After close to 100 Catholic advocates met with lawmakers last week and thousands of virtual letters from the Catholic Legislative Network, there have changes on the fronts of several many of the Catholic Advocacy Day bills discussed.
SB 304 (Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge), the restorative justice bill aiming to allow credits from juvenile hall to transfer is currently in the Suspense File in the Senate Appropriations Committee, as well as AB 824 (Lackey, R-Palmdale), requiring transitional housing for homeless youth. (Placing bills which require expenditure of funds into the Suspense File is standard legislative procedure. Bills in the file will be considered as part of budget negotiations starting later this month.)
SB 68, (Lara, D-Bell Gardens), which would enable qualified undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition at California colleges is in the Suspense File in the Senate Appropriations Committee, meaning it is currently on hold. SB 257, also by Senator Lara, is headed for a floor vote, bringing it close to its hopeful passage. SB 257 would allow U.S. citizen students of deported parents to stay in their schools despite the deportation of their parents.
SB 320 (Leyva, D-Chino), the bill mandating that all UC and CSU insurance systems cover and provide access to chemical abortions on campus is officially now a two-year bill, and is delayed until next year. While this is great news, the bill still has legs and the CCC will continue to educate, monitor and notify of any changes.
There were no changes to education bills on AB 586 (Holden, D-Pasadena) the teacher tax deduction bill, and AB 1520 (Burke, D-Inglewood), the Lifting Children Out of Poverty Act.
For more or the latest information on these and all other bills the CCC is tracking, visit our legislation page.