Senator Stern’s bills to crack down on cyberbullying, extreme speeding, expand holocaust education, and enhance mental health services head to the floor for final votes
Senator Stern’s bills to crack down on cyberbullying, extreme speeding, expand holocaust education, and enhance mental health services head to the floor for final votes
SACRAMENTO (8/15/24) - Senator Henry Stern's legislative package addressing critical issues in mental health, road safety, education, and technology use made it out of Assembly Appropriations Committee and set to advance to the final stages of voting on the Assembly floor.
“These bills represent a holistic approach to some of the most pressing issues facing our most vulnerable—from mental health and road safety to education and technology use in schools. I am proud to see them move forward,” said Senator Stern.
SB 1277 HOLOCAUST & GENOCIDE EDUCATION: 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.
SB 1504 CYBERBULLYING: Would require social media platforms to respond to reports of cyberbullying in a timely manner and give victims and their parents and guardians more power to report and seek legal recourse if their pleas for help are ignored.
SB 1400 MIST: Improve upon Stern’s prior SB 317, removing the option for automatic dismissal in Medically Incompetent to Stand Trial (M.I.S.T.) cases and instead, mandating a hearing to determine diversion eligibility. It further requires hearings to assess alternative treatment options for those ineligible for diversion, permits MIST defendants facing DUI charges to access mental health diversion programs, and necessitates misdemeanor dismissals when defendants are committed to mental health treatment while facing felony charges.
SB 1509 EXCESSIVE SPEEDING CRACKDOWN: Adds 2 points to repeat offenders driving records for those exceeding the speed limit by 26 mph or more on roads with a posted speed limit of 55 mph or less. This legislation, aimed at addressing negligent driving behaviors on California's roads, seeks to enhance road safety and prevent future tragedies in the community. Among its proposed amendments to existing law, SB 1509 would classify convictions for driving over 26 miles per hour over the speed limit as a two-point violation against a driver's license on roadways with speed limits 55 mph and under. This measure comes in response to concerning statistics, with 34% of the state's yearly traffic fatalities being speed-related according to data from the CalTrans.