Next week will be a busy one for the Alliance in the California legislature, with an array of bills scheduled for hearings. The most high profile of these bills is AB 125 by Mervyn Dymally (D-Los Angeles), a bill to equalize the penalties for possession of crack cocaine for sale to the penalties for the same crime involving powder cocaine. Thanks to everyone who has sent letters in support of this bill - you are doing important work to end California's pattern of institutionalized racism in sentencing. We will present these letters to the Committee at next week's hearing, so please keep them coming! If you have not yet sent one, you can do so here.
 
Another Alliance-sponsored bill that will be heard next week, AB 296 by Gloria Negrete McLoed (D-Chino), would combat the state's heptatis C epidemic by focusing efforts where they will have the most impact for the least money--the prisons--where over a third of California's inmates and 40% of parolees are  infected with the virus. The bill mandates harm reduction education and voluntary screening, so that prisoners can be cured of the infectious disease before being released to communities.
 
There are also bills being heard next week that the Alliance will seek to kill in committee.
 
One, AB 253 by Greg Agzhazarian (R-Stockton), would make using a controlled substance in the presence of a minor a felony punishable by 16 months to 2 or 3 years in prison. This legislation would discriminate against women, who are more likely to be custodial parents. It is also completely unnecessary - because such an action is covered under existing laws against child abuse and endangerment - and harmful, due to its "incarcerate first" approach that undermines families. 
 
Another priority to stop is AB 46 by Mimi Walters (R-Laguna Niguel) that would put MDMA (ecstasy) on the schedule of controlled substances in the most restrictive category--Schedule I.  Ms. Walters' bill flies in the face of science, seeking to suppress current research into the psychotherapeutic benefits of treatment with MDMA, and seeks to make it easier for prosecutors to lock up the thousands of nonviolent ecstasy users in California. 

The Alliance's hardworking Sacramento staff will be present at all these hearings to advocate for reason, compassion and justice in California law.