News Room: There Oughta Be A Law News

Earlier this year the Mercury News told the story of a dozen tenants crammed into a single home, being victimized by a landlord who was making thousands of dollars by continuing to rent rooms despite having lost the house to the bank in foreclosure.

As I discovered through my own experience, it’s shocking not only what some landlords will do, but also how little protection state law offers people looking to rent a room, a house or an apartment. Fortunately, state Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) is working to arm prospective tenants with better information by authoring legislation, Senate Bill 1191, that would require landlords to inform prospective tenants that the property is subject to foreclosure.

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In an oped article in the Contra Costa Times, breast cancer survivor Amy Colton writes:
In 2009, at age 47, I was shocked to be diagnosed with a later stage breast cancer. I was what you would describe as a “health nut.”. . . I followed my doctor’s instructions for regular checkups and screenings, including annual mammograms, starting when I was 40. Every year I received a form letter telling me that no cancer was found.

Mammography was unable to detect my cancer in an early stage because I have a condition called “dense breast tissue.”

The shock of my diagnosis and the ordeal of treatment I endured have made me determined to give other women a better chance of being diagnosed before their cancer has spread. That is why I am so heartened by the legislative approval of a resolution authored by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, to declare Aug. 8 to be “Are You Dense? Day.”

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When we were growing up, the drugs of choice for teenagers were beer and marijuana. So much has changed. Now, kids are into hard liquor and a variety of really dangerous drugs. Dextromethorphan (DXM) is one such drug. Taken as directed in products such as Robitussin and Coricidin, it is safe and effective. But when taken at higher doses, DXM can cause hallucinations, loss of motor control, vomiting, paranoia, numbness, lethargy, slurred speech and "out-of-body" sensations similar to PCP and LSD. But now, we fervently hope, the abuse of DXM will decrease. As of Jan. 1, a new law authored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, prohibits the sale of cold and cough medicines containing DXM to minors. read more ...

No, Sen. Joe Simitian isn't even thinking about trying to override Gov. Jerry Brown's veto of his bill that would have required doctors to inform women with high breast density that they have the condition -- which can mask tumors during mammograms. read more ...

For seven straight years since turning 40, Amy Colton religiously scheduled a mammogram. Every year, the test showed nothing.

Two years ago, however, the registered nurse was shocked to discover she was in the latter stages of breast cancer. Then she learned that her radiologist and primary-care physician knew she had a condition that blocks the detection of cancer cells in mammograms—but they never told her.

Now she’s even more shocked that California’s powerful medical lobby is trying to block legislation that would require physicians to tell women if they have the condition, known as “extremely dense breast tissue.”

“I’m the patient; it’s my body. But I was never informed,” said Colton, who lives in Soquel. “It just took my breath away.”

Colton took her complaint to Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, who introduced SB 173, which would require doctors to tell women if they have the condition.

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A new state law that takes effect Jan. 1 will add an extra layer of privacy for library users in the digital age.
California’s library privacy laws were created before the advent of the Internet and, as a result, an individual’s interaction with the library outside of circulation was not protected under state law until Gov. Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 445 earlier this month.

The bill was authored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, but inspired by Librarylaw.com founder Mary Minow, who also manages the Stanford Copyright and Fair Use website.

Minow proposed the legislation as part of Simitian’s “There Oughta Be A Law” contest.

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For seven years, Amy Colton did everything right. The registered nurse carefully followed a yearly mammogram routine and conducted monthly self-examinations, all in the hope of screening for breast cancer.

But after seven years of precaution, Colton was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009. Only later did she learn that women like herself with dense breast tissue are four to six times more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I was never informed that I had dense breast tissue,” Colton said. “Everyone should have this information about their own physiology.”

Using her own experience as motivation, Colton entered state Sen. Joe Simitian’s “There Oughta be a Law” contest in hopes of translating her idea of dense breast tissue disclosure into possible legislation. Her bill was one of four winners announced last week — two new bills and two previous winners that will be reintroduced after failing to make it into law in past years.

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With Sen. Joe Simitian’s “There Oughta Be a Law” contest in its 10th year, and having spawned similar contests elsewhere, The Christian Science Monitor writes that “disgruntled voters in a handful of states now have an outlet” to propose solutions.

