Jimmy Gomez in CA legislative records

On Abortion: Allow nurses to perform non-surgical abortions

• Existing law makes it a public offense, punishable by a fine not exceeding $10,000 or imprisonment, for a person to perform or assist in performing a surgical abortion if the person does not have a valid license to practice as a physician and surgeon.
• This bill makes an exception for performing an abortion by medication or aspiration techniques in the first trimester of pregnancy if the person holds a license to perform the necessary functions.
• The bill would also require a nurse practitioner, certified nurse-midwife, or physician assistant to complete training to comply with standardized procedures or protocols.
• The bill would delete the references to a nonsurgical abortion as a punishable offense.

On Civil Rights: Eliminate "gay panic" tactic for criminal defendants

Legislative Outcome: 8/26/14: Passed Senate, 25-9-6; 8/27/14: Passed Assembly, 58-15-6, including AYE vote by Rep. Jimmy Gomez; signed by Gov. Brown

On Drugs: Reduce drug possession from felony to misdemeanor

• Existing law provides that the unlawful possession of opiates, opium, opium derivatives, mescaline, peyote, tetrahydrocannabinols, and cocaine base, is a felony punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years.

  This bill would make the unlawful possession of any of those substances punishable as either a felony punishable in county jail or as a misdemeanor punishable in a county jail for not more than one year.

OnTheIssues Explanation: "Tetrahydrocannabinols" means marijuana and its derivatives. The failure of this bill joined a series of similar bills to reduce penalties for marijuana usage. Only medical marijuana usage is currently legal in California. (Jimmy Gomez voted YEA).

On Education: Allow student sports choice based on gender identity

This bill would require that a pupil be permitted to participate in sex-segregated school programs and activities, including athletic teams and competitions, and use facilities consistent with his or her gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on the pupil's records.

Status:Bill passed House, 46-25-8; passed Senate, 21-9-8; approved by Governor, August 12, 2013. (Jimmy Gomez voted YEA).

On Education: Replace school achievement testing with progress testing

• Existing law implements a standards-based achievement test, the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program.
• This bill would delete the STAR Program, and instead establish the Measurement of Academic Performance and Progress (MAPP), for assessment of elementary & secondary pupils.
• The Legislature intends that public school accountability evolve beyond its narrow focus on pupil test scores to encompass other information about school performance, including pupil preparedness for college and career, as well as the high school graduation rates.

OnTheIssues Explanation: MAPP meets the new federal Common Core standards, while STAR met the previous federal No-Child-Left-Behind standards. Voting for the MAPP standards implies support of Common Core. (Jimmy Gomez voted YES).

On Education: Allow bilingual education in public schools

• Existing law requires that all children in California public schools be taught in English.
• Public referendum Proposition 227 specifies that English learner pupils be educated through sheltered English immersion.
• This bill would remove those requirements and allow parents to choose a language acquisition program that best suits their child.
• This bill would include a new public referendum vote to replace Proposition 227.

OnTheIssues Explanation: In 1998, California voters passed Proposition 227, which banned bilingual education. This new law repeals Proposition 227, and hence re-institutes bilingual education. 80% of non-English-speaking in California public schools speak Spanish, but bilingual education could apply to other languages as well. (Jimmy Gomez voted YEA).

On Energy & Oil: Slow down fracking until scientific study is completed

• This bill would require, by 2015, an independent scientific study on well stimulation treatments, including acid well stimulation & hydraulic fracturing.
• Regulates disposition of well stimulation fluids.
• The bill requires a permit prior to performing a well stimulation treatment.
• Requires a supplier claiming trade secret protection for the chemical composition of additives used in a well stimulation treatment to disclose the composition to the division.

OnTheIssues Explanation: "Fracking" extracts more oil and gas from otherwise non-productive wells. The controversy includes that fracking causes earthquakes (hence the "scientific study"), as well as issues about disposal of the large volumes of potentially toxic liquids used. This bill slows the implementation of fracking. (Jimmy Gomez voted YEA).

On Energy & Oil: Charge Ahead: 1,000,000 zero-emission vehicles by 2023

Existing law provide vouchers to help California fleets to purchase hybrid and zero-emission trucks and buses. This bill would establish the Charge Ahead California Initiative, to place in service at least 1,000,000 zero-emission and near-zero-emission vehicles by January 1, 2023, and to increase access for disadvantaged, low-income, and moderate-income communities to zero-emission and near-zero-emission vehicles.

Legislative Outcome: 8/27/14: Passed Assembly, 53-24-2, including AYE vote by Rep. Jimmy Gomez; 8/28/14: Passed Senate, 26-11-3; 9/21/14: signed by Gov. Brown.

On Environment: Establish new regional groundwater sustainability agency

• Impose fees, and provide technical assistance to entities that use groundwater to promote water conservation and protect groundwater resources.
• Publish on its Internet Web site best management practices for the sustainable management of groundwater.
• Submit a groundwater sustainability plan to adopt regulations.
• Conduct inspections and, because the willful refusal of an inspection lawfully authorized by an inspection warrant is a misdemeanor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Legislative Outcome: 8/27/14: Passed Senate, 26-11-3; 8/29/14: Passed Assembly, 47-28-4, including AYE vote by Rep. Jimmy Gomez; signed by Governor Brown

On Environment: $48M for funding hybrid and zero-emission vehicles

• Existing law establishes the Air Quality Improvement Program for the purposes of funding projects related to improvement of air quality.
• The Clean Vehicle Rebate Project promotes the production and use of zero-emission vehicles and the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project to help California fleets to purchase hybrid and zero-emission trucks and buses.
• This bill would loan $30,000,000 to the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project and the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project.
• This bill would loan $10,000,000 to be expended only for the Heavy-Duty Vehicle Air Quality Loan Program.
• This bill would appropriate $8,000,000 to be expended for the purposes of the enhanced fleet modernization program.

