In the News

Berkeley-based State Sen. Nancy Skinner introduced Senate Bill 81, which would direct trial-court judges to avoid sentencing enhancements related to juvenile crimes, crimes that did not involve a loaded or operable firearm, prior convictions older than five years, and convictions seeded by mental-health issues or past victimization or childhood trauma.

State Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, chair of her house's Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, which met Thursday, said the state must keep its most vulnerable residents in mind when making spending decisions. 

Democratic lawmakers largely applauded the governor’s budget proposal, saying that many of his priorities are aligned with their own.

“I’m excited that we aren’t facing a cuts budget,” said Sen. Nancy Skinner, who leads the Senate Budget Committee.

Skinner added that while the budget focuses on immediate needs like getting kids back into classrooms and supporting low-income families hard hit by the virus, lawmakers will negotiate with Newsom on how to allocate federal money that Congress recently approved, including rental assistance that the state must distribute.

They should back state Sen. Nancy Skinner’s bill to strengthen California’s police records disclosure laws and state Sen. Steven Bradford’s push to set up a police certification system as 45 other states already have done.