Source: Written by Adam Beam for the Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — When California Gov. Gavin Newsom was searching for a new attorney general earlier this year, state Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan looked up the job requirements and made a surprising discovery: In many instances, the law assumed the attorney general is a man.
Sprinkled throughout the state code were references to “he” and “him” and “his” when referring to the attorney general and other statewide elected officials, even though Vice President Kamala Harris had been the state’s first female attorney general and Eleni Kounalakis is the first woman elected as lieutenant governor.
That will likely change after the state Legislature passed Bauer-Kahan’s bill Thursday to update laws governing statewide elected officials with gender-neutral terms. The bill now heads to Newsom, a Democrat, for his review.