• Assemblyman Kelly Seyarto's List of 2022 New Laws

A good source of information regarding pending legislation and/or new state laws is Assemblyman Kelly Seyarto... who will be on your ballot for State Senate this year. 

He sends out periodic email blasts with bills to keep an eye on or bills that have been signed into law. This edition deals with new laws that will be affecting all of us soon. 

Assemblyman Seyarto's list is worth looking at in its entirety, but I'm just concentrating on some of what he shared. Most of the new laws that I've listed are things that are going to make your life more difficult.

Below is copy and paste from the email, except the green boxes with my opinions.

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The 2022 Legislative Session has officially concluded, and the Governor has taken final action on all bills sent to his desk.

As your Representative, I want to be sure to keep you updated on some of the new laws that will be taking effect soon, especially since they may directly impact you and our communities.  

General Overview:

Total Bills Introduced in 2022 = 2055

• Assembly - 1383
• Senate – 672

 
Total Number of Bills Sent to Governor in 2022 = 1,166

• Governor signed 997 new laws (85.5% of them) and vetoed 169
   
• Assembly:
  • 80% signed authored by Democrats
  • 11% signed authored by Republicans
  • 9% signed were Committee bills
     
• Senate:
  • 82% signed authored by Democrats
  • 7% signed authored by Republicans
  • 11% signed were Committee bills

New Laws Of Interest:

Reminder: This is my pared-down list from Assemblyman Seyarto's original email. There is a link at the bottom that you can use to view the full contents of the email.

All laws take effect on January 1st, 2023, unless indicated in the language of the bill.
 

 Education:

• SB 955: Requires a school to excuse the absence of a student engaging in a civic or political event. Allows middle and high school students to request to be excused from school to attend various civic or political events, which can include strikes and political rallies, without any guarantee the parents of that student are aware of the student's absence. 
  
  Wildomar Rap opinion time

  
  
  

  I'm not a fan of Sacramento's constant overreach, especially when it comes to our children. We're all different, with different priorities. When it came to my three kids and their education, the only thing I wanted the schools to do was to teach the basic courses. Know your place!

Housing:

• AB 512: Allows the transfer of state highways to cities and counties for conversion into affordable housing, green space, transit-oriented development, and bicycle, pedestrian, and transit infrastructure.  
   
• SB 6: Establishes housing as an allowable use on any parcel zoned for office, retail, or parking.
    
• Wildomar Rap opinion time

  
  
  

  When you hear about some future crazy development in town, remember, Sacramento has been taking away local control bit by bit for decades... hitting high gear in recent years with no sign of a let up. 
  
  If we keep voting the same people in, we're only going to feel Sacramento's choking embrace around our necks all the more keenly. 

Labor and Small Business/Business: 

• AB 257: Unionizes California’s fast-food workers. Establishes a Fast Food Sector Council vested with broad authority to set labor and employment laws for the fast food industry, including franchises.
• Wildomar Rap opinion time

  
  
  

  I eat very little fast food, but I know that it is very popular. These types of laws will only make your driv-thru food more expensive... which, is already too expensive for me.


• SB 972: Lessens the equipment requirements, fees and design standards for street vendors. It also removes criminal penalties for health code violations, replacing them with fines.
  
  
• Wildomar Rap opinion time

  
  
  

  There was a reason why such penalties were created in the past. Do we want our brick-and-mortar places to survive or not?  At the same time, they have incredibly strict codes for vendors at park events. We're talking about HEALTH CODES. Ridiculous! 
• SB 1046: Prohibits a store from providing a "pre-checkout bag" to consumers as of January 1, 2025, if it is neither compostable nor a recyclable paper bag.  

  

  If you aren't familiar with the term "pre-checkout plastic bag" here's what they are.

  
  
• Wildomar Rap opinion time

  
  
  

  If they can be made compostable, then let's do it. I guess that it's good that I've gotten (somewhat) into the habit of not using them as much as I did in the past. Plus, these days, they seem to already have put fruit and veggies into their own bags. Eventually we're going to have to decide if five seconds of convenience is worth creating all this extra plastic garbage that didn't even exist half a generation ago, or not. 

