2005 Legislation

California Legislature, 2005-06 Session
List of Bills That Affect LGBT Californians (As of January 27, 2006)
Compiled by Eric Astacaan, eric.astacaan@asm.ca.gov

 

LGBT Caucus’ Legislative Priorities

 

AB 849 (Leno)Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act (previously AB 19)

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and sent to the Governor for his approval (09/22/2005).

                        09/29/2005 – Vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

AB 866 (Yee) – Code of Fair Campaign Practices: Include in the voluntary pledge to not use or permit any appeal to negative prejudice based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and sent to the Governor for his approval (08/24/2005).

                        09/06/2005 – Vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

AB 1400 (Laird) - Civil Rights Act of 2005: Codify in the Unruh Civil Rights Act case laws that prohibit public accommodations (business establishments) from discriminating based on sex/gender, sexual orientation, and marital status.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and approved by the Governor.  Chaptered by the Secretary of State – Chapter 420, Statutes of 2005 (09/29/2005).

 

AB 1586 (Koretz) – Prohibit gender-based discrimination in health insurance.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and approved by the Governor.  Chaptered by the Secretary of State – Chapter 421, Statutes of 2005 (09/29/2005).

 

SB 181 (Migden) – Prohibit the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy for State Military Reserve & Naval Militia members or members serving on state active duty.

Status: In Senate Rules Committee and Senate Veterans Affairs Committee (Two-year bill).

 

SB 300 (Kuehl) – Expand the Family Rights Act (unpaid family and medical leave) to include leave to care for a grandparent, sibling, child, domestic partner, and parent-in-law.

Status: 08/25/2005 – Held in Assembly Appropriations Committee (Two-year bill).

 

SB 973 (Kuehl) – Provide retirement equity for domestic partners who retired from state or local government employment covered under CalPERS, CalSTRS, or the 1937 County Retirement Act prior to AB 205’s enactment.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and approved by the Governor. Chaptered by the Secretary of State – Chapter 418, Statutes of 2005 (09/29/2005).

 

SJR 11 (Kehoe) – Joint resolution urging Congress and President Bush to lift the ban on openly LGBT servicemembers in the U.S. military.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and chaptered by the Secretary of State, Res. Ch. 108, Statutes of 2005 (09/06/2005).

 

Other Civil Rights / Pro-LGBT Bills

 

AB 378 (Chu) – Extend the statute of limitation from two to three years for filing civil claims against hate crimes perpetrators or civil rights violators acting under color of law.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and approved by the Governor.  Chaptered by the Secretary of State - Chapter 123, Statutes of 2005 (07/25/2005).

 

AB 723 (Chu) - Require the State Board of Education (SBE), as a component of reviewing curriculum frameworks, and after consulting civil rights organizations that relate to discrimination on the basis of disabilities, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation, to integrate instruction on intergroup relations and tolerance into existing curriculum frameworks.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and sent to the Governor for his approval (09/09/2005).

                        09/29/2005 – Vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

 

AB 606 (Levine) – Safe Place to Learn ActEnact statutory scheme to implement Senator Kuehl’s CA Student Safety & Violence Prevention Act of 2000 that prohibit discrimination and harassment in public schools.

Status: 01/26/2006 – Passed the Assembly, 45 – 32.  To Senate for its consideration.

 

AB 1056 (Chu) – Establishes the Tolerance Education Pilot Program to be administered by the State Dept. of Education.

Status: Awaiting Assembly floor vote.

 

AB 1160 (Lieber) - Panic Defense Limitation - Affirm legislative intent stating that use of “panic defense” by criminal defendants to appeal to the bias of jurors is against public policy.

Status: 01/26/2006 - Passed the Assembly, 45 – 32.  To Senate for its consideration.

 

AB 1207 (Yee) – Code of Fair Campaign Practices – Include in the voluntary pledge to not use or permit any appeal to negative prejudices based on sexual orientation or gender identity. (AB 866 redux)

Status: 01/26/2006 – Passed the Assembly, 43 – 29.  To Senate for its consideration.

