Keenan Briefings

California P&C Legislative Summary: 2024 Mid-Session

To view this briefing as a PDF click here. 

The 2024 legislative session in California has been very active as it looks to address the states deficit. As such, the budget agreement, $297.9 billion of which $211.5 billion would come from the general fund, will provide a challenge to fund some of the proposed bills. With less money, it will be interesting to see what bills will move forward and survive the 2024 legislative session. 

With the Legislature set to reconvene from the Summer Recess on August 5, we would like to review the bills under consideration. Once the legislature returns, certain deadlines will apply to the remainder of the 2024 legislative year. 

• August 16, 2024 – Last day for fiscal committees to meet and report bills
• August 23, 2024 – Last day to amend bills on the floor
• August 31, 2024 – Last day for each house to pass bills

• September 30, 2024 – Last day for the Governor to sign or veto bills passed by the Legislature

Below are some of the bills we are currently tracking.

Discrimination

AB 1815 — (Weber) Discrimination: Hairstyles: Race

This bill removes the term “historically” from the definition of race under the education code and the government code. Furthermore, protective hairstyles are added to the definition of race under the Unruh Civil Rights act.

Status: AB 1815 has been moving along in the legislature. It is currently ordered for a third reading in the Senate.

AB 2326 — (Alvarez) Equity in Higher Education Act: Discrimination: Compliance, Regulations, and Reports

This bill would require the President of the University of California, the Chancellor’s office of the California State University, and the Chief Executive Officer of the California Community district to annually produce and submit a report to each system’s governing board on monitoring and compliance related to nondiscrimination on protected characteristics, including sexual harassment. This information is to be presented at the legislative budget subcommittee hearings before receiving state student financial aid. Each systems governing board is to annually review its nondiscrimination policies and revise the policies as necessary.

Status: AB 2326 was recently amended to include minor changes. It has been re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee for a hearing.

AB 2925 — (Friedman) Postsecondary Education: Equity in Higher Education Act: Prohibition on Discrimination: Training

The Equity in Higher Education Act defines “nationality” to include citizenship, county of origin, and national origin, and defines “religion” to include all aspects of religious beliefs, observance, and practice. This bill provides that California’s postsecondary educational intuitions have an affirmative obligation to combat discrimination on the basis of disability, gender, gender identity, gender expression, national or national identity, race or ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and other specified characteristics. Under the “Act,” “nationality” or “national identity” is defined to include a person’s actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, citizenship, or residency in a county with dominant religion or distinct religious identity. Furthermore, “discrimination on the basis of religion” is to include, but not limited, to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. The intent of the legislature is that each post-secondary educational institution undertake supportive measures for students who have encountered discriminatory incidents, regardless of location, if the student feels the incident impairs their access to equal educational opportunities. As such, a training to address discrimination against the five most targeted groups in the state, as determined by the AG’s annual “Hate Crime in California” publication, is to be included as part of any antidiscrimination training, or DEI training.

Status: AB 2925 is currently in progress has been re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

SB 1137 — (Smallwood-Cuevas) Discrimination Claims: Combination of Characteristics

This bill revises and amends the Unruh Civil Rights Act, including provisions in the education code and the Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), to clarify that discrimination based on protected characteristics will include discrimination arising from a combination of those characteristics, per the holding in Lam v University of Hawai’i. 

Status: SB 1137 has been ordered to a third reading in the Senate.

Employment

AB 810 — (Freidman) Postsecondary Education: Hiring Practices: Academic, Athletic, and Administrative Appointments

This bill would require postsecondary educational institutions, during the process to authorize a volunteer in the athletic department, to contact the current or former employer of the individual applying for volunteer authorization to determine if the applicant violated any employment policies. The bill also requires as part of the hiring process for an appointment to an academic, athletic, or administrative position, to have an applicant sign a release form that authorizes the release of information by the applicant’s previous employers concerning any substantiated allegations of misconduct to be used by the post-secondary education institution to engage in a reasonable attempt to obtain that information.

