Press Releases

WHAT: State Senator Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) will join lawmakers who are separately authoring legislation addressing California’s fentanyl crisis. Senator Cortese will discuss his SB 10, the bipartisan legislation known as “Melanie’s Law.” The bill is named in honor of Melanie Ramos, a 15-year-old who overdosed on fentanyl and died in the bathroom of her high school in Hollywood. Melanie and her teenage friend had no idea they were taking fentanyl.




A bill by Senator Dave Cortese to study gender pay equity under California’s workers’ compensation system cleared its first committee hearing on Wednesday. The Senate Labor Committee advanced SB 631, which would commission the University of California, Berkeley, to study gender-based monetary disparities in workers’ compensation. Results would be presented to the Legislature by late 2024.




A bill by Senator Dave Cortese allowing judges to review life-without-parole and death penalty sentences for people who have been incarcerated for at least 20 years cleared its first policy committee on Tuesday.




A bill by Senator Dave Cortese establishing a statewide guaranteed income program for homeless students cleared its first policy committee on Wednesday. In a unanimous vote, the Senate Education Committee advanced SB 333, which would give homeless high school seniors $1,000 a month for five months to help them enroll in college or enter the workforce.




Flight attendants now have the right to negotiate meal and rest break benefits while airlines comply with California law under a bill signed into law Thursday by Governor Gavin Newsom. SB 41 by Senator Dave Cortese represents a deal struck between commercial airlines and cabin crew labor representatives and quickly passed the Legislature without opposition.