2026 Legislation
- AB 35 – Proposition 4 Implementation Acceleration Act
- AB 48 – Higher Education Bond Act
- AB 664 – Southwestern Community College Baccalaureate Act
- AB 1204 – Local Control Funding Formula Reform Act
- AB 1732 – The Student & Faculty Housing Opportunity Act
- AB 1994 – Defending Immigrant Victims Act
- AB 2056 – Binational Teachers Exchange Act
- AB 2117 – Education Commissioner Governance Act
- AB 2325 – Bilingual Teacher Pipeline Act
- AB 2386 – California Physician Expansion Act
- AB 2387 – Dream for All Expansion Act
- AB 2398 – Physician Graduate License Act
- AB 2433 – Affordable Homes Bonus Act
- AB 2484 – San Diego Transit Tax Act
- AB 2660 – STEM Pathways Act
- AB 2694 – Community College Baccalaureate Expansion Act
- AB 2751 – California-Mexico Alcohol Import Modernization Act
- AB 2770 – San Pasqual Ancestral Land Return Act
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Assembly Bill 35 – Proposition 4 Implementation Acceleration Act
Summary
AB 35 streamlines the implementation of Proposition 4 by exempting its programs from the Administrative Procedure Act, enabling faster deployment of voter-approved climate resilience investments.
Background / Existing Law
Proposition 4, the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, was approved by California voters to fund critical climate resilience projects statewide. However, implementing these programs through existing regulatory channels, including the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), can add months of procedural delay before communities see any funding, even when needs are urgent.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 35 provides an immediate APA exemption for all Proposition 4 program guidelines and selection criteria, allowing state agencies to deploy wildfire mitigation, clean water, and infrastructure funds more quickly. The bill maintains existing transparency and accountability requirements while eliminating procedural barriers, ensuring urgent environmental protections reach communities without unnecessary regulatory delay.
Assembly Bill 48 – Higher Education Bond Act
Summary
AB 48 authorizes general obligation bonds to fund critical health and safety infrastructure improvements at California's public colleges and universities.
Background / Existing Law
California's public higher education facilities, spanning community colleges, CSU campuses, and UC campuses, include many aging buildings in need of urgent repair, seismic upgrades, and remediation of hazardous materials such as mold and asbestos. Many campuses lack the capital funding necessary to bring facilities up to modern health and safety standards, creating real risks for students, faculty, and staff.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 48 authorizes the College Health and Safety Bond Act of 2026, directing bond proceeds to aging building repairs, seismic retrofits, and hazardous material removal at public colleges and universities statewide. This investment ensures that California's higher education facilities remain safe, functional, and conducive to learning for the millions of students who depend on them.
Assembly Bill 664 – Southwestern Community College Baccalaureate Act
Summary
AB 664 expands access to affordable four-year degrees in South San Diego by authorizing Southwestern College to offer four workforce-aligned bachelor's programs.
Background / Existing Law
South San Diego County, home to more than 585,000 residents, has no public four-year university. Chula Vista, California's largest city without a public bachelor's degree-granting institution, relies entirely on Southwestern College as its only public postsecondary option. This gap forces students to commute long distances or leave their communities entirely to access affordable bachelor's degrees, reducing completion rates and regional workforce retention.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 664 authorizes Southwestern College to offer four workforce-aligned bachelor's degrees: Allied Health Education, Applied Forensic Science, TESOL, and Interaction Design. These programs directly address critical regional employment gaps, create clear educational pathways for students, and help local employers fill high-demand positions, all at community college tuition rates.
Assembly Bill 1204 – Local Control Funding Formula Reform Act
Summary
AB 1204 updates California's school funding formula to better reflect the true cost of educating vulnerable student populations across diverse communities.
Background / Existing Law
California's Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was designed to direct more resources to districts serving high-need students, including English learners, foster youth, and students from low-income households. However, the formula has not been sufficiently updated to account for students experiencing homelessness, regional cost-of-living disparities, or inflationary pressures that have significantly increased the real cost of education since the LCFF was enacted.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 1204 introduces essential LCFF reforms, including new supplemental and concentration grants for pupils experiencing homelessness and regional adjustment factors to account for genuine cost differences across California. These updates ensure that state education funding more accurately reflects what it actually costs to educate students in diverse communities, directing resources where they are needed most.