Status: AB 810 is currently in process and has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 1905 — (Addis) Public Postsecondary Education: Employment: Settlements, Informal Resolutions, and Retreat Rights

This bill prohibits an employee of a public post-secondary educational institution from being eligible for retreat rights and from receiving a letter of recommendation if the employee is the respondent in a sexual harassment complaint and the employee is (1) determined in a final administrative decision to have committed sexual harassment, (2) resigns from their current position before a final administrative decision is made, or (3) enters into a settlement with the public postsecondary educational institution. The institutions, as a condition of receiving state financial assistance, is to adopt a written policy on settlements and informal resolutions of complaints of sexual harassment in cases where the respondent is an employee of the institution.

Status: AB 1905 is in progress has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 2299 — (Flora) Labor Commissioner: Whistleblower Protections: Model List of Rights and Responsibilities

Current law requires an employer to prominently display a list of employee’s rights and responsibilities under the whistleblower laws. This bill would require the Labor commissioner to develop a model list of employee’s rights and responsibilities under the whistleblower laws. 

Status: AB 2299 passed in both houses and has been presented to the Governor for a signature.

First Aid

AB 2317 — (Nguyen, Stephanie) Child Day Care Facilities: Anaphylactic Policy

This bill would require the Department of Social Services, in consultation with the Department of Education, to on or before July 1, 2027, establish an anaphylactic policy, setting guidelines and procedures recommended for child day care personnel to prevent a child from suffering from anaphylaxis and to be used during a medical emergency resulting from anaphylaxis. The anaphylactic policy is to include a requirement that a parent or guardian demonstrate an understanding of the protections provided for individuals who provide emergency medical or nonmedical care without compensation by signing an acknowledgement of the Good Samaritan Law. The policy would be implemented on or before January 1, 2028, and requires the child day care facility that adopts the policy to notify the parents upon enrollment.

Status: AB 2317 is currently in progress and referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 3262 — (Maienschein) Automated External Defibrillators

This bill would require the principal to notify students at least annually as to the location of all the AED units on campus when an AED is placed in a public or private school serving grades 6 to 12. 

Status: AB 3262 was passed in both houses hand has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 19, Statutes of 2024.

Hazing

AB 2193 — (Holden) Hazing: Educational Institutions: Prohibition and Civil Liability: Reports and Resources

Beginning on January 1, 2026, this bill authorizes a person against whom hazing is directed on, to commence a civil action against an educational institution if the institution has direct involvement in the hazing practice of the organization, or know or should have known of the hazing practice and failed to take reasonable steps to stop the hazing practice, and the organization involved in the hazing is affiliated with the educational intuition at the time of the alleged hazing incident. Whether an institution “knew or should have known of the hazing and failed to take reasonable steps to stop the hazing practice of the organization,” the bill establishes a rebuttable presumption that an institution took reasonable steps to address hazing if the educational institution had taken specified antihazing measures such as updating and maintaining existing rules and regulations governing student behaviors, adopted procedures to inform students of the updated rules and regulations, updated and maintained existing rules and regulations governing employees behavior including prohibition on hazing, among other things. The trustees of the California State University, the Regents of the University of California and the appropriate governing bodies of certain independent instructions of higher education are required to report to policy committees of the Legislature the number of hazing incidents that constituted a violation of the policy prohibiting hazing and whether the violation was affiliated with a student organization.

Status: AB 2193 was amended to change the language that establishes civil liability against a school, to allow a person to commence the civil action. The bill is currently in progress and is being referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

Higher Education

AB 1818 — (Jackson) Public Postsecondary Education: Homeless Students: Parking

This bill would require the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and California State Universities to establish a pilot program to allow overnight parking by eligible students, and requires the chancellor, with student representative participation, to determine a plan of action for implementing the program. An eligible student participating in the pilot program would be granted overnight parking until they are provided access to a suitable alternative, including a hotel voucher. The Chancellor of the California Community Colleges is required to select 20 campuses to participate in the pilot program. Each participating campus is required to report to the Chancellor on or before July 1, 2027 certain information, including the socioeconomic and demographic backgrounds of participating students. The program is to include, but not limited to: monitoring of overnight parking facilities, a procedure for reporting and responding to threats to the safety of a participating student, a form completed by the eligible student, indicating, clearly and conspicuously, that the campus cannot ensure the safety of a participating student, designation of one or more specific parking areas, overnight rules that include a zero tolerance policy for the use of drugs and alcohol, among other things. A campus that is selected to participate in the pilot program is not civilly liable for a campus employee’s good faith act or omission that fails to prevent an injury to a participating student that occurs in, or in close proximity to, and during the hours of operation, of overnight parking, as provided. The bills implementation is subject to an appropriation by the Legislature for the bills purposes. The bill is to sunset on January 1, 2029.

