Session continued to pick up pace throughout April, with committees I’m on like Judiciary seeing the bulk of bills make their way to. Next month will see the Governor’s May Revise for the state budget, which will occupy much of the Legislature’s attention until passage in June.
California state lawmakers are calling for an audit of the state's February bar exam that was plagued with technical issues, concerns over AI-generated questions, and now, one of the highest pass rates of any spring exam since 1965.
Today, Senator Thomas J. Umberg (D-Santa Ana) announced that his package of three bills seeking to address fraud and abuse in California’s substance use disorder treatment system have all advanced through their numerous and respective policy committees in the Senate.
The safety and well-being of our community is always of utmost importance, which is why I am proud to participate in National Fentanyl Awareness Day on April 29, 2025.
An influential California legislator is pressuring the State Bar of California to ditch its new multiple-choice questions after a February bar exam debacle and revert to the traditional test format in July.
Someone passed a box of tissues to Sequoyah Thiessen. Child abuse, she told the Senate Health Committee, drove her to drugs at age 15. But at 22, she vowed to get sober. Thus began a hellish descent into California’s private-pay, insurance-money-fueled segment of the addiction treatment system. “Treatment,” she told the senators, was an oxymoron there. She endured violence, sexual harassment, emotional manipulation, cult-like environments, grotesque living conditions, forced relapses, constant displacement.
Senator Thomas J. Umberg, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a statement today in response to Federal Bureau of Investigations Director Kash Patel’s announcement on X this morning that a Wisconsin Judge had been arrested.
Yesterday, Senator Thomas J. Umberg (D-Santa Ana) introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 66 to commemorate May 1st as Law Day in California and recognize the unprecedented attack on the legal system from President Donald J. Trump.