Announcing Catalyst California's 2024 Legislative Package
Last year, Catalyst California worked with our partners to win a number of monumental victories in the fight for racial and economic justice. President and CEO John Kim and Vice President of Policy and Programs Dr. John Dobard were appointed to the Racial Equity Commission and Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory (RIPA) Board, respectively, by California State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. In addition to other wins, we helped secure a budget allocation of $10 million in one-time funding for the Diversity Education Leaders Pipeline Initiative. This initiative will increase diversity among school leaders and promote a culturally responsive learning environment to better reflect the students, teachers, and communities California serves.
Building on this momentum, below are the items that make up our 2024 Legislative Package. Each piece of legislation or budget proposal is consistent with our core values and vision for systems designed for justice and equitable access to resources and opportunities for all Californians.
In addition to this package, we are engaging with priorities identified by the Alliance on Reparations and Reconciliation and Truth (ARRT). The ARRT is a newly formed collaboration between the Black Equity Collective, the California Black Power Network, Catalyst California, Equal Justice Society, Live Free California, and former members of the California Reparations Task Force (Dr. Cheryl Grills, Lisa Holder, Dr. Jovan Scott Lewis, and Donald Tamaki).
Cosponsored Items
SB 299 (Limón) - Voter registration: California New Motor Voter Program.
Improves California’s automated voter registration system, the California New Motor Voter Program (CNMVP) to increase registration rates of communities of color and other underrepresented groups.
BUDGET PROPOSAL - Racial Equity Commission
For the 2024-2025 Budget to allocate $5 million to provide the necessary resources needed to fully implement the functions of the Racial Equity Commission created by Executive Order N-16-22.
Equity in Community Investments
ACA 16 (Bryan) - Environmental Rights.
Amends the California Constitution to declare that the people have a right to clean air and water and a healthy environment.
AB 2813 (Aguiar-Curry) - Government Investment Act.
Authorize a local government that imposes a tax under ACA 1 to commit revenues to affordable housing programs, including downpayment assistance, first-time home buyer programs, and owner-occupied affordable housing rehabilitation programs.
AB 1725 (McCarty) - Law enforcement settlements and judgments: reporting.
Requires cities and counties to post financial details about police misconduct settlements and judgments that amount to $50,000 and above on their websites, including amounts paid to plaintiffs. Additionally, municipalities are required to report the amount allocated from their budget that is spent towards law enforcement settlements and judgments annually.
AB 2267 (Jones-Sawyer) - Youth Reinvestment Grant Program.
Reestablish the Youth Reinvestment Grant Program to be administered by the Office of Youth and Community Restoration for the purpose of implementing a mixed-delivery system of trauma-informed health and development diversion programs for youth.
Educational Equity
AB 1947 (Rivas, L) - California State Preschool Programs: contracting agencies: staff training days.
Support staff in state preschool programs with training to better support children who are dual language learners (DLLs).
AB 2071 (Carrillo, J) - Pupil instruction: English Learner Roadmap: grant program: parent toolkit.
Ensures California’s schools can support English Learners/Dual Language Learners (ELs/DLLs) by providing 25, three-year incentives and support grants to implement the EL Roadmap and will also create a parent toolkit to support parents/families to advocate for the ELs/DLL children at their districts for implementation.
Tasks the California Department of Education (CDE) with creating an implementation plan for the California English Learner Roadmap Policy (EL Roadmap) to support English learners to fully and meaningfully access and participate in early childhood and K-12 that results in their attaining high levels of English proficiency, mastery of grade level standards, and opportunities to develop proficiency in multiple languages.
AB 2319 (Wilson, Weber) - California Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act.
Extends the evidence-based implicit bias training requirements to include hospitals that provide perinatal or prenatal care, ensuring the successful implementation of SB 464 (Mitchell), the California Dignity in Pregnancy and Childbirth Act of 2019.
BUDGET ADVOCACY - Continuous Coverage for Children 0-5 in Medi-Cal
Protect investments and fully fund the multi-year continuity of Medi-Cal coverage for children ages 0-5 as part of the 2024-25 budget and ongoing.
BUDGET ADVOCACY - Community Schools
Preserve the total $2.6 billion for the California Community Schools Partnership Program–which is critical to strengthening public education in our state by allowing the expansion and opportunity for other schools and districts to address the needs of the whole child.
BUDGET ADVOCACY - Rate Reform
Ensure the state resources the single rate structure using the Alternative Methodology so that childcare providers are compensated for the true cost of care, as opposed to what the market can afford, to ensure equity.
Political Voice
AB 3211 (Wicks) - California Provenance, Authenticity and Watermarking Standards.
Require generative AI companies to embed digital provenance data within the digital media they create, so can identify AI generated media used to mislead or disenfranchise voters..
AB 2655 (Berman) - Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act of 2024.
Requires social media platforms to use digital provenance data to label election-related deepfakes posted by users, and ban the worst, most obvious cases close to elections to prevent AI generated content from being used to mislead voters.
AB 2839 (Pellerin) - Elections: deceptive media in advertisements.
Bans the use of deepfakes that deceive voters about candidates and elections officials in political mailers, robocalls, and TV ads to prevent artificially created content from being used to disenfranchise voters.
Reimagining Safety and Justice
AB 280 (Holden) - Segregated confinement
Bans solitary confinement in all detention facilities for the following populations: people with certain mental health, physical and developmental disabilities, pregnant or those who recently gave birth, people under 26 and over 59 years old, and lastly prohibit long-term solitary/segregated confinement by limiting to no more than 15 consecutive days, 45 days total in any 180-day period.
AB 544 (Bryan) - Voting: county jails.
Ensures equal access to voting for all individuals regardless of whether they are incarcerated or not and continues to build a just democracy.
AB 1990 (Carrillo, W) – The SAFE Act - OPPOSE
Allows a police officer to arrest a person for shoplifting not committed in the officer’s presence without a warrant if the officer has “reasonable cause” to believe that the person has committed shoplifting.
Advancing Racial Justice
Would prohibit slavery in any form, including forced labor compelled by the use or threat of physical or legal coercion.
This bill authorizes a bond measure of $14 billion for the construction and modernization of Transitional Kindergarten through community colleges public education facilities on an unspecified 2024 statewide ballot.
Places a $15.5 billion bond on the 2024 ballot for facilities at public preschools, K-12 schools, California Community Colleges (CCC) campuses, University of California (UC) campuses, and California State University (CSU) campuses to construct, reconstruct, and remodel existing or new facilities.
To learn more about our Government Relations work in Sacramento, click here.