  

  
  

Local Government:

• AB 2097: Precludes local government from imposing or enforcing a minimum automobile parking requirement on residential, commercial, or other development parcel if the parcel is located within one-half mile walking distance of a major transit stop. 
• Wildomar Rap opinion time

  
  
  

  Remember SB35 and how it paved the way for Tres Lagos? Maybe the state is changing and I can't see it, but in the world I see, people need personal transportation to live in this part of the country. If you've ever tried public transportation, as noble a cause as it is, you know that it simply doesn't cut it in the modern world that SoCal has become.


• SB 1100: Allows a presiding member of the legislative body to remove an individual for disrupting a public meeting. 
• Wildomar Rap opinion time

  
  
  

  This may be necessary for some jurisdictions, but I can say that in all the city or county meetings I've been to I've NEVER seen a single instance where such a thing would have been remotely necessary. Speaking of a situation where the Mayor or Planning Commission chair would have needed to have a member of the public removed.

Public Safety:

• AB 1228:  Limits the ability to hold a person on probation in jail pending adjudication of a probation violation. Requires a "catch and release" policy for criminals on probation in nearly all circumstances. 

• AB 2167:  Provides that "It is the intent of the Legislature that the disposition of any criminal case use the least restrictive means available” and requires the court presiding over a criminal matter to "consider alternatives to incarceration, including, without limitation, collaborative justice court programs, diversion, restorative justice, and probation."  Declares incarceration should be used only when necessary to prevent physical injury to others or in the interest of justice.
    
• SB 1223: Expands the eligibility criteria for criminal offenders to be granted mental health diversion (and thus, by definition, avoid a criminal conviction for their offense, including felony offenses).

• Wildomar Rap opinion time

  
  
  

  None of these types state laws over the past decade plus, that have dumbed down penalties for crime, have improved anyone's lives. Yet, here we are, with more and more of the same approach that has made California a lot less desirable than it was not all that long ago. 
  
  When is this pendulum going to start swinging back toward the middle?

 
Transportation: 

• AB 1909: Requires drivers to move over into an available adjacent lane before passing or overtaking a bicycle, and makes several other changes related to bicycles and electric bicycles. Requires motorists to yield an entire lane of vehicle travel to bicycles.
  

• Wildomar Rap opinion time

  
  
  

  I've ridden a lot of miles on bicycles in my lifetime. I'm all for maximum safety when cars and bikes use the same roadways. But whenever I've been on a bicycle I've understood that a car will flatten me if I tangle with it. If you're the type that insists on cars treating your bicycle as an equal, just understand that is a dangerous form of Russian roulette (maybe it should be called Schwinn Roulette). A game I'm never going to enter into. One where Mulligans aren't included and the consequences are devastating.

• SB 339: Creates a road usage charge pilot program to test the collection of a tax on each mile driven.
  
  

• Wildomar Rap opinion time

  
  
  

  We knew this was coming. I'm less worried about the EV drivers paying for using the roads as the rest of us do with every gallon of gas we purchase, but how will this kind of thing get twisted into some horrible club that Sacramento then uses as a cudgel against drivers in the future? 

Water:

• SB 1157: Mandates further water conservation requirements that water agencies must achieve for the indoor water use of California residents. Reduces the residential indoor water use standards from 52.5 gallons per person/day (gpcd) to 47gpcd for years between 2025-2030, and from 50gpcd to 42gpcd in 2030. This would likely be accomplished through increased water rates. 

• Wildomar Rap opinion time

  
  
  

  We live in a state that is basically a desert, and that goes for the entire region that is known as the Southwest. When the population was half the size as it is today, there was plenty of water, but with every additional person using water in California, it keeps deplenishing what we can use as families or individuals. I don't know what the ultimate answer will be, but it's safe to say that it's going to come with a big price tag.

If you would like to check on the status of any other legislation, please click HERE. 

I hope you found this informative and helpful. As always, it is my privilege to be your Representative in the California State Assembly.

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To see Assemblyman Seyarto's full list of new 2022 laws, be sure to use the link below. In the link, you can sign up so that you can stay up to date with all of his email blasts. 

Link

I'm happy to share Assemblyman Seyarto's endorsement.