Status: The bill was recently amended to remove the implementation dates. Implementation of the bills is now subject to the Legislature appropriating funds for this bill. As such, the bill has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee for a hearing. 

AB 1841 — (Weber) Student Safety: Opioid Overdose Reversal Medication: Student Housing Facilities

This bill requires each community college district and California State University to notify, students by email, at the beginning of each academic semester or term, of the presence and location of fentanyl test strips and opioid overdose reversal medication. The bill also requires that the campuses train all students who live on campus on the use of opioid overdose reversal medication during student orientation. Each community college district and California State University would be required to distribute two doses of a federally approved opioid overdose reversal medication obtained through the Naloxone Distribution Project to each university or college affiliated student housing facility, to be maintained by the university or college. Two doses are to be distributed to university or college affiliated fraternity or sorority facilities to be maintained by the fraternity or sorority in an accessible location. The bill also prohibits disciplinary measures from being imposed for drug related violations of the institution’s student conduct policy when a dose is administered. 

Status: AB 1841 was amended and is currently set for hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

AB 2370 — (Cervantes) Community Colleges: Faculty: Instructor of Record: Qualifications

This bill would explicitly require the instructor of record for a course of instruction to be a person who meets minimum qualifications to serve as a faculty member teaching credit instruction or a faculty member teaching noncredit instruction. 

Status: AB 2370 was passed in both houses and has been signed by the Governor into law, Chapter 66, Statutes of 2024.

AB 2492 — (Irwin) Public Postsecondary Education: Sex Discrimination Complaints: Advocates and Coordinators

This bill requires, on or before July 1, 2026, a public postsecondary educational institution to comply with the Equity in Higher Education Act by establishing and designating at least one person to fulfill the positions of confidential student advocate, confidential staff and faculty advocate, and confidential respondent services coordinator to assist students, faculty, and staff who have filed a complaint of sex discrimination, experienced sex discrimination, or are accused of sex discrimination, as provided. Those positions would be independent from the Title IX office, receive specified training, and subject to permission from the student, faculty, or staff, provide, among other things, information about where the student, faculty, or staff can access campus resources.

Status: AB 2492 was heard in the Senate Education and Judiciary Committee, where it was passed. It has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 2821 — (Grayson) Postsecondary Education: Students with Disabilities

This bill requires the California State University and the University of California to provide Disability Access and Complaint Training as part of their personnel onboarding and training. It requires the California Community Colleges to develop a Disability Access and Compliance Training Program for campuses that meets certain requirements and requires the chancellor and district to collaborate to develop specified training components on or before January 1, 2026. On or before the start of the 2026 – 2027 academic year, this training is to be included as part of existing college personnel training and onboarding. The training is to include, but not limited to, legal and procedural responsibility of college personnel to provide effective accommodations for disability students, the implementation and administration of this responsibility, and the campus, criminal, and civil consequences for failing to comply with this responsibility, among other training requirements.

Status: AB 2821 has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee as it progresses. The analyses from the Senate Education Committee states that “the bill creates at least $5 million in ongoing General Fund costs that are not reflected in the state’s current fiscal plan.” 

AB 2936 — (Jackson) Higher Education Reconciliation Master Plan

This bill requires the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and California State University, and requests the President of the University of California, on or before July 1, 2026, to implement a systemwide and campus level master plan to respond to and address cultural and political conflicts that arise on campus. It is recommended the master plan include recommendations submitted by stakeholder workgroups, as defined in the bill. The provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2030. 

