The bill introduction deadline for the second half of the 2019-2020 Legislative Session occurred on February 21, 2020. Just under 2,300 bills were introduced. Here are some bills that are likely to be of interest: Early Learning AB 2500 (McCarty) – Transitional kindergarten: average daily attendance. This bill would delete the provision that prohibits a […]

School start time bill overcomes broad opposition. After seeing his previous effort vetoed by Governor Brown, Senator Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada Flintridge) had better luck under the new Governor. SB 328 prohibits middle schools and high schools, including those operated as charter schools, from starting school earlier than 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m., respectively. Rural […]

Sunday at midnight was the deadline for the Governor to act on the hundreds of bills on his desk. As a follow up to bills we highlighted at the end of the legislative session, here’s a quick look at what the Governor signed and what he vetoed. AB 5 (Gonzalez) – Worker Status: Employees and […]

Today, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 1505 (O’Donnell, D – Long Beach), enacting the most significant changes to the Charter Schools Act since its passage in 1992. After months of negotiations between labor leaders, charter advocates, the author’s office and the Administration, a compromise was worked out that makes changes to the authorization […]

Interesting Times Capping several weeks of protests and heightened tensions, at 5:15 PM on Friday night the State Senate was abruptly shut down after an apparent anti-vax protester in the Senate gallery threw a red liquid down onto the Senate floor, hitting several Senators. The woman reportedly told CHP officers “my menstrual blood is all […]

On Wednesday evening (8/28/19), Governor Gavin Newsom, Assembly Member Patrick O’Donnell (D – Long Beach), legislative leadership, representatives from teacher and labor organizations, and charter school advocates announced a deal on charter school reform legislation that has been a contentious debate throughout 2019. Outline of the Deal The compromise language will go into AB 1505, […]

Assembly Bill 1505 by Assembly Member Patrick O’Donnell (D – Long Beach), which would enact reforms to charter school law, moved out of the Senate Education Committee last week by a vote of 4-3. The passage of the bill wasn’t a surprise, as Governor Newsom recently got involved and is seeking a deal. In fact, the […]

Over the past two weeks, the Legislature’s policy committees held long hearings to consider a nearly overwhelming number of bills of potential interest. Below, sorted by subject, is a summary of the bills that passed out of committee during the last two weeks. Remarkably, the only bill to fail passage (of those we’re tracking) was AB […]

At 12:30 today, Governor Newsom will hold a press conference and sign SB 126 (Leyva/O’Donnell), a bill to require charter schools to comply with similar transparency and conflicts of interest laws as traditional public schools. Below is Press Release from Governor Newsom: TODAY: Governor Newsom to Sign Long-Discussed Charter School Transparency Legislation SACRAMENTO — Governor Gavin Newsom […]