California lawmakers approve bill to take Flamin’ Hot Cheetos out of schools

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LAWMAKERS PASS FLAMIN’ HOT CHEETO BAN, OTHER MEASURES

It’s “House of Origin” week, when California bills face a deadline to pass out of either the Assembly or Senate. That means lawmakers have been extra busy, taking part in extended floor sessions where they debate a variety of bills.

One such bill to emerge from the scrum was Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel’s AB 2316, which would ban food products like Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and Fruit Loops with certain chemical food dyes found to be toxic to humans from being served to students in California schools.

That bill cleared the Assembly floor Tuesday by unanimous vote, 59-0, though 21 lawmakers from both parties abstained from voting on it.

“California has a responsibility to protect our students from chemicals that harm children and that can interfere with their ability to learn,” Gabriel said in a statement.

That bill goes on to the Senate now.

Lawmakers approved a host of other bills, as well, including:

• AB 1780, by Assemblyman Phil Ting, which bans legacy admissions at private California universities.

• AB 1858, by Assemblyman Chris Ward, which prohibits schools from conducting hyper-realistic shooting drills.

• AB 2584, by Assemblyman Alex Lee, which limits corporations’ ability to mass-purchase homes.

• AB 3080, by Assemblyman Juan Alanis, which requires porn websites to verify users’ ages.

• SB 915, by Sen. Dave Cortese, which gives local jurisdictions the ability to regulate autonomous vehicles.

• SB 1116, by Sen. Anthony Portantino, which allows striking workers to claim unemployment insurance benefits.

• SB 1174, by Sen. Dave Min, which prohibits local governments from enacting voter ID requirements.

• SB 1446, by Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, which limits retailers’ ability to use self-service checkout stations.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“If we are to make impactful change, it is imperative that we bring all stakeholders to the table and not work in silos creating echo chambers that may prove or have proven detrimental to our communities’ safety.”

- Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, R-Yucaipa, in a statement supporting an audit of the effectiveness of the 2014 ballot measure Proposition 47, which reclassified a number of drug- and theft-related offenses from felonies to misdemeanors.

Best of The Bee:

• Man arrested for second week in a row during Sacramento City Council meeting, via Theresa Clift.

• California lawmakers approve bills to ban grocery, retail stores from offering plastic bags, via Andrew Sheeler.

• Can the California Coastal Commission decide if trans women get to surf in women’s competitions? Via Jenavieve Hatch.

• Vince Fong won the California special election to replace Kevin McCarthy. Here’s his plan, via Gillian Brassil.

• California bill bans school districts from ‘outing’ transgender students to their parents, via Andrew Sheeler and Jenavieve Hatch.

• California is facing a nursing shortage. Community colleges might be a solution, via Emma Hall.

A previous version of this story incorrectly listed the status of SB 1327, the media tax credit bill. That bill is still awaiting a floor vote.