AB 45 - Oakland Unified School District—Local Governance
Assemblymember Swanson’s first bill came at the request of hundreds of parents he met on the campaign trail.  AB45 seeks to end the stalemate with the State in returning local governing authority to the Oakland Unified School District, giving parents, teachers, and students back their voice in the educational decisions made by the District.

AB 395 —Child abduction
Sponsored by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, this bill would increase the penalties for custodial and non-custodial child abductions that continue for more than a year. Sentences for these crimes would increase to 2, 4, or 6 years to accurately reflect the severity of the crimes.

AB 407 —Probation Youth Success Act
This bill will support vocational and technical training, education and transition services to reduce recidivism among youth.  A pilot program  in selected county-operated probation camps and similar facilities will be administered by the Alameda County Office of Education and the Los Angeles county Office of Education. 

AB 499 —Sexually Exploited Minors (SEMs)
This bill will change the treatment of underage prostitutes from criminals to victims of sexual exploitation, and implement a pilot program to increase coordination between government, law enforcement and child advocates, thereby helping SEMS escape the cycle of abuse and exploitation.   

AB 501 —Pharmaceutical Devices
This bill will allow at-home patients who use injection devices to treat a variety of ailments, including diabetes, hepatitis, HIV, arthritis, allergies, or multiple sclerosis to safely and efficiently dispose of their used sharps.  It will provide patients with a returnable safe sharps disposal container, which can be taken or mailed to appropriate disposal sites. 

AB 503 —Overtime Notice for Public Agencies
This bill will help public employees balance their professional and personal lives by providing them with reasonable advance notice before requiring them to work overtime. 

AB 504 —Lockouts
Orders employers convicted of a crime involving fraud, misrepresentation, or misconduct in the execution of a lockout to make restitution to any employee who was locked out of any wages and benefits they would have otherwise received.

AB 508 —Food Stamp Eligibility
Current law punishes the children of parents convicted of drug offenders by excluding them from eligibility for food stamps.  The bill will allow parolees who had been incarcerated for drug related offenses to receive food stamp benefits and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits.  The bill will especially help women and single parents, who often have difficulty finding work immediately after release. 

 AB 516 —Health Care
This bill would require the Department of Health to prepare and submit to the Legislature a report on how to provide a comprehensive continuum of care that would improve the ability of uninsured citizens to connect to health care services.

AB 537 —Family and medical leave
Currently, many employees can take job-protected leave only to take care of immediate family.   AB 537 will expand the definition to allow an employee to take leave to care for grandparents, grandchildren, siblings, and independent adult children. The bill also clarifies existing law so that domestic partners, as well as their respective parents-in-law, are protected.

AB 579 —Military base recovery areas
AB 579 addresses a difficulty many existing local agency military base recovery areas (LAMBRAs) face in attracting new businesses. The bill will strengthen existing economic development plans so that LAMBRAs are in a better position to take the necessary steps in revitalizing their distressed communities.

AB 655 —Public contracts: Bond Acts of 2006.
This bill will allow contractors to receive between a 5 to 15 percent bid preference for contracts on projects that result from Infrastructure Bonds funding if they show a good faith effort to either hire at least 10 percent of their workforce from low-income areas or contract with small businesses in those areas. 

AB 1043 —Employment contracts.
This measure will protect California workers from employers attempting to settle employment disputes in out-of-state forums and under out-of-state laws in a state where that employee had never worked.

AB 1334 —Inmate and Community Public Health and Safety Act
This bill seeks to address the AIDS pandemic by allowing non-profit and public health agencies to provide sexual barrier devices to inmates, thereby reducing the chances of those inmates infecting their partners, wives, and girlfriends upon release.

AB 1496 —Temporary Workers
There are workers in the public sector who have worked at their jobs for many years, and yet are still classified as temporary workers.  This bill would amend existing county and city civil service systems to require that employees clearly performing long-term or permanent work must be properly classified as such.

AB 1708 —Age Discrimination
This bill would require the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to establish a targeted enforcement and education program to address issues of age discrimination in employment.

AB 1710 —Wages for Temporary Services Employees
This bill settles a long negotiation process between labor and the temporary staffing industry by defining the timeframe in which temporary workers must be paid.

AJR 11—In-Home Supportive Services
This measure would encourage the State to ensure that the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Plus Waiver is renewed and protected, preserving the continuum of care that thousands of aged, blind, and disabled Californians depend on every day to sustain their
independence and maintain their dignity.