SACRAMENTO – As advocates rally across the nation today to urge Congress
to adopt comprehensive immigration reform, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.
signed legislation to enhance school, workplace and civil protections
for California’s hardworking immigrants.
“While Washington waffles on immigration, California’s forging ahead,” said Governor Brown. “I’m not waiting.”
Immigration reform advocates are rallying today in cities across the
United States to call on the U.S. House of Representatives to give legal
status to undocumented U.S. residents.
While gridlock continues in Washington, California continues to move
forward on immigration reform. On Thursday, Governor Brown signed AB 60,
extending the legal right to drive on the state’s roadways to millions
of Californians and in October 2011, Governor Brown signed AB 131, the California Dream Act.
The Governor signed the following bills today:
• AB 4 by Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) – Prohibits a law
enforcement official from detaining an individual on the basis of a
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hold after that
individual becomes eligible for release from custody, unless specified
conditions are met.
• AB 35 by Assemblymember Roger Hernández (D-West Covina) – Provides
that immigration consultants, attorneys, notaries public, and
organizations accredited by the United States Board of Immigration
Appeals are the only individuals authorized to charge a fee for
providing services associated with filing an application under the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security's deferred action program.
• AB 524 by Assemblymember Kevin Mullin (D-South San Francisco) –
Provides that a threat to report the immigration status or suspected
immigration status of an individual or the individual's family may
induce fear sufficient to constitute extortion.
• AB 1024 by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) – Allows
applicants, who are not lawfully present in the United States, to be
admitted as an attorney at law.
• AB 1159 by Assemblymember Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) – Imposes
various restrictions and obligations on persons who offer services
related to comprehensive immigration reform.
• SB 141 by Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) – Requires that the
California Community Colleges and the California State University, and
requests that the University of California, exempt a United States
citizen who resides in a foreign country, and is in their first year as a
matriculated student, from nonresident tuition if the student
demonstrates financial need, has a parent or guardian who was deported
or voluntarily departed from the U. S., lived in California immediately
before moving abroad, and attended a secondary school in California for
at least three years.
• SB 150 by Senator Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) – Authorizes a
community college district to exempt pupils attending community colleges
as a special part-time student from paying nonresident tuition.
• SB 666 by Senator Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) – Provides for a
suspension or revocation of an employer's business license for
retaliation against employees and others on the basis of citizenship and
immigration status, and establishes a civil penalty up to $10,000 per
violation.
