Policy Priorities
The Commission on the Status of Women and Girls is one of the few state agencies that can sponsor legislation, and advocate on behalf of California’s women and girls. Working with our partners, the Commission has played a role in the passage of dozens of bills that have made a measurable difference in the lives of women and girls in our state. Read on to learn more about our current policy priorities.
2025 Policy Priorities
Co-Sponsored Bills
Supported Bills
The Commission has supported policies and advocated for budget allocations that ensure women are paid fairly; have the right to make decisions about their own bodies; have access to higher education without the fear of sexual harassment; and that working parents are able to support their children. The Commission supports the right choose who to love, and who we marry, because who we are is not, and should not be, open for debate, and we will continue to uplift State policies that protect and better the lives of all California women and girls.
The Commission’s Policy Committee examines, offers feedback on, and suggest stances on proposed State legislation, regulation, policy, procedure and practice. The Committee also assists Commissioners and staff in developing legislative policy, suggest positions on federal regulatory proposals, works closely with the Budget Advocacy Subcommittee to advocate for and help secure funding to support the Commission, our programs, and public outreach.
Supported Bills
Download the 2025 Legislative Snapshot, and learn more about the bills that the Commission is supporting, and opposing, in the current legislative cycle.
SB 642 (Limón) (Co-Sponsor)
Employment: payment of wages
This bill will help strengthen the California Fair Pay Act by revising outdated gender binary language, clarifying what constitutes “wages,” harmonizing the statute of limitations with other wage and antidiscrimination statutes, allowing workers to recover lost wages for discriminatory paychecks for up to 6 years, and providing limits on how wide pay ranges may be in public job postings.
AB 81 (Ta)
Veterans: mental health
This bill would require the Department of Veteran Affairs to establish a program to fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, an academic study of mental health among women veterans in California, as specified. The bill would require the department to submit a report that summarizes the findings and recommendations of the study to the Legislature no later than June 30, 2029. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030.
AB 250 (Aguiar-Curry)
Sexual assault: statute of limitations
This bill would extend the eligibility period for revival of sexual assault claims that would otherwise be barred prior to January 1, 2026, because the applicable statute of limitations has or had expired. The bill would instead require a revived claim against an entity, as defined, to allege that the plaintiff was sexually assaulted and that (1) one or more entities or persons are legally responsible for damages arising out of sexual assault by an alleged perpetrator against the plaintiff, and (2) an entity or entities, including their specified representatives, engaged in a cover up or attempted a cover up of a previous instance or allegations of sexual assault by an alleged perpetrator.
AB 432 (Bauer-Kahan)
Menopause
The bill would require, beginning July 1, 2026, a physician and surgeon who completes continuing medical education courses in perimenopause, menopause, and postmenopausal care to receive 2 hours of credit for each hour completed of that coursework. This bill would require a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy that covers outpatient prescription drugs, exempting Medi-Cal managed care plan contracts with the State Department of Health Care services, that is issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2026, to include coverage for evaluation and treatment options for symptoms of perimenopause and menopause. The bill would require a health care service plan or health insurer to annually provide clinical care recommendations, as specified, for hormone therapy to all contracted primary care providers who treat individuals with perimenopause and menopause.
AB 451 (Petrie-Norris)
Law enforcement policies: restraining orders
This bill would require each municipal police department and county sheriff’s department, the Department of the California Highway Patrol, and the University of California and California State University Police Departments to, on or before January 1, 2027, develop, adopt, and implement written policies and standards to promote safe, consistent, and effective service, implementation, and enforcement of court protection and restraining orders that include firearm access restrictions. The bill would require these policies and standards to include specified elements, including, among others, ensuring compliance with specified laws and instructing officers about the array of civil and criminal protection restraining order options available under California law to law enforcement officers, to victim-survivors, and other petitioners.
AB 678 (Lee)
Interagency Council on Homelessness
This bill would require the Interagency Council on Homelessness to coordinate with representatives from LGBTQ+ communities to identify recommended policies and best practices for providing inclusive and culturally competent services to LGBTQ+ people experiencing homelessness and develop recommendations to, among other things, expand data collection to understand the needs and experiences of LGBTQ+ people in state homelessness programs, as defined.
AB 727 (Gonzalez)
Pupil and student safety: statewide resources: identification cards
This bill, commencing July 1, 2026, requires a public or private school that serves pupils in any of grades 7 to 12 to additionally have printed on the identification cards the telephone number and text line for a specified suicide hotline that is available 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, as provided.
AB 798 (Calderon)
Emergency Diaper and Wipe Distribution Program
This bill would include children’s diapers and wipes in the list of supplies under the State of Emergency Food Bank Reserve Program.
