​​​AB 1930 Sustaining t​he Childcare Workforce​​

Introduced 2023-2024 session - Signed into Law 2024

Summary:
High-quality Early Learning and Care (ECE) keeps children safe and healthy while ​setting the foundation upon which future learning is built. There are widespread staffing challenges for early childhood programs leading to less access for children to high-quality programs. This bill would remove a regulatory barrier that contributes to staffing shortages.

​Equity Impact:​
Subsidized early childhood programs are often unable to serve all the children they could due to staffing shortages, leading to vulnerable families being unable to find suitable care. This bill would increase access to early learning and childcare for California children.​​​

2-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

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​​​​​​​​AB 2176 Ensuring Educational Access for Incarcerated Students​​

Introduced 2023-2024 session - Signed into Law 2024​

Summary:
County Offices of Education provide educational services to youth who are at juvenile detention facilities operated by county Probation Departments. Despite a constitutional right to an equitable education, some students are being denied access to education as a means of punishment and control. This bill would increase transparency of absenteeism at court schools and provide authority to a state agency to investigate facilities with high absenteeism rates.​

​Equity Impact:
Students at juvenile detention facilities are disproportionately children of color who faced challenges in graduating prior to confinement. This bill would increase access to education and remove barriers to students graduating from school.

2-Page Fact Sheet ​(PDF)
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​​​AB 2206 Removing Barriers to Childcare for Children with Disabilities​

Introduced 2023-2024 session​

Summary:
Families of children with disabilities have greater difficulty finding an early learning and care provider who will accept their child and are three times more likely to experience job disruptions because they are unable to secure reliable childcare. This bill would increase access to childcare for children with disabilities by removing regulatory barriers that prevent children from being enrolled for months while maintaining fire safety. ​​

​Equity Impact:
Access to early learning reduces the prevalence and severity of disabilities and increases the likelihood that a child with a disability will graduate with their peers. This bill would increase access to early learning and childcare for children with disabilities.​

1-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

 

​​​AB 2381 Sustaining State Preschools

Introduced 2023-2024 session - Implemented through 2025 Budget

Summary:
During the pandemic, the state temporarily allowed state preschool programs to receive reimbursement based on student enrollment rather than attendance rates. This created greater fiscal stability for providers by protecting programs from the volatility of day to day attendance and prioritized health of children and staff. This bill would permanently extend enrollment-based funding as an option for preschool providers.

​Equity Impact:
Reliable funding allows childcare providers to offer stable and safe programs for children and increased staff wages. This bill would provide more families with access to high-quality childcare.​​

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2-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

 

​​​​​SB 333 Guaranteed Income for Homeless Youth​

Introduced 2023-2024 session - Reintroduced in 2024-2025 session as SB 33

Summary:
Within California’s K-12 school system, approximately 270,000 students are experiencing homelessness. While students experiencing homelessness receive services during their enrollment in school, between graduation and enrollment in post-secondary education many homeless youth experience a stark drop off in services. This leads to many students being unable to successfully enroll in college. This bill would provide guaranteed income to 12th grade students experiencing homelessness to support their transition from high school to employment and postsecondary education.

​Equity Impact:
Youth experiencing homelessness are disproportionately low-income, LGBTQ+, and children of color. This bill would provide fiscal stability to vulnerable youth to help them exit homelessness. ​​

2-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

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​​​​​​​​​​SB 999 Mental Health & Substance Use Disorders

Introduced 2023-2024 session

Summary:
Even when mental health and substance use treatment is prescribed by a patient's physician, the patient’s health plan can deny authorization of the treatment. The health plan’s utilization decisions are often made by staff who are not medical experts and without the same clinical background as the physician who recommended the treatment. This bill would ensure that Californians with mental health and substance use disorders receive the level of treatment necessary by creating standards for health plans’ utilization decisions.

​Equity Impact:
Mental health challenges are the leading cause of disability and poor life outcomes among young people. This bill would increase access to necessary medical services for children and youth whose families cannot afford treatment that is not covered by their insurance. ​​

2-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​SB 1318 Students Experiencing A Mental Health Crisis

Introduced 2023-2024 session - Signed into Law 2024​

Summary:
Education Code requires all public schools to adopt a youth suicide prevention policy. The current model policy instructs school staff to “Call 911” as the first response to a youth experiencing a mental health crisis. This bill would revise the model policy to include protocols for addressing a student mental health crisis in a way that prioritizes use of mental health professionals rather than law enforcement.

