In the News

February 2, 2023

East Bay State Senator Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, introduced a bill Wednesday that would eliminate suspensions for defying teachers and school staff or disrupting school activities — known as “willful defiance” suspensions — for all public school students by Fall 2024.

Studies show that willful defiance suspensions disproportionately impact Black male students in California, and increase the likelihood of students dropping out of school.

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February 1, 2023

California state Sen. Nancy Skinner introduced on Monday, Senate Bill 254, which proposes greater access to city and county jails and state prisons. The proposed legislation gives the media, members of the legislature, judges, the governor and cabinet members, and members of the Committee on the Revision of the Penal Code, access to incarceration facilities in the state, upon request.

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February 1, 2023

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, announced Jan. 26 that she has introduced a new bill strengthening the HOPE Accounts law that she authored last year. The law made California the first in the nation to create savings accounts for children who lost parents or guardians to COVID-19 and for youth who are in long-term foster care. The California State Budget Act of 2022-23 included $100 million to fund the HOPE (Hope, Opportunity, Perseverance, and Empowerment) Accounts program.

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January 31, 2023

State lawmakers are considering a bill that would require gun owners to carry insurance, just as you would for your car or home. The insurance would cover the negligent or accidental discharge of a gun when someone is injured or killed.   

Senate Bill 8 is actually modeled after a law implemented in San Jose just this month. Senator Nancy Skinner says they want individuals, not taxpayers, to be held financially responsible when their firearm is used to harm someone, even if it's unintentional. 

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January 31, 2023

California gun owners may soon have to carry liability insurance to own a gun. Last week two state senators introduced amended legislation to require such insurance for the negligent or accidental discharge of a gun.

The amended Senate Bill 8 was introduced by Sens. Nancy Skinner, D-Oakland and Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, following the mass shootings across the state in January.

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January 31, 2023

In response to mass shootings in Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park, as well as in Goshen (six dead) and Oakland (one dead, seven injured), state lawmakers this month introduced a bill with San Jose serving as inspiration. SB 8, from state Sens. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, and Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, would require gun owners to purchase liability insurance. If enacted, the bill would make California the first state in the nation to adopt such legislation.

 

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