Full plate for lawmakers on final day includes minimum-wage, gun bills
SACRAMENTO -- California lawmakers enter the legislative home stretch Thursday, with plenty of work still to be done in the final day before the Legislature adjourns for the year.
There was a blizzard of action in the Capitol on Wednesday, with measures to ease prison overcrowding, further restrict firearms and regulate fracking, the controversial oil-extraction method, all clearing the Legislature.
But lawmakers still have a lot left on their plate when the action starts at 10 a.m.
They’ll consider a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $10 per hour by January 2016. Gov. Jerry Brown, in a rare endorsement of pending legislation, endorsed the deal Wednesday.
Some gun control efforts, including a measure to ban detachable magazines, still await final action.
The Legislature could also take up changes to the California Environmental Quality Act, the state’s landmark environmental protection bill. Senate leader Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) said late Wednesday that he was shelving his broad proposal to overhaul the law, which critics say hampers development.
But some CEQA reforms could still be in play. Steinberg said he would incorporate some of his reform proposals into another bill, which would streamline the construction of an arena for the Sacramento Kings basketball team.
Technically, the Legislature has until the end of Friday to finish its work for the year. But because the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur begins at sundown Friday, lawmakers are aiming to wrap up the session Thursday.
ALSO:
Legislators give bill on prisons quick passage
Gov. Jerry Brown backs minimum wage boost
California Legislature passes fracking regulation bill
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