California would become the first state to require venture capital firms to disclose the race and gender of the founders of the companies they fund, under a bill currently awaiting Governor Gavin Newsom’s signature.
In the News
Born and raised in an exceptionally close family in sunny San Diego, Kapri Walker was initially hesitant to take the leap and begin building career roots in Sacramento. But she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to return after her Capitol Fellowship position ended and she was offered a job as a legislative aide in Sen. Nancy Skinner’s office (D-Oakland).
California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law on Wednesday that aims to stop other states from prosecuting doctors and pharmacists who mail abortion pills to patients in places where the procedure is banned.
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, it cleaved the United States in two. States like Florida, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and Texas have all banned essential reproductive care and created a national public health crisis. These bans are particularly dangerous for survivors of rape and domestic violence and the advocates who fight for them.
A state Senate bill seeking to keep kids in California's schools by prohibiting the suspension of public school students for low-level behavior issues known as "willful defiance" is now headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk after clearing both the state Assembly and Senate.
At an April hearing of the California Senate’s education committee, Skinner pointed to the use of willful defiance suspensions for small infractions like not taking a hat off or smirking at a teacher. The bill encourages teachers and administrators to de-escalate conflict with students and emphasizes that suspensions are a punishment of last resort.
Junk fees, those tacked-on costs that often come as a nasty surprise to consumers, are set to be banned in California next year. All that’s left is a signature from Gov. Gavin Newsom after Senate Bill 478 received final approval from state legislators on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 274, by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), would end the widely criticized “willful defiance suspension” that permits middle and high school educators to temporarily remove students for offenses such as disrupting the class by tapping their feet, talking back to a teacher or wearing a hat after being told to take it off.