AB1991 passes Assembly, moves to the Senate

The California Assembly passed AB1991 by a vote of 45 to 19 at 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The bill needed 41 votes to pass, reports Julia Scott in the County Times. Assembly Republicans, who are in the minority, played a key role in pushing the bill out of the body. It faces an entirely new committee process in the Senate.

It took a while for members to come around to supporting the controversial legislation, or so it appeared. The first vote, in the early afternoon, was 19 yes to 12 no, with hardly any members voting even though the chambers were full. Mullin held the bill for a second vote later in the afternoon, which also failed with 35 yes and 15 no.

The objections from environmental groups caused Democrats on each committee that heard the bill to pause and some to vote against it, although Republicans came out strongly in its favor.

Mullin was counting on Republican support to pass AB1991, and the Republicans decided to withhold their votes for most of the day in a sort of political game to force the hand of some Democrats uncomfortable with supporting it, said Sara Ramirez, chief of staff in Mullin’s office.

"Before we went to the floor, we had support from the Republican caucus. They wanted some Democrats to sweat it out. I think they just found a bill they had control over," she said.

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The bill will likely pass through three Senate committees before heading to the floor, where it needs to receive a vote by Aug. 31 to meet the deadlines outlined in the agreement. If the bill fails, the city will owe Keenan $18 million plus 6 percent interest per year.