Status: AB 2936 has been progressing and is now in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 1491 — Postsecondary Education: Equity in Higher Education Act

Under the Equity in Higher Education Act, the Trustees of the California State University, The Regents of the University of California, and the governing board of each community college district are to designate a point of contact for the needs of LGBT faculty, staff, and students. This bill would instead require the point of contact to serve for the needs of LGBTQ+ and would also prohibit the designated employee from being considered a responsible employee for the purposes of a Title IX investigation. The Trustees and governing board of each community college district are to adopt and publish policies on harassment, intimidation, and bullying and include these policies with the rules and regulations governing student behavior, among other requirements for the California Student Aid Commission.

Status: SB 1491 has been progressing and is now in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Human Resources

AB 2123 — (Papan) Disability Compensation: Paid Family Leave

This bill removes the provisions that employers require employees to take two weeks of vacation leave before accessing California Paid Family Leave (PFL) benefits to any disability commencing on or after January 1, 2025. 

Status: AB 2123 was amended on July 3 and ordered to a second reading in the Senate.   

AB 2499 — (Schiavo) Unlawful Employment Practices: Discrimination for Time Off

AB 2499 revises and recasts the jury, court, and victim time off provisions for employees as unlawful employment practices within the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, and thus is enforceable under the authority of the Civil Rights Department. It also removes the 25 or more employees threshold from the provisions for victims of crime or abuse to seek medical attention for injuries, obtain certain services, or participate in safety planning and take other actions to increase safety caused by a crime or abuse. It expands the eligibility to family members as well, among other changes. 

Status: AB 2499 has been re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

AB 2534 — (Flora) Certificated Employees: Disclosures: Egregious Misconduct

This bill requires any person applying for a certificated position at a school district, county office of education, charter school, and state special school to provide the prospective employer with a complete list of every school district, county office of education, charter school, and state special school that the applicant has previously been an employee of, and would require school districts, county offices of education, charter schools and state special schools considering an applicant for a certificated position to inquire with each of those local educational agencies, whether the applicant was the subject of any credible complaints of, substantiated investigations into, or disciplines for, egregious misconduct that were required to be reported to the commission on Teacher Credentialing. It will require the Local Education Agency (LEA), when responding to an inquiry as to whether it has made a report of egregious misconduct to the commission of teaching credentialing, to also provide the inquiring LEA with a copy of all relevant information withing its possession. 

Status: AB 2534 passed in the Senate Education Committee and has been referred to the Appropriations Committee for a hearing on August 5. 

AB 2901 — (Aguiar-Curry) School and Community College Employees: Paid Disability and Parental Leave

Current law authorizes the governing board of a school district or community college district to provide for a leave of absence from duty as it deems appropriate for a female employee in the classified service, who is required to be absent because of pregnancy or convalescence following childbirth. This bill would require a public school employer to, for a certificated employee, provide up to 14 weeks of a leave of absence with specified pay benefits of an employee who is on leave due to childbirth, if the employee is actually disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or a related condition. The leave of absence taken due to these provisions are prohibited from being deducted from other leaves of absence. 

Status: AB 2901 was read in the Senate and has been re-referred to the Appropriations Committee. 

SB 1090 — (Durazo) Unemployment Insurance: Disability and Paid Family Leave: Claim Administration

This bill would require for the purpose of unemployment compensation disability benefits, for the issuance of the initial payment of those benefits to be paid within 14 days of receipt of the claimants properly completed first disability claim or as soon as eligibility begins, whichever is later. The bill also applies to benefits paid to the Paid Family Leave Program and repeals the requirement that workers receive benefits in accordance with unemplyment and disability compensation law. It also contains other related provisions and other existing laws. 

Status: SB 1090 has been re-referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Mandated Reporters

AB 1799 — (Jackson) Child Abuse: Reporting

Current law establishes procedures for reporting and investigating suspected child abuse or neglect under the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (CANRA), requiring certain professionals to be mandated reporters and report known or reasonably suspected child abuse or neglect to a local law enforcement agency or a county welfare or probation department. This bill would specify that a mandated reporter is not required, but permitted, to report a case of general neglect under CANRA. General neglect is defined the negligent failure of a person having the care of custody of a child to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, medical care, or supervision where no physical injury to the child has occurred but the child is at substantial risk of suffering serious physical harm or illness. 

