NextGen California Reflects on 2024 Legislative Victories and Looks Ahead to 2025

For Immediate Release: October 1, 2024 

Contact: Tyler Bushnell, tyler.bushnell@nextgenpolicy.org

Amidst the backdrop of having to navigate a significant state budget shortfall and major industry opposition, NextGen celebrates key legislative victories and highlights policy and program areas where progress still needs to be made.

SACRAMENTO – With the conclusion of the bill signing period, NextGen California is celebrating a host of hard-fought legislative policy wins after Governor Newsom signed several of our priority bills into law and vetoed other bills with which we had concerns, including in the areas of climate change, digital equity, elections protection, food insecurity, and more.

“On behalf of the entire NextGen team, we would like to thank our partners, State Legislators, and Governor Newsom for their support prioritizing policies and solutions that uplift, protect, and enrich the lives of Californians, particularly those from communities which are disproportionately impacted by equity and justice-centered issues,” said Arnold Sowell Jr., Executive Director of NextGen California. “Although there is still work to be done, we are encouraged by legislative victories including: holding polluters accountable; safeguarding the integrity of our elections by prohibiting AI generated deepfakes of candidates and election officials; continuing to make progress to end food insecurity; and more.”

“As the NextGen team looks ahead to the 2025 legislative cycle, we remain focused on our mission to advocate for policies that address the pressing issues impacting vulnerable Californians – creating more economic mobility pathways; reforming the state’s solitary confinement practices; streamlining voter registration processes; addressing housing affordability, climate change, and the historical inequities in accessing the digital world; as well as protecting college students from institutional debt.”

Governor Newsom signed 13 of NextGen’s 2024 supported bills into law:

Climate: 

  • SB 219 (Wiener) – Corporate Climate Accountability:  Provides the pathway to implement the Corporate Climate Accountability Act which requires corporations to disclose and report on their greenhouse gas emissions.
  • AB 1866 (Hart) – Idle Oil Well Clean-Up: Requires oil companies to plug idle wells, increases fees for failure to do so, and protects communities from environmental threats.
  • AB 3233 (Addis) – Local Oil Drilling Regulations: Protects local communities’ right to ban oil drilling – clarifying the rulings in two recent state Supreme Court decisions.

Criminal Justice Reform:

  • SB 1001 (Skinner) – No Death Penalty for Intellectually Disabled Individuals: Provides important safeguards to help prevent the execution of those who are intellectually disabled.

Consumer Protections:

  • SB 1061 (Limón) – Medical Debt: Removes medical debt from consumer credit reports, ending a harmful practice that causes a great deal of economic hardship for millions of individuals and families throughout our state.

Elections:

  • AB 2655 (Berman) – Defending Democracy from Deepfake Deception Act: Bans the distribution on major online platforms of AI generated deepfakes that falsely portray a candidate, elected official, or elections official for a limited time before and after an election.
  • AB 2839 (Pellerin) – Deceptive media in Advertisements Act: Bans the use of deepfakes falsely portraying candidates, elected officials, and elections officials in offline political communications.

Food Insecurity:

  • SB 1254 (Becker) – Food for Re-entry and Ensuring Stable Homes (FRESH) Act: Assists incarcerated individuals in applying for CalFresh benefits up to 90 days before their release, which helps address the food insecurity crisis in California and decreases barriers to reentry.

Higher Education: 

  • AB 1887 (Cervantes) – CA Emergency Response to Federal Financial Aid Rollout – Aligns state financial aid and college application deadlines to new federal processes to support student access to financial aid. 
  • AB 2033 (Reyes) – EASE Act: EBT Access for Student Empowerment (EASE) Act – Requires at least one location on every California public college campus to accept EBT cards, making it easier for students to use their benefits. 

Immigration:

  • SB 1132 (Durazo) – Health and Safety in Private Detention Facilities: Empowers county officials to conduct public health inspections at private detention facilities and immigration centers.

Transportation: 

  • AB 2086 (Schiavo) – Transportation Accountability Act: Provides greater transparency and reporting related to state transportation investments.
  • SB 960 (Wiener) – Multimodal Transit Priority Projects: Strengthens requirements that state highway systems accommodate all road users – pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transit riders.

In the higher education space, AB 1160 (Pacheco) The Protecting Students from Creditor Colleges Act was unfortunately held in the Senate Appropriations Committee and did not pass – this is a big disappointment, as this bill would have protected California college students from negative academic and economic harms due to an institutional debt. NextGen will continue advocacy efforts in 2025 and beyond to ensure California students have a fair pathway to degree completion and careers!

“Every student, regardless of their background, should have equal opportunities to earn a college degree. Institutional debt is a lesser-known type of educational related debt that is growing in the shadows and preventing students from graduating – AB 1160 finally shed light on this growing crisis,” said Samantha Seng, Legislative Director and Policy Advisor at NextGen California. “It’s time to end shadow debt, and when students owe an institutional debt – debt owed directly to their campus — there should be regulations in place to ensure our colleges are not acting like predatory debt collectors. NextGen stands by students and will continue to advocate for policies and solutions that help them achieve their higher education goals!”

Additionally, NextGen California firmly opposed the final version of AB 2527 (Bauer-Kahan) Dignified Care of Incarcerated Pregnancy that passed the Legislature and was signed by Governor Newsom. NextGen supported the bill in its initial form as it banned solitary confinement for pregnant people in custody and provided them access to clean water and nutritious meals. However, the bill took on late amendments which significantly altered the bill’s intent and effect, causing NextGen to change its position from support to oppose.

“Simply put, there is nothing dignified, healthy, or appropriate about placing a pregnant individual in solitary confinement,” said Arturo Juarez, Program Manager and Policy Advisor at NextGen California. “This bill not only runs contrary to the standards set by the international community and the United Nations, but also runs contrary to recommendations of the U.S. Department of Justice, and the more humane reforms instituted in the state of New York – which has abolished solitary confinement for pregnant individuals entirely and instead mandates certain healthcare protections and guarantees daily out-of-cell time.”

NextGen, as part of the CADE coalition, continues to work towards equitable and affordable access to the digital world. This past year, our work included addressing affordability for low-income communities via AB 1588 (Wilson), and correcting for historical digital discrimination that continues to leave behind many families from fast, reliable internet access through AB 2239 (Bonta). Though both bills stalled this year, NextGen was pleased to see AB 1826 (Holden) vetoed, setting the stage for the pursuit of meaningful digital reform in the next legislative year which will greatly improve access to competitive, universal broadband service for all. We were also pleased to see a veto of SB 1383 (Bradford), a bill which would have removed free broadband access for public housing residents.

NextGen California looks forward to future collaborations with Governor Newsom, State Legislators, and our partners in the year ahead as we continue our mission to help build a California that is more equitable, climate resilient, inclusive, and prosperous. Visit NextGen’s website to review our complete 2024 legislative bill package.

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The mission of NextGen California is to fight for progressive policy change to address environmental, social, racial, gender, and economic inequities in California through justice-centered legislative advocacy, grassroots partnerships, and democratic civic engagement.