This measure would proclaim the month of March 2026 as Afghan American Heritage Month and recognize Afghan Americans as an essential part of cultural and civic life of this state.
Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, establishes the Office of Emergency Services and vests the office with responsibility for the state's emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies, as specified. Existing law establishes the California Specialized Training Institute within the Office of Emergency Services. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2027, the Office of Emergency Services, through the California Specialized Training Institute, to develop a transnational repression recognition and response training, as specified.
This Senate Resolution establishes CalEITC Awareness Week from January 30 to February 6, 2026, to promote awareness of the California Earned Income Tax Credit among eligible low-income residents. The resolution highlights the program's role in reducing poverty by providing tax credits to working families, including those with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers and children under six. It aims to encourage eligible households to claim their benefits through Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites, which offer free, culturally responsive tax preparation services. The text notes that over 3.3 million Californians claimed the credit in 2024, yet many eligible families still do not receive the full benefits they qualify for.
Existing law designates 8 agencies in state government and requires the secretary of an agency to be generally responsible for the sound fiscal management of each department, office, or other unit within the agency. Existing law further requires the secretary of an agency to, among other duties, continually seek to improve the organization structure, the operating policies, and the management information systems of each department, office, or other unit. This bill would establish the Immigrant and Refugee Affairs Agency as an agency within state government, to be headed by a secretary who is appointed by the Governor and subject to Senate confirmation. The bill would specify that the purpose of the agency is to enhance, and reduce obstacles to, immigrant and refugee inclusion into the social, cultural, economic, and civic life of the state. The bill would authorize the secretary to, among other things, assist other state agencies in evaluating their programs for accessibility and effectiveness in providing services to immigrants and refugees and recommending policy and budget mechanisms for meeting immigrant and refugee inclusion. This bill would establish the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs within the agency, under the direction of the Statewide Director of Immigrant and Refugee Inclusion. The bill would declare the intent to incorporate existing and future programs created to assist immigrants and refugees into the office. The bill would transfer to the office the property of any other office, agency, or department that relates to functions concerning immigrant and refugee affairs. The bill would require every officer and employee who is performing a function at another office, agency, or department that is transferred to the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs to also be transferred to the office, and would provide that every officer and employee who is serving in the state civil service who is transferred to the office shall retain their status, position, and rights, except as specified. The bill would create the Immigrant and Refugee Inclusion Fund within the State Treasury, and would make the moneys in the fund available to the office upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would transfer to the office any unencumbered balance of any appropriation or other funds that were available for use in connection with any function transferred to the office. This bill would limit interagency sharing of information, would prohibit sharing of personal information of immigrants and refugees outside of the agency, and would prohibit use of agency resources to directly or indirectly participate or assist in immigration enforcement activity. Existing law establishes the Statewide Director of Immigrant Integration and requires the director serve as the statewide lead for the planning and coordination of immigrant services and policies in California. Existing law requires, among other things, that the director develop a comprehensive statewide report on programs and services that serve immigrants, develop an online clearinghouse of immigrant services, resources, and programs, and monitor the implementation of statewide laws and regulations that serve immigrants. This bill would recast those provisions to rename the director as the Statewide Director of Immigrant and Refugee Inclusion and would require the director to, among other things, develop a mission statement, strategic plan, and matrix of success for the office, and to report to the Legislature biannually on successes and challenges in meeting immigrant and refugee inclusion goals. The bill would require the director, by January 1, 2027, to report to the Governor and the Legislature on programs and services that serve immigrants and refugees and on a statewide plan for better implementation and coordination of immigrant and refugee assistance policies and programs. The bill would repeal the bill's provisions on January 1, 2036. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
