Why It Matters

Assembly Bill 794—titled the California Safe Drinking Water Act: emergency regulations—comes as concerns rise nationwide about the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in products and waterways.

PFAS encompass thousands of human-made chemicals found in everyday items like nonstick cookware, firefighting foams, grease-resistant food wrappers, water-resistant clothing and a multitude of other items. PFAS, known as “forever chemicals” because of the long time they take to break down, can cause harm in large amounts.

What To Know

California Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat, proposed the bill out of fears that current federal limits for certain PFAS in drinking water, which were established by the EPA last year under the Biden administration, could be repealed by the Trump administration.

If it becomes law, the bill will allow the State Water Resources Control Board to set PFAS limits for drinking water that are as or more protective than the EPA’s limits in place on January 19, 2025, a day before President Donald Trump took office.

The bill could preserve or strengthen the current limits, even if the Trump administration changes or repeals them.

Within days of taking office, Trump authored a slew of executive orders that had sweeping impacts on government agencies and initiatives. One such initiative was a drafted proposal from the EPA that would limit PFAS in industrial wastewater. Trump withdrew the plan when he issued an executive order to freeze any new federal regulations pending review from the White House.

However, the action didn’t affect the limits on six PFAS established by the EPA last year. Gabriel’s bill strives to ensure that remains the case for California.

During the breakdown process, PFAS can leach into the soil and the water supply. The chemicals also threaten water when products containing them are dumped onto the ground or into lakes and rivers.

High levels of certain PFAS can cause heightened cholesterol, decreased vaccine response in children, changes in liver enzymes, increased risk of high blood pressure or preeclampsia in pregnant women, decreases in birth weight and an increased risk of kidney or testicular cancer, according to an Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry webpage dedicated to PFAS.

What People Are Saying

California Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, in a report by The Hill: “Californians shouldn’t have to worry that their drinking water has been contaminated by toxic forever chemicals that are linked to deadly cancers and other serious health harms.

“Unfortunately, we have seen recently efforts by corporate polluters to challenge the federal standards. They’re trying to weaken and roll back these protections that are so essential for our communities.”

What Happens Next

The bill was introduced on Tuesday and is pending approval. A majority vote is required to pass the bill through the Assembly.

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Some California lawmakers want to eventually ban all tobacco sales in the nation’s most populous state, filing legislation to make it illegal to sell cigarettes and other products to anyone born after Jan. 1, 2007.

If signed into law, it would mean by 2073 people wanting to buy cigarettes would have to show ID to prove they are at least 67 years old. “We can ensure that the next generation of children in California do not become addicted to smoking,” said Assemblymember Damon Connolly, a Democrat from San Rafael and the author of the bill.

The proposal is likely to face strong opposition from the tobacco industry, which would fight to maintain access to its largest U.S. market. If the ban were to become law, the industry could sue to block it. It could also challenge the ban at the ballot box, asking voters to stop it from taking effect. “(The ban) will impact a lot of jobs and it will have a repercussion throughout the economy of California,” said Charles Janigian, president of the California Association of Retail Tobacconists.

Connolly and others are confident the ban would survive if they can get it passed the Legislature. It’s modeled after a similar law New Zealand enacted last year that bans the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after Jan. 1, 2009. In the U.S., the city of Brookline, Massachusetts, passed a local law banning the sale of tobacco products within its borders to anyone born after Jan. 1, 2000 — a law that so far the courts have allowed to remain in effect.

In 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law banning the sale of most flavored tobacco products in the state. The tobacco industry asked voters to block the law, but in November voters allowed it to take effect. “This is a logical next step of that,” Connolly said. “The goal here is to lead, to actually change the conversation beyond our state’s borders and really try to move the needle forward in the direction that favors public health.”

The bill would not penalize people for using or possessing tobacco products. Instead, it would fine retailers for selling to them. Connolly said he’s open to amendments that might create an exemption for religious and cultural uses. But he said the ban would not impact marijuana, which is legal to smoke recreationally in California. “Tobacco products and marijuana are not an apples to apples comparison,” he said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says smoking marijuana includes many of the same toxins and cancer-causing chemicals found in tobacco smoke. The agency says more research is needed, but said limited evidence has shown a connection between chronic marijuana smoking and testicular cancer. The ban could also eliminate income for the state, as California collected more than $1.5 billion in tobacco taxes in 2021, according to the California Department of Tax and Fee Regulation. “At the end of the day, the state is the net loser,” Janigian said.

Connolly said the ban would save taxpayers money, citing the “tremendous impacts of nicotine and tobacco on our public health system.” “Preventing the next generation of Californians from becoming addicted to smoking should be a priority for anyone who cares about the public health of our state and the well-being of our children,” Connolly said.

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Most Californians would be banned from owning or purchasing body armor, such as a bullet-proof vest, under a bill now being considered by state lawmakers. Assembly Bill 92, introduced by Assemblyman Damon Connolly, D-San Rafael, comes as a response to many high-profile mass shootings where the shooter wore body armor. That includes the 2015 massacre in San Bernardino, where two people wearing tactical gear killed 14 people at a holiday gathering. State and federal law already prohibit people convicted of a violent felony from possessing body armor. AB 92 would make it a misdemeanor for anyone outside of a specified profession to own body armor. In its current form, the bill exempts law enforcement officers and members of the military, armored car guards and security guards, firefighters and paramedics, firearms dealers and body armor salespeople, building safety inspectors and code enforcement officers. The bill also makes it a felony to commit violence with a firearm while wearing body armor.

