AB 1944 —Physicians and Surgeon Hiring by Health Care Districts
AB 1944 will authorize all California Health Care Districts to directly hire and employ physicians.  These districts are the only public healthcare providers in California prohibited from directly hiring these kinds of employees.  The bill will also protect patients and physicians rights by prohibiting Districts from interfering in medical decisions.

AB 1958 —DMV Public Record Protections
This bill will protect Veterinarians, Firefighters and Code Enforcement Officers and their families from criminal retribution for carrying out their duties by requiring the California Department of Motor Vehicles to keep the home addresses of these public safety employees and their family members confidential. 

AB 1961 —Clean Slate Act
Despite having paid their debt to society, a conviction is often treated as a black mark during the hiring process, making it far more likely that an otherwise qualified paroled applicant will not be hired. 

This bill would allow an individual to expunge a conviction for a nonviolent drug offense that carried a term of imprisonment in state prison if the person successfully completed parole, provided they have never been convicted of a serious or violent felony or sex offense.

AB 1965 —Compassionate Release Act
This bill would require the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to identify and institute summary parole for prisoners convicted of non-violent, non-serious offenses who are over 55, suffer from a chronic illness, pass a risk-assessment analysis, and can prove access to health benefits after release.

AB 1980 — Peralta College Transportation Accessibility Act
Many students in the Peralta Community College District depend on public transit to get from work to class to home.  This bill will allow students to approve a low fee on the entire student body to fund low-cost bus passes that could save students up to $1,300 per year.

AB 1984 —Public health: HIV/AIDS Testing
Prisoners returning to their community often do not know that they are infected with HIV/AIDS.  AB1984 will address this public health hazard by making voluntary testing available at each prison site, and make medical records available to former prisoners. This will enable them to get the care they need, keeping them and their families safe.

AB 1988 —Employee Safety Violations.
This measure would improve the operation of the California OSHA Appeals Board to ensure that it is upholding its charge to protect California workers.

AB 1989 —Mass Layoff Notification
This bill would improve advance notification and workforce services to California workers who are losing their jobs as a result of the struggling economy.  AB 1989 extends the layoff notice requirement from 60 to 90 days.  The bill also requires the Labor and Workforce Development Agency (Labor Agency) to establish an Office of Rapid Response and Layoff Aversion.

AB 1996 —Transitional Assistance for Re-Entry Programs
AB 1996 revises and continues the reform initiative Assemblymember Swanson began with AB 508.  The bill will allow parolees who have  been incarcerated for drug related offenses to receive food stamp and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits.  Eligible individuals must be enrolled in and/or have completed a drug rehabilitation program, either before or after finishing their sentence.

AB 2001 —Whistleblower Hotlines for Local Government Employees
This bill encourages and supports good government by filling an important gap in whistleblower protection.  It authorizes cities and counties to create and maintain whistleblower hotlines, giving employees a confidential avenue to report possible misuses of government resources. 

AB 2008 — Oakland Unified School District Financial Solvency Protection Act
Oakland Unified is struggling to repay a $100 million loan from the State.  New charter schools put further strain on the district’s finances, while drawing away funds for students in the District’s public schools.  AB 2008 protects the fiscal health of the Oakland Unified School District by preventing the State Administrator and any other government authority from approving a Charter within the District’s boundaries until the District has completely paid off its loan from the State, and the School Board has reassumed full governing authority.

AB 2134 —Military Family Leave
This bill conforms California state law to the recently passed Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to support military families.

FMLA provides up to 26 weeks of leave for family members caring for military veterans who are injured while on active duty in the United States Armed Forces.  It permit a spouse, son, daughter, parent or next of kin to take the leave.  The Federal Bill also allows family members to take up to 12 weeks of leave for “any qualifying exigency" that arises when a family member is on active duty or is notified of an impending call to duty in support of a military operation.

AB 2142 —Vehicle Rental Facilities
This bill would remove the requirement that bond financing be used in order to justify the collection of a customer facility charge.  It also specifies the uses of such charges to include the maintenance and operation of rental car facilities, in addition to common use transportation systems, such as rental car shuttles.

AB 2147 —Green Jobs Worker Training Programs
This bill would establish an energy efficiency and renewable energy worker training program, specifically targeted at individuals (including at-risk youth and formerly incarcerated individuals) seeking employment pathways out of poverty and into economic self-sufficiency


AB 2346 — Childcare Subsidy Protection Act

The State of California is the only government employer within the 16th Assembly District that does not provide a full subsidy to childcare facility operators within its buildings.  This bill would provide that full subsidy to the facility in the Elihu Harris State Building in Oakland

AB 2892 — Aerial Pesticide Inform & Consent Act
Authored in response to public outcry against the State’s planned aerial spraying for the Light Brown Apple Moth in the Bay Area, this act would require the Secretary of Food and Agriculture to obtain the consent of 2/3rds of voters in cities and counties affected by aerial applications of pesticides, if the pest eradication zone includes any urban areas. 

ACR 99 —Pay Equity for School Nurses
ACR 99 urges school districts to take the necessary steps to increase school nurse salaries to a level comparable to those received by nurses employed in hospitals and clinics.  Such nurses make on average about $20,000 more per year than their counterparts working in schools. 

ACR 101 —Safe Jobs for Youth Month
This resolution calls May 2008 to be recognized as Safe Jobs for Youth Month in order to  raising community awareness about child labor and workplace health and safety issues.

ACR 121 —National Multicultural Cancer Awareness Week.
Cancer does not discriminate. This resolution encourages the private sector, State, and Federal governments to promote policies and programs to reduce cancer disparities and improve cancer prevention, detection, treatment, and follow-up care for all Californians. Programs and policies will include educating people on the causes and types of cancer, the growing disparities in the number of cancer cases among racial groups and encouraging people to visit a doctor regularly.

AJR 56 – Unemployment benefits.
The sub-prime mortgage meltdown has lead to many people not only losing their houses, but losing their jobs as a result of the downturn in the economy.  AJR 56 urges Congress to extend Federal Unemployment benefits by at least 13 weeks for all states, and an additional 13 weeks for high unemployment states, including California.