Monday Must Reads: Governor Signs Livestock Antibiotics Ban; Brown Vetoes Family Leave Bill

Stories you shouldn’t miss:

1. Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation making California the first state in the nation to ban the routine use of antibiotics in livestock, the Bay Area News Group$ reports. The new law is designed to stem the proliferation of so-called “super-bugs,” antibiotic resistant bacteria that thrive on factory farms and kill an estimated 23,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Starting in 2018, agribusinesses in California will be prohibited from routinely injecting healthy livestock with antibiotics.

2. The governor vetoed two labor-backed bills, including legislation that would have expanded unpaid family leave in California, the AP reports (h/t Rough & Tumble). Brown also vetoed legislation that would have barred mandatory employee arbitration agreements. The powerful California Chamber of Commerce lobbied heavily against the bills, calling them “job killers.”

3. Brown signed legislation banning the use of the term “Redskins” as a school mascot or team name in California, the SacBee$ reports. Indigenous people have long sought to outlaw the racist term. The governor, however, vetoed a bill that would have banned the naming of public buildings and roads in California after Confederate leaders.

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4. Anyone who obtains a California driver’s license or state-issued identification will automatically be registered to vote in the state, under a new law signed by the governor, the SacBee$ reports. Residents who do not want to be registered to vote will have to opt out at the DMV.

5. The governor signed ethics legislation that requires nonprofits that pay for political junkets to reveal their donors, the SacBee$ reports. However, Brown vetoed a bill that would have increased the amount of personal financial information that politicians and public officials must disclose.

6. Brown also signed a bill that earmarks $40 million in state funds to pay for healthcare for immigrant children who are in the United States illegally, the LA Times$ reports.

7. And the governor vetoed legislation that would have given tax credits to property owners who complete seismic upgrades on buildings, the LA Times$ reports. The tax credit plan was viewed as perhaps the best hope in financing needed seismic retrofits in California, but Brown said the proposal was too costly.