Government watch

• U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, introduced an emergency bill allowing a same-sex bi-national couple in Pacifica to remain together through 2010. Shirly Tan had been ordered deported back to the Philippines although she lives here with her American partner, Jay Mercado, and their 12-year-old twin sons, both American citizens.

• U.S. Rep. Mary Bono, R-Palm Springs, and U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo, introduced the Pediatric, Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivorship and Quality of Life Act. This bipartisan legislation would improve and expand the delivery of medical and psychosocial care to survivors of childhood cancer.

Over 10,000 children under the age of 15 receive a diagnosis of cancer each year in the United States. The successful treatment of childhood cancer has resulted in more than 270,000 childhood cancer survivors, a number that is expected to increase drastically over the next decade. However, according to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), more than two-thirds of childhood cancer survivors experience "late effects” of the disease or its treatment. These late effects include complications, disabilities or adverse outcomes and can significantly impair survivors’ health and quality of life.

• Speier will hold two town hall meetings on May 2 to report on her first year in Congress: San Francisco, 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Ulloa Elementary School, 2650 42nd Ave.; San Mateo, 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., San Mateo City Hall, 330 W. 20th Ave.

State government

• The California Senate approved SB 340, authored by Senator Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, which will require businesses to clearly and conspicuously state the automatic renewal offer terms and obtain the customer’s affirmative consent that they acknowledge and accept ongoing charges at the time of the agreement or purchase.

The bill will also require all marketing materials to display a telephone number, postal address or electronic mechanism the customer could use for cancellation. SB 340 would provide similar consumer protections for any automatic renewal offer made over the telephone or on the internet.

• The California Senate approved legislation to make it easier for farm workers to organize and to help enforce workplace laws.

The California Employee Free Choice Act for Farm Workers (SB 789), authored by Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, mirrors the federal Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would make it easier for workers to organize a union by allowing the "card check” method of organizing. Steinberg’s bill will permit farm workers, who are not included in the federal act, to form a union by submitting a petition to the Agriculture Labor Relations Board accompanied by representation cards signed by a majority of the bargaining unit. The legislation is sponsored by the United Farm Workers of America (UFW).

• Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, will honor Ombudsman Services of San Mateo County and all those who volunteer service to their community for their power to "inspire by example by encouraging those they help and motivating others to serve.”

Hill will present commendations to volunteers in recognition of their service to our community. Among the volunteers in attendance will be Ruth Bennison, a volunteer expert in Med-Cal who for many years contributed 100 hours of volunteer service per month and who succeeded in bringing $7.2 million back into the MediCal coffers in one single year of volunteer service.