California environmental groups and Democratic Party leaders blasted the Trump administration’s proposal Thursday to reopen areas off the state’s coastline to new offshore oil drilling lease sales for the first time since 1984.

Amid the recent wave of sexual harassment allegations in Hollywood, two California lawmakers introduced a bill that would require hotel employers to provide “panic buttons” to staff so they can summon help in potentially dangerous situations involving hotel guests.

A California bill was introduced on Wednesday, January 3, 2018, that requires hotels to provide hotel room cleaners with panic buttons, according to US media reports. 

CNBC reports that if the bill is passed, California will be the first to have a statewide law mandating hotels to have the panic button.

Two California state lawmakers Wednesday introduced a bill that would require hotels to provide housekeepers with a "panic button" to prevent violent assaults and sexual harassment.

Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, jointly introduced the so-called hotel maid "panic button" bill with Assemblyman Bill Quirk, D-Hayward. If it gets passed, it would make California the first in the nation to have a statewide law requiring hotels to provide employees working alone in guest rooms with a panic button.

Alarmed by a survey indicating sexual harassment of hotel housekeepers is widespread, a California state lawmaker on Tuesday proposed requiring employers to provide “panic button” devices to their employees so they can summon help if abused by a guest.

The bill to be introduced Wednesday by Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) would also require individual hotels to impose a three-year ban on guests who engage in harassment on the property.

State Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi plans to submit a bill during the next legislative session to clamp down on package theft rings by including their activities in existing RICO statutes. It would make organized package theft a felony.

The Assemblyman and his staff were the victims of package theft themselves, according to Muratsuchi. A package of official items was dropped off at a Huntington Beach-area UPS and “apparently never reached its destination,” Muratsuchi said.

As more and more people shop on the internet and have packages delivered to their homes during the holidays, beach city police departments are stepping up their vigilance to combat package theft.

State Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi plans to introduce a bill next session making organized package theft punishable under the RICO statute.

Eight Southern California refineries will provide fence-line air-monitoring data in real time and pay for the installation of similar systems covering communities near the plants by 2020 under a new rule unanimously adopted Friday by the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

The rule provides the regulatory and technical framework to implement Assembly Bill 1647, which required the two monitoring systems. It was authored by South Bay Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi and signed into law in October.

Peninsula High senior John Zuercher is getting ready to deliver what could be his biggest donation collection yet for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Long Beach with the help of State Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi’s office.

The football player started collecting donations for veterans when he started a Veterans Appreciation Club at his school last year.