By Andrew Sheeler | Sacramento Bee
While the California Senate passed a series of public safety bills last week intended to get tough on organized retail theft, it did so without the vote of former Senate President pro Tem and 2026 gubernatorial candidate Toni Atkins. Atkins, D-San Diego, missed the high-profile votes because she was away on excused “legislative business,” according to a statement from the Secretary of the Senate’s Office.
Atkins’ Senate office spokeswoman, Meredith McNamee, said in an email statement to The Bee that Atkins spent last Thursday at the official opening of Panda Ridge at the San Diego Zoo, along with Gov. Gavin Newsom and San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria.
“Senator Atkins has been advocating to get pandas back at the zoo since 2019. It was a very important event for her district and she spoke during the ceremony as the senator representing the area. It was unfortunate that the ceremony was scheduled at the same time as session but we didn’t have control over that,” McNamee said in a statement.
Read more at: Sacramento Bee
