Monday, December 5 was a big day at the State Capitol.

The Assembly speakership change was also made official: The Assembly approved a resolution formalizing a leadership transition plan already agreed to by Democratic members last month: Assemblymember Rendon will remain speaker through June 30, 2023, at which point Assemblymember Robert Rivas of Hollister will take over. Republican Sen. Brian Jones of Santee will replace Scott Wilk of Santa Clarita as leader of the Senate Republican Caucus.

Lawmakers introduced a torrent of new bills. Key proposals include:

• The latest attempt to allow legislative workers to unionize authored by Democratic Assemblymember Tina McKinnor of Inglewood.
• The latest attempt to impose new excise taxes on guns and ammunition, authored by Democratic Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel of Woodland Hills.
• A bill to specify a timeline for schools to implement LGBTQ+ cultural competency teacher training under development by the state education department, authored by new Democratic Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur of West Hollywood.
• A bill to push California closer to its goal of offering debt-free college by allowing income-eligible UC and CSU students to receive expanded financial aid awards to help cover such non-tuition costs as housing, books, food and transportation — authored by Democratic Assemblymembers Kevin McCarty of Sacramento and Sabrina Cervantes of Riverside.
• Assembly Republicans unveiled a package of bills called the “California Promise,” which call for suspending the state gas tax, offering property tax bonuses to local governments that approve more housing, banning homeless encampments near schools, increasing penalties for fentanyl dealers, giving working families a tax credit and expanding the renters’ tax credit, promoting transparency in school curriculum, and expediting environmental review for water storage projects, among other things.

The Legislature will reconvene the first week in January.
 

California League Of Food Producers