Governor Brown signed Assemblyman Mike Gatto’s (D-Burbank) legislation to protect children from identity theft.  AB 1580 will allow parents to freeze their children’s credit with bureaus to prevent identity thieves from opening fraudulent credit accounts and ruining their credit scores. 

“In an era where hackers have stolen millions of records including names, birth dates, and social-security numbers belonging to children, AB 1580 will give parents practical tools to protect their child’s financial future,” said Gatto, a member of the Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee.

Current law allows parents to freeze a child’s credit only after the child has become a victim of identity fraud.  However, because children don’t typically have accounts or check their FICO scores, the damage caused by identity thieves is often not discovered until years later, when a child applies for a student loan, a job, or a credit card. 

“Children start out with a clean slate, which has made them the most sought-after target for cybercriminals.  In fact, a recent child-identity theft study found that 10.2% of the children in the study had someone else using their social-security number; a rate 51 times higher than adults in the same population sample,” said AB 1580 co-author, Asm. Jacqui Irwin.

“California needs to protect its youngest citizens.  This change is long overdue,” said Gatto.

Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Burbank) introduced legislation to address the illegal use of disabled parking placards in cities across California.  Today, there are approximately three million disabled parking placards in use in California—in other words, one in every eight drivers has one.  While placards are most often used responsibly and for legitimate reasons, irresponsible and fraudulent placard use has become a significant concern.

AB 2602 will force the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to proactively retrieve expired parking placards, require individuals to reapply for parking placards upon expiration, and allow local jurisdictions to charge motorists displaying placards for the cost of parking, as long as the city offers sufficient, genuine parking options for disabled individuals.

“California has been a leader among the states in providing equal opportunities to individuals with disabilities,” said Gatto.  “However, there are people who are trying to game the system and are taking parking away for every person struggling with a disability.”

Multiple news investigations have caught swindlers in the Los Angeles area using placards belonging to friends and relatives, including a deceased relative and a disabled sibling.  Other investigative reports showed hidden-camera footage of people fraudulently using placards at an airport, at meters in front of the gym they worked out, and of a man selling placards on Craigslist.

“AB 2602 will benefit the disabled by making sure that those who genuinely need a parking spot have access to one, instead of that spot being taken up by someone committing fraud on the system,” Gatto stated.  “This is an important bill for making sure our parking system is fair for everyone.”

California State Assemblymembers Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore), Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) and Mike Gatto (D-Burbank) today proposed new student privacy protections to ensure that students’ personal information like Social Security Numbers are appropriately protected at the school district level. The legislation is prompted by a recent decision to turn over the records of 10 million California public school students to a private organization.

A recent ruling in Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Association, et al. v. California Department of Education compelled the school system to provide sensitive information  – including social security numbers, mental health and medical information – for students dating back to 2008 to a parents group in Santa Clara County. Assembly Bill 2097 would prohibit school districts from gathering social security numbers and other sensitive unnecessary information for students except where required by federal law.

“As a mom, I’ve seen my kids’ schools over the years request social security numbers, medical information, and other private information that they don’t need or have a right to,” Gonzalez said. “Rather than expecting parents to have the knowledge and capacity to fight to protect their child’s privacy, we should get schools out of the business of asking in the first place.”

“Our school districts are collecting personal information about our children that is neither legally required nor necessary for their education,” Melendez said. “With identity theft at an all-time high, our focus should be on protecting our students, not exposing their personal information unnecessarily”

“During an era of omnipresent intrusion in our lives and increasingly frequent data breaches, all levels of government should be taking steps to safeguard our sensitive, personal information—especially where it involves our children,” Gatto said.

The authors of AB 2097 today also called on California school districts to proactively provide the existing objection form provided by the California Department of Education to parents, and encourage parents to take advantage of the opportunity to lodge their objection to this exposure of personal and private information about their children across the state.

Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Burbank) was appointed chairman of the Assembly’s formidable Utilities and Commerce Committee, overseeing legislation that regulates public utilities, natural gas, energy (including renewable energy), common carriers, entities like Uber/Lyft, and general commerce in the state.  He replaces Assembly Speaker designee Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood).

“I thank Speaker Atkins and my colleagues for giving me the opportunity to serve as chairman of this key committee,” said Gatto.  “I’m looking forward to continuing my predecessor’s excellent work, and ensuring that we craft sound policies in these critical subject areas.”

Chairman Gatto also announced that the committee will open an inquiry into the Porter Ranch gas leak, and hold a hearing in the same Los Angeles suburb, where residents have been coping with noxious fumes for months.

