Legislation & Policy Priorities

2022 Bills Signed!

Addressing Poverty
The cycle of poverty can persist for generations and the Commission’s supported policy seeks to eliminate compounding issues.

COERCED DEBT
SIGNED INTO LAW: SB 975 (Min) – this bill creates a cause of action through which a debtor can enjoin a creditor from holding the debtor personally liable for a debt incurred in the name of a debtor through duress, intimidation, threat, force, fraud, or exploitation of the debtor’s resources or personal information for personal gain

Cultural Competence
Fostering inclusive environments is a priority of the Commission, modernizing California’s language is a key step in achieving this goal.

INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE
SIGNED INTO LAW: AB 2022 (Ramos) – this bill requires the removal of the s-word from all geographic features and place names in the State of California and would establish a process for the California Advisory Committee on Geographic Names to review and revise offensive names in the State of California.
SIGNED INTO LAW: SB 923 (Wiener) – this bill requires a health care service plan or health insurer to require all of its health plan or insurer staff who are in direct contact with enrollees or insureds in the delivery of care or enrollee or insured services, to complete evidence-based cultural competency training for the purpose of providing trans-inclusive health care for individuals who identify as transgender, gender diverse, or intersex, no later than January 1, 2024

Fair and Equitable Compensation
Significant gender and wage gaps continue to persist, policies co-sponsored by the Commission seek to eliminate these gaps and get closer to parity.

GENDER PARITY
SIGNED INTO LAW: AB 1287 (Bauer-Kahan) – this bill prohibits businesses within California from charging different prices for any two consumer products that are substantially similar, if the price differential is based on the gender of the individuals for whom the goods are marketed or intended.
SIGNED INTO LAW: SB 1162 (Limon) – this bill expands state pay data reporting requirements to cover contracted employees and requires employers to make pay scale information for positions available to employees and included in job postings.

Housing for All
Access to housing in the United States is not an equal playing field, the Commission’s supported policies strive for inclusion of all Californians.

HOUSING JUSTICE
SIGNED INTO LAW: SB 914 (Rubio) – this bill requires cities, counties, and continuums of care that receive state funding on or after January 1, 2023 to take specific actions to address the needs of unaccompanied homeless women with emphasis on domestic violence survivors.
SIGNED INTO LAW: SB 1017 (Eggman) – this bill allows survivors of domestic violence and other violent acts, who are tenants, to maintain their current housing and avoid eviction, significantly increasing their safety and providing much-needed stability as they heal from trauma.

Reproductive Freedom
At a time when women’s rights are under attack, the Commission’s supported policies protect a women’s right to her own body.

ACCESS TO CARE
SIGNED INTO LAW: AB 1666 (Bauer-Kahan) – this bill declares that a law of another state that authorizes a person to bring a civil action against a person or entity that receives or seeks, performs or induces, or aids or abets the performance of an abortion, or who attempts or intends to engage in those actions, is contrary to the public policy of this state.
SIGNED INTO LAW: AB 2134 (Weber) – this bill ensures that health care providers who provide abortions are fully compensated for their services.
SIGNED INTO LAW: AB 2185 (Weber) – this bill ensures domestic violence victims access to medical evidentiary exams, free of charge, by Local Sexual Assault Response Teams or other qualified medical evidentiary examiners.
SIGNED INTO LAW: AB 2482 (Calderon) – his bill would establish a pilot program requiring five California State Universities and five California Community Colleges to establish at least one wellness vending machine at their main campus, satellite campus, or both.
SIGNED INTO LAW: AB 2626 (Calderon) – this bill protects abortion providers by preventing professional boards from revoking or suspending a license for providing lawful abortion care in California or in other states.
SIGNED INTO LAW: AB 2586 (C. Garcia) – this bill would address the reproductive and sexual health disparities that Black, Indigenous and other communities of color face.
SIGNED INTO LAW: AB 2872 (Weber) – this bill makes a series of modifications to the Secretary of State’s Safe at Home address confidentiality program, including changes to applications, notice requirements, and bases for termination.
SIGNED INTO LAW: SB 1142 (Caballero) – this bill requires the California Health and Human Services Agency to establish an internet website where the public can access information on abortion services in the state, on or before July 1, 2023, to ensure people have accurate and comprehensive information when accessing abortion services in California. Establishes the Abortion Practical Support Fund to provide grants that increase patient access to abortion.

Supporting Service Members
Military families face unique and burdens, the Commission’s supported policy goes a long way to address these unseen burdens.

CONSUMER PROTECTIONS
SIGNED INTO LAW: SB 1311 (Eggman) – this bill strengthens consumer protections related to military discounts, privacy protection, return of security deposits, auto sales contracts, borrower protections and deferral of interest, among other things.

