Press Releases

Senator Richard D. Roth’s (D-Riverside) proposal to protect police officers and firefighters catastrophically injured in the line of duty has been approved by the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee on a bipartisan vote of 4-0.

Senate Bill 897 provides an extension of workers’ compensation benefits to police and firefighters, providing an additional year of healing time for those who are catastrophically injured in the line of duty.

“When a police officer is shot in the line of duty, when a firefighter takes a beam to the back protecting our homes and families, whenever our public safety officials are catastrophically injured protecting us, they deserve to know we will have their back.” said Senator Roth.  “SB 897 will ensure that our frontline heroes who are catastrophically injured have more time to recover from their injuries, without the fear of losing critical healthcare and disability benefits.”

Senator Richard D. Roth’s (D-Riverside) measure to raise awareness of Type 1 diabetes passed the State Senate today on a bipartisan, unanimous vote of 38-0.

“I am proud to have authored Senate Resolution 63 and thank my colleagues in the State Senate for joining me in raising awareness of this life threatening disease,” said Senator Roth.  “Educating parents regarding Type 1 diabetes is critical to diagnosing and treating this condition early and effectively, helping ensure children and adolescents learn to manage their condition and live long, healthy lives.”

Despite common misconceptions, diet and lifestyle are not causes of Type 1 diabetes and it cannot be prevented.  It is a chronic, life-threatening autoimmune disease for which there is currently no cure. 

Senate Bill 22 establishes a public private partnership to increase the number of medical residency positions in California’s underserved areas

Senator Richard D. Roth’s (D-Riverside) proposal to fix the state’s dire physician shortage by funding additional medical residency slots was approved by the State Senate today on a bipartisan, unanimous vote of 39-0.

“Senate Bill 22 builds on the success of fully funding the UC Riverside School of Medicine by providing the resources necessary to train tomorrow’s doctors,” said Senator Roth. “SB 22 establishes a funding framework based on a public-private partnership that is critical to addressing Inland Southern California and the state’s long term physician needs.”

Upon graduation from medical school, all graduates are required to formally train in what is known as a residency program in order to become practicing physicians. The length of this program varies by specialty, but for family medicine it typically takes three years.  Placement in a residency program comes down to match day, when new graduates are “matched” with a residency program.

Senator Richard D. Roth’s (D-Riverside) proposal to protect California’s small businesses and the disabled community was approved by the Assembly Judiciary Committee today on a bipartisan vote of 9-0.

Senate Bill 269 is a modified version of last year’s Senate Bill 251, which was also authored by Senator Roth and vetoed by the Governor. SB 269 removes the tax credit that was the focus of the Governor’s veto, reduces the employee ceiling for qualifying businesses from 100 to 50 employees, and makes other clarifying changes.