Assembly Bill 1732 – the Student & Faculty Housing Opportunity Act
Summary
AB 1732 extends California's CEQA infill exemptions to housing projects developed by public universities and colleges.
Background / Existing Law
California's housing crisis has placed severe strain on college communities. Existing California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) infill exemptions apply to housing projects consistent with local general plans, but not to those aligned with public university long-range development plans (LRDPs). This gap creates unnecessary environmental review delays for campus-adjacent housing even where universities have already planned and accounted for residential development.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 1732 expands CEQA infill exemptions to cover housing projects consistent with public university or college land use plans, enabling faster and more cost-effective campus housing development. Universities and colleges can now align residential construction with their own long-range plans without triggering duplicative environmental review, ultimately expanding the supply of affordable housing for students, faculty, and staff.
Assembly Bill 1994 – Defending Immigrant Victims Act
Summary
AB 1994 ensures crime victims who are immigrants receive information on their legal protections and immigration relief options within 14 days of reporting a crime.
Background / Existing Law
Immigrant victims of crime are frequently unaware of federal immigration protections, including U Visas, T Visas, and protections under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), that can shield them from deportation and enable cooperation with law enforcement. Fear of immigration consequences frequently prevents victims from reporting crimes or seeking justice, which undermines public safety for entire communities.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 1994 requires law enforcement agencies to notify immigrant crime victims within 14 days of their potential eligibility for U Visa, T Visa, and VAWA protections, and to provide resource cards from DOJ-recognized legal services. The cards must clearly explain Fourth Amendment rights regarding warrantless entry and Fifth Amendment rights to remain silent during immigration encounters, ensuring victims can access legal protections while continuing to cooperate with law enforcement.
Assembly Bill 2056 – Binational Teachers Exchange Act
Summary
AB 2056 expands California's teacher exchange programs to allow J-1 visa sponsors to place Mexican educators in California classrooms, helping meet the state's bilingual teacher shortage.
Background / Existing Law
California faces a significant and growing demand for credentialed bilingual teachers, particularly for Spanish-English instruction. While existing exchange statutes establish a framework for international educators to teach in California, J-1 visa sponsors have not been explicitly authorized to place teachers from Mexico, California's most natural partner given the state's deep cross-border ties and large Spanish-speaking student population.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 2056 updates existing exchange statutes to authorize J-1 visa sponsors to place Mexican teachers in California local educational agencies. The program fosters cross-cultural understanding by introducing Mexican teaching methodologies in California classrooms, while helping districts meet bilingual education needs. Participating teachers gain firsthand experience in the U.S. education system, creating lasting professional and cultural connections between California and Mexico.
Assembly Bill 2117 – Education Governance Reform Act
Summary
AB 2117 restructures California's top education leadership by replacing the independently elected Superintendent of Public Instruction with a governor-appointed Education Commissioner.
Background / Existing Law
California's Superintendent of Public Instruction is one of the few statewide education officials elected directly by voters, operating independently from the Governor's office. This arrangement can create misalignment between the Governor's education agenda and the Superintendent's policies, complicating coordinated statewide reform efforts and making it harder to deliver a unified response to the state's education challenges.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 2117 updates the Education Code to transfer constitutional education oversight duties from the independently elected Superintendent to a governor-appointed Secretary of Education. This governance restructuring makes California's top education official, enabling greater coordination of education policy and accountability of the position.
Assembly Bill 2325 – Bilingual Teacher Pipeline Act
Fact Sheet (Not available yet) Bill Text
Summary
AB 2325 creates a statewide online database and pipeline program to recruit, develop, and place bilingual teachers across California.
