AB 53 — Military Services Retirement and Surviving Spouse Benefit Payment Act (Principal Co-Author): This bill would provide a $20,000 state tax exemption for retired members of the Armed Forces and recipients of the Department of Defense’s (DoD) Survivor Benefits Program starting in 2025. Click here to see the bill’s status.
AB 237 — Criminal Threats: This bill would close a loophole that complicates criminal threat prosecution. This bill clarifies that it is criminal to threaten to commit a crime at a daycare, school, university, workplace, house of worship, or medical facility. Click here to see the bill’s status.
AB 260 — Preserving Mifepristone Access and Reproductive Rights Act (Principal Co-Author): This bill safeguards access to medication abortion in California, ensuring that a person’s right to essential health care remains protected. This bill strengthens and expands access to abortion care by: (1) affirming statewide authority for legal use of mifepristone; (2) protecting health care providers, pharmacies, clinics, and hospitals from disciplinary actions or licensing impacts for legally providing mifepristone under state law; (3) enhancing provider safety by removing provider names from abortion medication prescription labels; (4) requiring health plans maintain coverage for legally available medication abortion; (5) expanding access to reproductive healthcare through telehealth; and (6) repealing outdated and obsolete legal code sections. Click here to see the bill’s status.
AB 279 — Library Standards: This bill would require the Instructional Quality Commission to recommend the adoption of updated Model School Library Standards, and for those to be adopted by July 1, 2028. These standards were last updated and approved in 2010. Click here to see the bill’s status.
AB 402 — Cal Grant: This bill would increase Cal Grants for private non-profit colleges to facilitate student agency and opportunities for upward mobility. This bill will return the grant size for Cal Grant A and B to its 2001 amount and include private non-profits in Cal Grant’s transfer entitlement for those transferring from community colleges. Click here to see the bill’s status.
AB 588 — Battery Storage Safety: This bill would establish a lithium battery safety working group within the Office of the State Fire Marshal to address increasing battery fire safety risks associated with the increase in electric vehicle (EV) charging and commercial lithium battery storage. This group will provide practical guidance, best practices, and educational materials to help Fire Marshals, local officials, property owners, and builders safely implement and manage lithium-ion battery storage technology. Click here to see the bill’s status.
AB 684 — UC Open Meetings: This bill would require meetings of the University of California Board for Admissions and Relations with Schools to be subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act. Click here to see the bill’s status.
AB 841 — Firefighters PPE Safety: This bill addresses the increasing exposure to toxic chemicals that firefighters face during lithium-ion battery fires. This bill directs the Office of the State Fire Marshal, in consultation with Cal-OSHA, to create a working group to recommend improved personal protective equipment (PPE) and decontamination procedures to keep firefighters safe and healthy. Click here to see the bill’s status.
AB 1074 — Cal Works Reunification: This bill updates the CalWORKs Family Reunification Program to remove barriers that prevent parents from continuing to receive cash aid and services while their children are temporarily placed outside the home. This allows the state to better achieve its goal of family reunification. Click here to see the bill’s status.
AB 1119 — Special Education Teacher Credentialing: This bill addresses California’s long-standing special education teacher shortage by directing the Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) to form a workgroup tasked with understanding ways to bolster California’s special education workforce and work toward inclusive classroom environments for all students. This group will analyze how to effectively and appropriately increase the availability of dual credentialing programs—credentials that grant recipients the ability to teach in special and general education. Click here to see the bill’s status.
AB 1186 — Ethnic Demographics Data: This bill creates more precise race and ethnicity subcategories in state agency demographic data collection, to ensure the state can recognize and efficiently address the unique needs of diverse populations across California. AB 1186 provides a critical foundation to serve communities and their unique needs effectively. More precise data will also improve the accuracy and reliability of California’s 2030 population count, ensuring California receives the representation it deserves in Congress. Importantly, this bill also protects the privacy of Californians by only sharing what federal law requires. To ensure efficient implementation, AB 1186 will establish a Chief Statistician within the Department of Finance’s Demographic Research Unit. Click here to see the bill’s status.
AB 1212 — UC Faculty Housing: This bill would enable the University of California (UC) campuses and their auxiliaries to utilize the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) for the purpose of developing affordable housing for UC faculty and staff on UC owned land. Click here to see the bill’s status.