“Simply put, the widespread availability of military-grade body armor helps mass shooters and criminals kill more people,” Connolly said in a statement. “It is clear that the sale of body armor has empowered violent criminals, including mass shooters, to harm, kill, and prolong their rampages. This ongoing and unnecessary epidemic of violence must be stopped and AB 92 will help protect innocent bystanders and our peace officers.” While body armor is expensive and rarely used by criminals in most crimes, according to NPR, there has been an uptick in mass shooters wearing it during their attacks. At least 21 mass shooters have worn some form of body armor over the last 40 years, according to The Violence Project, which studies gun violence. The majority of those cases were in the last decade.

AB 92 likely will be heard in committee later this spring.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California has among the lowest death rates nationally among pregnant women and new mothers, but the numbers for Black mothers tell a different story.

They were six times more likely to die within a year of pregnancy than white women from 2014 to 2016 and had a higher rate of death than Black women nationally from 2014 to 2017, the most recent time frame for which data is available.

A bill before Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom aims to change that. Nicknamed the “Momnibus” bill, it would collect more details about pregnancy-related deaths, diversify the experts looking at that data and require them to recommend ways to reduce racial gaps. It also would expand access to doulas and midwives, whose presence can drive better care.

“If you really want to address the issue, it is going to take a serious investment and resources, whether that means providing every Black mother a doula or really investigating what’s happening when Black mothers die,” said Jen Flory, policy advocate for the Western Center on Law and Poverty, which supports the bill.

Newsom backed past efforts to improve care for Black pregnant women by requiring implicit bias training for health care workers involved in perinatal care, and he’s made support for women and mothers a priority for his administration. But his Department of Finance opposes the bill because the $6.7 million price tag for expanded data collection wasn’t included in the state budget. Newsom hasn’t said whether he’ll sign it.

Among wealthy nations, the United States ranks poorly in maternal death rates, and California’s effort is part of a national push to improve outcomes. During his campaign, President Joe Biden lauded California’s efforts to reduce deaths, and in April he proclaimed Black Maternal Health Week.

There are two ways to track deaths: The maternal mortality rate, used globally, counts deaths during pregnancy and within 42 days of giving birth. The pregnancy-related mortality rate, used in California and some other states, tracks deaths within a year of giving birth. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looks at both, though data lags and isn’t available to compare across states for the latter measure.

Earlier this month, the California Department of Public Health released a report tracking California’s outcomes from 2008 to 2016. Maternal deaths within a year of pregnancy hit a low in 2012, with fewer than 10 per 100,000 live births. It ticked up to about 14 deaths in 2016, slightly behind the national rate of almost 17 deaths. Using the maternal mortality rate, California ranked only behind Illinois for lowest death rates in 2019.

But the rate for Black women was far higher. From 2014 to 2016 in California, about 56 Black women died per 100,000 live births, compared to 13 Asians, 11 Latinas and fewer than 10 whites. Nationally, Black women died at a rate of nearly 42 per 100,000 live births from 2014 to 2017. California’s Black women died at six times the rate of white women, up from three times the rate in 2008.

“The reality is there is a disparity between Black and white women and it’s not getting better,” said Kimberly D. Gregory, director of maternal fetal medicine at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and former member of the California’s pregnancy surveillance committee.

The committee plans to release data on pregnancy-related deaths through 2020 by next year. It relies on grant funding.

The bill by Democratic Sen. Nancy Skinner aims to write the committee into state law and strengthen its data collection and duties. It would require the committee to have 13 members, including doctors, midwives, doulas and community advocates and would include a tribal representative. Most of its current members are doctors.

The committee would investigate every maternal death and allow for voluntary interviews of family members to better understand what happened. The committee would have to publish its findings and recommendations every three years. It would also look into pregnancy-related deaths among LGBTQ people.

“We can make better decisions about prevention, intervention, systems changes, not only at the hospital level but at the community level,” said Mashariki Kudumu, director of maternal and infant health initiatives for the March of Dimes, Greater Los Angeles, which is a cosponsor of the bill. “What comes with diverse and different perspectives are better changes to systems that improve care.”

Kudumu is also trained as a doula. Newsom in his state budget made doulas a covered benefit under Medi-Cal, the state’s health insurance program for low-income people, following states including New York and Illinois. Doulas are trained to assist and advocate for women in pregnancy and during and after birth. Research shows their presence reduces pregnancy complications and low birthweight babies.

The benefit takes effect next year, and the bill before Newsom would establish a group to study its use. The proposal also expands training for midwives.

Kudumu said she’s helped women stick to their birthing plans in the face of pressure from doctors and provided them with breastfeeding and lactation support.

She knows the value from personal experience. When Kudumu delivered her son prematurely she felt disrespected by the doctor because she’s a Black woman who was on Medi-Cal at the time while she was in graduate school.

Kudumu had to fight to ensure her son got breastmilk instead of formula while he was in the newborn intensive care unit. She remembers the doctor’s attitude changing when another doula at the hospital came up to greet her.

“We want to make sure that this resource — that evidence shows improves health outcomes — is more accessible to people,” she said.

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