This measure would strongly condemn and denounce mass immigration raids that target immigrant workers and families in California and the engagement of the military in immigration enforcement operations and in response to community protests. This measure would affirm support for safeguarding the rights and safety of all Californians, regardless of immigration status, and support, among other things, the expansion of legal services and emergency response resources to protect workers, children, and families affected by immigration enforcement.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges as one of the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in the state. Existing law establishes uniform residency requirements for purposes of ascertaining the amount of tuition and fees to be paid by students of public postsecondary educational institutions. Existing law requires a student classified as a nonresident to pay nonresident tuition, in addition to other fees required by the institution, except as provided. This bill, the California Community Colleges Access and Continuity for Deported Students Act, would, until January 1, 2030, exempt a community college student from paying nonresident tuition if the student departs the United States on or after January 1, 2025, for specified reasons, was not paying nonresident tuition at the time of departure, provides an attestation of specified information related to the departure, and reenrolls in a community college online education program no later than 3 years from the date the student departed the United States. The bill, until January 1, 2030, would require a deported student, as defined, who resumes in-person education at a community college to be eligible to retain residency status for the purpose of determining tuition and fees, provided the student was previously classified as a resident and eligible for the nonresident tuition exemption at the time of departure, and would require the student to be eligible to apply for financial aid upon reenrollment. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on community college districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, prohibits various forms of employment and housing discrimination, including various types of discrimination because of national origin. Existing law empowers the Civil Rights Department to investigate and prosecute complaints alleging unlawful practices. Existing labor law also prohibits an employer or other person or entity from engaging in, or to directing another person or entity to engage in, unfair immigration-related practices against a person for exercising specified rights. Existing law defines unfair immigration-related practices for these purposes. Existing law additionally makes it unlawful for an employer to request more or different immigration documents than are required under federal law, to refuse to honor documents tendered that reasonably appear to be genuine, and to take other related actions concerning employee work authorization documents. Existing law authorizes an applicant for employment or an employee who is subject to an unlawful act that is prohibited by these provisions, or a representative of that applicant for employment or employee, to file a complaint with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement. Existing law establishes specified civil penalties for a violation of these provisions. This bill would require each employee, upon request, to be released by their employer for up to 5 unpaid working days within a 12-month period in order to attend appointments, interviews, adjudications, legal proceedings, detainment, or any other meeting at which the employee's presence is required concerning the employee's immigration status, work authorization, visa status, or any other immigration-related matter, as specified. The bill would also require a postintroductory employee, as defined, whose employment has been terminated due to an inability to provide documentation of proper work authorization, to be immediately reinstated to their former classification without loss in seniority, subject to producing proper work authorization, except as provided. The bill would also require an employer, if the employee demonstrates a need for additional time, to rehire the employee into the next available opening in the employee's former classification, as a new hire without retaining seniority, subject to the employee providing proper work authorization and meeting certain other conditions. This bill would require an employer that is notified that an employee has been detained or incarcerated as a result of pending immigration or deportation proceedings, to place the employee on an unpaid leave of absence for a period pending the employee's release from detainment or incarceration and not to exceed 12 months. If the employee is released and provides appropriate work authorization documentation within the period of the authorized unpaid leave of absence, the bill would require the employer to return the employee to their former job classification without loss of seniority, except as specified. This bill would apply the above requirements to a public or private employer, but would exempt a public or private employer with 25 or fewer employees. The bill would prohibit each public or private employer from disciplining, discharging, or discriminating against an employee because of national origin or immigration status, or solely because the employee is subject to immigration or deportation proceedings, except as required to comply with the law. The bill would prohibit an employee subject to immigration or deportation proceedings from being discharged solely because of those proceedings, so long as the employee is authorized to work in the United States. This bill would provide that its provisions do not invalidate a collective bargaining agreement or a memorandum of understanding that contains a provision addressing rehire or reinstatement rights or leave rights regarding employees who are subject to immigration proceedings, nor does it supersede the seniority provisions of a collective bargaining agreement or a memorandum of understanding. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to enforce the bill's provisions. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2029, and would repeal them on January 1, 2030.
