Parental Rights/ Child Safety
AB 379 (Schultz; D-Burbank) Combat Child Trafficking: Controversial bill the Dems fought against, moved forward with amendments to remove sex trafficking of 16-17 year olds from a felony to a misdemeanor. From the California District Attorney Association, “Last year, the passage of SB 1414 (Grove) increased the penalties for purchasing minors for commercial sex. While the law covered all minors under the age of 16, only a small fraction of 16- and 17-year-olds were protected under this new law. Specifically, 16- and 17-year-olds were only protected if they could be proven to be victims of human trafficking. AB 379 was introduced to close this gap that left many 16- and 17-year-olds unprotected from commercial sex buyers. AB 379 ensured that the crime of purchasing a 16- or 17-year-old for sex could be prosecuted as a felony, affording these minors the same protections as other children and aiming to reduce the demand for minors from sex buyers. AB 379 was stripped of this critical provision that protected all 16- and 17-year-olds and was a vital step forward in California’s ongoing fight against human trafficking. While we support the loitering provisions in AB 379, as the bill advances during this legislative session, CDAA strongly urges lawmakers to reinstate this provision and pass AB 379.
6/10 - Passed Senate Public Safety referred to Appropriations Committee
Healthcare
AB 100 (Gabriel; D-Encino) Amendment Budget Act 2023: Provide More Funding for Medi-Cal (because $6 Billion wasn't quite enough to cover the illegal immigrants free healthcare).
4/14 - Chaptered, Secretary of State, Governor approved 4/14
Direct Taxes
AB 12 (Wallis; R-San Bernardino) Reverses the 65-Cent Gas Tax Increase: Directed at the recent amendments to the LCFS regulations, which will lead to significant increases in gasoline prices.
2/18 - Held in Committee- DIED
SB 17 (Ochoa-Bogh; R-Redlands) End State Income Tax on Tips
5/23 - Held in Committee - DIED
AB 41 (Macedo; R-Visalia) End CARB Reduce Electricity and Utility Rates: To stop CARB from imposing costly regulations on electricity, gas, housing, etc.
2/18 - Held in Committee - DIED
AB 567 (DeMaio; R-San Diego) Insurance Rate Relief: Cap-and-Cut plan to shield homeowners from massive rate spikes by capping insurance rate increases for 4 years while driving down the cost of insurance and reducing wildlife risks.
4/28 - Suspension - DIED
AB 1238 (DeMaio; R-San Diego) California Energy Consumer Freedom Act: Combats constantly and unworkable regulations that would ban gas appliances or gas-powered vehicles.
3/28 - Committee - DIED
SB 310 (Wiener; D-San Francisco) Expands Private Right of Action for Penalties PAGA: This bill creates a new private right of action for wage and hour penalties that will be manipulated by trial attorneys. It undermines the 2024 Private Attorneys General Act (PAGA) reform, which sought to reduce avenues for litigation abuse and overall costs on employers.
6/5 - DIED
SB 601 (Allen; D-Santa Monica): Punitive and Onerous Water Quality Permitting Requirements. This bill creates duplicative permitting obligations and dramatic legal liability requirements for businesses, agriculture, and water and wastewater utilities by granting the water boards broad authority to impose permitting requirements without considering economic impacts or the critical need for housing and recycled water projects.
6/5 - Committee held at desk
SB 632 (Arreguin; D-Berkely) Expands Costly Presumption of Injury: Significantly increases workers’ comp costs for hospitals by presuming certain diseases and injuries are caused by the workplace. This has been tried nine times before and failed every time.
6/5 - Committee held at desk
SB 682 (Allen; D-Santa Monica) De Facto PFAS Ban: Creates a de facto ban on the use of PFAS
6/4 - Committee held at desk
SB 763 (Hurtado; D-Bakersfield) Vast Expansion of State Antitrust Penalties: This bill raises penalties under California’s antitrust law, the Cartwright Act, from $1 million to $100 million and individual penalties from $250,000 to $1 million without a demonstrated need for reform.
6/5 - Committee held at desk
SB 766 (Allen; D-Santa Monica) Legal Liability for Car Dealers: Increases legal liability to car dealers
6/3 - Committee held at desk
AB 858 (Lee; D-San Jose) Onerous Return to Work Mandate: Transforms prior COVID-19 specific law into a new mandate that applies to specific industries returning to work as applied to any natural disaster.
6/4 - On assignment
AB 1234 (Ortega; D-San Leandro) Creates New Penalty and Revises Wage Claim Procedures: New, automatic 30% penalty on all orders issued by the Labor Commissioner, penalizing employers exercising their due process rights.
6/4 - For assignment
AB 1331 (Elhaway; D-Los Angeles) Restricts Workplace Safety and Security Tools. It undermines workplace safety by prohibiting surveillance technology, including security cameras, cybersecurity, and anti-theft devices.
6/5 - For assignment
Technology Applied to Business
The bills listed below are onerous restrictions on all businesses, especially small businesses.
SB 7 (McNerney; D-Pleasanton) Restricts Use of Automated Decision Systems in Employment: Imposes impractical requirements on employers of every size related to automated decision systems.
6/3 - held at desk
SB 259 (Wahab; D-Hayward) Online Pricing: Prohibits businesses from using any input data to create prices or discounts.
6/5 - referred to committee
SB 295 (Hurtado, D-Bakersfield) California Preventing Algorithmic Collusion Act of 2025: Prohibits a person from using or distributing pricing algorithms, exposing businesses to significant liability.
6/4 - held at desk
SB 384 (Wahab; D-Hayward) Prohibition on Using Information to Set Competitive Pricing: Effectively bans using technology to price items.
6/4 - held at desk
AB 446 (Ward; D-San Diego) Burdens Rewards Programs with New Private Right of Action: Makes it difficult to offer local discounts, loyalty points, etc. Conflicts with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).
5/12 - Passed Assembly
5/21 - Senate Judiciary Committee
AB 1018 (Bauer-Kahan; D-Orinda) Impact Assessments of Automated Decision Systems: Limits the use of Automated Decision Systems (ADS), leading to significant liability and increased costs to the consumer.
6/3 - For assignment
Crime
AB 22 (DeMaio; R-San Diego) End Reckless Release of Criminals
4/22 - DIED
AB 25 (DeMaio; R-San Diego) Voter ID
4/9 - DIED
AB 26 (DeMaio; R-San Diego) Bans Politicians’ Perks and Insider Trading
12/2 - DIED
AB 49 (Muratsuchi; D-Torrance) Ban Federal Law Enforcement from CA Schools
6/4 - In committee
Homelessness
AB 897 (DeMaio, R-San Diego) Remove Criminal Squatters
4/22 - DIED
SB 560 (Smallwood-Cuevas; D-Los Angeles) Welfare Fraud Decriminalization:
Decriminalizes welfare fraud, prohibits prosecution for attempted welfare fraud, and prohibits someone from being charged with perjury if they are subject to prosecution for welfare fraud.
5/23 - In Committee