Keenan Briefings

California P&C Legislative Summary: 2024 End of Session Update

The California Legislature ended its 2023-2024 regular session on August 31. As such, Governor Newsom’s deadline to decide on presented bills has now passed. There were nearly 1,206 bills presented this year. He vetoed 189 bills, a veto rate of about 16%. This veto rate is similar to the veto rate in 2022 and 2023. The legislature can override vetoes with a two-thirds vote in both the Assembly and Senate, however, this hasn’t occurred since 1979. Generally, most bills passed will take effect on January 1, 2025. The Legislature is set to reconvene for next year’s session on December 2, 2025.

   Below is a summary of the bills we are 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, as defined, under the Unruh Civil Rights act. 

Status: AB 1815 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 619, Statutes of 2024. 

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

This bill delineates which entities within the public higher education institutions are responsible for ensuring campus programs are free from discrimination and who has the authority to oversee and monitor the compliance of state and federal law. This will further require the leadership of all three public higher education institutions to present to the Legislature their efforts addressing and preventing discrimination on campus. 

Status: AB 2326 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 827, Statutes of 2024. 

AB 2925 – (Friedman) Post-secondary 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 post-secondary 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 undertakes 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 Attorney General’s annual “Hate Crime in California” publication, is to be included as part of any antidiscrimination training, or Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) training. 

Status: AB 2925 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 844, Statutes of 2024. 

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 two or more protected characteristics, per the holding in Lam v. University of Hawai’i.

Status: SB 1137 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 779, Statutes of 2024. 

Employment

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

This bill would require post-secondary educational institutions to implement a policy to contact the current or former employer of an individual applying for a volunteer and appointed administrative position to determine if the applicant violated any employment or sexual harassment 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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 673, Statutes of 2024. 

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

AB 1905 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 post-secondary educational institution. The institutions, as a condition of receiving state financial assistance, are 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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 813, Statutes of 2024. 

AB 2245 – (Carrillo) Certificated School Employees: Permanent Status: Regional Occupational Centers or Programs by Single School Districts

Starting on July 1, 2025, AB 2245 will require an instructor in classes conducted at a regional center or program operated by a single school district to attain permanent employee status after completing a probationary period.

Status: AB 2245 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 956, Statutes of 2024.

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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 105, Statutes of 2024.

First Aid

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

AB 2317 requires the Department of Social Services, in consultation with the Department of Education and the Emergency Medical Services Authority, 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 director or teacher at each day care center, and each family day care home licensee who provides care, is required to obtain training in pediatric first aid or pediatric CPR course that includes instruction in the prevention and treatment of anaphylaxis, including the use of epinephrine auto-injectors. 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. The anaphylactic policy is to include a process to obtain either a prior written consent or written statement objecting to the emergency use of an epinephrine auto-injector from the parents. 

Status: AB 2317 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 563, Statutes of 2024. 

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 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 behavior, 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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 704, Statutes of 2024. 

Higher Education

AB 1818 — (Jackson) Public Post-secondary 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 bill’s purposes. The bill is to sunset on January 1, 2029. 

Status: AB 1818 failed to pass in the Senate and failed to move forward, as such the bill is dead for this legislative session.

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 non-credit instruction. 

Status: AB 2370 has been signed by the Governor into law, Chapter 66, Statutes of 2024. 

AB 2492 — (Irwin) Public Post-secondary Education: Sex Discrimination Complaints: Advocates and Coordinators 

This bill requires, on or before July 1, 2026, a public post-secondary 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 failed to pass in the Senate and was placed under suspension in the Appropriations Committee. The bill is dead for this legislative year.

AB 2821 — (Grayson) Post-secondary 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 meet 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 signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 905, Statutes of 2024. 

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 was vetoed by the Governor.

SB 1491 — Post-secondary 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 signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 490, Statute of 2024.

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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 949, Statutes of 2024.

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. The bill prohibits an employer with 25 or more employees from firing, discriminating, or retaliating against an employee who is a victim, or who has a family member who is a victim for taking time off work for the purposes relating to a qualifying act of violence. The employer would be permitted to limit the total leave taken and require that the leave taken run concurrently with FMLA and CFRA, if eligible, among other changes. 

Status: AB 2499 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 967, Statutes of 2024. 

