new laws

NEW INSURANCE LAWS FOR 2022 WILL PROTECT CALIFORNIANS’ HEALTH AND SAFETY

Legislation sponsored by Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara takes effect this year

Source: California Insurance Commissioner

Image: Creative Commons by NC-ND

January 4, 2022 (Sacramento) -- California consumers and hard-working families will have additional insurance protections under new laws now in effect in 2022. These include laws that provide new health coverage options for older adults being cared for by their adult children, expand requirements for medically necessary basic health care services including women’s reproductive services and increase insurance oversight to protect the safety of people recovering from substance use disorders and prevent child abuse by youth volunteers.

The California Department of Insurance will also implement new insurance requirements to protect those held in for-profit detention facilities and prisons – the first law of its kind nationwide.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

THE FINAL SAY: GOV. NEWSOM HAS DECIDED WHICH OF THESE 2020 BILLS WILL BE CALIFORNIA LAW

By Laurel Rosenhall and CalMatters staff, CalMatters

CalMatters is an independent public interest journalism venture covering California state politics and government.

Photo:  Gov. Gavin Newsom with first partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and their youngest son, Dutch, during the annual Christmas tree lighting at the Capitol on December 15, 2019. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters

October 3, 2020 (Sacramento) - In a year when the coronavirus pandemic upended every aspect of normal life, the impact in the California Capitol was also dramatic. Lawmakers took an unprecedented two-month pause in the spring, when Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statewide order for people to stay home to prevent the spread of the virus. They returned to the Capitol in May, passed a state budget shrunken by the pandemic-induced recession and began setting aside hundreds of bills that would no longer make the cut in this truncated year. Faced with less time to hold hearings and less money to spend on new initiatives, lawmakers chucked an estimated three-quarters of the bills introduced at the beginning of the year.

Abandoned or rejected along the way were bills requiring police to intervene if they see officers using excessive force, allow homeowners to request a forbearance on their mortgages during the pandemic, and launch a “Green New Deal” to fight climate change. 

But even with their reduced workload, lawmakers tackled numerous thorny issues, passing legislation that could impact life in California for years to come — to allow more workers to take paid family leave, make it easier to get mental health care, and ban flavored tobacco, among others. 

Then it fell to Newsom to either sign or veto the legislation by a Sept. 30 deadline. Here’s the final tally on the fates of 20 key bills.

--Laurel Rosenhall and CalMatters staff


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.

GOVERNOR SIGNS NEW LAW TO PROTECT IDENTITIES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS IN COURT DOCUMENTS

East County News Service

Photo: CC by NC

October 14, 2019 (Sacramento) – Governor Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 800, which will protect the identity of survivors of domestic and other violent crimes who participate in the Secretary of State’s Safe at Home Program when filing civil court documents. The bill was authored by Assemblymember Kansen Chu (D-San Jose) based on a proposal written by Dian Black with Callegislation, a former San Diegan who has written a dozen proposals since 1996 that have become law in California to protect victims’ rights.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.