Courage California’s 2025 Policy Priorities will determine the 11th Annual Courage Scores — Legislators are graded on their ability to lead with courage and pass bold legislation that helps advance our collective goals of equity, justice, and accountability.
Los Angeles – Today, Courage California announced a policy priority agenda of thirty-three (33) progressive bills. The sweeping package, which includes abortion and reproductive justice, climate and environmental justice, democracy and voting rights, health equity, housing and homelessness, immigrant rights, LGBTQ+ rights, public safety and justice, and workers’ rights legislation, aims to put people and communities ahead of profits and politics and positively impact the well-being of ALL Californians.
Courage California, and its 1.4 million strong membership, urges the California state legislature to pass the following legislation, which helps advance our collective goals of equity, justice, and accountability.
Courage California’s priority bills:
Abortion and Reproductive Justice
- AB 54, Krell – The Access to Safe Abortion Care Act would ensure access to medication abortion.
- AB 260, Aguiar-Curry – Would protect access to medication abortion, gender affirming care, and other sexual and reproductive health care, and protect the ability to access this care through telehealth.
- AB 551, Krell and Petrie-Norris – Would establish the Reproductive Health Emergency Preparedness Program (RHEPP) to expand and improve access to reproductive, sexual, and miscarriage care in Emergency Departments across California.
Climate and Environmental Justice
- SB 222, Wiener and Pérez – The Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act would have allowed insurers, California’s FAIR Plan, and victims to recover losses related to climate disasters from oil and gas companies. (Killed in Senate Judiciary Committee).
- SB 332, Wahab – The Investor-Owned Utility Accountability Act, would address ongoing issues of affordability and safety with California’s investor-owned utilities (IOUs), including PG&E. The Act has a multi-prong approach, including capping IOU rate increases, prohibiting shut-offs for vulnerable ratepayers, requiring annual audits of equipment in high fire risk areas, tying executive compensation to safety metrics, and funding resilience hubs and community infrastructure to meet power needs during emergencies.
- SB 684 and AB 1243, Menjivar and Addis – The Polluters Pay Climate Action Superfund Act of 2025 would force fossil fuel polluters to pay for climate damage mitigation and prevention.
Democracy and Voting Rights
- AB 868, Carrillo – Would increase voter representation by mandating general elections for county elections.
- SB 42, Umberg, Allen, and Cervantes – The California Fair Elections Act of 2026 would put a measure on the November 2026 ballot to repeal California’s ban on public funding of campaigns so that every local government and the state can pass public financing if they want to.
Health Equity
- AB 4, Arambula – Would authorize Covered California to establish a parallel marketplace to offer the same qualified health plans to undocumented Californians, who are currently excluded from accessing the program.
- AB 55, Bonta – Would ensure that perinatal care for California’s families is more accessible by streamlining licensing requirements, which function as barriers to equitable access to perinatal care, for Alternative Birth Centers.
- AB 298, Bonta – Would expand the prohibition on out-of-pocket costs, including copayments, coinsurance, and deductibles, to all covered health care services provided to children under 21.
- AJR 3, Schiavo – A comprehensive statement to U.S. Congress explaining how Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are foundational to California communities and that any cuts to these programs will only offer irreparable harm.
Housing and Homelessness
- AB 246, Bryan and Pérez – Would call for a rent freeze across LA County.
- AB 736, Wicks – The Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026 would authorize $10 billion in general obligation bond funds to support the construction, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable housing and permanent supportive housing.
- AB 1157, Kalra – The Affordable Rent Act would permanently lower the state’s rent cap from up to 10% to a maximum of 5%. It will also extend protections for families that live in single-family rentals, many of which are owned by corporate landlords.
- SB 52, Pérez – The End AI Rent Hikes Act would protect renters by prohibiting the use of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to manipulate and unfairly increase rents.
- SB 634, Pérez – Would prohibit cities from attaching penalties like fines and jail time for houselessness.
Immigrant Rights
- AB 49, Muratsuchi – Would prohibit school or child care center employees from letting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers enter their sites without a valid ID, statement of purpose, court order, and approval from the school district’s superintendent or director of the child care center.
- AB 421, Solache – Would generally restrict local police and sheriff’s deputies from helping immigration authorities near medical offices, places of worship, and day care centers.
- SB 48, Gonzalez – Would prohibit school or child care center employees from letting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers enter their sites without a valid ID, statement of purpose, court order, and approval from the school district’s superintendent or director of the child care center.
- SB 98, Pérez – The Sending Alerts to Families in Education (SAFE) Act would mandate schools and college campuses to immediately notify all students, parents, faculty, staff, and other community members if immigration officers are present on the premises, similar to early warning systems in place for emergency alerts.
- SBX1-1 and SBX1-2, Wiener and Gabriel – Designates $25 million for the California Department of Justice to defend the state against the Trump administration and an additional $25 million for grants to nonprofits to provide legal services. (Signed into law).
LGBTQ+ Rights
- AB 82, Ward – Would protect transgender and nonbinary Californians accessing essential healthcare and those seeking abortion and reproductive healthcare by limiting the sharing of sensitive patient data related to these services. The bill also expands safe-haven protections for patients, their families, and medical professionals who offer this care to protect them from harassment, violence, and hostile out-of-state actors.
- AB 715, Zbur – Would shield attorneys in California from disciplinary action for providing legal services to patients, medical providers, and others seeking or offering health services that are lawful in the state but illegal in other states.
- SB 59, Wiener – The Transgender Privacy Act, would protect the privacy and safety of transgender and nonbinary Californians by making all court records related to name and gender marker changes confidential, reducing their risk of being outed and exposed to danger. It also prohibits these records from being posted publicly.
- SB 497, Wiener – Would strengthen legal protections for transgender people, their teachers, healthcare providers, and family by shielding health data and medical information and supporting gender affirmation.
Public Safety and Justice
- AB 1376, Bonta – End Endless Probation would protect youth unnecessarily languishing on probation and codify existing case law that requires the conditions of probation to be individually tailored, developmentally appropriate, proportional, and not excessive.
- ACA 6, Wilson – Would amend the California Constitution to prohibit slavery in all forms.
Workers’ Rights
- AB 247, Bryan – Would guarantee that incarcerated firefighters receive wages equal to the lowest non-incarcerated firefighter pay for the time they are actively fighting fires and make sure that these wages get updated annually.
- AB 1340, Wicks and Berman – Would allow drivers for rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft, who are classified as independent contractors, to join a union.
- SB 261, Wahab – Would help workers collect the money they are owed from employers who have committed wage theft.
Irene Kao, Executive Director of Courage California, issued the following statement:
“With California’s communities and economy under attack by the Trump administration, there is an even greater urgency for state legislators to step up and pass bold bills that protect people targeted by MAGA attacks, put more money in the pockets of working families, expand access to key health and safety net programs, and combat the devastating impacts of climate disasters,” said Irene Kao, Executive Director of Courage California.
Courage California’s 2025 priority bills will inform next year’s annual Courage Score ratings.
“This time next year, Californians will know if their state representatives acted with Courage this legislative cycle or if they caved to corporate influence or Trump’s threats,” said Kao.
With Courage, we will actively hold our representatives accountable and vote for the changes we need to see in our communities. Courage California’s priority list, with bill status updates, can be found at: https://couragecalifornia.org/2025-priority-legislation/