Committee advances a slate of bills on housing, AI, arbitration, antitrust and public safety; votes placed on call

At a single multi-hour hearing the committee considered a broad agenda and voted to advance many measures to subsequent committees. Lawmakers and stakeholders debated bills on Care Court (SB 27), arbitration clauses (SB 82), reparations framework and genealogy (SB 437 and SB 518), algorithmic rent-setting (SB 52), AI safety and public compute (SB 53), a joint resolution rescinding prior calls for an Article V constitutional convention (SJR 1), CEQA vesting protections for projects permitted under community plans (SB 611), nuisance-abatement liens (SB 757), algorithmic pricing and antitrust updates (SB 295 and SB 763), and protections for undocumented higher-education students forced to withdraw due to immigration enforcement (SB 307).

Many of the measures advanced with committee motions to move them to the next relevant committee (Health, Appropriations, Privacy and Consumer Protection, Public Safety) for further analysis, appropriations or amendment. Several hearings featured large public turnout and sharply divided testimony, in particular for the Care Court, the reparations/genealogy bills, and the bills…