Governor Newsom Takes Final Action of 2019 Legislative Season
Published: Oct 13, 2019

LINK TO ALL FINAL ACTIONS

OFFICAL SB 10 VETO MESSAGE

*From the website*
Joint accomplishments include urgently addressing California’s affordability crisis by passing the Nation’s strongest statewide rent protections, expanding health care coverage and passing legislation to lower prescription drug prices

Focused on effective government by fortifying state against natural disasters and economic downturns – passing historic wildfire safety legislation and creating largest rainy day fund Ensuring justice for all Californians by passing historic clean drinking water legislation and taking on powerful institutions on behalf of everyday Californians

“Together, we have accomplished a great deal this year to help California families get ahead and made historic progress on some of the state’s most intractable challenges.”

SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom took his final actions of the 2019 legislative season today and thanked the Legislature for their work and accomplishment on enacting 870 bills in the following statement:

“I want to take a moment to congratulate the Legislature on their work this year and to thank Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins and Speaker of the Assembly Anthony Rendon for their leadership. Together, we have accomplished a great deal this year – through the budget and legislation – that helps California families get ahead and tackles some of the state’s most intractable problems.

“This year, California passed the nation’s strongest renter protection package. Our state made record housing and homeless investments paired with big new tools for housing production. We moved California closer to universal health care coverage by expanding coverage, increasing Covered California subsidies for middle-income Californians and taking on rising prescription drug prices. 

“California, faced with catastrophic wildfires, invested $1 billion to prevent, mitigate and recover from wildfires, disasters and emergencies. And in July, our state enacted something that few people thought could be done – wildfire legislation that moved California closer to a safer, reliable and affordable energy future.

“Our state is doing more now than at any point in our history to help California families tackle the challenges of affordability and provide opportunity to all Californians – more than doubling tax cuts for working families, expanding paid family leave, increasing access to early childhood education, and taking on payday lenders. 

“On education, California brought disparate sides in the education community together and forged a historic agreement on changes to charter school law that was years in the making. We invested more in K-14 education than at any point in our history, and put on next year’s ballot the chance to make long-overdue investments in school infrastructure and safety. California made two years of community college tuition-free, increased financial aid for parents pursuing a college degree and kept tuition from rising in our UC and CSU systems.

“We have helped defend our state from Trump’s attacks – blocking the Administration from using state lands to open up drilling on protected federal lands. We took on the long-standing challenge of clean drinking water systems, became the first ever to require SMOG tests for semi trucks and convinced four major auto-makers to stand up for higher emission standards and oppose the Trump administration.

“California is once again striking out against injustice and leading the nation by example. We passed one of the country’s strongest police use-of-force laws, and outlawed private, for-profit prisons. California became the first state in the nation to stand up to the NCAA’s long-standing profiteering from student athletes. California took first-in-the-nation steps to strengthen our gun safety laws, protect workers and defend reproductive health care rights. We continued to make progress reforming our criminal justice system – eliminating a major mandatory minimum sentence and establishing a system to seal arrest and conviction records for low-level offenses.

“We are proving that our state is successful not despite our diversity, but because of it. California isn’t just defending our vibrant immigrant communities. We are affording all Californians – regardless of immigration status – the chance to serve their communities and give back.

“In California, we are putting in place new reforms of agencies that don’t serve the public as well as they should – pushing the DMV to join the 21st century, giving new authority to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to enforce wildfire safety standards, and recasting the priorities of our state’s agency that regulates oil and gas extraction.

“California did all of this while living within our means: creating the largest rainy day fund in California history, paying down pension liabilities and eliminating our state’s wall of debt.  

“In my inaugural, I spoke of the California Dream as a house – one that must be built on a strong fiscal foundation. For that reason, I am returning a number of bills to the Legislature without my signature that would significantly increase costs outside of the state’s regular budget process. 

“We have clearly achieved a great deal together, and I commend the Legislature for their hard work. I look forward to our continued partnership as we head into the new year and continue to tackle challenges of affordability and work to expand opportunity to all Californians.”

In his final action of the 2019 legislative season, the Governor today vetoed a number of bills that would significantly increase costs outside of the state’s regular budget process. In total, Governor Newsom vetoed bills this year costing $1.2 billion, increasing to $3 billion ​annually at full implementation. He also took action on a number of other bills.