SACRAMENTO – Today, the Legislature met a key deadline for bills tagged with a fiscal cost. As usual, there were winners and losers. Assemblymember Diane Dixon provided the following statement:
“I am greatly disappointed that Senate Bill 94 passed out of committee today. SB 94 was introduced to allow certain inmates (the worst of the worst) serving life without the possibility of parole to be resentenced by the courts. Combined with the new “elder parole” rules, SB 94 would allow for the release of many of these inmates who are over 50 years old and have served only 25 years in custody. I strongly urge my colleagues to protect our communities from violent criminals and vote down this bill on the Assembly Floor.”
“In better news, I am delighted that Senate Bill 14 passed out of Committee today. SB 14 would make human trafficking of a minor a serious felony in California. We rank as the number one state in the United States for human trafficking cases, with more than 1,300 identified in 2021. Additionally, California is ranked number one in the nation when it comes to victims. We need policies like SB 14 to become law in California in order to change these statistics. Let’s get it signed!”
A bill’s next hurdle, after leaving the Assembly Appropriations Committee, is a vote on the Assembly Floor. The Legislature will vote on hundreds of bills in the next two weeks before the end-of-Session deadline. If bills receive enough votes necessary to pass, they will head to the Governor’s desk for a signature. The Governor can sign a bill into law, veto a bill preventing it from becoming law, or choose to take no action – in which case it will become law without his signature.