Status: AB 1799 was gutted and amended to now include this language. It has been referred to the Appropriations Committee for a vote.

AB 3127 — (McKinnor) Reporting of Crimes: Mandated Reporters

Current law requires a health practioner to make a report to law enforcement when they suspect a patent has suffered physical injury that is either self-inflicted, caused by a firearm, or caused by assaultive or abusive conduct, including elder abuse, sexual assault, or torture. This bill removes that requirement and would require the health practioner to make a report when the injury is life threatening or results in death, or is the result of child abuse, elder, or dependent adulty abuse. The health practioner would be required to additionally make a report when a person is seeking care for injuries related to domestic, sexual or any nonaccidental violent injury if the patient requests a report be sent. The health practioner who suspects that the patient has suffered physical injury that is caused by domestic violence, is to provide brief counseling and make a referral to a local and national domestic violence or sexual violence advocacy services.

Status: AB 3127 has been referred to the suspense file where it awaits a vote. 

Opiod Prevention and Safety

AB 1976 — (Haney) Occupational Safety and Health Standards: First Aid Kits: Materials: Opioid Antagonists

This bill would require Cal-OSHA, before December 1, 2026, to draft a rulemaking proposal and revise first aid materials to require all first aid kits in a workplace to include naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist approved by the FDA. Cal-OSHA is also to consider and provide guidance to employers on the proper storage of the opioid antagonist. The standards board is to adopt revised standards on or before July 1, 2027.

Status: AB 1976 has been referred to the suspense file where it awaits a vote. 

AB 2690 — (Patterson, Joe) Pupil Safety: Parental Notification: Synthetic Drugs

This bill requires LEAs, as part of the annual notification to parents, to also include the risk of social medial platforms being used as a way to market and sell synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl. 

Status: AB 2690 passed in the Education Committee and has been sent to the Appropriations Committee.

AB 2998 — (McKinnor) Opioid Overdose Reversal Medications: Pupil Administration

This bill prohibits a school district, county office of education, or charter school from prohibiting a student 12 years of age or older, while on a school site or participating in school activities, from carrying or administering, for the purposes of providing emergency treatment to individuals who are suffering, or reasonably believed to be suffering from an opioid overdose, a naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray or any other opioid overdose reversal medication that is federally approved for over the counter, nonprescription use. The student and the local educational agencies will not be held liable for civil or criminal prosecution for administering the medication in good faith, unless there is an act of omission, gross negligence, or willful and wanton misconduct.

Status: AB 2998 has been referred to the Appropriations Committee for a vote.

SB 997 — (Portantino) Pupil Health: Naloxone Hydrochloride Nasal Spray and Fentanyl Test Strips

This bill requires LEAs to adopt a policy that allows students in middle and high school to carry a federally approved opioid antagonist for emergency treatment. It further requires public middle schools, junior high schools, high schools, and adult schools that are operated by a LEA to stock and distribute fentanyl test strips and to notify pupils about the presence and location of the strips and allow students to carry fentanyl test strips.

Status: SB 997 was amended to remove the language that will allow any federally approved opioid antagonist. SB 997 passed with a unanimous vote in the Education Committee and has been referred to the suspense file in the Appropriations Committee for a vote.

Public Agencies

AB 817 — (Pacheco) Open Meetings: Teleconferencing: Subsidiary Body

This bill allows, until January 1, 2026, a subsidiary body of a local agency to teleconference without meeting all of the teleconferencing requirements of the Brown Act. “Subsidiary body” is defined as a commission, committee, board, or other body of a local agency, whether permanent or temporary, decision-making or advisory, created by charter, ordinance, resolution, or formal action of a legislative body. An advisory committee composed solely of the members of the legislative body that are less than a quorum are not legislative bodies. Serves exclusively in an advisory capacity and is not authorized to take a final action on legislation, regulation, contracts, licenses, permits, or any other entitlements. 

Status: AB 817 failed to receive enough votes in the Senate Local Government Committee, but a reconsideration was granted whereas the bill could be amended in order to get enough votes to pass.

