In The News

On Wednesday, the Senate Special Committee on Pandemic Emergency Response convened an oversight hearing on workplace health and safety issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. The hearing featured two panels with the first focused on state activities related to prevention, outbreaks, and enforcement activities from representatives of the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR), California Division of Occupational Health and Safety (Cal/OSHA), and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). The second panel featured perspectives from essential workers and employee labor unions.

Sacramento, Calif.- Today, Senator Lena A. Gonzalez (D- Long Beach) will chair the first in a series of Senate oversight hearings by the Special Committee on Pandemic Emergency Response since the end of the California legislative session. The oversight hearing will shed light on workplace health and safety issues during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on sectors with essential workers. The hearing’s findings will be used to help prevent future outbreaks and develop accountability measures for those employers who haven’t followed state public health and safety guidelines during the pandemic.

Samuel Garrett-Pate, Equality California

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Today, Governor Newsom signed SB 1255 –The Equal Insurance HIV Act by Senator Lena Gonzalez (D- Long Beach) and the Senate Committee on Insurance. The Equal Insurance HIV Act will end the unjust practice of insurance companies discriminating against HIV-positive individuals. For more than thirty years insurers have been allowed to deny life and disability income insurance coverage based solely on a positive HIV test and this bill now signed into law is a significant step forward to reflect the advancements in medical treatments for people living with HIV and to ensure HIV positive individuals and their families have access to life and disability income insurance.

By Harry Saltzgaver, Executive Editor  

Lena Gonzalez has had a most unusual welcome to the California state Senate.

Gonzalez jumped from representing the First District on the Long Beach City Council to a state Senate seat in 2019, after Ricardo Lara won election as the state Insurance Commissioner. With support from Lara and her former boss Mayor Robert Garcia (when he was First District councilman), she easily defeated Jack Guerrero, 70%-30%, in the June 4, 2019, special election.

Por: Lena A. González / Especial para La Opinón 07 de Septiembre 2020

Nuestro país y nuestro estado siguen en crisis. El impacto de COVID-19 se ha sentido en todas partes: desde nuestros hogares hasta nuestros hospitales, desde nuestras tiendas hasta nuestras escuelas; la vida cotidiana se ha transformado para todos.

Lawmakers in California have approved a bill that would prohibit life and disability income insurance providers from denying coverage to HIV-positive individuals. 

The Equal Insurance HIV Act, sponsored by Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach), passed the Senate 39-0 after being unanimously by the State Assembly as part of a larger omnibus bill.

Khmer Girls in Action, a nonprofit active in the Long Beach Cambodian community for 23 years, has been selected as the 2020 California Nonprofit of the Year by Senator Lena Gonzalez.

“On behalf of our members, alumni, board & staff, Khmer Girls in Action would like to thank Senator Lena Gonzalez for this recognition!” Associate Director and founding member, Sophya Chum, said. “It is an honor to continue to work alongside leaders who advocate for the health and well-being of women, youth and our communities.”

(CAL MATTERS) 

33rd District Senator and former Long Beach Councilmember, Lena Gonzalez’s “Broadband For All” bill passed out of the Senate floor on Friday, June 26.

The senator’s first bill, SB 1130, passed on a 30-9 vote.

The bill aims to bridge the digital divide by ensuring equal access to high speed, reliable and “open-access digital infrastructure” for rural and urban communities, according to Senator Gonzalez.

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the digital divide in Latinx households with limited access to the internet, at a time when it is essential.