“We want to make sure we can gear up as quickly as possible,” said Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Santa Rosa, who authored the bill. Assemblyman Robert Rivas, D-Hollister (San Benito County), who introduced the bill, said he had to scale back the cost of the measure by applying it only to the pandemic to get it passed.Īnother bill written with precision is AB1710, which would allow pharmacists to administer a COVID vaccine once one is approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Narrowly focused bills that targeted real-time COVID-related problems - and avoided big price tags - were among those easily winning approval.ĪB685, by Assemblywoman Eloise Gómez Reyes (D-San Bernardino), would require employers to notify their workers of COVID-19 infections at work - and would mandate the reporting of infection data to state and local public health authorities.Ī different measure, AB2164, would require Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, to cover more telehealth visits in underserved areas by eliminating an existing requirement for patients and providers to establish an in-person relationship first.īut this wouldn’t be a permanent change: If signed, the law would sunset 180 days after the official COVID-19 state of emergency is over. 30 to sign the bills into law or veto them. The measures broadly fit into three categories: dealing with the current crisis, protecting workers and consumers, and preparing for future pandemics. Gavin Newsom nearly 430 bills, roughly 40% of the number they’d send in a typical year, according to Sacramento lobbyist Chris Micheli.Īmong them were about two dozen COVID-related bills that addressed a range of challenges, including dire shortages of protective gear, sick leave for workers and the administration of a hoped-for COVID-19 vaccine. Nonetheless, legislators managed to send Gov. Legislative deliberations this year were defined by quarantined lawmakers, emergency recesses and chaotic video voting - plus a late-night partisan dustup that led to the death of dozens of bills by the time lawmakers gaveled out early Tuesday morning.
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