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In observance of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur legislative leaders have opted to complete their work one day before tomorrow’s official interim recess deadline.
Both houses are expected to hold marathon floor sessions in order to get through all outstanding bills before adjourning tonight.
Last minute amendments were made to 153 measures last Friday in compliance with the Sept. 6 legislative amendment deadline.
Republicans protested most of the amendments presented during Friday’s floor session. However, they were ultimately approved by Democrats. Of those amended measures, 29 were substantially altered enough to qualify as gut-and-amends.
Such significant policy changes have been criticized for years due to their last minute nature and ability to bypass the legislative review process. Legislation addressing this issue to require a three-day print rule was introduced earlier this year but has remained static. The legislation is expected to become active during the second half of the 2013-14 biennial session.
All eyes will look to Gov. Jerry Brown after the Legislature adjourns as he decides the final fate of the hundreds of measures sent to his desk. The governor has until Oct. 13 to act on bills pending before him, unless otherwise specified.
Governors have traditionally delayed action on contentious measures until the final days before the signing deadline. It’s anticipated that Gov. Jerry Brow will uphold this tradition as in previous years. Bills not acted upon before Oct. 13 automatically become law and will take effect in January.
Two East Bay state legislators, meanwhile, have called for their colleagues and th governor to approve tougher gun control bills before the current legislative session ends.
Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley) said the bills are needed because “people are dying on the streets from gun violence,” citing the shooting death of a man near Eighth and Page streets in Berkeley at about 5:45 p.m. on Sunday as an example.
Joined by community and religious leaders at a news conference on the steps of the Beebe Memorial Cathedral on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, Skinner said, “Every day we wake up to news about another victim of gun violence.”
Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) said, “We’re at a very important stage and we need to move the needle to save lives. Oakland is hurting from gun violence.”
Bonta and Skinner both called on Brown, who formerly served as Oakland’s mayor, to sign a bill already approved by the state Legislature, Assembly Bill 180, that would pre-empt state law and provide Oakland with additional tools to regulate the registration and licensing of firearms.
Skinner said, “All communities aren’t equal” and “some cities don’t need their own gun laws” but cities such as Oakland, Richmond and Fresno “need the tools” to have tougher gun registration and licensing laws.
Skinner said she’d like the state Legislature to pass two other gun control measures, which she authored, by the end of the week.
She said AB 48 would ban kits that convert guns into assault-type weapons and make it illegal to buy large-capacity magazines that allow people to fire multiple bullets quickly without reloading.
Skinner said, “Assault weapons have been banned in California for a long time but people can get around that by buying a conversion kit that allows them to take a gun cartridge out and put in a high-capacity magazine.”
Skinner said AB 1131 would extend the time period a person who makes a credible threat of violence is prohibited from owning firearms from six months to five years.
She thinks such a ban would prevent tragedies such as a shooting at Oikos University in Oakland in April 2011 in which suspect One Goh is charged with seven counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder for allegedly killing seven people and wounding three others.
A judge suspended legal proceedings against Goh in January and said he’s not competent to stand trial after two psychiatrists said he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
