Today, Senator Thomas J. Umberg (D-Santa Ana), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 623 the Fair Medical Billing & Rideshare Safety Act, legislation that protects accident victims from unnecessary treatment and excessive medical charges while strengthening rideshare safety and accountability.
Today, the California State Senate passed the Legislative version of the 2026-27 budget. The Senate and the Assembly will now enter negotiations with the Governor to reach a final version of the budget. This vote brings us one step closer to finalizing a responsible spending plan that puts Californians first.
Today, Senator Thomas J. Umberg (D-Santa Ana), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced the launch of Hands Off Our Elections, a new initiative aimed at protecting California voters and defending the state’s authority to administer free, fair, and secure elections.
California Democratic lawmakers are pushing to advance a package of election-related bills they say would protect the state's voting system from potential federal interference ahead of the November general election.
In response to President Donald Trump’s allegations of voter fraud in the California primaries, state Sen. Tom Umberg launched an initiative he calls “Hands Off Our Elections” and spotlighted two Senate bills pending Assembly approval, one a safeguard against any effort by Trump to tun for a third term and one barring ICE from polling places. Umberg and others also addressed claims that Trump’s crackdown on mail-in ballots was reminiscent of Jim Crow-era voter exclusion.
Today, Senator Thomas J. Umberg (D-Santa Ana), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced new legislation in response to the nearly catastrophic chemical plant incident that occurred in Garden Grove last month.
May was a challenging month for many families in our district as the Garden Grove chemical emergency forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate their homes and brought daily life across the community to a standstill.
For six days over a holiday weekend, a chemical tank in an Orange County aerospace plant threatened to explode, and more than 50,000 people had to leave while crews figured out how to stop it. The tank kept getting hotter. A valve in the tank’s cooling system had failed. Officials used drones to read the tank’s temperature from the outside. Ground crews set up an “unmanned ground monitor” — a portable water cannon — blasting water across the tank’s side.