Press Releases

Thursday, June 15, 2017

(Sacramento) Today, Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer, Sr. (D-Los Angeles) presented AB 493 in the Senate Public Safety Committee and received unanimous votes to prohibit law enforcement from detaining a crime victim or witness solely for an actual or suspected immigration violation. 

Thursday, June 15, 2017

(Sacramento) Today, Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyer, Sr. (D-Los Angeles) presented AB 785 in the Senate Public Safety Committee and received unanimous support from the Senators to bar individuals convicted of a hate crime from owning a gun.

AB 785, the Disarm Hate Act, will close the loophole that exists within our gun control laws by adding hate crimes to the list of misdemeanors that result in a ban on the right to possess a firearm for ten years after being convicted.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

 

The funds approved by the California Strategic Growth Council are designed to help Californians drive less and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

SACRAMENTO, Calif., – Governor Jerry Brown has signed into law Assembly Bill 2013, by Assembly Member Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., a measure that extends probable cause determination hearings to out-of-custody defendants charged with a misdemeanor.

Previously, a defendant charged with a misdemeanor could only challenge the probable cause of his/her arrest if that person is currently in custody. If an individual is arrested and released, they cannot challenge the probable cause of their arrest until trial, wasting scarce court, public defender and district attorney resources on a meaningless trial.

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

SACRAMENTO – Friday, September 23, 2016 – Today Assemblymember Jones Sawyer (D-Los Angeles) is proud to announce that Governor Brown signed his bill, AB 1900, which allows for the disposition of the existing San Pedro Courthouse by the Judicial Council.

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

SACRAMENTO, Calif., – On August 30th, by a vote of 56-10, the California State Assembly gave final passage to AB 2013 by Assembly member Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., a bill that extends probable cause determination hearings to out-of-custody defendants.

Under existing law, a defendant can only challenge the probable cause of his/her arrest if that person is currently in custody. If an individual is arrested and released, they cannot challenge the probable cause of their arrest until trial, wasting scare court, public defender and district attorney resources on a meaningless trial.

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

SACRAMENTO, Calif., – Assembly Bill 2385, by Assembly Member Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer Sr., has successfully passed out of both the California State Senate and State Assembly and is on its way to the Governor's desk.  If signed into law, the bill would approve the state licensure of various medical cannabis businesses in the City of Los Angeles. 

The City of Los Angeles failed multiple times to regulate medical cannabis, but finally in 2013 it passed Measure D-- a ballot measure that allowed 135 dispensaries, all of which had been in business since 2007, to remain open, while banning others.  This measure, however, did not actually permit those 135 dispensaries to operate — which legal experts said, at the time, the city could not do because cannabis remains illegal under federal law.  Measure D merely said the city would not prosecute those 135 dispensaries.