AB 1018 (Bauer-Kahan)
Automated decision systems
This bill would generally regulate the development and deployment of an automated decision system (ADS) used to make consequential decisions. This bill would require a developer of a covered ADS to take certain actions, including conduct performance evaluations of the covered ADS and provide deployers to whom the developer transfers the covered ADS with certain information, including the results of those performance evaluations. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2027, require a deployer of a covered ADS to provide certain disclosures to a subject of a consequential decision made or facilitated by the covered ADS, provide the subject an opportunity to opt out of the use of the covered ADS, provide the subject with an opportunity to appeal the outcome of the consequential decision, and submit the covered ADS to third-party audits.
AB 1084 (Zbur)
Change of name and gender and sex identifier
This bill would eliminate the mechanism to file an objection to an adult petitioner’s change of name to conform to the petitioner’s name to the petitioner’s gender identity. The bill would require the court to enter an order granting the petition without a hearing within six weeks of the petition’s filing, as specified. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.
AB 1098 (Fong)
Postsecondary education: undergraduate and graduate students: pregnancy or pregnancy-related issues
The bill would extend to pregnant or recently pregnant undergraduate students the prohibitions and obligations placed by existing law on postsecondary educational institutions for pregnant or recently pregnant graduate students. The bill would require these institutions to: (1) require responsible employees, upon being informed of a student’s pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, to give the student the contact information of a coordinator designated by the institution and information about what the coordinator can do to ensure the student has equal access to educational programs; (2) require reasonable accommodations provided to a pregnant student or a recently pregnant student to be provided though the institution’s coordinator, and (3) provide a pregnant student or recently pregnant student access to a private and secure room for lactation. The bill would authorize a student to voluntarily accept or reject an accommodation and would require the institution to immediately implement an accommodation the student accepts. The bill would require birth parent and nonbirth parent students, upon returning to their education program, to be reinstated to the academic status held before their voluntary leave of absence began. For a birth parent or nonbirth parent graduate or undergraduate student, the bill would prohibit an institution from reducing the student’s institution-based financial aid upon returning from the leave of absence. This bill contains other related provisions and other existing laws.
SB 388 (Padilla)
California Latino Commission
This bill would create the California Latino Commission to address the inequities faced by the Latino community in housing, education, economic mobility, labor, and health care. The bill would task the commission with, among other things, collecting and analyzing data, developing recommendations, and monitoring the implementation of state programs and policies affecting the Latino community.
SB 464 (Smallwood-Cuevas)
Employer pay data
This bill would require an employer to collect and store any demographic information gathered by an employer or labor contractor for the purpose of submitting the pay data report separately from employees’ personnel records, and, beginning January 1, 2027, increase the number of job categories, as specified above, to 23. Existing law authorizes the department, if it does not receive the pay data report, to seek an order requiring an employer to comply with these provisions. Existing law provides that upon the request of the department, a court may impose a civil penalty upon any employer for failure to file the required report, which shall be payable to the Civil Rights Enforcement and Litigation Fund. This bill would require a court to impose a civil penalty against an employer that fails to file the report if requested to do so by the department.
SB 590
(Durazo)
Paid family leave: eligibility: care for designated persons
This bill would, commencing July 1, 2027, expand eligibility for benefits under the paid family leave program to include individuals who take time off work to care for a seriously ill designated person. The bill would define designated person to mean any individual related by blood or whose association with the employee is the equivalent of a family relationship. The bill would authorize the employee to identify the designated person when they file a claim for benefits. The bill would make conforming changes to the definitions of the term’s family care leave and family member. This bill contains other existing laws.
SB 669 (McGuire)
Rural hospitals: standby perinatal medical services
This bill would require the State Department of Public Health, in consultation with specified stakeholders, to establish a 5-year pilot project to allow critical access and individual and small system rural hospitals to establish standby perinatal medical services, as defined. To qualify for participation in the pilot project, the bill would require a critical access or individual and small system rural hospitals to meet specified requirements, including, among others, that the hospital (1) be greater than 60 minutes from the nearest hospital providing full maternity services, (2) not have closed a full maternity or labor and delivery department within the past 3 years, and (3) agree to provide routine labor and delivery services or have an agreement with a freestanding birth center, as specified. The bill would require a hospital selected for a pilot program to comply with certain requirements, including among others, having and maintaining specified staff, services, and equipment.
SB 702 (Limon)
Legislative and gubernatorial appointments: report
This bill would require the office of the Governor, commencing January 1, 2027, to maintain on its internet website a list of each state board and commission and the membership list, stated purpose, duties, meeting frequency, internet website, and vacancies in the membership for each board or commission. The bill would require the office of the Governor, on or before January 1, 2028, and annually on January 1 thereafter, to create and publish on its internet website a report containing aggregate demographic information, as defined, of appointments made by the office during the prior calendar year, as specified.
2024 Legislative Accomplishments
Bills Supported
Sent to the Governor
Signed into Law
2023 Legislative Accomplishments
Bills Supported
Sent to the Governor
Signed into Law
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To find policy and legislation efforts supported and/or sponsored by the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls from 2017 – 2023 you can learn more here
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The Commission is a proud member of the ERA Coalition, comprised of 200 national and local organizations representing millions of advocates working for the equality.