Grayson introduces 21 new bills in two-year legislative review

(Mar. 28, 2023) — For every two-year Legislative session, a member may introduce 50 bills.

This allows us to focus on a wide berth of issues, both big and technical, to help make our state a better place to live for all Californians. This year, I have introduced 21 bills.

As a critical response chaplain for the Concord Police Department, I have spent more than a decade working directly with first responders. I know first-hand the stresses they carry and the sacrifices they make.

In the past, I have authored legislation to support firefighters by making effective mental health services more accessible, and this year I’m working to continue that support. My bill AB 700 would establish the California Firefighter Cancer Prevention and Research Program to help us examine carcinogenic exposure, identify the biological mechanisms that cause cancer in firefighters and to ultimately reduce the incidence of cancer among California firefighters.

I’m proud to have the California Professional Firefighters sponsoring this bill and will be working hard to help reduce the risks firefighters face while protecting our communities.

Housing

Our housing and affordability crises are undeniably dire, and I’ll be prioritizing addressing these crises again this year. California averages fewer than 100,000 new units per year, and our state has never, in any year, produced more than 20,000 new affordable homes.

In order to simply keep pace with existing demand, which is not enough to address the crisis, we need to build 180,000 new housing units a year, including 80,000 units affordable to lower-income households. We will never reach these goals if we don’t pass measures to bolster production.

This year, I’m authoring and co-authoring a number of housing bills, including AB 281, which will help prevent costly delays in the post-entitlement building process and reduce barriers to housing production; AB 434, which will ultimately help reduce the cost of new housing development; and AB 821, which will help to facilitate desperately needed housing development and ultimately provide greater consistency and clarity with local government’s zoning ordinances.

It is my hope that with these bills, and others that I’m working on, the Legislature can make a serious impact on reversing our housing crisis and ensuring Californians can afford to continue to call our state “home.”

Cryptocurrency

I’m also re-introducing two bills that Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed last year. AB 39 would regulate cryptocurrency – an emerging financial product that is not issued or backed by the government – in order to give the industry necessary regulatory clarity to innovate responsibly and establish protections for consumers. AB 52 would provide a state tax credit for manufacturers purchasing equipment in order to allow the industry to attract new investments, generate growth and, ultimately, create more high wage jobs for Californians.

Both of these bills have received overwhelming support from my colleagues in the past, and I’m hopeful that this year we’ll see them signed into law.

If you’d like to learn more about the bills above or other legislation I’m authoring, please contact my Concord district office at 925-521-1511.