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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 570, Statutes of 2024. 

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 ordered to the inactive file. The bill is dead for this legislative session.

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 unemployment and disability compensation law. It also contains other related provisions and other existing laws. 

Status: SB 1090 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 876, Statutes of 2024. 

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. A mandated reporter would be subject to a misdemeanour for failing to make a report as authorized by the bill. 

Status: AB 1799 failed to receive a third reading in the Assembly after being suspended. The bill is dead for this legislative session.

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

Current law requires a health practitioner to make a report to law enforcement when they suspect a patient 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 practitioner to make a report when the injury is life threatening or results in death, or is the result of child abuse, elder, or dependent adult abuse. The health practitioner 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 practitioner who suspects that the patient has suffered physical injury that is caused by domestic violence, is to provide brief counselling and make a referral to a local and national domestic violence or sexual violence advocacy service. 

Status: AB 3127 was held under submission in the Appropriations Committee and failed to move out of the Senate. AB 3127 is dead for this legislative session.

Opioid Prevention and Safety

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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 942, Statutes of 2024. 

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

This bill would require Cal-OSHA, before December 1, 2027, 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 December 1, 2028. Furthermore, the bill expressly provides that an individual who administers naloxone hydrochloride or another opioid antagonist to reverse opioid overdose in a suspected opioid overdose emergency will not be liable for civil damages.

Status: AB 1976 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 689, Statutes of 2024. 

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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 241, Statutes of 2024.

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 wilful and wanton misconduct. 

Status: AB 2998 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 974, Statutes of 2024. 

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

SB 997 prohibits school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools from prohibiting students in middle schools, junior high schools, high schools, or adult schools, while on a schoolsite or participating in school activities, from carrying fentanyl test strips or a federally approved opioid antagonist, for the emergency treatment of persons suffering, or believed to be suffering from an opioid overdose. 

Status: SB 997 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 872, Statutes of 2024. 

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. It 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 move out of the Senate and is dead for this legislative session.

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 signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 551, Statutes of 2024. 

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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 389, Statutes of 2024.

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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 565, Statutes of 2024.

AB 2715 – (Boerner) Ralph M. Brown Act: Closed Sessions

AB 2715 authorizes a legislative body to discuss an actual or potential threat to critical infrastructure controls or information relating to cybersecurity during a closed session. The bill intends to protect information and deliberations related to an agency’s cybersecurity in order to protect against current or future cybersecurity attacks on the agency that can damage public facilities and services.

Status: AB 2715 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 243, Statutes of 2024.

Title IX

AB 1575 — (Irwin) Public Post-secondary Education: Students Codes of Conduct: Advisers 

This bill, also known as “Katie Meyer’s Law,” requires the University of California, California State University, and the California Community Districts, to adopt a policy permitting a student to be assisted by an adviser, if the student is notified of an alleged violation of the school’s student code of conduct. Whereas the policy is to include that the initial letter received by the student include the clause of their right to select an adviser of their choice or to request the school provide the student with one, subject to certain obligations to fulfill the student’s request. The post-secondary education institutions will be required to provide necessary trainings for the advisers. The training can be provided in an online format. It is not required, but it may have an in-person or interactive element. 

Status: AB 1575 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 808, Statutes of 2024. 

AB 2048 — (Fong) Community Colleges: Systemic Campus Reforms: Sexual Harassment: Report 

This bill requires the California Community College Chancellor to submit a report to the Legislature, on or before December 1, 2025, with recommendations for establishing systemic campus reforms that effectively prevent, detect, and address sexual harassment. The law is to be repealed on January 1, 2027.

Status: AB 2048 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 694, Statutes of 2024. 

Training

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

Current law requires each local educational agency for the development of a comprehensive school safety plan of its schools operating K through 12, in cooperation with local entities. The comprehensive school safety plan is to include the development of procedures for conducting tactical responses to criminal incidents, including procedures related to individuals with guns on school campuses and school related functions. AB 1858 would additionally require conducting a drill if the comprehensive school safety plan includes procedures to prepare for active shooters or other armed assailants. The bill authorizes a chartering authority to deny a charter school petition that does not include in its proposed development of a school safety plan the same procedures and policies relating to active shooter and armed assailant drills as required by local educational agencies. 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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 530, Statutes of 2024.

