some of which include:
SB 1376 (Hill) Transportation Network Companies: Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities
AB 1914 (Flora) Presence at Health Care Facilities: Conviction of Crimes
SB 1191 (Hueso) Crimes: Elder and Dependent Adult Abuse: Investigations
SB 1320 (Stern) Elder or Dependent Adult Abuse: Victim Confidentiality
SB 1464 (Wiener) Medi-Cal: Benefits: Enrollees with Special Dental Care Needs
AB 2171 (Frazier) Individuals with Disabilities: Special Education and Related Services
AB 2657 (Weber) Pupil Discipline: Restraints and Seclusion
AB 2704 (O’Donnell) Special Education Programs: Family Empowerment Centers
This is just a brief sample of some of the bills that have made it to this point as there are many others that we are working on. We are hopeful that they all make it to the Governor’s office and get signed increasing a variety of protections, programs and services aimed for the benefit of people with I/DD and their families. More updates to come as the legislative session moves through the process!
Teresa Anderson, Policy Director, The Arc & UCP California Collaboration