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2024 Legislation

AB 1825 (CA Freedom to Read Act): Prohibits public libraries from banning books based on partisan or political reasons, view point discrimination, gender, sexual identity, religion, disability, or on the basis that the books contain inclusive and diverse perspectives.

AB 1917 (School Board Governance): Requires members of governing boards of school districts and county offices of education, and members of governing bodies of charter schools to receive training in K-12 public education governance laws. Training topics include, but are not limited to: school finance, personnel requirements, public school accountability, and open meeting laws.

AB 1988 (Kitten/puppies Adoption): Clarifies that shelters at peak capacity, that often do not have the space to immediately accommodate these surrenders and rely on rescue partners allows these puppies and kittens, to be made immediately available for adoption.

AB 2074 (English Learner Roadmap): Tasks the California Department of Education (CDE) with creating a state implementation plan for the California English Learner Roadmap Policy (EL Roadmap). The bill also requires designated staff at CDE to serve as a point of reference to ensure the implementation plan that is created rolls out and gets to all the school districts; these staffers will serve as a point of reference and assistance to all.

AB 2112 (Expanded Learning Opportunities Program): Increases access to high quality expanded learning programs for students enrolled in Transitional Kindergarten (TK) through 6th grade by providing stability in the funding provided to local educational agencies (LEAs) for the Expanded Learning Opportunities Program (ELOP). AB 2112 would require that the annual ELOP allocation for those LEAs funded under Rate 2 not be less than the 2022-23 rate of $2,054 per pupil.

AB 2134 (Educator Sick Leave): Bolsters existing law to ensure that teachers and classified employees who change school districts are entitled to keep their earned sick time.

AB 2226 (Mandatory Kindergarten): Requires that, starting with the 2026-27 school year, children would be required to complete one year of kindergarten before being admitted to first grade, thereby making kindergarten mandatory, and ensuring children are well prepared to enter first grade.

AB 2268 (English Language Proficiency Assessments for California): Exempts TK students from being administered either the initial or summative ELPAC for the purposes of English Learner identification. This solution will allow the state to work to identify a long-term solution for identifying and supporting multilingual children in TK programs that is developmentally appropriate.

AB 2309 (City Attorney-misdemeanor): Removes the requirement that cities receive consent from the District Attorney's office in order to prosecute state misdemeanors and allows city attorneys to prosecute any state misdemeanor that occurs within their city.

AB 2329 (Climate Equity Trust Fund): Creates two standalone entities—the Climate Equity Trust Fund and the California Affordable Decarbonization Authority— to reduce electricity bills and promote electrification. The Authority would use the Fund to address the most pressing electricity needs of the state, including equity initiatives, rebates on electricity bills, wildfire mitigation, Public Purpose Programs, and transportation electrification.

AB 2572 (Oceans-Carbon Sink): Creates a road map for the administration to follow in developing ocean carbon dioxide removal projects to address the enormous threat caused by human-induced climate change.

AB 2652 (Artificial Intelligence Working Group): Directs the Superintendent of Public Instruction to convene an AI working group to identify potential uses of AI, develop best practices to advance student critical thinking, and protect essential work of school employees.

AB 2760 (Lower Emissions Equipment-Ports): Requires the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to develop a methodology for calculating cumulative emissions of port equipment, and would establish the Lower Emissions Transition Program to guarantee that ports will not need to replace their equipment based on new regulations before the end of its useful life if, at the time of purchase, CARB determines that the equipment will produce less cumulative emissions than the reductions estimated from waiting for zero-emissions technology (ZE) deployment by the regulatory deadline.

AB 2778 (Mobilehome Affordability Act): Establishes rent caps for mobilehomes space rent from increasing more than 3% plus the percentage of change in cost of living, or 5% annually, whichever is lower, and by including similar in-place transfer protections.

AB 2870 (Low Carbon Fuel Standard-Livestock Methane): Directs CARB to eliminate the avoided methane credit when certifying new LCFS pathways from livestock manure management. This will offer a more accurate accounting of the environmental impact of this fuel source and mitigate the perverse incentive to consolidate dairy farms and their corresponding negative public health effects on frontline environmental justice communities.

AB 3051 (CA K-12 Climate Change Education Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund): Creates the California K-12 Climate Change Education Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund to further the state's implementation and enhancement of teaching and learning related to environmental and climate change education in California's schools.

AB 3109 (Retail Theft): Holds repeat offenders accountable and also provides a pretrial diversion option. Under AB 3109, if a person has a prior conviction related to theft, they could be sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year, or 16 months, or 2 or 3 years for their second or subsequent conviction. The bill also establishes a pretrial diversion program for persons charged with theft-related offenses and offers them appropriate mental health and substance abuse treatment in an effort to help prevent future theft and more serious crimes.

HR 68 (Japanese Day of Remembrance): Recognizes February 19, 2024 as Day of Remembrance and increases awareness of the events surrounding the incarceration of Americans of Japanese ancestry during WWII.

HR 69 (Read Across America Day): Recognizes March 2, 2024 as Read Across America Day.

ACR 131 (School Counseling Week): Recognizes February 6, 2024, to February 10, 2024, as National School Counseling Week.