California Lawmakers Aim To Remove 'He' From State Laws
By Rebekah Gonzalez
July 1, 2021
The wording in the California state code will likely change after the state Legislature passed Assemblywoman Rebecca Bauer-Kahan's bill to remove the word "he" from laws governing statewide elected officials.
Bauer-Kahan noticed the state code uses he/him pronouns when referring to the attorney general and other elected officials, reports AP.
Her bill, which passed on Thursday, June 24, will update the laws with gender-neutral terms. The bill is headed to Governor Gavin Newsom for his review.
“We have women serving in our highest offices, and the (sections) of the code referring to them only in the male pronoun was pretty shocking to me,” Bauer-Kahan, a Democrat told AP. “It doesn’t represent where California is and where California is going.”
Other states have also updated state laws and documents with gender-neutral terms. In 1986, Minnesota did a complete statutory revision to remove gender-specific language.
Over the past years, California has passed laws making a third gender option available on state driver's licenses, identification cards, and birth certificates.
On Thursday, the Legislature approved a bill that allows people to record nonbinary as their gender on death certificates, which is a major source of data for public health research, reports AP.
“It’s important to do this work,” said Bauer-Kahan.