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 signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 814, Statutes of 2024. 

AB 2608 — (Gabriel) Post-secondary 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 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 enrolment 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 within 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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 528, Statutes of 2024.

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

Current law authorizes a chief administrative officer of a post-secondary 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 post-secondary 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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 947, Statutes of 2024. 

AB 2565 — (McCarty) School Facilities: Interior Locks 

This bill, contingent upon appropriation, 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 2565 has been signed into law, by the Governor, Chapter 531, Statutes of 2024.

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

Current law expresses the Legislature’s intent, for all public schools teaching grades K through 12 that are operated by a school district to develop, in cooperation with identified partners, a comprehensive school safety plan. AB 2887 revises that statement of intent to include local emergency medical services personnel and other persons who may be interested in the health and safety of students among cooperating partners and revises the definition of “safety plan.” 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 to include CPR training and AED placements.

Status: AB 2887 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 419, Statute of 2024.

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 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 500, Statutes of 2024.

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. AB 1831 will only become operative if SB 1381 is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2025.

Status: AB 1831 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 926, Statutes of 2024. 

AB 2407 — (Hart) Public Post-secondary 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 signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 830, Statutes of 2024. 

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 failed to move out of the Senate as it was held under submission in the Appropriations Committee. 

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 failed to move out of the Senate as it was held under submission in the Senate Appropriations Committee. The bill is dead for the legislative session.

SB 1386 – (Caballero) Evidence: Sexual Assault

Currently, evidence of specific instances of a plaintiff’s sexual conduct with someone other than the alleged perpetrator is not admissible to prove consent by the plaintiff or the absence of injury to the plaintiff, in actions that contain allegations of sexual harassment, sexual assault, or sexual battery. SB 1386 would make such evidence inadmissible when being used to attack the plaintiff’s credibility of the plaintiff’s testimony on consent or absence of injury.

Status: SB 1386 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 993, Statutes of 2024.

Student Safety

AB 2968 – (Connolly) School Safety and Fire Prevention: Fire Hazard Severity Zones: Comprehensive School Safety Plans: Communication and Evacuation Plans

Starting with the 2026-2027 fiscal year, this bill will require the disaster procedures in the comprehensive school safety plan to include a procedure to identify an appropriate refuge shelter for students and staff for use in the event of an evacuation order due to a severe fire, and to notify the operational area having jurisdiction of the refuge.

Status: AB 2968 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 582, Statutes of 2024.

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: SB 483 was signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 857, Statutes of 2024. 

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 compliance with established CIF guidelines.

Status: SB 1248 was signed into law, Chapter 463, Statutes of 2024.

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 has been signed into law, Chapter 645, Statutes of 2024.

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: AB 1870 was passed in both houses and has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 87, Statutes of 2024. 

AB 2337 - (Dixon) Workers’ Compensation: Electronic Signatures

This bill allows workers’ compensation documents which require a signature to be filed with an “electronic signature.” “Electronic signature” is defined as an electronic sound, symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with an electronic record and executed or adopted by a person with the intent to sign the electronic record, where the signature is attributable to a person, as specified, subject to specified restrictions or requirements.

Status: AB 2337 has been signed into law by the Governor, Chapter 392, Statutes of 2024.

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

This bill would require an employee, whenever possible, to make a reasonable effort to schedule medical treatment outside of work hours. The employee is to provide notice if treatment occurs during work hours and the employer is to provide leave during work hours unless business necessity requires the treatment to occur at a different time or day. The leave taken by an employee pursuant to these provisions would run concurrently with leave taken pursuant to FMLA and CFRA, if the employee is eligible for that leave.

Status: SB 1205 has been ordered to the active file. SB 1205 failed to move out of the Assembly and is dead for this legislative session.

SB 1299 – (Cortese) Farmworkers: Benefits

SB 1299 creates a rebuttable presentation that a heat-related injury arose of the course of employment where an employer in the agricultural industry failed to comply with existing Cal-OSHA heat standards. Where as an “injury” is defined as illness or death that develops or manifests after the employee was working outdoors during or within the pay period in which an employee suffers any heat-related illness, injury, or death.

Status: SB 1299 was vetoed by the Governor.

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