“The movement began in California in 2001 and has now grown to about half a dozen incarnations from California to New York. Used by high school government class teachers for years, the idea of ‘do it yourself’ legislation was formally introduced by California State Sen. Joe Simitian nine years ago, when he began his contest named after a popular . . . comic strip.”

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The California Legislature has passed a resolution expressing “deepest regret” for the wartime internment, curfews, confiscations and other indignities that thousands of Italian and Italian American families faced.

When Mike Maiorana was a boy during World War II, his family was like a lot of others in his Monterey neighborhood. In 1942, his mother was declared an “enemy alien,” along with 600,000 other Italians and half a million Germans and Japanese who weren’t U.S. citizens. And when the government seized fishing boats for the war effort, Maiorana’s dad, a naturalized U.S. citizen, saw his livelihood go down the drain.

Families like the Maioranas last week received a formal acknowledgement from California. A measure that swiftly made its way through the Legislature expresses the state’s “deepest regrets” over the mistreatment of Italians and Italian Americans during World War II.

The resolution was the brainchild of a 79-year-old San Jose man, Chet Campanella, who entered a legislator’s annual “There Oughta Be a Law” contest.

Sen. Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto) sponsored a bill based on Campanella’s idea. “I was wholly unaware of the circumstances he described,” Simitian said. “Somehow this story had passed me by.” Simitian said he saw “contemporary importance” in the effort: “We’re at war on the other side of the world, and I think it’s important to remember that there are millions of Americans who are ethnic Arabs or Muslim by faith, and that they’re good Americans.

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More rigorous rules for installing red-light cameras at Inland-area intersections could be on the way, as a state senator combats what he feels is lax oversight of the operations and the reality that some cities are more interested in the revenue than road safety. But supporters of the status quo say the new rules will put the brakes on the cameras altogether by making them cost prohibitive.

As cameras go up around the state, officials would face more scrutiny and stricter standards when they propose them.  . . . Frustration over the fines and the cameras are what led Sen. Joe Simitian, D- Palo Alto, to propose a bill expanding the requirements for police and cities interested in the cameras.

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The state Senate passed a bill regulating the use of red light cameras Tuesday.

State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, introduced SB 1362, which establishes statewide standards for traffic enforcement cameras. The bill requires a history of collisions to justify the placement of cameras and that signs be posted warning motorists. It also makes challenging unjustified tickets easier

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It doesn’t happen often, but it’s oh, so aggravating: A driver gets a surprise citation in the mail for a violation in some city the driver – and his or her car – were never even near on the day of the alleged infraction.

Usually, it’s because someone wrote down the license plate number incorrectly. Readers tell us it takes work to get the matter cleared up.

Now, as part of his “There Oughta Be A Law,” contest for constituents, Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, is pushing a bill that forces cities to tighten their procedures for processing red light camera violations.

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Someone in Southern California keeps getting busted by red-light cameras — but Vera Gil of San Jose keeps getting the bill.

Gil, an administrator for the city of Cupertino, said she has received three red-light tickets in the past two years for violations she didn’t commit. It seems the cameras consistently misread a “D” on the Southern California driver’s license plate for an “O” on Gil’s.

After a frustrating experience trying to fight the tickets, Gil entered state Sen. Joe Simitian’s “There Oughta Be A Law” contest. Her proposal for new protections for drivers improperly cited by red-light cameras was one of three winners this year, Simitian announced Monday.

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State Sen. Joe Simitian says he remembers exactly where he was when he learned that a 24-year California Highway Patrol officer was struck by a vehicle and killed along Highway 17 on New Year's Eve 2005. read more ...

[F]or Los Altos doctor Jerome Blum, it's the wounds you don't see that concern him.... Simitian entered Dr. Blum's letter in his "There Oughta be a Law Contest" and out of over 400 entries, his won. By the end of 2008, Governor Schwarzenegger had signed Senate Bill No. 1401 into law. read more ...

Longtime Soquel resident Liz Levy and Ron Pomerantz of Santa Cruz are winners of state Sen. Joe Simitian's eighth annual "There Ought to be a Law" contest. Simitian's annual contest invites Californians to submit suggestions for new legislation. This year, the Palo Alto representative reviewed 331 entries. read more ...