Background / Existing Law
California faces a persistent shortage of credentialed bilingual teachers, even as demand for dual-language and bilingual programs has grown substantially since Proposition 58 restored bilingual education options in 2016. The state's existing bilingual teacher recruitment efforts are fragmented and lack the centralized infrastructure needed to track candidates and efficiently connect them with districts in greatest need.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 2325 establishes a statewide online database and structured pipeline to track bilingual teacher candidates and connect them with local educational agencies experiencing bilingual instruction shortages. By centralizing recruitment data and formalizing a dedicated pipeline, the bill helps close the bilingual teacher gap that limits access to quality dual-language education in California communities—particularly those with large English learner populations.
Assembly Bill 2386 – California Physician Expansion Act
Summary
AB 2386 creates two pathways for internationally trained physicians to practice in California, expanding the state's healthcare workforce to serve more communities.
Background / Existing Law
In 2002, the state launched the Mexican Physician Pilot Program, which allowed 30 licensed physicians from Mexico to provide care in underserved community health centers. It took nearly two decades to launch it due to funding constraints but since it was implemented, the program has been a resounding success. Data shows that from August 2021 to September 2023, 22 of the 30 doctors from Mexico allowed to practice medicine in California provided 118,498 medical encounters to more than 36,000 patients at four community health centers. The current program has limitations: only a 3-year temporary license, restrictions on the number of participating physicians, and restrictions on specialty. AB 2386 builds on those lessons.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 2386 establishes two new pathways for internationally trained physicians: a permanent licensure track for participants in the Licensed Physicians from Mexico Program, and a five-year provisional license for physicians trained in other countries. Both pathways require ECFMG certification, USMLE passage, supervised practice, and California employment offers—ensuring patient safety while meaningfully expanding access to qualified doctors in the communities that need them most.
Assembly Bill 2398 – Physician Graduate License Act
Summary
AB 2398 convenes a statewide stakeholder workgroup to assess California's graduate medical education capacity and develop recommendations to expand residency opportunities.
Background / Existing Law
Despite producing a substantial number of medical school graduates, California lacks sufficient residency positions to retain these physicians in the state. Many graduates are forced to complete their residencies out of state and may not return, worsening physician shortages in underserved communities. The barriers to expanding residency programs, articularly for international medical graduates, have not been systematically studied at the state level.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 2398 requires the Department of Health Care Access and Information to convene a multistakeholder workgroup focused on graduate medical education capacity, with a particular emphasis on expanding access to residency positions for international medical graduates. The department must submit a report to the Legislature by July 1, 2028 with actionable recommendations to expand residency slots, improve geographic and specialty distribution, and reduce barriers to entry.
Assembly Bill 2433 – Affordable Homes Bonus Act
Summary
AB 2433 renames and strengthens California's Density Bonus Law to streamline approvals and increase incentives for producing more for-sale affordable homes.
Background / Existing Law
California's existing Density Bonus Law has helped build more than 140,000 housing units in the last 5 years, making it the most successful housing streamlining law in California. However, approval processes remain complex and costly, and incentives for the construction of for-sale affordable homes, as opposed to rental housing, have been limited. This has ultimately reduced options for working families seeking to build wealth through homeownership.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 2433 rebrands California's density bonus program to streamline the approval process for qualifying housing projects, and strengthens incentives to build more for-sale affordable homes statewide. These enhancements are designed to meaningfully accelerate affordable housing production, making ownership more attainable for California families priced out of the current market.
Assembly Bill 2484 – San Diego Transit Voter Empowerment Act
Summary
AB 2484 would give local residents the authority to propose and approve a transactions and use tax of up to 0.5% specifically for the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS)
Background / Existing Law
The San Diego MTS serves a broad regional area but lacks the authority to pursue localized voter-approved tax measures within specific sub-areas of its jurisdiction. As transit funding grows increasingly constrained, the ability to seek targeted community support for bus and rail improvements in defined areas has become more critical to maintaining and expanding transit service.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 2484 authorizes MTS to bring a transactions and use tax ballot measure to voters in a defined portion of its service area, with proceeds dedicated specifically to public transit projects including bus and rail infrastructure. By enabling more localized voter engagement on transit funding, the bill empowers communities to invest directly in the transportation infrastructure that serves their daily needs. This legislation does not impose a tax; it simply enables voters to decide whether to protect reliable transit service and preserve mobility across the San Diego region.
