IN THE NEWS

California’s underground puppy trade ‘raises serious alarms’ and demands for state action

Lawmakers and animal welfare advocates say California must address “disturbing” findings in a Los Angeles Times investigation into the state’s lucrative underground puppy resale market, and called on state officials to end the practice of destroying crucial pet import records.




OC Diaper Bank receives funding to stay open two more years

State Sen.Tom Umberg knows the importance of diapers.

Umberg (D-Santa Ana) has seven grandchildren, and he said six of them are 3 or younger.




Tom Umberg: PAGA reform will provide relief and support for both workers and businesses

California’s Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) has served as a critical enforcement tool, designed to address the shortcomings of state labor agencies. PAGA enables employees to act as private attorneys general, pursuing penalties for labor code violations that might otherwise go unchecked.




Could the Angels lose their Angel Stadium lease? New state audit to probe land deal

What if — and this is a very big if — the Angels found themselves without a place to play beyond this season?




Sacramento Snapshot: Legislative effort to ensure ‘extremists’ can’t serve in the California Guard

While there are already procedures in place for the National Guard to discharge members, the bill is meant to cut through some "murkiness" in those guidelines




Meet California’s chief gatekeeper for AI rules

California lawmakers want to enact some of the most ambitious, first-in-the-nation regulations on artificial intelligence,




Bill to let cities help state with rogue rehabs dies despite wide support and making sense

Column: State Sen. Tom Umberg's bill racked up unanimous support. Then it was killed.




Daily Journal: Our Justice System is Finally Warming up to Tech

PDF of full article attached. This piece contains legal commentary on Senate Bill 241 (Umberg, Statutes of 2021). Senate Bill 241 revolutionizes our justice system by expanding access to our courts and incorporating greater uses of remote technology.




Tom Umberg: California’s fentanyl crisis demands a strong legislative response

107,500 people died last year of drug-related deaths — over 21,000 in California alone. Illegal drugs are now the number one cause of death for those between ages 24-45. To put that into perspective, more people died of drug-related deaths last year than the number of service members lost in the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan combined. This is a level of death and destruction that should frighten every parent, teacher, health professional, cop and lawmaker.