​Equity Impact:
Law enforcement officers often have no training on how to address a mental health crisis and their presence may exacerbate an already volatile situation. This bill will ensure appropriately trained professionals are the first response to a student mental health crisis.​​​

2-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

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​​​AB 483​​​ LEA BOP Audits​​

Introduced 2023-2024 session – Signed into Law 2023

Summary:
Schools are one of the primary providers of physical and mental health services for children. The Local Education Agency Billing Option Program (LEA BOP) is intended ​to help reimburse schools for the health and mental health services they provide; however, punitive state administration of the program prevents schools from drawing down federal funds. This bill would make changes to how the state monitors and provides support to schools participating in LEA BOP thereby increasing funding for student health and mental health services.

​Equity Impact:​
More mental health resources positively correlate with fewer suspensions, expulsions, and absences. This bill would increase federal funding for student health and mental health services, regardless of health insurance provider or disability status.​​​

2-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

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​​​​​AB 1352 Expa​nsion of Local Childcare Pilot Flexibilities​​

Introduced 2023-2024 session – Partially implemented in 2023 Budget Act​

Summary:
California has authorized a handful of counties to participate in childcare pilots that give early learning and childcare (ELC) providers regulatory flexibility to increase hours of care, rates, and eligibility for children and families. The childcare pilots have successfully demonstrated that these regulatory flexibilities create greater workforce stability, continuity of care for children, and support for working families; however, the existing pilots are set to expire within a year. This bill would extend the existing pilots and allow all counties to access regulatory flexibility through participation in the childcare pilots.

​Equity Impact:
The childcare pilots allow ELC providers to increase childcare services and supports to low-income families and increase wages for childcare staff. This bill would ensure that Santa Clara families and providers continue to benefit from the pilots and would extend these benefits to families in additional counties.

2-Page Fact Sheet ​(PDF)
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​​​SB 10 Fentanyl Prevention​

Introduced 2023-2024 session – Signed into Law 2023​

Summary:
Fentanyl is now responsible for one in five deaths among California youths aged 15-to-24 years old fentanyl was responsible for an astounding one in five youth deaths (ages 15-to-24) in California last year. This bill builds upon the successful model established in Santa Clara by providing a state framework that will help ensure students and school staff have access to educational and training resources needed to prevent future fentanyl poisoning and overdoses.​​

​Equity Impact:
This bill ensures that students have access to life saving medication and trained staff on school campuses.

1-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

 

​​​SB 551 MHSA PEI Funding for School-Based Services​

Introduced 2023-2024 session – Partially implemented in 2023 Budget Act

Summary:
Children are 21 times more likely to receive health and mental health services when they are provided on a school campus. This bill would require counties to include youth and education representatives on Mental Health Boards which influence how counties invest Prop 63 mental health funding.

​Equity Impact:
The cost of mental health services, transportation to off-campus facilities, and stigma associated with mental health, act as barriers for low-income students, immigrant families, and children of color. This bill would increase access to school-based mental health services and reduce all of the above barriers.

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2-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

 

​​​​​SB 722 Early Learning a​nd Care Barriers to Inclusion​

Introduced 2023-2024 session – Signed into Law 2023

Summary:
Families of children with disabilities have greater difficulty finding an early learning and care provider who will accept their child and are three times more likely to experience job disruptions because they are unable to secure reliable childcare. This bill would increase access to childcare for children with disabilities by removing regulatory barriers that prevent children from being enrolled for months while the state processes paperwork.

​Equity Impact:
Access to early learning reduces the prevalence and severity of disabilities and increases the likelihood that a child with a disability will graduate with their peers. This bill would increase access to early learning and childcare for children with disabilities.​

2-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

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AB 2034 LEA BOP Audits

Summary: 

Schools are one of the primary providers of physical and mental health services for children. The Local Education Agency Billing Option Program (LEA BOP) is intended to help reimburse schools for the health and mental health services they provide; however, punitive state administration of the program prevents schools from drawing down federal funds. This bill would make changes to how the state monitors and provides support to schools participating in LEA BOP thereby increasing funding for student health and mental health services.

Equity Impact: 

More mental health resources positively correlate with fewer suspensions, expulsions, and absences. This bill would increase federal funding for student health and mental health services, regardless of health insurance provider or disability status.​​

 

AB 2806 Early Learning Mental Health Reimbursement

Introduced 2021-2022 session – Signed into Law 2022

Summary: 

Children of color are suspended or expelled from preschool and childcare at 3 to 4 times the rate of White Children. This bill would prohibit suspension and expulsion in state preschool and childcare programs and increase funding for early childhood mental health consultation (ECMHC) which is used to provide teachers and families with training and support on positive behavior intervention and behavioral health.​

Equity Impact: 

This bill addresses disproportionate suspension, expulsion, and identification practices that target children of color and contribute to the school to prison pipeline as early as preschool/childcare.​​

