From paid sick leave to helium filled balloons, it was a banner week last week at the state Capitol for bills. Lawmakers passed a slew of measures ahead of a key deadline. From Sacramento, Marianne Russ has a recap.
Lawmakers were hot on health and consumer bills. The Senate passed one bill allowing landlords to ban smoking in apartments and another requiring hospitals to report drug resistant infections to the State Department of Public Health. The Assembly OK’d a measure requiring employers to provide paid sick leave to all workers. On the public safety front, Senators gave the go ahead to the "Ocean Rangers." That's a measure creating a sort of police force for cruise ships sailing in California waters. And birthday party goers, beware. The Senate also approved a bill banning helium filled metallic balloons which apparently can get caught in power lines and cause outages. Finally, in a first nationwide, the state Assembly approved a bill that would allow the state public employees retirement account to offer IRA's to private sector employees.
