Legislative Update (SB-363 and SB-591)

SB 363 (Pan): Workplace Safety

Today, the California State Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment, and Retirement passed through the AFSCME sponsored bill, SB 363. This bill would require the State Department of State Hospitals, the State Department of Developmental Services, or the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to report the total number of assaults against employees at each facility operated by the respective department monthly to the bargaining unit of an employee affected by an assault. The bill passed with a 5-0 vote. The bill now heads to the Senate Appropriations.

SB-591 Incarcerated persons: health records.

Yesterday, the California State Senate Public Safety Committee passed the AFSCME sponsored bill SB 591. This bill would require the disclosure of information between a county correctional facility, a county medical facility, a state correctional facility, a state hospital, or a facility of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, to ensure the continuity of health care of an inmate being transferred between those facilities. This bill would require that the prisoner be evaluated by a practicing psychologist from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and that those psychologists be given access to a prisoner being temporarily housed at other facilities. The bill passed with a 6-0 vote. It now heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Not Present: Senator Holly Mitchell (D)