Gail Pellerin_CA_Assemblymember_interviewed 2026-02-20 on KZSC's Bushwhackers Breakfast Club

"2-year bills" had a January deadline to pass out of their House of Origin - Assemblymember Pellerin's bill on Janus Services passed out of the Assembly, & is now in the Senate (it would allow a campus like Janus to have an umbrella license, simplifying inspections & administration); Assemblymember Pellerin reviewed the bills she has submitted or will submit today as this year's bill package - it includes AB1548, the Monterey Bay Area Stewardship Authority, or MBASA, for creative funding solutions that support conservation & stewardship; AB1668, on Open Space Property Tax Exemption; AB1736 on Deceptive Lobbying; AB1988, the "Pause Act" (using 988 because that's the mental health hotline #), which would require chatbots to pause for 20 minutes & a real human to come on the line if there's a risk of suicide; once a bill is submitted, there's a "30 days in print" rule before any hearings can happen; once a bill is assigned to a policy committee by the Rules Committee, the Assemblymember & her team advocate on behalf of their bills, & negotatiate; discussion of last night's town hall with 1st District County Supervisor Manu Koenig - both gave 5-15 minutes of prepared comments before Q&A; questions about 3 housing projects being built with the "builder's remedy"; one local landlord said that he has vacancies for the first time in a long time, so that there's a view toward rent stabilization, & maybe even decreasing rents; Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas has initiated a review of a handful of bills that were passed, to see what worked (& what hasn't) - Assemblymember Pellerin has one, AB2496, which was passed as a Band-Aid for 10,000 foster kids who were to be removed from their homes due to foster agencies getting hit by claims - it was to allow kids to stay whiel working on a longer term solution, but the Assembly never got a report, so they will now hold hearings in the Policy Committee that heard the bill initially, as they have the expertise; that bill sunsets in 2027, & may need to be renewed (with a new bill?) if there hasn't been enough progress. An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan","Golden Voice Gene" & "DJ Spark Plug", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.