State Sen. Joe Simitian today announced that a Soquel woman, San Carlos woman and San Jose fire captain are the winners of his annual "There Oughta Be A Law" contest. The contest, run for the past eight years by Simitian, D-Palo Alto, offers residents an opportunity to submit suggestions for new legislation. read more ...

The message is clear today: Put your cell phone down while driving. Beginning today, text messaging while driving is against the law and carries with it a $20 to $50 fine. The new law, authored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, closes the technology loophole left after the hands-free cell phone law went into effect last year. The new law is just one of the 834 bills signed into law in 2008 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. New federal, state and local laws that take effect Jan. 1, 2009 range from the naming of Devil’s Slide tunnel to the second consecutive year of minimum wage increases. A few of those laws were ideas suggested to state Simitian through his annual “There Oughta Be A Law” contest. Simitian passed 14 bills, including ones that regulate deceptive sweepstakes practices and expands the small business loan program. read more ...

In Silicon Valley's famous "trees vs. solar panels" battle, the trees have won. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a bill into law Tuesday that guarantees if California property owners plant a tree before a neighbor installs solar panels on their roof, then the neighbor can't require the tree to be cut or trimmed, even if it grows to cast shade on the panels. State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, wrote the bill in response to a Sunnyvale case that made national news and threatened to touch off statewide backyard battles as residential solar power installations grow in popularity. read more ...

Los Altos Hills resident Dr. Jerome Blum is on the brink of realizing a long-held dream as legislation he authored to benefit veterans awaits final approval in the state assembly. Blum said he was thrilled that the California State Senate passed SB 1401, his “Helping California Veterans Get the Help They Need” bill, with a vote of 38-0 April 17. read more ...

With the return of rain to the Bay Area, drivers should remember to flip on their headlights whenever it's coming down hard enough to turn on their windshield wipers. After all, it's the law. A subsection of the California Vehicle Code, amended in 2004, requires drivers to turn on their lights anytime their wipers are "in continuous use because of rain, mist, snow, fog or moisture." read more ...

The people who live in my Senate district wonder about things. For example, why does so much unused medication go to waste when so many people can't afford drugs? Can't we do something to protect senior citizens from unscrupulous mortgage lenders? Why don't drivers turn on their headlights when they're out in the pouring rain? "There oughta be a law," my constituents told me, to see that the right thing gets done. I agreed. The Legislature and the governor agreed. And now there are laws that permit drug redistribution programs, protect seniors who get reverse mortgages, and require "wipers on, lights on" when we're driving in bad weather. read more ...

It's not environmentally safe to flush expired or unused medications down the toilet, so what's a consumer to do? Few drugstores accept them for safe disposal. Now, however, Leiter's Pharmacy in San Jose is offering to do just that on a regular basis for anyone willing to come to its Park Avenue storefront. read more ...

Palo Alto - A lot of stuff goes down the toilet that probably should not, for instance unwanted and expired prescription drugs. But the efforts of one Northern California teen helped put a new law into place that requires pharmacies to take back and properly dispose of the drugs. 18-year-old Rebecca Kassel looked into the issue, created her own website and campaigned for the new law. She was aided by State Senator Joe Simitan of Palo Alto, who holds an annual "There Ought to be a Law" contest. read more ...

How do you dispose of your leftover or expired medications? Do you flush them down the toilet or throw them in the trash? Do you leave them in your medicine cabinet until you move? read more ...

When state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, learned that medications are polluting waterways nationwide, he decided to do something about it. His idea, which several San Diego County sewage agencies are expected to vote today to support, is to require pharmacies take back outdated or unneeded medications so residents don't flush them down the toilet. read more ...

Four Bay Area residents, including one Redwood City Elementary School Board trustee, won this year’s “There Oughta Be a Law” contest sponsored by state Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto. read more ...

If you've ever come across an issue or problem and thought, "there oughta be a law" about that, then this next story should interest you. State Senator Joe Simitian has announced the winners of his annual contest to see which Californians could come up with the best new bills. From Sacramento, Marianne Russ reports. read more ...