The California State Legislature session ended on September 10th with a total of 694 measures that awaited the Governor’s signature. By the October 10th deadline, Eight of the nine Commission’s supported measures that made it to the Governor’s desk received his signature! This was in addition to the 2021-22 State Budget that funded many of the Commission’s priorities including maintaining MediCal telehealth through the end of 2022, waiving child care family fees through 2022, 9-8-8 mental health crisis hotline funding, free school meals and Medi-Cal coverage regardless of immigration status. Below are summaries of this year’s achievements that will have great impact the lives of low income women and girls, especially of color, pregnant people and survivors of abuse

SUPPORT

• Family-Friendly Workplaces & Protection

  • AB 123 (Gonzalez) Paid Family Leave Expansion
  • SB 331 (Leyva) Silenced No More Act

  Gender Based Discrimination

  • AB 1287 (Bauer-Kahan) Pink Tax Elimination

  Childcare/Education

  • AB 92 (Reyes) Preschool & Childcare Family Fee

  Basic Needs

  • SB 364 (Skinner) Free School Meals for All

Health Access

• SB 56 (Durazo)/ AB 4 (Arambula) Medical Eligibility: Undocumented Seniors

• Ab 32 (Agiuar-Curry) Telehealth-Expanding Healthcare Accessibility

Mental Health

• AB 988 (Bauer-Kahan) 988 Suicide & Mental Health Crisis Hotline

Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Prevention & Support

• AB 124 (Kamlager) Trauma-Informed Sentencing for Survivors

• AB 925 (Dahle) Sexual Assault Forensic Examinations: Reimbursement

Reproductive Justice

• AB 367 (C. Garcia) Menstrual Equity Act 2021

• AB 1356 (Bauer-Kahan) Protecting Reproductive Health Clinic Patients

Safety

• AB 812 (Cristina Garcia) Rape of a Spouse

• Download SB #645 Graphics

   

  Disparity 

  • AB 14 (Aguiar-Curry)/ SB 4 (Gonzalez) Internet For All: Broadband Service

  • SB 65 (Skinner) Maternal Care & Services ‘Momnibus’ Bill

SUPPORT

• ACA 5 (Weber, Gipson, Santiago, and Gonzalez. (Coauthors: Assembly Members, Burke, Cooper, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, and Kamlager, McCarty, and Mark Stone) (Coauthors: Senators Bradford, Mitchell and Hueso) – A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by repealing Section 31 of Article I thereof, relating to government preferences.
• AB 9 (Reyes, Friedman, Waldron) – Extends the filing period with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing for complaints of unlawful employment practices to three years buts prohibits the revival of lapsed claims.
• AB 24 (Burke) – Enacts the Targeted Child Tax Credit which would provide increased support for California Families living in poverty 
• AB 31 (Garcia) – Repeals the sales tax on menstrual products until January 1, 2025
• AB 196 (Gonzalez) – Ensures workers utilizing the States’s Paid Family Leave (PFL) program can receive 100 percent wage replacement during the period of their leave.
• AB 577 (Eggman) – Would extend the duration of Medi-Cal eligibility for postpartum care for an individual who is diagnosed with a maternal mental health condition from 60 days, instead, up to one year beginning on the last day of pregnancy. 
• AB 931 (Boerner Horvath) – Would require state and local boards and commissions to have a specific minimum number of women board members or commissioners
• SB 24 (Leyva) – Would require CSU and UC health centers to provide medication abortion services
• SB 135 (Jackson) – Would prohibit an employer with 5 or more employees to refuse to grant an employee a request to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family care and medical leave if the employee had 180 days of services with the employer. Also expands the definition of family to include grandparent, grandchild, sibling, etc.
• SB 171 (Jackson) – Would require large employers to report pay and job title information broken down by gender, race,and ethnicity to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing on an annual basis.
• SB 464 (Mitchell) – Recognizes and addresses clear inequities in pregnancy and birth outcomes for black women and children by requiring implicit bias training for all perinatal providers in hospitals and birthing clinics: also requires data collection by the Department of Public Health
• SB 493 (Jackson) – Would codify federal Title lX protections in California state statute
• SB 611 (Caballero) – Calls on the Governor’s Office to establish the Master Plan for Aging Housing Task Force to assess the housing issues affecting California’s aging population.
• SCR 15 (Chang) – Designates April 7-13, 2019 as Women and Girls in STEM Week

OPPOSE

• SB 673 (Morrell) – Would require an “opt-in” instead of current law, “opt-out”, for sexual health education and HIV prevention education for pupis in the 7th grade and lower

2020 Legislation and Policy Priorities
The California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls voted unanimously on August 3, 2020 to support the following legislation:

SB493 (Jackson): This bill requires, by January 1, 2021, a post-secondary institution that receives state funds to comply with various requirements pertaining to student sexual harassment protections and to provide students with procedural protections relating claims of sexual harassment.

SB 1399 (Durazo): For the purpose of wage claim enforcement in the garment industry, expands the definition of garment manufacturing to include brand guarantors, eliminates piece rate pay, provides for joint and several liability among manufacturers, brand guarantors, and contractors, and creates a rebut-table presumption of the identity of a brand guarantor by the provision of a brand’s label.

AB 1927 (Boerner Horvath): This bill makes the testimony of a victim or witness in a felony prosecution for specified sex crimes that the victim or witness, at or around the time of crime, unlawfully possessed or used a controlled substance or alcohol inadmissible in a separate prosecution of that victim or witness to prove illegal possession or use of that controlled substance or alcohol.

SB 1237 (Dodd, Burke, Mitchell): This bill removes the requirement for physician and surgeon supervision for a certified nurse midwife (CNM) to practice midwifery; revises the provisions defining the practice of midwifery; authorizes a CNM to attend cases out of a hospital setting; authorizes a CNM to furnish or order drugs or devices in accordance with standardized protocols; and, requires a CNM to provide specified disclosures to a patient.

SB 973 (Jackson): Requires private employers with 100 or more employees to submit a report annually to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) with pay data for specified job categories broken down by race, ethnicity, and sex.

SB 1383 (Jackson): Expands the California Family Rights Act (CFRA) to allow employees to use unpaid job protected leave to care for a domestic partner, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or parent-in-law who has a serious health condition.

SB 1150 (Jackson) – Gender Discrimination.