Senate confirms five gubernatorial appointees; suspends joint rule to allow expedited hearing of AB 2156

The California State Senate unanimously confirmed five gubernatorial appointments and moved to expedite committee consideration of Assembly Bill 2156 during a March 22 floor session.

Senator Grove introduced a series of confirmations from the governor’s docket. "File item 6 is a confirmation of Paul Toopy for appointment of director of alcohol, department of alcohol and beverage control," the senator said, noting the nominee had been approved by the rules committee on a 5–0 vote. The Senate recorded the confirmation with Ayes 34, No 0.

Subsequent confirmations announced from the floor included Peter Breitery to the Southwestern Low-Level Radioactive Waste Commission (the nominee previously served as an alternate member), Dr. Yungping Chen and Gregory Lung to the California Acupuncture Board (Chen noted as the board’s current president), and Roy Mather to the Board of Pilot Commissioners for San Francisco Bay, San Pablo Bay and Suisun Bay. Each nomination was reported to have received unanimous committee approval and was confirmed on the floor by voice and roll call (Ayes 34, No 0 on each file item).

Later in the session the presiding officer announced, without objection, that Joint Rule 62(a) was suspended to allow the Committee on Governmental Organization to hear Assembly Bill 2156 on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, without the usual notice in the daily file. The suspension was presented as a procedural step to place AB 2156 on a committee hearing agenda at short notice.

All confirmations were presented as floor announcements tied to their file-item numbers (items 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11) and were recorded as confirmed. The Senate recessed after completing floor business and set the next session for Thursday, March 26, 2026, at 9:00 a.m.