“The people have questions regarding how this could happen and whether there is a risk that it could happen again,” said Gatto.  “It is up to those of us who represent the people to find some answers.”

This will be Gatto’s third chairmanship.  He previously served as Chairman of the Assembly Committee on Appropriations (which sets legislative fiscal policy), and the Assembly Committee on Consumer Protection & Privacy.   Gatto has also served as Assistant Speaker Pro Tempore.

Today, Governor Brown signed AB 1164, legislation that will prohibit local governments from banning water-conscious landscaping at private residences while preserving the ability of cities and counties to set aesthetic and environmental standards.  As California enters its fourth consecutive drought year, Assemblyman Gatto wants to protect homeowners who install water-efficient landscaping, and encourage others looking reduce urban water use to do the same.

In some California cities, including Glendale, local ordinances limiting the installation of drought-tolerant landscaping prevent homeowners from doing their part to save water during the drought.  When Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Burbank), the principal co-author of last year’s California Water Bond and numerous other water-efficiency bills, heard from constituents that cities in his district were fining residents for replacing water-intensive lawns with realistic looking synthetic grass, he amended AB 1164 to provide relief to residents.

“Californians are doing their best to protect our state’s precious water resources when they spend their own hard-earned money to invest in water-efficient technologies,” said Gatto.  “Intruding on a homeowner’s private property and fining them for doing the right thing sends the wrong message and is counterproductive to our water-saving efforts.”

Homeowners attempting to install drought-tolerant landscaping have come up against a number of barriers throughout the state, from bans on artificial turf to requirements that a landscape be completely covered in live-plant material.  The installation of drought tolerant landscaping necessitates the use of a variety of materials including mulch, hardscape, and live plants and this bill seeks to equip homeowners with as many tools as possible to save water. Additionally, AB 1164 recognizes and affirms the ability of cities and counties to set appropriate standards for the use of drought-tolerant landscaping, synthetic grass, or artificial turf, including water-permeability requirements and limitations on how much land may be covered by certain types of materials.

AB 1164 is Assemblyman Gatto’s latest in a years-long series of bills aimed at water conservation.  Last year, he authored AB 2282, which required California to adopt building standards for recycled water in newly constructed commercial and residential buildings.  That same year, Gatto carried AB 2636, a measure that created the CalConserve program, a $10 million revolving-loan program to finance water-efficiency projects for home owners and businesses.  Other water-efficiency legislation by Gatto includes AB 2230 (2012), which requires all new carwashes to use 60% recycled water, and AB 849 (2011), which fostered the use of graywater technology. Both bills are considered pioneering legislation drafted with forethought and prior to the drought.

“AB 1164 empowers Californians to conserve water,” explained Gatto.  “With 60% of residential water going to lawns and other outdoor uses, it’s time for government to stop being part of the problem.  This legislation will allow water-conscious residents to diversify their water-saving efforts.”

The legislation will take effect immediately.

Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Burbank), joined by members of his committee on Consumer Protection and Privacy, authored AB 1116, a bill to protect Californians from television voice-recognition features that could surreptitiously record private conversations in the home.  Today, Governor Jerry Brown signed the measure which also prevents private conversations from being used or sold for advertising purposes.

The bill will require manufacturers to ensure that users of internet-connected televisions are prominently informed that their voices may be recorded and transmitted back to the manufacturers or third-party providers.  AB 1116 also prohibits manufacturers from using or selling for advertising purposes, any voice recordings collected for the purposes of refining the voice recognition feature of a television.  As such, it preserves the ability to control a television with voice commands, or to do a Google search using a television, but prohibits manufacturers from using recorded speech to generate targeted advertisements.

“Smart TVs and voice-recognition technologies are innovative and convenient tools, but giving up our right to privacy in the home because we want to utilize voice-command features to change the channel is simply unacceptable,” said Gatto.

Much to the dismay of civil libertarians, reports have surfaced that televisions can record and transmit private conversations back to the manufacturer or a third-party without the knowledge of the user.  While some manufacturers have inconspicuous warnings tucked away in their user manuals, consumers are largely unaware that what they say can be monitored, recorded, and transmitted to a third party, say, for targeted advertising.  “It might be a little creepy if the family discussing financial issues finds themselves receiving targeted commercials from bankruptcy attorneys as they watch their favorite show,” said Gatto.

“AB 1116 will give the consumer the ability to individually determine the level of privacy protections inside their home,” Gatto said.  “We’re not trying to stymie technological advances or fetter profit margins.  The television industry has survived for over half a century without knowing what I said to my wife during an episode of The Bachelor.”

The law will take effect January 1, 2016.