In a busy few days of committee business in the Senate, several of state Sen. Mike McGuire’s bills moved forward with overwhelming support, as the North Coast legislator continues to take on some of the toughest issues facing the state.

This week, three critical bills were approved in their first committees:

SB 98 was approved in the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday. This critical piece of legislation supported by the California News Publishers Association, the ACLU and California Public Defenders Association, will ensure journalists are protected as they cover demonstrations, marches, protests, and rallies – protecting the freedom of the press. It will prohibit law enforcement officers from obstructing, detaining, assaulting, or otherwise preventing the press from fulfilling their constitutional mandate in reporting on these events. Additionally, the bill mandates that reporters can challenge their detainment or lack of access by working with law enforcement management on scene. This provides a necessary safety net to reporters who are not granted access or intentionally detained or mistakenly detained. In 2020, there were a record 800 incidents of reported aggression against members of the press, at protests and demonstrations alone.

SB 285, approved Monday in the Senate Business & Professions Committee with a unanimous 14-0 vote, will help get 600,000 hard-working hospitality employees back to work safely and strategically by provide $45 million to Visit California to launch a recovery campaign to drive in-state travel to the businesses that have been hit so hard – our state’s renowned restaurants, hotels, and local destinations. California’s hospitality industry is one of the hardest hit in the state. Half of California’s hospitality workers are on unemployment, California lost $78.8 billion in visitor spending in 2020 – a 54.5% decline and state and local governments lost $6.6 billion in tax revenues that fund vital local services like police, fire and public health and safety.

SB 206, approved Monday in the Senate Labor Committee with a vote of 5-0, provides equal protection for equal work for both seasonal and full time CalFire firefighters. This critical bill will provide seasonal firefighters the same workplace protections provided in the Firefighters Bill of Rights, passed in 2007, that full time CalFire firefighters are entitled to. California has become more reliant on seasonal firefighters over the last many years as the Golden State’s fire season has exploded: in 2020, more than 4 million acres – 4 percent of land in California – burned in a record-setting year. The smoke from these fires generated the equivalent emissions of 28 million vehicles and blanketed many parts of the state with unhealthy smoke for weeks. Seasonal firefighters, similar to their full-time peers, are on the front lines protecting Californians from the devastating fires that continue to ravage our state. It’s past time for the state to provide equal protections for equal work.

“These three bills are focused on some of our state’s biggest challenges: Investing in an economic recovery plan for hospitality workers and small businesses, protecting a journalist’s constitutional rights and equal protections for equal work for our state’s firefighters,” Senator McGuire said. “We’ll continue to work on these critical issues and we’ll never take our eye off our top priority: expediting vaccine distribution throughout Northern California,” Senator Mike McGuire said.

After being approved in each of their first committees, these bills will continue to move forward in the Senate for approval.