Press Releases

SACRAMENTO – Governor Jerry Brown has just signed a bill by State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) to prohibit forced or coerced sterilizations in prisons.

Senate Bill 1135 is a response to media reports from the Center for Investigative Reporting last year of unlawful and coercive sterilization of female inmates at the Central California Women’s Facility and Valley State Prison for Women that were occurring as late as 2010. An inmate advocacy group, Justice Now, helped bring these stories to light.

SACRAMENTO –  Following months of work to identify state drought funding for a Lake Cachuma emergency pumping project, State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) and Assemblymember Das Williams (D-Carpinteria) announced today that significant progress is being made. In a recent meeting Jackson and Williams had with leaders of the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) and the Department of Water Resources (DWR), these agencies indicated a funding announcement will likely be made in coming weeks.

SACRAMENTO – A bill by State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) to ban offshore oil drilling from an area of state waters in the Santa Barbara Channel known as Tranquillon Ridge stalled on the Assembly Floor this evening, effectively killing the bill for the year. The vote was 29-36.

SACRAMENTO – A bill by State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), introduced in the wake of the Isla Vista rampage, passed out of the Senate today on a unanimous, bipartisan vote and now heads to Governor Jerry Brown for approval. The vote was 32-0.

Senate Bill 505 requires that local law enforcement agencies develop policies encouraging officers to conduct a search of the Department of Justice’s Automated Firearms System, California’s database of gun purchases, prior to conducting a “welfare check” on a person who is potentially a danger to themselves or others.