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August 29, 2024 - Sacramento, CA – Last year, the United States Supreme Court decimated protections for the nation’s wetlands. Assemblymember Laura Friedman’s (D-Burbank) landmark bill, AB 2875, which protects California’s vital natural resources from the rollback of federal protections. Yesterday, the bill passed the California Legislature with a vote of 76-0.

After more than two years of construction, the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing is starting to look like a promising bridge. As workers get ready to pour concrete, there’s a sense of hope that the decisions we make about roads and development can help protect the remaining wild spaces in our metropolis.

Finally, we want you to know that three Assemblymembers on the committee spoke up especially strongly for rooftop solar—Laura Friedman, Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, and Pilar Schiavo. Below is a video of their remarks, and we think it is worth watching.

SACRAMENTO, CA., 8/18/24 – Amid the sea of bills that California lawmakers waded through Thursday, one they rescued marks a key step forward to ban commercial octopus farming in California.

Three important bills to hold oil and gas companies accountable for their pollution also passed through their respective committees.

AB 3155 (Friedman) passed, which would make polluters pay for the illnesses they cause to residents living nearby toxic oil and wells.

We’re just four days away from the Friday cutoff for state lawmakers to publish legislation they hope to get passed this year. And a lot like your author right before a deadline, we’re expecting to see a flurry of activity right before time’s up.

Here’s some areas we’re watching for likely legislation:

It was sad and alarming to see two dead hawks in my neighbor’s swimming pool, where his children played. I suspected that anticoagulant rat poisons used in our Berkeley neighborhood were involved. These poisons cause internal bleeding, making animals seek water. 

WildCare, a rehab center in Marin County, had the bodies tested at UC Davis, which confirmed that both hawks had been poisoned by anticoagulants. That year, another hawk with anticoagulant poison in its system bled to death on the sidewalk. 

Other moves on the deposit topic are currently making their way through the state legislature, including AB 2801 introduced by state assembly member Laura Friedman (D-Burbank). The bill would make several changes on the actual return of security deposits from landlord to renter after their tenancy, such as requiring that landlords withholding deposits under the guise of apartment repairs provide photographic evidence of such repairs, along with proof that repairs were completed.

Amid the sea of bills that California lawmakers waded through Thursday, one they rescued marks a key step forward to ban commercial octopus farming in California.

Insights into more lax legislation regarding security deposits came to light in a seemingly minor, administrative agenda item for the Santa Monica Rent Control Board.