Posted on 08/15/2004 10:40:43 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO (AP) - The end-of-session rush will hit the California Legislature this week as lawmakers try to finish work on hundreds of bills before the end of the month. The deadline to pass most bills is Aug. 31, and both houses have floor sessions scheduled every day through Friday.
Among the measures that could be voted on this week are bills that would:
- Ban smoking on state beaches unless the local government with jurisdiction over the beach wanted to allow it.
- Allow pharmacies to sell hypodermic needles without a doctor's prescription, a step supporters say would help stem the spread of AIDS.
- Require health insurance plans to cover maternity services and domestic partners.
- Remove restrictions on news reporters interviewing prison inmates.
- Make it tougher for Californians who buy cars, boats or airplanes out of state to avoid sales taxes.
- Bar homeowner associations from foreclosing on a members' homes when they fail to pay assessments of less than $2,500.
- Bar public schools from using Redskins as a name for athletic teams and give Indian sacred sites greater protections against development.
- Raise financial penalties for employers who violate equal pay requirements for women.
- Require businesses to give consumers at least 30 days to file for rebates.
- Limit the ability of schools to test students for drug use.
On Wednesday, the Senate Rules Committee will consider Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointment of William Gausewitz, a former assistant vice president of the American Insurance Association, as director of the Office of Administrative Law.
The OAL rules on whether proposed state regulations are legal, and Gausewitz's impartiality has been questioned by consumer advocates.
Also this week, the 3rd District Court of Appeals on Monday will consider Ward Connerly's attempt to rid himself of a lawsuit filed by the state Fair Political Commission. The suit accuses Connerly and his American Civil Rights Coalition of violating campaign disclosure laws by not revealing the source of nearly $2 million in contributions to support last year's Proposition 54, which would have barred state and local governments from collecting racial statistics in a wide range of programs.
Require health insurance plans to cover maternity services and domestic partners... Insurance prices going up again... those mandates do it every time.
How will that be enforced? Sounds impossible. Maybe it would encourage people to leave the state too.
So this is meaningless. How much time did they spend on this thing? A bill that does absolutely nothing.
It's what the DemonicRats do best, pass meaningless Bills.
Results in meaningless laws..
Says it all!
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