Legislative and Budget Priorities

Policy: [Budget Request] Critical Investments to Prevent and End Domestic and Sexual Violence

Summary: $50 million from the General Fund to prevent and end cycles of domestic and sexual violence, including $20 million in ongoing funding for domestic and sexual violence prevention grants and $22 million to support innovative interventions and culturally rooted approaches.

Co-sponsor(s): Alliance for Boys and Men of Color, VALOR US, California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, CRDV Network

Policy: SB 616 (Gonzalez) - Paid Sick Days for All Working Californians

Summary: Increases the number of paid sick leave days an employer is required to provide an employee from three to seven. Studies show how this can help reduce COVID-19 cases. Sick days can also be used by domestic violence survivors as safe days.

Co-sponsor(s): California Labor Federation

Policy: SB 227 (Durazo) - Safety Net for All Workers Act

Summary: Creates the Excluded Workers Program, which would provide unemployed workers who are ineligible for regular unemployment insurance due to their immigration status with $300 per week for up to 20 weeks

Co-sponsor(s): California Immigrant Policy Center, Legal Aid at Work, Trabajadores Unidos Workers United, Warehouse Workers Resource Center, CLEAN Carwash, Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indigena Oaxaqueño (CBDIO)

Policy: AB 518 (Wicks) - Paid Family Leave for Chosen Family

Summary: Expands paid family leave wage replacement benefits to LGBTQ+ Californians and others who care for extended or “chosen” family — loved ones that do not currently fit the outdated definition of “family” under the Paid Family Leave program. In 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1041 (Wicks) into law, a bill that allows workers to take unpaid family leave for chosen family.

Co-sponsor(s): Equal Rights Advocates, California Employment Lawyers Association, and Legal Aid at Work

Policy: AB 1028 (McKinnor) - Centering Survivor Safety and Health Through Community-Based Solutions

Summary: Mandates that survivors of domestic and sexual violence be offered a referral and warm handoff to community-based advocacy services. It would limit medical mandated reporting requirements for healthcare providers to notify law enforcement of a broad range of adult violent injuries; healthcare providers may still report to law enforcement at the patient’s request, with patient consent, or if they fear there is a serious and imminent risk to the patient or the public. 

Co-sponsor(s): ABMoC, Futures Without Violence, UC Irvine Domestic Violence Law Clinic, California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, Culturally Responsive Domestic Violence Network, Los Angeles LGBT Center

Policy: AB 311 (Santiago) / SB 245 (Hurtado) - Food4All

Summary: Expands the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to income-eligible Californians, regardless of age or immigration status.

Co-sponsor(s): Nourish California, California Immigrant Policy Center

Policy: SB 567 (Durazo)- Homelessness Prevention Act

Summary: Builds on existing law to better protect California’s low-income renters from unjust evictions and exorbitant rent increases by: closing loopholes that allow for rampant no-fault just causes for eviction, expanding the population of protected tenants, limiting allowable rent increases to a more reasonable cap, and providing mechanisms for accountability and enforcement.

Co-sponsor(s): Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, PICO California, Public Advocates, Western Center on Law and Poverty

Policy: SB 499 (Menjivar) - Cool Schools Act of 2023

Summary: Addresses the issue of hot surfaces on school campuses that impact the health and safety of children by requiring schools to create an Extreme Heat Action Plan. It would require them to install shade trees and mini-forests that have been shown to mitigate the impacts of extreme heat and pollution.

Co-sponsor(s): A Choice for Advocacy, Non-Toxic Schools

Policy: SB 555 (Wahab) - Stable Affordable Homes

Summary:  Sets 5-and-10- year goals for the creation of below-market rate social housing units, with an emphasis on the lowest-income residents and charges the Department of Housing and Community Development with developing a plan, with Legislative recommendations, to achieve the state’s social housing goals, both through acquisition and preservation of existing housing and production of new social housing.

Co-sponsor(s): Public Advocates, Tenants Together, Housing Now

Policy: AB 527 (Calderon) - School Greening Projects

Summary: Establishes a grant program for educational agencies, nonprofit organizations, cities, counties, and districts to carry out K-12 school greening efforts. AB 527 would also require the department, before developing the grant process, to hold at least 2 public hearings to gather public input on the grant process development.

Co-sponsor(s): 

Policy: ACA 10 (Haney)- Constitutional Right to Housing

Summary: Would make an amendment to the State Constitution that declares every Californian has the fundamental human right to adequate housing on an equitable and non-discriminatory basis. State and local jurisdictions would be required to take progressive steps to fully realize adequate housing as a right. If passed in the Legislature and signed by the Governor, the amendment would have to be approved by California voters through a ballot proposition.

Co-sponsor(s): Abundant Housing LA, ACLU California Action, Alliance of Californians for Community, Empowerment (ACCE) Action, End Poverty in California (EPIC), Golden State Opportunity, Housing Now, National Homelessness Law Center, PowerCA Action, The Children’s Partnership, Western Center on Law and Poverty

Policy: [Implementation] Racial Equity Commission

Summary: The Racial Equity Commission was established as part of Executive Order N-16-22, which directs state agencies and departments to take additional actions to embed equity analysis and considerations in their mission, policies, and practices. Building off the work of SB 17 (2021-2022), the Commission is working on producing a Racial Equity Framework that will include resources and tools to promote racial equity and address structural racism.

Policy: [Implementation] California Reparations for Descendants of African Slaves for Task Force

Summary: The Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans was established following Governor Newsom signing AB 3121 into law in 2020. The purpose of the Task Force is to study and develop reparations proposals for African Americans in CA, recommend appropriate ways to educate the CA public on the findings, and to also recommend appropriate remedies in consideration of their findings.

Policy: [Budget Request] Health Equity and Racial Justice Fund

Summary: Would create a $70 million grant program to provide invaluable resources directly to community-based organizations (CBOs), community clinics, and tribal organizations so they may continue to work towards addressing racial disparities and health inequities in the communities they serve.

Co-sponsor(s): APPEAL, Black Leadership Council, Black Women for Wellness, CA Black Women’s Health Project, CA Black Health Network, CA Latinas for Reproductive Justice, CPEHN, LCHC, Public Health Advocates, Public Health Institute, Roots Community Health Center