Senator Henry Stern Moves Eight Bills to Governor's Desk in Eventful Close to 2024 Legislative Session
SACRAMENTO-In the close to the 2024 Legislative session, Senator Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles) successfully advanced eight of his bills from the Senate floor to the Governor’s desk. This year has been marked by navigating complex amendments and shaping policies that promise to make a lasting impact on California’s communities.
Among the most notable pieces of legislation moved forward are SB 1277, SB 1400, SB 1504, and SB 1509 which are poised to transform education, mental health support, online and road safety across the state.
One of the major themes of Stern’s legislative efforts this session has been revolutionizing digital citizenship and enhancing online safety for California’s youth. With the passage of SB 1504, Stern emphasized the state’s proactive stance on addressing the dangers of social media and cyberbullying. The bill mandates a process for removing and blocking harmful online content, with the goal of creating a safer digital environment for children.
"We must do everything in our power to protect our children from the dangers of social media," Stern said. "By establishing a mandatory process for removing and blocking cyberbullying material and providing transparency to survivors and parents, we aim to create a safer online environment for all. These bills represent crucial steps towards protecting our youth and promoting equality in our schools."
Senator Stern also advocates for CA students though his work on holocaust and genocide education. SB 1277 establishes the Teachers Collaborative for Holocaust and Genocide Education as a statewide teacher professional development program. Led by the California Department of Education, the Collaborative will focus on educating teachers about the Holocaust and genocides of various peoples, including Armenian, Bosnian, Indigenous American, Cambodian, and Uyghur communities.
“Holocaust and genocide education is tough subject matter and we need to invest in more teachers who may struggle with teaching this tough subject matter,” said Stern.
In addition to his focus on youth and education, Senator Stern also emphasized the importance of supporting Californians who are Medically Incompetent to Stand Trial (M.I.S.T.) to call for urgent reforms to prevent people with severe mental illness who are arrested for misdemeanors and felonies from being released from jail without mental health care. This critical issue, which has been a recurring challenge in the state, was addressed through legislation aimed at providing real treatment and follow-up care for M.I.S.T. individuals, reducing overpopulation in both streets and jails.
"It is not fair that we process people and cut them loose. I refuse to stand by and watch our M.I.S.T. Californians neglected year after year," Stern said. "If you support this measure, you will help combat overpopulation on the streets and in jails with real treatment and follow-up care, which we know M.I.S.T. individuals desperately need."
Senator Stern’s SB 1509 “The NOT in California Act,” aimed at cracking down on extreme speeding in the state passed through the Senate floor with bipartisan support. The bill increases accountability for driving at dangerous speeds by assigning two points for repeat offenses of excessive speeding that occur within three years and creates a graduated fine schedule based on the number of violations within a year. The bill made it out of the Senate 36-1 and continues Senator Stern’s vision of creating a safer California.
"Speed kills,” said Senator Stern. “And in California, deadly speeding has become an epidemic since the pandemic, with working people and communities of color suffering the most.”
As the 2024 session draws to a close, Senator Stern’s ongoing efforts to protect the most vulnerable, safeguard children, and preserve the environment signal his continued commitment to enacting meaningful legislation that will benefit all Californians.