Tag Archives: Mark Leno
Why More Widowed Homeowners Are Struggling To Prevent A Foreclosure
by Andrew Khouri, Los Angeles Times
The state Senate Judiciary Committee [voted] Tuesday on a bill designed to give surviving spouses, domestic partners and children the same protections borrowers have in the Homeowner Bill of Rights, including the right to sue to stop a foreclosure or for economic damages after one occurs. The bill, SB-1150 … would prevent servicers from moving forward with a foreclosure before requesting “reasonable” documentation of the borrower’s death and the identity of the survivor. Read More ›
SB 215 Sustains Drive For CPUC Reforms Originally Sought In SB 660
1/27/2015 Update: The Senate approved SB 215 (Leno) in a 37-0 vote yesterday (with no votes recorded for Senators Bates, Liu and Wolk). The bill awaits committee action in the Assembly. SB 215 incorporates CPUC reforms CFC had sought in SB 660 (Leno), which had passed unanimously in both the Assembly … Read More ›
PG&E Looking To Raise Fee On Green Energy
by Lizzie Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle
Early last month, the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. quietly filed an application to as much as double its exit fee for customers transferring to local green energy programs like CleanPowerSF. … It is ultimately up to the California Public Utilities Commission, which is scheduled to vote on the increase Thursday. If approved, it would take effect Jan. 1. … “It feels like an attack on local green energy programs,” [said Barbara Hale, assistant general manager for power for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission]. …“Did it knock us to the floor? No. Did we stagger? Yes. It’s up to the California PUC now.” Read More ›
CPUC Reform Bills On Governor’s Desk
by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle
SB660 implements the reforms the law firm called for and closes a loophole that allowed for secret meetings as long as they were one-sided and the commissioners did all the talking. Leno said he is hopeful that Brown will sign the bill. “We took some amendments and we stood our ground on others” in talks with the governor’s office, he said. The resulting bill was passed unanimously by both the state Senate and Assembly. “It is clearly a quality product on a very timely and important issue,” Leno said, adding that the bill would make a difference “to a commission suffering systemic problems.” Read More ›
California Senate OKs Requiring Warrants To Search Smartphones, Tablets
by Patrick McGreevy, Los Angeles Times
“What the bill does is brings our state statute into the 21st century to catch up with technology with regards to privacy,” [bill author Senator Mark] Leno told his colleagues. “Of course law enforcement needs a warrant before it can go into your mailbox and read your mail, but it does not currently need a warrant to read your emails or text communications or other electronic communications.” … Leno introduced a similar bill two years ago but it was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown. Read More ›
As An Insider Speaks Out, Chemical Industry’s Credibility Sinks
by the Editorial Board, The Sacramento Bee
Last year, Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, whose previous legislative attempts to restrict flame retardants had died in part because of [former industry lobbyist turned whistleblower Grant] Gillham, won approval of a bill requiring that products containing the flame retardants be labeled. Now, with Gillham as an ally, Leno is carrying a new bill, SB 763, which would require labeling of products for juveniles such as napping pads. It deserves passage, no matter what the American Chemistry Council says. Read More ›
SB 763: CFC, Firefighters, Environmentalists Back Disclosure Of Chemical Hazards In Children’s Products
The Consumer Federation of California (CFC) has joined with professional firefighters and environmental advocates to co-sponsor legislation letting parents know whether products they buy for their children contain ineffective and hazardous flame retardants. … These chemicals have been linked to reproductive harm, cancer and other human health hazards. Fire safety experts consider them to be ineffective in preventing household fires. Read More ›
CFC, Firefighters, Environmentalists Back Disclosure of Chemical Hazards in Children’s Products
SACRAMENTO – The Consumer Federation of California (CFC) has joined with professional firefighters and environmental advocates to co-sponsor legislation letting parents know whether products they buy for their children contain ineffective and hazardous flame retardants. Read More ›
SB 215 Sustains Drive For CPUC Reforms Originally Sought Via SB 660
1/27/15 update: The Senate passed SB 215 (Leno) 37-0 yesterday, sending the CPUC reform bill to the Assembly. The bill includes limits on “ex parte” (private) communications that CFC had sought in SB 660, which had passed both the Senate and Assembly last fall but was vetoed by Governor … Read More ›
Flame retardant bill wins important industry support
by Gary Cohn, Capital & Main
Furniture makers switched sides on SB 1019 after state Sen. Mark Leno agreed to clarify the definition of flame retardants. It’s still bitterly opposed by the chemical industry, whose campaign against regulation and public disclosure of flame-retardant chemicals is reminiscent of Big Tobacco’s fight against government controls. “The fact is that flame retardants have not been found to improve fire safety in our furniture and SB 1019 would provide consumers with truth-in-labeling for the first time,” said Judy Levin, pollution prevention co-director at the Oakland-based Center for Environmental Health. Read More ›
Survey: Most smartphone owners support kill switch; industry lobbyists remain opposed
by Jonah Owen Lamb, The San Francisco Examiner
With Senate Bill 962 (Leno) set to go to the Assembly floor Aug. 7, a majority of the public – 99 percent – backs laws requiring shut-off technology in smartphones to combat thefts. “The companies that make 97 percent of smartphones sold in the U.S. have removed their opposition to the bill, yet [CTIA-The Wireless Association] remains opposed,” Max Szabo of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office said. “It raises the question of whether these insurance giants are hiding behind this lobbying group in an attempt to protect the profits they’re reaping at the expense of public safety.” Read More ›
Smartphone “kill switch” bill facing unusual opposition
by Eric Rasmussen, KTVU
KTVU obtained a “floor alert” regarding Senate Bill 962 sent to members of the Senate by CTIA, a group representing the wireless phone industry. The memo includes an argument that requiring kill switches on phones could place victims of domestic violence in more danger if their abusers are able to remotely activate the technology. Some supporters of the proposed law aren’t buying the argument. Read More ›
Lawmakers reject bill requiring cell phone kill-switch
by Melody Gutierrez, San Francisco Chronicle
California state Sen. Mark Leno said a powerful and deep-pocked wireless communications industry killed his bill requiring antitheft technology on smartphones. With support from law enforcement, the bill requiring “kill switches” on mobile devices fell two short after nearly all Republicans and several Democrats voted against it, including senators Jim Beall, Ricardo Lara, and Norma Torres. Read More ›