AB 3: California Offshore Wind & Jobs Advancement Act
Offshore wind energy will play a crucial role in meeting California's goal of achieving 100% renewable energy by 2045 and has the potential to create a significant number of high-paying jobs in the state. AB 3 requires the California Energy Commission to study and recommend strategies for developing port infrastructure while maximizing in-state job opportunities and achieving our climate change goals through offshore wind energy while protecting cultural and natural resources.
AB 5: Safe & Supportive Schools Act
Every child deserves to attend a safe and supportive school where they have the greatest possible opportunity to learn and succeed. Despite much progress, LGBTQ+ students still experience harassment, violence, and lack of affirmation in school settings far too often. These experiences can harm LGBTQ+ students’ school performance and success, self-esteem, and mental health and can reduce their desire to pursue post-secondary education. Lack of adequate support in schools results in high dropout rates, which leads to high rates of poverty, homelessness and engagement with the criminal justice system for LGBTQ+ people. AB 5 will provide public school teachers and staff, who are on the front lines of supporting California students, with the training and support they need to better serve LGBTQ+ and all students.
AB 369: Independent Living Program for Foster Youth
Young people aging out of the foster care system frequently experience homelessness. AB 369 brings California in line with 30+ other states by increasing the age for foster youth to receive support through the Independent Living Program from age 21 to 23. The bill also clarifies that young adults are allowed to accumulate cash savings while in extended foster care, better equipping them to successfully transition into independent adulthood.
AB 383: Improving the Classified School Staff to Teacher Pipeline
This bill will reduce California’s current teacher shortage by helping classified school employees become fully credentialed teachers. It allows participants in the state’s Classified School Employee Teacher Credentialing Program to use funds received through the Program to cover their living expenses while in training and enhances their ability to take leave so that they can accomplish their training.
AB 1176: Requiring Local Climate Action and Electrification Plans
In order to meet the state’s climate goals, Californians will need over one million chargers to support the eight million electric vehicles anticipated on the road by 2030, and more to meet the state’s 2035 electric vehicle mandate. Residential and commercial buildings will also need upgrades and retrofitting and installation of electric appliances and equipment to cut greenhouse gas emissions. AB 1176 requires cities and local jurisdictions to create plans to meet their transportation and building electrification needs, and to ensure that electric vehicle chargers and building electrification are accessible to renters, multi-family housing residents, commercial vehicle and truck fleets, and disadvantaged communities. The bill requires consideration of and planning for on-street electric vehicle charger corridors and electrification funding strategies for disadvantaged communities.
AB 1181: Building Energy Resilience for Multi-Family Affordable Housing
Combining solar power and battery storage is important for creating energy resilience and reliability. The Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) program and the Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) incentivize solar and battery installations for low-income residents, but battery storage is vastly under-utilized. AB 1181 reduces barriers to battery installation for SOMAH participants and modifies technical requirements of the program to expand eligibility for certain extremely-low-income residents. Overall, this bill will reduce electricity costs for people living in affordable and multi-family housing.
AB 1335: Regional Housing and Sustainability Planning
In order to meet their local housing needs and ensure that development is sustainable, regional authorities undertake extensive planning through the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) program and the Sustainable Communities Strategies (SCS) program. However, the RHNA and SCS programs rely on inconsistent data and assumptions. AB 1335 requires planning and reporting for sustainable housing development to be more transparent and makes clarifying changes so that housing and sustainability goals under the RHNA and SCS programs are better aligned. The bill will incentivize sustainable housing near transit to reduce our reliance on cars.
AB 1431: The California Housing Security Act
One key to reducing the number of Californians experiencing homelessness is to empower people who are currently housed to stay in their homes. This bill will reduce housing insecurity by providing rent subsidies to low income former foster youth, older adults, adults with disabilities, people experiencing unemployment or homelessness, and recently incarcerated individuals. It requires the California Department of Housing and Community Development to establish a two-year pilot program to do this in up to four counties in different geographic regions across the state.
AB 1484: Bargaining Rights for Temporary Employees
The ability of workers to bargain for basic workplace rights and protections is a bedrock value in our state. Temporary employees are a vital part of the public workforce for many local governments and are often employed for long periods of time, yet they are often not allowed to bargain alongside their permanent coworkers for good wages, benefits, and working conditions. AB 1484 provides temporary employees of cities and counties the option to join existing bargaining units with permanent employees doing similar work, providing them with basic workers' rights without significantly increasing costs or limiting the employer's ability to hire temporary workers as needed.
AB 1620: Apartment Swaps for Tenants with Permanent Physical Disabilities
People with physical disabilities who are living in rent controlled apartments are at risk of becoming homeless if they become unable to access their home and cannot find a ground floor unit at a similar rental rate. AB 1620 will address this problem by authorizing local jurisdictions to require that tenants with permanent physical disabilities be allowed to relocate to an available unit on an accessible floor at the same rental rate and terms.
AB 1645: Enhanced Consumer Protections for Preventive Care
Every Californian deserves access to preventive health care that is comprehensive, inclusive, and affordable. Current California law relating to preventive health care and screenings for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) contains loopholes that need closing. AB 1645 ensures that patients can access not only preventive care but also all of the services and office visits that are necessary for delivering that care without cost-sharing, including medication management and lab testing for PrEP, a life-saving HIV prevention medication.