In the News

June 14, 2022

State lawmakers passed their legislative budget proposal out of both the Assembly and Senate on Monday, moving the proposal on to Gov. Gavin Newsom ahead of Wednesday’s deadline.

The Legislature’s $300 billion budget framework includes $110 billion for education as required by Proposition 98, $40 billion on infrastructure investments and over $37 billion for reserves. The budget also includes lawmakers’ proposal to spend $10 billion to send relief to residents and small businesses.

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June 13, 2022

Over the past several weeks, Californians have been rallying to support abortion rights, as a leaked draft Supreme Court ruling signaled that the court intends to reverse Roe v Wade.

Another heavily debated topic is gun control, in the wake of the tragic mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two adults dead at an elementary school. State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, co-authored a proposed state constitutional amendment to protect access to abortion, and she’s been supporting other bills to fast track gun safety legislation this year.

 

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May 27, 2022

State Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), who wrote our precedent-setting red flag law in 2016, which allows family members and law enforcement to petition courts for the removal of guns from people deemed a public danger, told me outside Newsom’s news conference that, “we are just going to be more and more creative ... on how to protect the things we think are essential, right, moral things to do.”

She wants to find ways to go after the manufacturers, who have been shielded by federal law. Gun sales are higher than ever, she points out.

 

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May 18, 2022

The California Legislative Women’s Caucus released a 13-bill package in March seeking to strengthen and expand access to abortion. Sen. Nancy Skinner (D–Berkeley), Vice-Chair of the caucus, told State of Reform that the caucus had started collaborating with the Future of Abortion Council on this bill package over 6 months ago in preparation for a possible overturning of Roe v. Wade.

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May 8, 2022

"So, I have a bill that would provide hope accounts because those kids, they are going to turn 18, and then they won't have parents that they can rely on. And so, fortunately, we have social security survivor benefits for most of those kids, not all, but many of them," California Senator Nancy Skinner told CBS News Michael George. 

 Skinner's bill would put $4,000 in accounts aimed at children from poor families, but that's just one state. 

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May 6, 2022

“Besides the unimaginable loss of losing your parents, this can be quite detrimental economically,” said California Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley. She’s proposed a bill, SB854, the HOPE for Children Act, to create modest financial cushions for children bereaved by COVID and foster children. (Foster children would be included regardless of whether they lost a parent to COVID.)

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