Existing law establishes a public school financing system that requires state funding for county superintendents of schools, school districts, and charter schools to be calculated pursuant to a local control funding formula, as specified. Existing law requires the local control funding formula, in part, to be based on average daily attendance, as defined. For purposes of state apportionments based on average daily attendance, as provided, if the average daily attendance of a school district, county office of education, or charter school has been materially decreased during a fiscal year because of a specified type of emergency, existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to estimate the average daily attendance in a manner that credits to the school district, county office of education, or charter school the total average daily attendance that would have been credited had the emergency not occurred, as provided. This bill would, until July 1, 2029, add an immigration enforcement activity, as defined, to the list of emergencies for which the above-described provisions related to calculating average daily attendance for purposes of state apportionments apply, as provided. The bill would, for purposes of these provisions related to calculating average daily attendance for purposes of state apportionments, prohibit a school district, county office of education, or charter school from being credited for more than 10 days of missed attendance for a pupil due to an immigration enforcement activity. For affidavits submitted to the Superintendent for emergency events occurring after September 1, 2021, but on or before June 30, 2026, that resulted in a school closure or material decrease in attendance, existing law requires a school district, county office of education, or charter school that provides an affidavit to the Superintendent to certify that it has a plan for which independent study will be offered to pupils, as provided, and requires that plan to comply with certain requirements, including, among other things, that independent study is offered to any impacted pupil within 10 instructional days of the first day of a school closure or material decrease in attendance. This bill would, for affidavits submitted to the Superintendent for an immigration enforcement activity that occurred on or after January 1, 2025, but on or before June 30, 2026, that resulted in a school closure or material decrease in attendance, require a school district, county office of education, or charter school that provides an affidavit to the Superintendent to additionally require the independent study plan to either (1) require the offering of live interaction or synchronous instruction to pupils, as provided, or (2) provide a description of both the extenuating circumstances that prevent the offering of live interaction or synchronous instruction and a description of what pupil engagement, services, and instruction will be provided to support pupils during or immediately after the period of closure or material decrease in attendance. The bill would, as applied to the above-described provisions for calculating average daily attendance for purposes of state apportionments and related affidavits certifying independent study plans, exempt from the California Public Records Act any documentation related to an immigration enforcement activity submitted to the Superintendent by a school district, charter school, county office of education, or county superintendent of schools, as provided. The bill would make these provisions inoperative on July 1, 2029, and would repeal them as of January 1, 2030. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing law establishes the Adult Education Program under the administration of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Existing law requires the chancellor and the Superintendent, with the advice of the executive director of the State Board of Education, to divide the state into adult education regions and approve one adult education consortium in each of those regions. Existing law requires, on or before February 1 of each fiscal year for which funds are appropriated for the program, the chancellor and the Superintendent to report to the Director of Finance, the Statewide Director of Immigrant Integration, the state board, and the Legislature about the use of specified funds and outcomes for adults statewide and in each adult education region, including, among other things, any recommendations related to delivery of education, immigrant integration, and workforce services for adults. Existing law requires, consistent with that reporting requirement, the chancellor and the Superintendent, with input from the Statewide Director of Immigrant Integration and adult education program providers, to identify common measures for meeting the needs of immigrant and refugee adults seeking integration, as specified. This bill would define immigrant integration for purposes of the program.
Existing law establishes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, headed by the Labor Commissioner, within the Department of Industrial Relations, for the purpose of enforcing labor laws. Existing law prescribes the duties and rights of employers and employees relating to specified labor laws, including, among other things, workers' compensation and notice requirements related to inspections conducted by an immigration agency. This bill would establish the Workplace Know Your Rights Act. The bill would require an employer, on or before February 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, to provide a stand-alone written notice to each current employee of specified workers' rights, including, among other things, the categories described above, as well as constitutional rights of an employee when interacting with law enforcement at the workplace, as specified. The bill would also require the employer to provide the written notice to each new employee upon hire and to provide the written notice annually to an employee's authorized representative, if any. This bill would require the Labor Commissioner to develop a template notice that an employer may use to comply with the notice requirement described above. The bill would require the Labor Commissioner to post the template notice on its internet website on or before January 1, 2026, and to post an updated template notice annually thereafter. The bill would also require the Labor Commissioner, on or before July 1, 2026, to develop a video for employees advising them of their rights under the areas described above and to develop a video for employers advising them of their rights and requirements under those areas, as provided. The bill would require the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, the Public Employment Relations Board, and the Attorney General's office to provide specified input for the template notice and the videos. This bill would require an employer, if an employee has designated an emergency contact for this purpose, to notify the designated emergency contact if the employee is arrested or detained on their worksite. If the arrest or detention occurs during work hours, or during the performance of the employee's job duties, but not on the worksite, the bill would require the employer to notify the employee's designated emergency contact only if the employer has actual knowledge of the arrest or detention of the employee. The bill would require an employer to provide an employee the opportunity to name an emergency contact on or before March 30, 2026, for an existing employee, and at the time of hiring for a new employee hired after March 30, 2026. This bill would prohibit an employer from discharging, threatening to discharge, demoting, suspending, or in any manner discriminating or retaliating against an employee for exercising or attempting to exercise their rights under the bill, as provided. This bill would require the Labor Commissioner to enforce the bill, as specified, and would also alternatively authorize enforcement by a public prosecutor. The bill would provide that an employer who violates the bill may be subject to a penalty of up to $500 per employee for each violation, except that the penalty for a violation of the provisions relating to emergency contacts would be an amount up to $500 per employee for each day the violation occurs, up to a maximum of $10,000 per employee.
