SACRAMENTO FILE

Assembly Floor Action:

Animal Research: Approved and sent to the Senate on a 64-2 vote a bill (AB 2404) by Assemblyman William J. Filante (R-Greenbrae) that would make stealing an animal from a research laboratory a grand theft offense, prosecutable as either a felony or a misdemeanor. Vandalizing a laboratory to obstruct research would fall into the same category.

Kosher: Approved and sent to the governor on 62-4 vote a bill (AB 887) by Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) aimed at assuring that fresh meat and poultry advertised as kosher is kosher. It would require people who sell such products to keep records for one year and make them available to the Department of Food and Agriculture upon request.

Committee Action:

Unemployment Insurance: The Assembly Finance and Insurance Committee approved a bill (SB 390) by Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles) to increase the maximum weekly unemployment insurance benefit from the current $166 to $181 next year, $196 in 1987, and $211 in 1988. A 9-4 vote sent the bill to the Ways and Means Committee.

Workers’ Compensation: The Assembly Finance and Insurance Committee also approved a bill (SB 1273) by Sen. Bill Lockyer (D-Hayward) to increase the maximum weekly workers’ disability compensation benefit from $224 to $273 and increase death benefits to a maximum range of $85,000 to $115,000, depending on the number of dependents. A 9-0 vote sent the bill to the Ways and Means Committee.

Senate Floor Action: Confirmed the governor’s appointment of Jyrl Ann James-Massengale as chairman of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board by a 29-1 vote. James-Massengale replaced former Democratic Sen. Alfred H. Song of Monterey Park, who resigned. Song presently is the nursing home ombudsman in the attorney general’s office.

Credit Card Purchases: Approved and sent to the Assembly on a 23-11 vote a bill (SB 848) by Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles) to prohibit retailers from imposing surcharges on consumer credit card purchases.

Billboards: Approved and sent to the governor on a 21-13 vote a bill (AB 943) by Assemblyman Louis J. Papan (D-Millbrae) to require governmental entities to compensate owners of outdoor advertising billboards where removal is a condition of obtaining a permit or license.

Committee Action: Child Care: The Senate Education Committee approved a $30-million bill (AB 55) by Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) to expand child day-care programs for mothers who work or go to school. A 6-0 vote sent the bill to the Appropriations Committee.

Miscellany Hostages Visit Capitol: Ten Californians who were aboard hijacked TWA Flight 847 came to Sacramento on Thursday to visit with Gov. George Deukmejian, the Assembly and the Senate. It was the first reunion of the California passengers since their separate releases in Beirut and Algiers. In the Assembly, 80 microphones with yellow ribbons tied to them were raised in a salute to the hostages. The ribbons were put on during the hostage crisis. They will remain in place until seven more Americans taken hostage in earlier, separate kidnapings, including three Californians, are released.