California Gov. Jerry Brown reviews a measure with his wife, Anne Gust Brown, second from left and staff Camille Wagner, left, Graciela Castillo-Krings, right, at his Capitol office, Sunday, Sept. 30,... (Associated Press) 
 
 California Gov. Jerry Brown reviews a measure with his wife, Anne Gust Brown, second from left and staff Camille Wagner, left, Graciela Castillo-Krings, right, at his Capitol office, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018, in Sacramento, Calif. Sunday is the last day for Brown to approve or veto bills passed by the... (Associated Press) 
 
 SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California has become the first state to require publicly traded companies to include women on their boards of directors, one of several laws boosting or protecting women that Gov. Jerry Brown signed Sunday. 
 
 The measure requires at least one female director on the board of each California-based public corporation by the end of next year. Companies would need up to three female directors by the end of 2021, depending on the number of board seats. 
 
 The Democratic governor referenced the objections and legal concerns that the law has raised. The California Chamber of Commerce has said the policy will be difficult for companies to implement and violates constitutional prohibitions against discrimination. 
 
 "I don't minimize the potential flaws that indeed may prove fatal to its ultimate implementation," Brown wrote in a signing statement. "Nevertheless, recent events in Washington, D.C. — and beyond — make it crystal clear that many are not getting the message." 
 
 It is one of several measures affecting women that Brown signed Sunday, his last opportunity to approve or veto laws before the term-limited governor leaves office. He also approved legislation requiring smaller employers to provide sexual harassment training and banning secret settlements related to sexual assault and harassment. 
 
 But he vetoed a bill that would have required California's public universities to provide medication for abortion at campus health centers, saying the services are already "widely available" off campus. 
 
 Brown's actions come as the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct led to a reckoning nationwide that has ousted men from power. The latest high-profile allegations are against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who has denied decades-old claims of sexual misconduct from three women. 
 
 The author of the California measure on corporate boards, SB 826, said she believes having more women in power could help reduce sexual assault and harassment in the workplace. 
 
 Having more women on the boards also will make companies more successful, state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson said. Women tend to be more collaborative and are better at multitasking, the Santa Barbara Democrat said. 
 
 A fourth of publicly held corporations with headquarters in California don't have any women on their boards of directors. These companies have not done enough to increase the number of women on their boards despite the Legislature's urging, making government intervention necessary, Jackson said. 
 
 "This is one of the last bastions of total male domination," she said. "We know that the public and business are not being well-served by this level of discrimination." 
 
 The California Chamber of Commerce argued that the composition of corporate boards should be determined internally, not mandated by government. The chamber said the new law will prioritize gender over other aspects of diversity, such as race and ethnicity. 
 
 "It creates a challenge for a board on achieving broader diversity goals," said Jennifer Barrera, senior vice president for policy at the chamber. 
 
 The law applies to companies that report having their principal executive offices in California. Companies can be fined $100,000 for a first violation and $300,000 for subsequent violations. 
 
 The law also requires companies to report their board composition to the California secretary of state and imposes a $100,000 fine if a company fails to do so. 
 
 Some European countries, including Norway and France, already mandate that corporate boards include women. 
 
 Brown stopped short on Sunday of making California the first state to mandate public colleges and universities offer abortion medication at their health centers. A bill by Democratic Sen. Connie Leyva would have required all 34 University of California and California State University campuses to make the drugs available at their health centers by 2022. 
 
 The public schools now refer students to outside providers. Abortion rights advocates said that made it difficult for women without a car and also expensive because many private providers do not accept student insurance. 
 
 A group of private donors, some of them anonymous, had vowed to pay for up to $20 million in startup costs, including ultrasound equipment and training for both medical and billing staff. 
 
 Abortions using medication are induced by taking two pills, which can be given up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy. One pill is administered in the clinic and a second drug is taken later at home. The drugs induce bleeding similar to a miscarriage. 
 
 Leyva vowed to reintroduce the bill under California's next governor; Brown is leaving office early next year. 
 
 "I am hopeful that our incoming Legislature and governor will agree that the right to choose isn't just a slogan, but rather a commitment to improving true access to abortion for students across California," she said in a statement. 
 
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 Associated Press writer Julie Watson in San Diego contributed. ||||| Pedestrians in lower Manhattan had a new piece of branded art to ponder on Tuesday morning, as McCann New York and client State Street Global Advisors conspired in the middle of the night to drop a remarkable statue in Bowling Green Park of a girl facing off against the famous Wall Street Charging Bull. 
 
 The stunt, timed to International Women’s Day on Wednesday, is meant to symbolize the power of women in leadership. More specifically, it’s part of a campaign by SSGA to emphasize that companies with women in top positions perform better financially. 
 
