This is just a sampling of the laws that will make us poorer, make us haters, and destroy what is left of government education. It promotes high taxes and cost of living—forcing more middle class to leave the State for economic survival. Sadly, the 2022 legislative session will be even worse.
“Criminal justice: California continues to roll back its tough approach to imprisonment of decades past. Wiener’s SB73 ends mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug crimes, giving judges discretion to hand down probation instead of jail time for offenses such as possessing a small amount of heroin for sale and manufacturing methamphetamine. Skinner’s SB81 directs judges considering sentencing enhancements to give greater weight to mitigating factors, such as whether the offense was connected to mental illness or childhood trauma and whether the enhancement is based on a prior conviction that is more than five years old.
But the state is also cracking down on sex crimes. AB1171 by Assembly Member Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens (Los Angeles County), eliminates criminal code that treats “spousal rape” differently from rape, making prison time and sex offender registration mandatory in those cases. Garcia’s AB453 criminalizes the nonconsensual removal of condoms during intercourse, known as “stealthing.”
Elections have consequences—it is time to prepare our candidates and the community to return California to an honest, responsible and safe State. To do less will equal to a larger, quicker flood of people out of the State for physical and economic survival.
Here are 22 new laws Californians must start following in 2022
Alexei Koseff, SF Chronicle, 12/6/21
Empty bottles for takeout cocktails line the bar at North Light restaurant in Oakland on Aug. 14, 2020. Sen. Bill Dodd’s SB389 allows restaurants to keep selling takeout mixed drinks and glasses of wine through the end of 2026.
Even as state lawmakers scaled back their agendas to accommodate another session upended by the coronavirus pandemic, the California Legislature passed hundreds of bills, big and small, this year. Many of them take effect on Jan. 1, changing the rules on everything from how we vote to whether you can order a margarita with your Mexican takeout. Here are 22 new laws coming to California in 2022:
Housing: Will the California suburbs ever be the same? After several years of battles over single-family zoning and housing density, legislators passed SB9 by Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, which creates a streamlined process to split lots, add second units to the properties and convert homes into duplexes. Experts estimate it could help add hundreds of thousands of homes across the state by allowing up to four units on some properties that had just one before, though some cities have already rushed to limit its impact on their communities.
Another new measure to build out existing neighborhoods, SB10 by Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, was targeted with a lawsuit almost as soon as it was signed. It allow cities to rezone some parcels in urban areas, including those near public transit, for up to 10 units without going through extensive environmental reviews. Wiener’s SB487 also tries to address California’s housing shortage by loosening regulations that limit square footage for a project based on lot size, which could clear the way for more small apartment buildings.
Policing: The guilty verdict in the George Floyd murder trial reinvigorated debate over over how to transform law enforcement practices, with California adopting wide-ranging changes to its hiring and use-of-force standards.
AB89 by Assembly Member Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, raises the minimum age for new officers to 21 and directs the community college system to develop a mandatory policing curriculum. Police could be fired for participating in a “law enforcement gang,” a group of officers within a department that engage in a pattern of rogue on-duty behavior, under AB958 by Assembly Member Mike Gipson, D-Carson (Los Angeles County).
AB481 by Assembly Member David Chiu, D-San Francisco, requires law enforcement agencies to seek approval from their local governing bodies when they buy surplus military equipment, while AB26, by Assembly Member Chris Holden, D-Pasadena, instructs them to adopt policies that mandate immediate reporting when an officer witnesses a colleague using excessive force and punishes those who do not intervene.
Police can no longer use restraints and transport methods that carry a substantial risk of suffocating the suspect under Gipson’s AB490, and AB48 by Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, prohibits them from firing rubber bullets or tear gas at a protest unless it is a life-threatening situation.
More types of personnel records will be subject to public disclosure under SB16, by Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, including those related to excessive use of force and sustained findings of failure to intervene, unlawful arrests and searches, and discrimination.
But the most significant measure, establishing a decertification process to strip officers of their badges for professional misconduct, will not take effect for another year.
Criminal justice: California continues to roll back its tough approach to imprisonment of decades past. Wiener’s SB73 ends mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug crimes, giving judges discretion to hand down probation instead of jail time for offenses such as possessing a small amount of heroin for sale and manufacturing methamphetamine. Skinner’s SB81 directs judges considering sentencing enhancements to give greater weight to mitigating factors, such as whether the offense was connected to mental illness or childhood trauma and whether the enhancement is based on a prior conviction that is more than five years old.
But the state is also cracking down on sex crimes. AB1171 by Assembly Member Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens (Los Angeles County), eliminates criminal code that treats “spousal rape” differently from rape, making prison time and sex offender registration mandatory in those cases. Garcia’s AB453 criminalizes the nonconsensual removal of condoms during intercourse, known as “stealthing.”
Politics
Environment: As the wildfire season gets longer and more destructive, California is encouraging prescribed burns to clear overgrowth and create buffers between wildlands and communities. SB332 by Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, could enable more private controlled fires by reducing the legal liability for burn bosses when a fire escapes control lines and requires an emergency response.
Building on earlier restrictions for plastic straws, AB1276 by Assembly Member Wendy Carrillo, D-Los Angeles, prohibits dine-in restaurants, drive-thrus and food-delivery platforms from handing out single-use utensils and condiment packets unless the customer asks.
Employment: After the pandemic overwhelmed California’s unemployment insurance system — leading to endless wait times for benefits and potentially tens of billions of dollars in fraudulent claims — lawmakers passed a suite of measures to overhaul it. Those include AB397 by Assembly Member Chad Mayes, I-Yucca Valley (San Bernardino County), which requires the Employment Development Department to provide advance notice if it plans to reject a claim and give the person a chance to correct any mistakes on their application before they are disqualified from eligibility.
The state is wading into the Amazon labor wars with AB701 by Gonzalez, which clamps down on warehouse productivity quotas that critics say jeopardize health and safety. The law requires companies to disclose their quotas, prohibits them from punishing workers who take bathroom breaks or mandatory rest periods, and create legal paths for employees to challenge working conditions.
… and the rest: Elections officials will mail every active registered voter in California a ballot for all future elections under AB37 by Assembly Member Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, permanently extending a pandemic safety measure.
Another feature of pandemic life that’s not going away: cocktails to-go. Dodd’s SB389 allows restaurants to keep selling takeout mixed drinks and glasses of wine through the end of 2026.
California is streamlining its assisted death process, making it easier for terminally ill patients to obtain a lethal prescription and end their lives on their own terms. SB380 by Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman, D-Stockton, shortens a mandatory 15 days that patients must wait between making two separate requests for the life-ending drugs to just 48 hours. Many patients have died before they were able to complete the process because they became too sick to continue.
Echoing similar steps at the federal level, AB1096 by Assembly Member Luz Rivas, D-North Hollywood (Los Angeles County), strikes the word “alien” from state law and replaces it with alternatives like “person who is not a citizen.” Considered by some to be an offensive and dehumanizing term for immigrants, alien was previously removed from California’s labor and education codes in 2015 and 2016.