AB 1785 — (Pacheco) California Public Records Act

This bill would prohibit a state or local agency from publicly posting the home address, telephone number, or both name and assessor parcel number associated with the home address of any elected or appointed official on the internet without first obtaining the written permission of the individual. 

Status: AB 1785 has been ordered to be read for a third time in the Senate. 

AB 2302 — (Addis) Open Meetings: Local Agencies: Teleconferences

This bill revises limits on the number of meetings a member may participate in solely by teleconference form a remote location from a period of more than three consecutive months or 20% of the regular meetings for the local agency within a calendar year, or more than two meetings if the legislative body meets fewer than 10 times per calendar year, to prohibit teleconferencing participation for more than a specified number of meetings per year, based on how frequently the legislative body regularly meets.

• Two meetings per year if the body meets once per month or less
• Five meetings per year if the body meets twice per month

• Seven meetings per year if the body meets three or more times per month

Status: AB 2302 was passed unanimously in the Senate Local Government Committee and has now been ordered to a third reading.

AB 2350 — (Hoover) Open Meetings: School Boards: Emergencies: Notifications By Email

This bill authorizes a school board holding an emergency meeting to fulfill the premeeting notification requirements by email instead of by telephone, as specified. If internet and telephone services are not functioning, the bill would similarly waive the premeeting notification requirements and require the post meeting notification as described.

Status: AB 2350 was passed unanimously in the Senate Education Committee and has been referred to the Appropriations Committee for a vote.

Title IX

AB 1575 — (Irwin) Public Postsecondary Education: Students Codes of Conduct: Advisers

This bill authorizes students who receive disciplinary notification at a University of California, California State University, or California Community College Campus, the right to have an adviser of their choosing to assist the student through the disciplinary process. The postsecondary education institutions will be required to provide necessary trainings for the advisers. The training can be provided in an online format, but it is not required, but may have an in-person or interactive element. 

Status: AB 1575 passed in the Senate Judiciary Committee and has been referred to the Appropriations consent calendar

AB 2048 — (Fong) Community Colleges: Community College Sexual Harassment and Title IX Working Group

This bill requires the California Community College Chancellor to convene a sexual harassment and Title IX working group to review the policies and procedures of community college and Title IX offices to determine whether they are effective in preventing, detecting, and addressing sexual harassment on community college campuses. The provisions of the bill end on July 1, 2026. 

Status: AB 2048 has moved forward to the Appropriations Committee.

Training

AB 1858 — (Ward) Comprehensive School Safety Plans: Active Shooters: Armed Assailants: Drills

AB 1858 prohibits a local educational agency, county office of education, and charter school from conducting high-intensity active shooter drills and requires instead to use a trauma informed approach to the design and execution of any drill. The California Department of Education is to curate and post on its website best practices pertaining to school shooter or other armed assailant drills on or before June 15, 2025. 

Status: AB 1858 was passed in the Education Committee and is now in the Appropriations Committee.

AB 1913 — (Addis) Pupil Safety: Child Abuse Prevention: Training

AB 1913 requires the California Department of Education, in consultation with the Office of Child Abuse Prevention at CDSS, to develop information and disseminate information about the prevention of abuse, including sexual abuse, of children on school grounds, by school personnel, or in school sponsored programs and to include the information in existing training resources on its website. School districts are then required to provide an annual training to their employees and persons who are mandated reporters, using the online training platform or an alternative training platform used in its place.

Status: AB 1913 has been re-referred to Appropriations Committee

AB 2608 — (Gabriel) Postsecondary Education: Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment: Training

This bill would require the governing board of community college districts, the Trustees of the California State University, independent institutions, and the Regents of the University of California, to consider updating the annual sexual violence and sexual harassment training, on or before September 1, 2026, and biennially thereafter, to include additional topics including how to recognize if someone is at risk of alcohol consumption and drug facilitated sexual assault. Beginning on September 1, 2026, alcohol consumption would have to be included as part of the sexual harassment and assault training given to students. 

Status: AB 2608 passed in both houses and has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 110, Statutes of 2024.

