Bill Tracking
Welcome to the CNPA's bill-tracking page for the 2011-2012 Legislative Session. This page provides current information on legislation affecting all aspects of the newspaper publishing industry in California. 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

AB 73 ( Feuer) Dependency proceedings: public access
Would establish a presumption of public access to dependency court hearings unless the court finds that admitting the public would not be in the child's best interest
Position: Support

AB 360 ( Brownley) Charter schools (3)
Would require charter schools to comply with the Brown Act, and California Public Records Act.
Position: Support

AB 1270 ( Ammiano) Prisons: media access (3)
Would restore the ability of journalists to conduct prearranged interviews and exchange confidential correspondence with inmates incarcerated in California's prisons; would also permit journalists to use pens, pencils, paper, cameras and other recording devices when conducting these interviews.
Position: Support

SB 8 ( Yee) Public records: auxiliary organizations
Would require quasi-public organizations operating on community college, California State University or University of California campuses to comply with the California Public Records Act; would provide for anonymous donors and volunteers to request that their names, addresses and telephone numbers not be publicly disclosed so long as they do not receive anything in exchange for their gift that has a value of $500 or more.
Position: Sponsor

SCA 7 (Yee) Public bodies: meetings
Would amend the state's constitution to guarantee the public's right under the Ralph M. Brown Act to reasonable notice of meetings and reporting out of closed session decisions.
Position: Sponsor

SB 46 ( Correa) Local government: compensation disclosure
Would require local government filers to annually file a compensation disclosure form and would require the local governments to post the information on their internet web site.
Position: Support

SB 326 ( Yee) Court records: public access (3)
Would require the Judicial Council to adopt a rule of court to require courts to provide for newly filed or lodged court records to be made available for public inspection at the courthouse no later than the end of the day on which those records are received by the court.
Position: Support

SB 914 ( Leno) Search warrants: portable electronic devices (3)
Would overturn People v. Diaz that allows police, when making an arrest, to seize a suspect's cell phone and, at the time of the arrest or later, conduct a search of messages, phone calls sent and received and other data on the phone.
Position: Sponsor

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

AB 400 ( Ma) Employment: paid sick days (3)
Would  provide that an employee who works in California for 7 or more days in a calendar year is entitled to paid sick days;  would prohibits an employer from discriminating against an employee who requests paid sick days.
Position: Oppose

SB 459 ( Corbett) Employment: independent contractors (3)
would hold employers responsible for "willful misclassification" of an employee as an independent contractor, without also clarifying or outlining a clear and objective test that employers may utilize to determine if an individual is an employee or independent contractor.
Position: Oppose

SB 104 ( Steinberg) Labor representatives: elections (2)
Would permit agricultural employees to select their labor representatives by submitting a petition to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board accompanied by representation cards signed by a majority of the bargaining unit and would extend the existing prohibitions and penalties to employers who engage in unfair labor practices with regard to a majority signup election.
Position: Limited Opposition

PUBLIC NOTICES

SB 279 ( Emmerson) Business: self-service storage facilities (3)
Would correct a provision of the California Self-Service Storage Facility Act (CSSSFA, effective Jan. 1, 2011), that allows notices associated with lien sales of property at self-service public storage facilities to be published in any newspaper of general circulation that exists in the county in which the lien sale is to be held.
Position: Sponsor