Jackson Bills, Including Ban of New Offshore Oil Drilling, to Become Law on Jan. 1

SACRAMENTO – Among the numerous bills authored by State Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) this year, the following will take effect on January 1, 2019:

  • Senate Bill 834, No New Offshore Oil: SB 834 blocks the Trump Administration from expanding federal oil drilling off the California coast by ensuring that new pipelines and other new infrastructure needed to support federal oil development cannot be built in California waters.

“We’ve seen it time and again. Oil spills are devastating to our local economy, environment, and marine life,” said Senator Jackson. “With SB 834, California is sending a strong and unequivocal message that we will not let the Trump Administration destroy our precious coastal community for economic gain.”

Additional legislation:

Wildfire Prevention

  • Senate Bill 1260, Wildfire Prevention: SB 1260 will help protect California communities from catastrophic wildfires by improving our forest management practices to reduce the risk of wildfires in light of our changing climate.
  • Senate Bill 821, Emergency Alerts: SB 821 will give counties the option of automatically enrolling every resident in a targeted emergency notification program, while preserving residents’ ability to opt-out of alerts and maintain their privacy.
  • Senate Bill 917, Protecting Montecito and other Homeowners: SB 917 helps Montecito and other California homeowners impacted by wildfires and subsequent flooding or mudslides by clarifying that, under current law, an insurance policy covers loss or damage resulting from a mudslide or debris flow if the acts were attributable to a condition already covered by the policy, such as wildfires.
  • Senate Bill 465, Fire-Resilient Homes: SB 465 helps homeowners pay for repairs that will make their homes more fire resilient by allowing local governments to expand their Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs to homeowners in high fire-hazard areas for fire safety improvements to their homes.

Women on Corporate Boards

  • Senate Bill 826, Women on Corporate Boards: SB 826 promotes equitable and diverse gender representation on corporate boards by requiring every publicly held corporation in California to have a minimum of one woman on its board of directors by the end of 2019 and two or more by 2021. California is the first state in the nation with such a requirement.

 Safe Drug Disposal

  • Senate Bill 212, Safe Drug Disposal: SB 212 is a landmark law to require manufacturers of pharmaceutical drugs and medical needles to establish, implement and fund take-back programs for safe and secure collection and disposal of their products. This is the first statewide program in the nation to include both prescription medications and needles.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

  • Senate Bill 1300, Closes Loopholes in Law: SB 1300 fights sexual harassment in the workplace by closing loopholes in the law that discourage or prevent victims from speaking out, allow employers to avoid sexual harassment and discrimination laws, and leave employees vulnerable to sexual harassment at work.
  • Senate Bill 224, Expands Sexual Harassment Protections: SB 224 expands sexual harassment protections to explicitly prohibit sexual harassment by investors, elected officials, lobbyists, directors and producers.

Jackson represents the 19th Senate District, which includes all of Santa Barbara County and western Ventura County.