SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — California communities struggling with decaying and contaminated properties will have new tools available to revitalize these sites now that Assemblyman Mike Gatto’s (D-Los Angeles) AB 440 has cleared the Assembly with a bipartisan vote of 75-1. Changes to state law made in 2011 made it unclear whether local governments could [...]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Calif. Assemblyman Mike Gatto’s bill to address the epidemic of hit-and-run offenses in Southern California and other parts of the state moved to the Senate today following a unanimous vote of 74-0 of the full Assembly. The legislation, AB 184, provides an additional tool to law enforcement officers investigating hit-and-run [...]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Today, Calif. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced the following appointments: First, Laura Alarcon, 57, of Sacramento, has been appointed chief of the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services at the California Department of Consumer Affairs. Alarcon has served in multiple positions at the California Department of Insurance since 2008, [...]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — The Calif. State Senate today approved SB 380 by Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) on a bipartisan vote of 35 to 2. The bill would set standards to prevent the arbitrary shutdown or interruption of cell phone service. The bill now moves to the Assembly for consideration. “SB 380 establishes a [...]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — Calif. Assemblyman Mike Gatto’s (D-Los Angeles) bill to improve California’s fuel standards passed the Assembly by a vote of 77-0. AB 278 would ensure that so-called “green” fuels do not in fact harm the environment. California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) was created to reduce emissions from burning fuels. It [...]

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — S.F. Mayor Edwin M. Lee today announced that four new businesses have signed leases in the Central Market neighborhood, including digital music service Spotify, which has signed a lease for 13,500 square feet of office space in the Warfield Building on Market Street. Three other businesses are joining Spotify [...]

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — This past week, Mayor Edwin M. Lee and the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) announced that QB3 will develop a new biotech incubator at 953 Indiana Street in San Francisco’s Central Waterfront area. The incubator will be called “QB3@953”and will advance QB3’s work to support life science companies [...]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ –A tiny bug that causes huge problems is one step closer to being eradicated, says Calif. Assemblyman Mike Gatto. Huanglongbing (HLB), a disease spread by the Asian Citrus Psyllid, infects citrus trees and destroys them. There is no known cure. The disease has almost destroyed China’s citrus industry, and Florida has [...]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — On Friday, Calif. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments: First, Stephanie Shimazu, 43, of Sacramento, has been appointed chief counsel at the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Shimazu has been an attorney at the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs since 2013. She [...]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. /California Newswire/ — The California State Senate today approved SB 361 by Senator Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) on a bipartisan vote of 29 to 9. The bill would modernize California’s voter registration system and increase online access to elections information. The bill now goes to the Assembly for consideration. “While many states provide online [...]