Agree or disagree with some of the positions taken byAssemblyman Mark Leno, but one thing cannot be disputed: the man knows how toget things done. A whopping 21 pieces of legislation by Leno (D-San Francisco)were passed through the legislature this past session, an impressive featconsidering that members of the Assembly are only allowed to introduce 40pieces of legislation in a two-year session.

Of the 21 Leno-authored bills awaiting Governor ArnoldSchwarzenegger's signature – the governor has until the end of Septemberto sign or veto them – a few are LGBT community specific, while othersare meant to benefit the community as a whole.

AB2280 would allow physicians to provide patients diagnosedwith gonorrhea with additional antibiotic drugs for their sex partner. Leno'sbill, modeled after previous state legislation to treat chlamydia, would makethis a statewide option for physician-treated gonorrhea and also leave the dooropen for the State Department of Health to add other diseases to the sameprotocol.

"Five years ago the legislature created a similarprogram for chlamydia that has proven so effective, the Centers for DiseasePrevention and Control now recommends that states take this action forgonorrhea," Leno told the Bay Area Reporter. "If someone is being treated for gonorrhea by a physician theycan get a prescription to take home to their partner, and after the partneranswers a series of question they can determine whether or not to proceed withthe medication."

Oftentimes, partners may not seek medical diagnosis ortreatment for sexually transmitted diseases. Left untreated, gonorrhea can leadto sterility in both men and women with genital infections; it also has beenassociated with increased risk for HIV transmission. There were 34,000 cases ofgonorrhea reported in California last year.

AB2280 was originally an HIV testing bill meant tostreamline the process so that more people can be diagnosed and take steps toprotect their partners from HIV transmission. But as that bill continued tohave legislative successes, said Leno, the state AIDS office agreed toimplement many of the bill's innovations through a pilot program at fivelocations throughout the state.

The idea behind the streamlining process is simple:"rather than using one protocol for everybody, it differentiates patientsand provides a more thoughtful and cost effective way to administer testing andcounseling services," said Leno. A gay man who has remained negativethrough many years of the epidemic and gets tested once a year, for instance,would not necessarily need to fill out the long questionnaire and haveone-on-one counseling; videos or group counseling may be used for those who practicesafer sex and take the HIV test routinely. Unlike San Francisco's controversialmove earlier this year to eliminate a written consent form in order tostreamline the HIV testing process, Leno said there have been no changes to thestate law requiring written informed consent outside of healthcare providers'offices.

Also on the governor's desk is AB2920, which would requirethe California Department of Aging to account for the needs of aging LGBTCalifornians in the programs and services it provides.

Isolation, poverty, homelessness, and prematureinstitutionalization that face older Americans, and gay seniors already facediscriminatory laws that act as barriers to protecting their relationships andsecuring federal benefits.

"Clearly, this is one of the fastest growing componentsof our greater community. By the year 2030, one in five people will be 55 orolder, and 4 million of these people will be LGBT individuals," said Leno."We also know that LGBT elders often do not access adequate healthcare,affordable housing, and a variety of social services that they need and couldaccess but for the heterosexism built into many institutions."

AB 2920 will add actual or perceived sexual orientation andgender identity to the list of factors the Department of Aging must consider inits elder care services plan. It would also require training for agencies onthe needs of LGBT seniors.

Met with opposition from the Republican Party, it is unclearwhether Schwarzenegger will sign Leno's AB2946, meant to benefit all politicalparties and voters by forbidding payment on a per-signature basis to signaturegatherers during ballot initiative petition drives.

"During the special election last year we saw anynumber of abuses of the initiative process," said Leno, who cited a fewproblematic examples of paid signature corruption. In Orange County, it wasdiscovered that individuals who were hired to register voters were also beingpaid a bounty for every registered Republican they brought in. Workers not onlyencouraged people to register Republican, but newly registered voters who hadregistered as Democrats were later found on Republican lists, said Leno.

AB2946 would allow salaries for signature gatherers butprohibit payment on a per-signature basis. It also would hold equally liablethe signature gathering firm and the initiative's proponent for violations ofthe prohibition.

Other passed Leno bills include AB1147 which would allowCalifornia farmers to grow industrial hemp; and AB799 would allow San Franciscoto restore its own vehicle license fees to pre-1998 levels if both the SanFrancisco Board of Supervisors and a majority of San Francisco voters approveit, a fee that could bring in another $70 million to city and county programs.

Just as Leno faced with his AB50 – a bill he amendedlast year to include child pornography limits at the request of a Republicanlawmaker, only to have it attacked as "weak on child pornography" bythe Republican Party – AB2712 was the target of attacks by those whowanted Leno to support the denial of housing to registered sex offenders. ButLeno said that doing so would have jeopardized the existence of Megan's Law,whose constitutionality depends on not including such limitations, and that thestate was not equipped to suddenly deal with "75,000 new homelesspeople."

AB2712 clarifies that theexistence of a registry "does not impose a duty on lessors to useinformation available on the Megan's Law Web site to make decisions abouthousing accommodations." But existing law already allows landlords toscreen applicants based upon felony convictions, he said.

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