 

AB 1669 (Chu) - Extend the statute of limitations for filing an administrative complaint in employment discrimination cases until one year from the date that a victim attains the age of majority.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and approved by the Governor.  Chaptered by the Secretary of State – Chapter 642, Statutes of 2005 (10/07/2005)

 

SB 565 (Migden) – Include registered domestic partners in the exemption from property tax re-assessment whenever there is a change of ownership between partners, e.g., death or dissolution of relationship.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and approved by the Governor.  Chaptered by the Secretary of State – Chapter 416, Statutes of 2005 (09/29/2005).

 

Anti-LGBT Bills

 

AB 349 (Mountjoy) – Prohibit certain sexual instruction and counseling in kindergarten through Grade 6; require affirmative parental consent from Grades 7 through 12 for any of these subjects, i.e., domestic partnerships, homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, etc.

Status: 04/06/2005 – Failed passage in Assembly Education Committee, 2 – 9.

 

ACA 3 (Haynes) – Embed discrimination in the State Constitution by prohibiting marriage, civil union, or domestic partnership for same-sex couples.

Status: 05/10/2005 – Failed passed in Assembly Judiciary Committee, 3 – 6.

 

SB 1030 (Hollingsworth) – Faith-Based Discrimination Exemption: Carve out an exemption in the Unruh Act to allow a business establishment to refuse “non-essential services to a member of the public, if to do so would violate one’s conscience due to a sincerely held religious belief.”  Status: In Senate Judiciary Committee (2-year bill).

 

SCA 1 (Morrow) – Embed discrimination in the State Constitution by prohibiting marriage, civil union, or domestic partnership for same-sex couples.

Status: 05/10/2005 – Failed passage in Senate Judiciary Committee, 2 – 5.

 

HIV/AIDS-Related Bills

 

AB 8 (Chu) - Removes the sunset date from existing law that requires pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide a state rebate for AIDS and cancer drugs reimbursed through the fee-for-service Medi-Cal program.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and approved by the Governor.  Chaptered by the Secretary of State, Chapter 127, Statutes of 2005 (07/25/2005).

 

AB 228 (Koretz) - Prohibit health insurance plans from categorically denying organ transplant procedures for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and approved by the Governor.  Chaptered by the Secretary of State – Chapter 419, Statutes of 2005 (09/01/05).

 

AB 547 (Berg) – creates the Clean Needle and Syringe Exchange Program that eliminates the statutory requirement for a declaration of a local emergency by a public entity in order to operate a needle exchange program.

Status:  Passed the CA Legislature and approved by the Governor.  Chaptered by the Secretary of State – Chapter 692, Statutes of 2005 (10/07/2005).

 

AB 568 (Garcia) – Require doctors to offer routine HIV testing of women at annual gynecological exam.

Status: 05/25/2005 – Held in Assembly Appropriations Committee.

 

AB 1074 (Chu) – Authorize a minor’s foster parent, relative caregiver, or assigned social worker to give consent for HIV testing.

Status: In Assembly Human Services Committee (2-Year Bill).

 

AB 1142 (Dymally) – Establish the Statewide African American HIV/AIDS Initiative within the State Office of AIDS to address the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS in the African American community.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and approved by the Governor.  Chaptered by the Secretary of State – Chapter 403, Statutes of 2005 (09/29/2005).

 

AB 1597 (Laird) – Authorize public entities to use General Funds for HIV prevention & education to finance approved clean needle and syringe exchange pilot projects.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and sent to the Governor for his approval (09/15/2005).

                        10/07/2005 – Vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenneger.

 

AJR 24 (Calderon) – Urge Congress and the President of the United States to reauthorize expeditiously the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and chaptered by the Secretary of State, Resolution Chapter 120, Statutes of 2005 (09/12/2005).

