2024 Priority Legislation
Courage California’s 2024 priority legislation includes the following bills:
Climate Justice
Bill | Author | Description | Status |
---|---|---|---|
SB 867 | Allen | $10B climate bond to fund safe drinking water, wildfire prevention, drought preparedness, and clean air. | Qualified for the November 2024 ballot. Vote YES. |
SB 1497 | Menjivar | The Polluters Pay Climate Cost Recovery Act of 2024 would require the largest fossil fuel polluters to pay their fair share of the damage their products have inflicted upon our communities, environment, and economy in California. | Facing opposition led by the oil and gas industry. Needs support from state legislative leaders and Governor to move forward in 2024. |
Public Safety and Justice
Bill | Author | Description | Status |
---|---|---|---|
ACA 8 | Wilson | If approved by voters, would remove language allowing for indentured servitude (slavery) in the California state constitution. | Qualified for the November 2024 ballot. Vote YES. |
AB 280 | Holden | Would limit the use of solitary confinement in jails and prisons, including private immigration facilities. | Passed by Assembly and Senate in 2023. Needs to be signed by Governor in 2024. |
SB 50 | Bradford | Would prohibit a peace officer from stopping or detaining the operator of a motor vehicle or bicycle for a low-level infraction, as defined, unless a separate, independent basis for a stop exists. | Passed by Senate in 2023. In Assembly. |
SB 94 | Cortese | Would allow courts to review very old cases where a person was sentenced to life without parole, to make sure that the cases are just in light of changes in law and evidence of rehabilitation. | Passed by Senate in 2023. In Assembly. |
Health Equity
Bill | Author | Description | Status |
---|---|---|---|
AB 4 | Arambula | Would make undocumented immigrants eligible to sign up for Covered California. | Passed by Assembly in 2023. In Senate. |
AB 2319 | Wilson, Weber | Reducing Black Maternal Mortality through Implicit Bias Training would reduce the disproportionate maternal mortality rate of Black women and other pregnant persons of color by ensuring successful implementation of the California Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act of 2019 (SB 464 (Mitchell)) by clarifying which facilities are mandated to administer anti-bias trainings, confers enforcement powers to CDPH and the Attorney General, establishes administrative penalties for noncompliant facilities and requires compliance data to be posted online. | Passed in Assembly in 2024. In Senate. |
AB 3161 | Bonta | The Equity in Health Care Act would begin to address racial and implicit bias in health care, more specifically in hospitals and long-term care facilities, and provide pathways for justice for community members who experience trauma from racial discrimination in their health care. | Passed in Assembly in 2024. In Senate. |
AB 3260 | Pellerin | Would empower patients seeking mental health care to fight for their rights and win grievances when their health plan denies them appropriate care. | Passed in Assembly in 2024. In Senate. |
Labor and Worker Rights
Bill | Author | Description | Status |
---|---|---|---|
SB 227 | Durazo | Would provide workers unemployment and cost of living assistance relief who are ineligible for the existing state or federal benefits assistance, regardless of immigration status. | Passed by Senate in 2023. In Assembly suspense file. |
SB 1089 | Smallwood-Cuevas | To minimize the impact that grocery store and pharmacy closures have on communities and workers, which harms disadvantaged communities the most, this bill will require a 90-day advanced notice to workers and the community of a planned closure. | Passed by Senate in 2024. In Assembly. |
Housing and Homelessness
Bill | Author | Description | Status |
---|---|---|---|
AB 1878 | Garcia | Would improve tribal housing programs by making changes to the existing state housing funds program to ensure the program meets their needs, including by requiring that the Department of Housing and Community Development provide outreach, education, and comprehensive technical assistance to tribes. | Passed by Assembly in 2024. In Senate. |
AB 2584 | Lee | Would bar corporations from buying single-family homes. | Passed by Assembly in 2024. In Senate. |
Economic Justice
Bill | Author | Description | Status |
---|---|---|---|
SB 1061 | Limón | Remove Medical Debt from Credit Reports would prohibit credit reporting agencies from placing medical debt on credit reports. Taking medical debt off credit reports will increase Californians’ access to credit and remove a barrier to accessing needed health care. | Passed in Senate in 2024. In Assembly. |
AB 2263 | Friedman | The California Guaranteed Income Study and Funding Act proposes a study to assess departmental infrastructure, funding strategies, and target populations for a statewide Guaranteed Income program. The study will be led by a newly formed Coordinating Council. | Passed in Assembly in 2024. In Senate. |
LGBTQ+ Rights
Bill | Author | Description | Status |
---|---|---|---|
AB 1955 | Ward | The Support Academic Futures & Educators for Today’s Youth Act (SAFETY Act) would prohibit school districts from adopting policies that forcibly out LGBTQ+ students. | Signed into law July 2024 |
Inactive bills that will not advance in 2024
Bill | Author | Description | Status |
---|---|---|---|
ACA 10 | Haney | If approved by voters, would amend the state constitution to recognize that (a) adequate housing is a fundamental human right in CA and (b) state and local governments have an obligation to “respect, protect, and fulfill” this right through progressively implemented measures, to the maximum of available resources. | Gutted and amended |
ACA 16 | Bryan | If approved by voters, would amended the state constitution to give people the right to clean air and water and a healthy environment. | Held by author for 2025 |
AB 1657 | Wicks | The 2024 Affordable Housing Bond Act would have placed a $10 billion affordable housing bond on the November 2024 ballot to fund affordable housing development for the following four years. | Passed by Assembly in 2023. Held in Senate Appropriations. |
AB 2160 | McKinnor | The California Women’s Care Act would address adverse maternal health outcomes for systems involved pregnant people (in jails and prisons), by delaying or diverting confinement during pregnancy through the postpartum period. | Held in Assembly Appropriations |
AB 2200 | Kalra | Guaranteed Health Care for All would set up a universal single-payer healthcare system for all residents of California. | Held in Assembly Appropriations |
AB 2415 | J. Carrillo, Santiago | Would offer around $1,500 per month to undocumented individuals who are blind, disabled or older than 65. | Held in Assembly Appropriations |
AB 2881 | Lee | The Social Housing Act would establish the California Housing Authority to produce mixed-income housing that is affordable and financially self-sustaining. | Held in Assembly Appropriations |
AB 2956 | Boerner | Protecting Medi-Cal Coverage for Californians would allow people to keep their Medi-Cal coverage for a full 12 months, regardless of changes in their income and would direct California to seek federal approval, when necessary, to make permanent the federal Medi-Cal flexibilities to reduce and remedy procedural terminations, simplify income verification requirements, increase automatic Medi-Cal renewals, and improve program outreach and customer service. | Held in Assembly Appropriations |
SB 252 | Gonzalez | Would require CalPERS (the state public retirement systems) to divest from fossil fuels. | Pulled by author after amendments |
SB 1116 | Portantino, Durazo | Would make workers on strike eligible for unemployment benefits. | Passed by Senate in 2024. Failed in Assembly Insurance Committee. |