School Safety

AB 960 — (Mathis) School Safety: Web-Based or App-Based School Safety Programs

This bill encourages each public school, including charter schools with an enrollment of 100 pupils or more, to implement a web-based or app-based school safety program that includes specified program parameters, including (1) a multilayered digital map of the school site that contains key information, including, a detailed floor plan, alphanumeric building identification, gate locations, shut-off valve locations, first aid equipment locations, AED locations, links to 360 degree and 360 aerial photography, and location of and field view of school site surveillance cameras; (2) the ability to alert first responders from multiple agencies within a reasonable geographic area in the event of an emergency on or around the schoolsite to be used only in situations involving imminent danger of serious physical injury or death to a person on school property, and (3) detailed school site information, including its location, size, pupil populations, grade levels, number of staff on campus, WI-FI connection, and hierarchy representation of those with responsibilities. If the school implements the web-based or app-based school safety program, the school is required to ensure that the program developers ensure that the best practices are implemented to protect the security and data of all students and staff listed with in the program and requires the developers to comply with specified laws and make the best practices publicly available. Certain information implemented under these provisions would be required to be kept confidential and exempt from public disclosure. 

Status: AB 960 was a two-year bill, first introduced last year. The bill has been read a third time in the Senate and is to be considered back in the assembly on or after August 7.

AB 2096 — (Petrie-Norris) Restraining Orders: Educational Institutions

Current law authorizes a chief administrative officer of a postsecondary educational institution or employee designated to maintain order on the school campus or facility, that has a student who has suffered unlawful violence or a credible threat of violence from any individual, which may have been carried out on the school campus or facility, to seek a temporary restraining order on behalf of the student. This bill expands the definition of postsecondary educational institution to include public institutions, expands the conduct for which a restraining order can be sought to include unlawful violence, and removes the requirements that such conduct occur off the school campus or facility and be construed to be carried out or to have been carried out at the campus or facility, beginning on January 1, 2026. 

Status: AB 2096 was passed in the Senate Education Committee and referred to the Appropriations Committee.

AB 2565 — (McCarty) School Facilities: Interior Locks

This bill would require a charter school, school district, or county office of education serving students K-12, inclusive, that undertakes a project to add, alter, reconstruct, or retrofit a school building, to install interior locks on each door of any room with an occupancy of five or more persons, in that school building. This bill would specifically include the installation of the interior locks to be funded by the Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Act, which imposes an excise tax of 11% of the gross receipts from the retail sale in this state of a firearm, firearm precursor part, and ammunition. 

Status: AB 2384 has been referred to the Appropriations suspense file to consider its fiscal impact.

AB 2887 — (Maienschein) School Safety Plans: Medical Emergency Procedures

This bill requires that comprehensive school safety plans, when the plan is next reviewed and updated on or after January 1, 2025, include procedures that address the appropriate use of school personnel in response to an individual experiencing a sudden cardiac arrest or similar life-threatening medical emergency on school grounds, and requires those procedures include CPR training and AED placements.

Status: AB 2887 has been referred to the Appropriations suspense file to consider its fiscal impact.

AB 3216 — (Hoover) Pupils: Use of Smartphones

Current law authorizes school districts to adopt policies to milt or prohibit the use of smartphones by students when the students are at a schoolsite or under the supervision and control of an employee of that school district, unless a specific circumstance applies. This bill would require the governing body of the district to, by July 1, 2026, develop and adopt, and to update the policy every five years.

Status: AB 3216 passed in the Senate Education Committee and has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Sexual Assault Molestation

AB 1831 — (Berman) Crimes: Child Pornography

This bill amends Penal Code section 311 to define obscene matter as depicting a person under 18 years of age personally engaging in or simulating sexual conduct including a representation of a real or fictitious person through the use of AI or computer-generated means. 

Status: AB 1831 has been referred to the Appropriations suspense file.