 

AB 2827 Title 22 Inclusion Barrier​

Introduced 2021-2022 session – Signed into Law 2022

Summary:

Just 36% of California children with disabilities have access to an inclusive preschool program. This bill would remove antiquated regulations that effectively segregate children with disabilities from their peers while still ensuring that all children remain safe and supervised.​ 

Equity Impact: 

This bill reduces barriers to inclusion of children with disabilities and moves the state towards a single system in which “all kids are general education kids first.”​

 

​SB 692 Special Education Inclusion Act​

Introduced 2021-2022 session – Signed into Law 2022

Summary:

Existing state policies and practices incentivize the segregation of students with disabilities into separate classes even when students are capable of performing at grade level. This bill would incentivize districts to place students with disabilities in the most inclusive environment that is appropriate by adding an existing federal indicator (least restrictive environment) to the state accountability dashboard. It would also incentivize districts to provide general education teachers with training and professional development on teaching strategies related to the most common mild/moderate ​disabilities such as ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, and autism.

Equity Impact: 

This bill addresses the state’s low inclusion rates in K to 12th grade and furthers movement towards a single system in which “all kids are general education kids first.” Inclusive programs have been shown to increase academic and graduation outcomes for both special education and non-special education students.​

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AB 568 Early Learning and Care Dashboard

Introduced 2021-2022 session

Summary:
Inequitable access to, and exclusion from, high-quality early learning and care (ELC) programs significantly contribute to the word gap, the academic achievement gap, and the graduation gap. By bringing together existing and new data on enrollment in, exclusion from, and location of ELC programs, state and local California policy makers can identify and address the practical and structural barriers that prevent Black and Hispanic children and families from receiving equitable access to high-quality ELC services.

​Equity Impact:​
The ELC dashboard would ensure greater access to existing and new data that will help state and local policy makers and ELC providers make informed decisions about where to invest additional resources. The Dashboard will also help identify existing gaps and inequities in the availability of, and access to, early learning and care programs.

2-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

AB 1294 Removal of Childcare Pilot Sunset Date

​Introduced 2021-2022 session – Signed into Law 2021

Summary:
This bill would make permanent the childcare subsidy pilot programs in Alameda and Santa Clara Counties, which were originally created​ by AB 833 (Bonta, 2015) and AB 2368 (Gordon, 2016).​​ ​​​​​

​Equity Impact:​
The childcare pilots allow ELC providers to increase childcare services and supports to low-income families and increase wages for childcare staff. This bill would ensure that Santa Clara families and providers continue to benefit from the pilots and would extend these benefits to families in additional counties.

2-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

Introduced 2021-2022 session – Signed into Law in 2021-2022 session as AB 2806

Summary:
AB 1361 prohibits suspension and expulsion in state preschool and childcare programs, absent exceptional circumstances, and requires reporting when exclusion occurs. This bill would also strengthen early childhood mental health consultation as a means of providing adequate supports to teachers and families to promote positive mental health, buffer the effects of toxic stress and trauma, and create positive learning environments.​​

​Equity Impact:​
Children of color, particularly Black children, are suspended from preschool disproportionately than their peers. This bill would limit the use of exclusionary practices and require providers to become trained in developmentally appropriate responses to young children.​

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2-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

Introduced 2021-2022 session​​

Summary:
The suicide rate for children ages 10 to 14 has more than doubled in the last decade, yet children still have limited access to mental health services. COVID-19 has only exacerbated the youth mental health crisis. This bill would require health plans to collaborate with schools to provide mental health services to students. It would also make services more accessible by expanding the network of school-based mental health practitioners and use of telehealth.

​Equity Impact:​
More mental health resources positively correlate with fewer suspensions, expulsions, and absences. This bill ensures that all students, regardless of health insurance provider or disability status, have easily accessible mental health resources that are integrated into a school campus and culture.​​​

2-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

Introduced 2021-2022 session – Signed into Law 2022

Summary:
Existing state policies and practices incentivize the segregation of students with disabilities into separate classes even when students are capable of performing at grade level. This bill would incentivize districts to place students with disabilities in the most inclusive environment that is appropriate by adding an existing federal indicator (least restrictive environment) to the state accountability dashboard. It would also incentivize districts to provide general education teachers with training and professional development on teaching strategies related to the most common mild/moderate ​disabilities such as ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, and autism.

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​Equity Impact:​
This bill addresses the state’s low inclusion rates in K to 12th grade and furthers movement towards a single system in which “all kids are general education kids first.” Inclusive programs have been shown to increase academic and graduation outcomes for both special education and non-special education students. ​​​​​

2-Page Fact Sheet (PDF)

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