2025 Priority Legislation
Courage California’s 2025 priority legislation includes the following bills:
Climate Justice
| Bill | Author | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| SB 222 | Wiener and Pérez | The Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act would would allow insurers, California’s FAIR Plan, and victims to recover losses related to climate disasters from oil and gas companies. | Introduced in Senate 1/27/25. In 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 equipments in high fire risk areas, tying executive compensation to safety metrics, and funding resilience hubs and community infrastructure to meet power needs during emergencies. | Introduced in Senate 2/12/25 |
| SB 684 / 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. | Introduced in Senate and Assembly 2/21/25 |
Public Safety and Justice
| Bill | Author | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| ACA 6 | Wilson | Would amend the California Constitution to prohibit slavery in all forms. Requires a 2/3 vote. | Introduced in Assembly 2/5/25 |
Immigrant Rights
| Bill | Author | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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. | Introduced in Assembly 2/5/25 |
| 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. | Introduced in Assembly 12/2/24 |
| 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. | Introduced in Senate 12/16/24. In committee. |
| 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. | Introduced in Senate 1/23/25. In committee. |
| SBX1-1 and SB X1-2 | 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 2/7/25 |
LGBTQ+ Rights
| Bill | Author | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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. | Introduced in Assembly 2/18/25 |
| 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. | Introduced in Assembly 12/2/24 |
Health Equity
| Bill | Author | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| AB 45 | Bauer-Kahan | This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to make it unlawful to geofence an entity that provides in-person health care services and to prohibit health care providers from releasing medical research information related to an individual seeking or obtaining an abortion in response to a subpoena or request if that subpoena or request is based on the laws of another state that interfere with a person’s rights under the Reproductive Privacy Act. | Introduced in Assembly 12/2/24 |
| 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. | Introduced in Assembly 1/23/25 |
Housing and Homelessness
| Bill | Author | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| AB 246 | Bryan and Pérez | Would call for a rent freeze across LA County. | Introduced in Assembly 1/15/25 |
Workers’ Rights
| Bill | Author | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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. Incarcerated individuals who fight state wildfires are currently compensated only $5 to $10 per day. | Introduced in Assembly 1/15/25 |
| SB 261 | Wahab | Would help workers collect the money they are owed from employers who have committed wage theft. | Introduced in Senate 2/3/25 |
Democracy and Voting Rights
| Bill | Author | Description | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| SB 42 | Umberg, Allen, and Lee | 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. | Introduced in Senate 12/5/24 |