On Thursday, the California Assembly Public Safety Committee killed several bipartisan bills that would have imposed meaningful consequences on fentanyl traffickers who are killing hundreds of Californians every month with poison-laced counterfeit drugs, while advancing bills to study the issue and increase coordination between different levels of law enforcement.
The bills advancing out of the committee were AB 33 (Bains), to establish a Fentanyl Addiction and Overdose Prevention Task Force; AB 474 (Rodriguez) to prioritize cooperation between state and local law enforcement to disrupt fentanyl trafficking organizations; and AB 701 (Villapudua), which enhance penalties for selling large quantities of specified controlled substances.
The committee killed AB 367 (Maienschein) to add a sentencing enhancement for fentanyl dealers who kill or seriously injure people they sell the drug to; and AB 1058 (Jim Patterson) to increase penalties for those possessing large quantities of fentanyl.
The bills passing the committee will move on to the Assembly for vote. ■
