SACRAMENTO – The California Senate has overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan Safer California Plan, a package of bills aimed at addressing the fentanyl crisis and curbing retail theft and community-based crime.

Senate President pro Tempore Mike McGuire (D-North Coast) is coauthoring all 15 bills – 10 focus on evidence-based prevention and treatment solutions aimed at the fentanyl crisis and substance use disorder, and five are directed at preventing, deterring, and prosecuting retail theft and community-based crimes.

“The Senate’s Safer California Plan is a perfect example of what we can accomplish when we set aside party politics and work together to solve problems,” Pro Tem McGuire said. “These 15 evidenced-based bills will help curb the deadly fentanyl epidemic and the rising rates of retail theft and community-based crimes that are impacting communities up and down the Golden State. We look forward to working with the Assembly and Governor to get this comprehensive legislative package across the finish line, which will make this state safer and our communities healthier.”

The Safer California Plan has been widely acclaimed by law enforcement, firefighters, medical experts and addiction professionals. Click here to see what supporters are saying, and to read more from bill authors.

Bills included in the Safer California Plan and Senate votes are noted below:

Fentanyl

• SB 1319 (Wahab): Expedites approval of projects that expand the continuum of substance use disorder rehab facilities. Final vote: 39-0
• SB 1320 (Wahab): Requires health plans to develop a mechanism to reimburse providers who provide primary care and behavioral health integrated services. Final vote: 36-0
• SB 1385 (Roth): Supports navigators in hospital emergency departments and in the criminal justice system to ensure patients and justice-involved individuals are connected to evidence-based treatment for opioid use disorder and to ongoing treatment services. *Would include corresponding budget action to ensure navigators receive support training. Final vote: 39-0
• SB 1442 (Ochoa Bogh & Skinner): Empowers CalRX to supply California providers with vital United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) approved testing and health assessment equipment, which will allow access to affordable rapid response testing strips for diagnostics purposes. Final vote: 38-0
• SB 1468 (Ochoa Bogh & Roth): Educates and encourages providers to make use of the new federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) rule to allow practitioners to dispense a three-day supply of narcotic medication to start detoxification treatment or maintenance treatment for people who use opioids. Final vote: 38-0
• SB 908 (Cortese): Requires the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to spread awareness of the increase in opioid overdoses and develop guidelines to protect and prevent fentanyl-related deaths of children zero to five. Final vote: 38-0
• SB 909 (Umberg): Addresses physician shortages, including addiction medicine specialists, in underserved areas by eliminating the cap on the Steven M. Thompson loan repayment program for physicians who agree to provide direct patient care in an underserved area for 36 months. Final vote: 39-0
• SB 910 (Umberg): Establishes statewide standards used by collaborative courts to improve programming, drug testing, and medication-assisted treatment for individuals moving through the criminal justice system. Final vote: 39-0
• SB 950 (Skinner): Expands the number of re-entry hubs to provide more warm hand-offs and treatment options to individuals returning home from the criminal justice system. *Would include corresponding budget action to align state reimbursement models with federal rules to maximize funding potential. Final vote: 39-0
• SB 1502 (Ashby): Prevents illicit use and trafficking of Xylazine (aka “tranq”), an animal tranquilizer with no approved human use that is increasingly being found in the illicit drug supply and has been linked to rising overdose deaths across the country. Final vote: 38-0

Retail theft and community-based crime

• SB 1144 (Skinner): Disrupts the sale of stolen goods on online marketplaces by requiring that third-party sellers be certified, and bans sellers suspected of criminal activity from operating through online marketplace platforms. Final vote: 33-1
• SB 1416 (Newman): Increases penalties on professional organized retail theft in particularly significant large-scale resale schemes. Final vote: 39-0
• SB 905 (Wiener): Removes the locked door loophole for automotive property thefts.  Final vote: 38-0
• SB 982 (Wahab): Cements the work California has done on organized crime by making the law on organized retail theft permanent. Final vote: 39-0
• SB 1242 (Min): Requires courts to impose higher penalties on criminals who create fires in order to engage in retail theft. The higher penalties do not impact Proposition 47.  Final vote: 36-0

More information about the Safer California Plan can be found here.

En Español

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Mike McGuire is President pro Tempore of the California Senate. He represents the North Coast of California, which stretches from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border, including Del Norte, Trinity, Humboldt, Lake, Mendocino, Sonoma, and Marin counties. Website of Senate Leader McGuire: https://sd02.senate.ca.gov/