A bill aimed at granting California cities increased authority over self-driving car companies is gaining momentum statewide. This move comes amidst the expansion of services by autonomous vehicle giant Waymo into San Mateo County.
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On Monday in San Jose, city and county leaders will gather to announce support for Senate Bill 1395. The proposed bill is set to speed up the time it takes to build interim housing throughout the state.
As cities and counties throughout the state continue to struggle to reduce homelessness, local leaders are looking for ways to get people off the street immediately.
To be clear, Sen. Dave Cortese, D-San Jose, says he doesn’t want to ban autonomous vehicles, or AVs. He says he’s even willing to ride in one, sometime.
“I’ve done more perilous things in my life,” he joked.
California lawmakers and labor unions rallied on Monday to call for laws to not allow autonomous trucks without human drivers, amid rising safety concerns after accidents involving self-driving taxis from General Motors and Alphabet.
California Democrats lambasted the state’s workplace safety agency on Wednesday after hearing testimony from farmworkers who said they have been exposed to extreme heat and pesticides on the job and have faced wage theft and other labor law violations.
State Sen. Dave Cortese remarked that one day after we’re all gone, kids may ask who Mineta was and why he’s got an airport named after him and a statue, too. Then, he hopes, the stories will start.
The California Senate Education Committee unanimously advanced legislation this week that would prohibit the prone restraint of students, after hearing from a Davis parent whose son died as a result of the practice in 2018.
Authored by Senator Dave Cortese (D-San Jose), Senate Bill 10 requires local education agencies in California to include protocols for responding to student opioid overdoses in their mandatory school safety plans.