AB 2407 — (Hart) Public Postsecondary Educational Institution: Sexual Harassment Complaints: State Audits

This bill requires the California State Auditor to, on or before September 1, 2026, and every three years thereafter, until January 1, 2026, to report the results of an audit of the ability of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California to address and prevent sexual harassment on campus and would require the findings to be reported to specified legislative committees. The audits are to be used to evaluate the systemwide policies and practices on sexual harassment and determine whether the policies and practices are consistent with federal and state law and best practices. The state Auditor, on or before September 1, 2028, and every five years thereafter until January 1, 2044, is to report the results of an audit of a sample of no less than three community college districts and would require the findings of those audits to be reported to specified legislative committees. The audit is to evaluate whether each community college districts’ policies and practices are adequate to detect, address, and prevent the reoccurrence of sexual harassment. 

Status: AB 2407 has been referred to the Senate appropriations suspense file.

AB 2587 — (Aguiar-Curry) Sexual Assault: Statute of Limitation

This bill extends the eligibility period for revival of a sexual assault that occurred on or after the plaintiff’s 18^th birthday, when one or more entities are legally responsible for damages and the entity or their agents are engaged in a cover up. It would be required that one or more entities or persons that are legally responsible for damages arising out of sexual assault by an alleged perpetrator against the plaintiff and an entity, including their specified representatives, engaged in a cover up or attempted cover up. The failure to allege a cover up as to one entity would not affect revival of a claim against any other entity. 

Status: AB 2587 has been referred to the Senate appropriations suspense file.

SB 933 — (Wahab) Crimes: Child Pornography

This bill amends section 311.1 of the penal code to include images generated through the use of artificial intelligence as child pornography, among other data collection requirements for the Department of Justice.

Status: SB 933 was passed in the privacy and consumer protection committee and referred to the Appropriations Committee.

Student Safety

SB 483 — (Cortese) Pupil Rights: Prone Restrains

This bill would prohibit the use of prone restrains by an educational provider, including using the prone restraint on a student who is an individual with exceptional needs in a public school program. 

Status: This is a two year bill first introduced in 2023. It passed in the Senate and is currently referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.

SB 1248 — (Hurtado) Pupil Health: Extreme Weather Conditions: Physical Activity

This bill requires the State Department of Education on or before January 1, 2026, to establish guidelines specifying temperature thresholds or index ratings that trigger modifications to physical activities during extreme weather conditions and requires those guidelines to consider relevant factors such as humidity, age, duration, and available mitigation measures. The bill would apply these provisions to physical education classes, sports, and athletic practices and games sponsored by a local educational agency, except those administered by the CIF, which would require to comply with established CIF guidelines.

Status: SB 1248 was passed in the Assembly Education Committee and has been referred to the Appropriations Committee.

SB 1318 — (Wahab) Pupil Health: Suicide Prevention Policies: Pupil Mental Health Crisis

This bill would require, on or before July 1, 2026, the Department of Education to update model policy to address crisis intervention protocols in the event of a pupil suicide crisis, limiting the involvement and notification of law enforcement to situations in which the student’s life is in imminent danger and their needs cannot be addressed by a mental health professional. Local educational agencies are to update their pupil suicide prevention policy to include the crisis intervention protocols as prescribed by the Department of Education, on or after July 1, 2026. LEAs are encouraged, if they do not have a school mental health professional or contract with a mental health professional, to consider whether funding should be identified for purposes of hiring a mental health professional.

Status: SB 1318 was amended in the Education Committee to add that LEAs consider funding for a mental health professional. The bill is now referred to the Appropriations Committee. 

Workers’ Compensation

AB 1870 — (Ortega) Notice to Employees: Legal Services

This bill would require the employee poster notice to include information concerning an injured employee’s ability to consult licensed attorneys to advise them of their rights under workers’ compensation laws.

Status: This bill was passed in both houses and has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 87, Statutes of 2024.

SB 1205 — (Laird) Workers’ Compensation: Medical Benefits

SB 1205 would require an employee, when possible, to make a reasonable effort to schedule treatment outside of work hours, requiring the employee to provide notice if treatment occurs during work hours. Any leave taken by the employee is to run concurrently with FMLA leave and the California Family Rights Act, if eligible. The denial of the employee’s request could be a misdemeanor. 

Status: SB 1205 was amended to remove the requirement that all reasonable expenses of transportation, meals and lodging be paid incident to receiving the treatment, including temporary disability benefits. The bill passed in the Insurance Committee where it was amended and is now in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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