On Environment: Establish new regional groundwater sustainability agency

• Impose fees, and provide technical assistance to entities that use groundwater to promote water conservation and protect groundwater resources.
• Publish on its Internet Web site best management practices for the sustainable management of groundwater.
• Submit a groundwater sustainability plan to adopt regulations.
• Conduct inspections and, because the willful refusal of an inspection lawfully authorized by an inspection warrant is a misdemeanor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

On Government Reform: Voted YES on pilot program for all-mail-in ballots

• This bill would, until 2020, authorize San Diego County to conduct, as a pilot program, an all-mailed ballot special election to fill a congressional or legislative vacancy.
• The bill would also authorize the county to process vote-by-mail ballots beginning 10 days before the election.

OnTheIssues Explanation: The states of Washington, Colorado and Oregon require all of their elections to be run entirely by mail. California is experimenting with the same idea in this bill, recognizing that a growing number of Californians prefer to vote-by-mail anyway. The "10 day" provision allows counting to begin before election day, to address the problem that several races were decided a week after election day, due to counting starting on election day. (Jimmy Gomez voted YES).

On Government Reform: Voted YES to amend Constitution to overturn Citizens United

• WHEREAS, Corporations' rights should be more narrowly defined than rights afforded to natural persons; and
• WHEREAS, Corporations should not be categorized as persons for purposes related to elections; and
• WHEREAS, The U.S. Supreme Court, in Citizens United v. FEC (2010), held that the government may not, under the First Amendment, suppress political speech on the basis of the speaker's corporate identity;
• This measure calls for a constitutional convention to propose an amendment to the US Constitution to limit corporate personhood for purposes of campaign finance & political speech.

OnTheIssues Explanation: The Citizens United ruling gave rise to "Super-PACs" which can spend unlimited money on political advertising by unknown donors. This resolution seeks to overturn the Supreme Court by a Constitutional Amendment.

On Gun Control: Voted YES on wider definition of assault rifles

• Existing law defines as assault weapon as a semiautomatic, centerfire rifle that has the capacity to accept a detachable magazine, or a semiautomatic weapon that has a fixed magazine with a capacity to accept 10 or more rounds.
• This bill would add to that definition a semiautomatic centerfire rifle without a fixed magazine even if it accepts fewer than 10 rounds.

Status: (with 2 additional bills voted & vetoed in same week)
• 9/10/13: SB-374: wider definition of assault weapons: Passed House 44-31-3, passed Senate 21-15-3, Vetoed by governor
• 9/11/13: AB 48: Banning large capacity magazine conversion kits; Passed House 46-30-2, passed Senate 22-14-3, Approved by the Governor.
• 9/12/13: SB 755: 10-year prohibition on firearm purchases by people convicted of crimes (expanding list to include more misdemeanors); Passed House 45-28-5, passed Senate 25-12-2, Vetoed by governor

On Health Care: Expand Medi-Cal eligibility for ObamaCare

The Legislature finds:
• The United States is the only industrialized country in the world without a universal health insurance system.
• 46 million Americans did not have health insurance.
• The Affordable Care Act is the culmination of decades of movement toward health reform
• As a result of the Affordable Care Act, , by 2019, between 1.2 and 1.6 million individuals will be newly enrolled in Medi-Cal.
• It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, including the Medi-Cal expansion for individuals with incomes below 133% of the federal poverty level.
• This bill would implement the Affordable Care Act by modifying provisions relating to determining eligibility for Medi-Cal.

Status:Bill passed Assembly, 54 -24-1; passed Senate, 28-8-3; approved by Governor, June 27,2013. (Gomez voted YEA).

On Immigration: Voted YES on driver's license for undocumented immigrants

• Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to require an applicant for an original driver's license or identification card to submit satisfactory proof that the applicant's presence in the United States is authorized under federal law.
• This bill would require the department to issue an original driver's license to a person who is unable to submit satisfactory proof that the applicant's presence in the US is authorized under federal law if he or she meets all other qualifications for licensure and provides satisfactory proof to the department of his or her identity and California residency.

OnTheIssues Explanation: Undocumented immigrants have no federal authorization; this bill allows them to get a state driver's license regardless of their lack of federal authorization.

On Technology: Ban drone use for photography on private property

Bill excerpt: A person is liable for physical invasion of privacy when the person knowingly enters onto the land or into the airspace above the land of another person without permission or otherwise commits a trespass in order to capture any type of visual image, sound recording, or other physical impression of the plaintiff engaging in a private, personal, or familial activity and the invasion occurs in a manner that is offensive to a reasonable person.

Legislative record: Passed Senate 40-0-0; passed House 78-0-2 Aug. 27; signed by Governor Oct. 6 (Rep. Jimmy Gomez voted AYE)