Courthouse News
By Natalie Hanson
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — "Suspense day" at the California Legislature on Thursday saw several key bills killed while others moved ahead on the path to passage and a spot on Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk.
The Assembly Appropriations Committee entered its annual rapid-fire session where lawmakers quickly decide which bills live and die in a single hearing. In most such hearings, there are no debates and no public votes are taken.
Both the Assembly and Senate ran through more than 820 bills Thursday in anticipation of the end of the legislative year on Aug. 31. Any bill passed through Appropriations from the suspense file must survive a full Assembly vote and another Senate vote before heading to Newsom.
The committee held Senate Bill 100, which sought to make law enforcement radio communications publicly available, effectively killing it for the time being.
Written by state Senator Josh Becker, a Democrat from San Mateo, SB 1000 sought to stop a trend of police departments encrypting radio communications, thereby blocking the media and public from monitoring police activities. Law enforcement agencies pointed to instructions from the state Department of Justice in 2020 to protect personally identifiable information, such as Social Security numbers and criminal records, from transmissions.