 The sculpture, titled “The Fearless Girl,” was made by Kristen Visbal and photographed by Federica Valabrega. The guerrilla aspect of the placement is in keeping with the Charging Bull itself, which was installed without permission by artist Arturo Di Modica in 1989. It was meant to be a symbol of the strength and power of the American people following the stock-market crash of 1987. Residents fell in love with it, and the city allowed it to remain. 
 
 McCann did get a permit for the girl statue. It will be up for at least a week, says the agency, which is negotiating with the city for it to become part of the art program so she can stay longer. 
 
 The new campaign also calls on more than 3,500 companies—the ones that SSGA invests in on behalf of clients—to take steps to increase the number of women on their corporate boards. 
 
 “We believe good corporate governance is a function of strong, effective and independent board leadership,” Ron O’Hanley, president and chief executive officer of SSGA, said in a statement. “A key contributor to effective independent board leadership is diversity of thought, which requires directors with different skills, backgrounds and expertise. Today, we are calling on companies to take concrete steps to increase gender diversity on their boards and have issued clear guidance to help them begin to take action.” 
 
 O’Hanley will detail the guidance today in a keynote speech at the Corporate Governance Symposium hosted by the University of Delaware’s Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance. 
 
 An MSCI study suggested companies with strong female leadership generated a return on equity of 10.1 percent per year, versus 7.4 percent for those without a critical mass of women at the top, SSGA said. Yet one in four Russell 3000 companies don’t have even one woman on their board, and nearly 60 percent of boards are less than 15 percent women. 
 
 CREDITS 
 
 Client: State Street Global Advisors 
 
 Agency: McCann NY 
 
 Eric Silver: North American Chief Creative Officer 
 
 Joyce King Thomas: Chief Creative Officer 
 
 Devika Bulchandani: Managing Director 
 
 Tom Murphy: Co-Chief Creative Officer 
 
 Sean Bryan: Co-Chief Creative Officer 
 
 Lizzie Wilson: Sr. Art Director 
 
 Tali Gumbiner: Sr. Copywriter 
 
 Nathy Aviram: Chief Production Officer 
 
 Christine Lane: Executive Producer, Innovation 
 
 Deb Archambault: Senior Integrated Producer 
 
 George Katz: Design Director 
 
 David Mashburn: Design Director 
 
 David Broad: Head of Communications Strategy 
 
 Gemma Craven: Director of Social and Mobile 
 
 Kevin Kim: Strategy Director 
 
 Peter Bracegirdle: Executive Account Director 
 
 Molly Vossler: Account Supervisor 
 
 Doug Harrison: Junior Producer 
 
 Steven Marchione: Senior Project Manager 
 
 Jeremy Miller: Chief Communications Officer 
 
 Neena Koyen: Brand Communications Director 
 
 Nathan Troester: Senior Editor 
 
 Brett Berman: Maker 
 
 Eric Perini: Maker 
 
 Eric Johnson: Executive Music Producer 
 
 Dan Gross: Music Producer 
 
 Artist 
 
 Kristen Visbal: Visbal Sculpture, Inc. 
 
 Production Company 
 
 Bryan Roberts: Owner, Traction Creative 
 
 Stuart Weissman: Owner, SWP 
 
 Photography 
 
 Federica Valabrega: Photographer 
 
 Jack Shanahan: DP 
 
 Jeff Clanet: AC 
 
 Kris Chu: Retoucher 
 
 Music 
 
 COPILOT Music + Sound
– On the same day he acted on net neutrality, California Gov. Jerry Brown made another big move. Acknowledging "potential flaws" that may prove "fatal," California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Sunday a bill mandating publicly traded companies in his state include women on their boards of directors, the AP reports. At least one woman must be on the board of each such company by the end of 2019; by the end of July 2021, at least two women must make up each five-person board, while boards with six or more members must include at least three women directors, per the Los Angeles Times. Companies that don't adhere to the new rules face stiff penalties: $100,000 for a first-time offense, $300,000 thereafter. Per the two Democratic state senators who introduced the bill, about 25% of California's publicly traded companies currently don't have a woman on their boards. "Given all the special privileges that corporations have enjoyed for so long, it's high time corporate boards include the people who constitute more than half the 'persons' in America," Brown said in a message accompanying the signing. Legal concerns have been brought up, especially with regards to discrimination, but Brown noted in his signing message that "recent events in Washington, DC—and beyond—make it crystal clear that many are not getting the message" on gender parity. Brown cc'ed his letter to the US Senate Judiciary Committee, which the Times notes "has advanced Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court to the full Senate despite" allegations of sexual assault.