 

SB 235 (Denham) – Criminalization of HIV Transmission: Criminalize unprotected sex, with willful or wanton disregard for the health of the other person, when a person knows he or she is HIV positive and fails to disclose that fact to the other person.

Status: 04/12/2005 – Held in Senate Public Safety Committee for further consideration.

                        04/26/2005 – Failed passage in Senate Public Safety Committee, 3 – 3.

 

SB 699 (Soto) - HIV Names Reporting: Urgency bill reintroduced with Senator Soto as lead author, LGBT Caucus Members as principal co-authors)

Status: Passed the State Senate, 33 – 0.  To Assembly for its consideration.

 

Other Bills of Interest

 

AB 283 (Koretz) – Pseudoephedrine Sales: Limit crystal methamphetamine production and use in California through purchase controls on the tablet form of pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in meth production.

Status: 05/31/2005 – Passed the Assembly, 72 – 6.  To Senate: Referred to Business,

                        Profession, & Econ. Dev. Committee and Public Safety Committee.

                        06/27/2005 – Failed passage in Senate B., P., & E.D. Comm.

                        Awaiting reconsideration vote in committee.

 

AB 651 (Berg & Levine) – The California Compassionate Choices Act

Status: In Senate Judiciary Committee.

 

AB 550 (Goldberg) – Establishes the “Sexual Abuse in Detention Elimination Act.”

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and approved by the Governor.  Chaptered by the Secretary of State - Chapter 303, Statutes of 2005 (09/22/2005).

 

AB 628 (Strickland) - Specifies that the religious or moral beliefs of a person licensed or certified, or applying to be licensed or certified to provide foster care will not render the person ineligible to provide foster care.

Status: 04/26/2005 – Failed passage in Assembly Human Services Committee, 3 – 4.

 

AB 1195 (Coto) – Include cultural and linguistic competency care as a mandatory part of doctors’ continuing medical education requirements.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and approved by the Governor.  Chaptered by the Secretary of State – Chapter 514, Statutes of 2005 (10/04/2005).  (Statute took effect 07/01/2006)

 

AB 1210 (Levine) – Establishes the Holocaust Memorial Commission to oversee the construction of a memorial to California's Holocaust survivors on the grounds of the State Capitol.

Status: 08/25/2005 – In Senate Appropriations Committee (Two-year bill).

 

AB 1217 (Wyland) – Require comprehensive sexual health education to provide instruction and materials on sex outside of marriage, and on refraining from making and accepting unwanted physical and verbal sexual advances.

Status: 01/11/2006 – Failed passage in Assembly Education Committee, 2 – 7.

 

AB 1236 (DeVore) – Marriage Choice Act of 2005: Allow new and existing couples to enter into a marriage contract that makes it more difficult to get divorced by returning these couples to the days of "fault-based" divorce, and again allowing judges to punish spouses they believe are most at fault for the divorce through the unequal division of joint assets.

Status: 04/26/2005 – Failed passage in Assembly Judiciary Committee, 2 – 7.

 

AB 1677 (Koretz) – Allow condom distribution in prisons.

Status: 08/25/2005 – Held in Senate Appropriations Committee suspense file.

 

ACR 69 (Goldberg) – Resolution honoring the Boy Scouts of America and urging them to change their policy to include nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation and religion.

Status: Passed the CA Legislature and chaptered by the Secretary of State, Resolution Chapter 82, Statutes of 2005 (07/18/2005)

 

SB 307 (Simitian) – Prohibit the over the counter sale to minors of nonprescription drugs containing dextromethorpan, e.g., cough suppressants, cold medicines.

Status: In Senate Public Safety Committee (Two-Year Bill).

 

SB 1043 (Hollingsworth) - Reestablish the ability of parents to excuse their children from instruction in family life education.

Status: 04/28/2005 – Failed passage in Senate Education Committee, 4 – 5.