Assembly Bill 2660 – STEM Pathways Act
Summary
AB 2660 formally establishes and funds two statewide STEM pipeline programs, Cal-Bridge and ENLACE, to diversify and strengthen California's STEM workforce from K-12 through doctoral programs.
Background / Existing Law
California's innovation economy depends on a robust STEM workforce, yet significant gaps persist in recruiting and retaining students from underrepresented communities into STEM fields. Programs like Cal-Bridge and ENLACE have demonstrated effectiveness in supporting students from community colleges and K-12 schools through doctoral programs and industry careers, but they have lacked formal statutory recognition and dedicated state funding to achieve their full potential.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 2660 codifies and funds Cal-Bridge, which supports community college and CSU students entering UC doctoral programs in physics, computer science, and engineering. ENLACE helps create K-12 pathways across all STEM disciplines. Both programs provide scholarships, mentorship, and research opportunities, building a coordinated pipeline from high school through faculty positions and industry leadership to diversify and strengthen California's STEM workforce for generations to come.
Assembly Bill 2694 – Community College Baccalaureate Expansion Act
Summary
AB 2694 expands community college baccalaureate programs by narrowing the duplication standard from statewide to regional, enabling colleges to respond to local workforce shortages.
Background / Existing Law
Current state law prohibits community colleges from offering bachelor's degree programs that are "substantially similar" to those offered at any CSU or UC campus anywhere in California. This statewide duplication standard has prevented community colleges from responding to documented regional workforce shortages, even in areas where students have no affordable or geographically accessible four-year program option.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 2694 updates the community college baccalaureate program standards so that duplication is assessed regionally rather than statewide, with exceptions for documented unmet regional workforce needs or lack of local student enrollment. This change allows community colleges to respond to local labor market demands, expand affordable bachelor's degree access in underserved communities, and fill workforce gaps that rigid, outdated rules currently leave unaddressed.
Assembly Bill 2751 – California-Mexico Alcohol Import Modernization Act
Fact Sheet (Not available yet) Bill Text
Summary
AB 2751 increases the amount of alcohol California residents may bring from Mexico across a land border crossing, such as San Ysidro or Otay Mesa, for personal use. The bill is intended to align state law with other CA-MX border states.
Background / Existing Law
Current California law limits the amount of alcohol that adults may import from Mexico across a land-border crossing to one liter per person without a licensed importer. This restriction is significantly more stringent than the laws of other California-Mexico border states and fails to reflect the practical everyday realities of cross-border life for residents of communities like Chula Vista, National City, San Ysidro, and Imperial Beach.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 2751 increases the personal-use alcohol import limit from Mexico at land-border crossings from one liter to six liters, bringing California in line with neighboring border states and better reflecting the realities of California-Mexico border commerce and culture. The change provides greater flexibility for border residents who travel to and from Mexico on a daily basis.
Assembly Bill 2770 – San Pasqual Ancestral Land Return Act
Summary
AB 2770 mandates the transfer of approximately 3.68 acres within San Pasqual Battlefield State Park to the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians at no cost, honoring the tribe's ancestral ties to the land.
Background / Existing Law
San Pasqual Battlefield State Park commemorates the 1846 Battle of San Pasqual, which was fought on land that constitutes ancestral territory of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians. The Band has long sought the return of this land as part of a broader effort to restore meaningful connections with their ancestral homeland and participate directly in its stewardship and preservation.
Bill Overview & Benefits
AB 2770 requires the state to transfer approximately 3.68 acres within San Pasqual Battlefield State Park to the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians at no cost, and encourages the City of San Diego to transfer its adjacent portion as well. The state must relinquish all leases, permits, and interests on the land to facilitate full tribal ownership. This land return honors the Band's deep cultural and historical connections to the site while establishing a collaborative framework for ongoing park stewardship.
For feedback on these proposals or if you have ideas for other state laws, please contact us at Assemblymember.Alvarez@asm.ca.gov or complete this online form.