Stronger California Advocates Network Celebrates Groundbreaking Legislative Session

October 1. 2024

Bold Policy Wins for Intersectionality, Domestic Workers, and More

SACRAMENTO – Following the Sept. 30 deadline for Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign or veto bills passed by the state legislature, the Stronger California Advocates Network is celebrating 7 new California laws that address the most pressing needs of women, workers, and low-income families throughout the state.

The Stronger California Advocates Network, a coalition of 65 nonprofit and advocacy groups chaired by Equal Rights Advocates, worked in close partnership with community members and the California Legislative Women’s Caucus to advocate for these new laws. These legislative victories will enhance protections for sexual assault survivors, strengthen anti-discrimination and anti-harassment protections, improve access to infertility care and make existing law more inclusive of LGBTQ+ family planning experiences, expand access to paid family leave, increase access to reproductive health care, and eliminate financial barriers for rape survivors seeking medical care.

The new laws taking effect January 1, 2025 are:

• SB 1386 (Senator Caballero): The California Civil Rape Shield Preservation Act
  Rape shield laws protect the privacy of survivors of sexual assault, battery and harassment from further victimization by prohibiting unnecessary and intrusive inquiries into their other sexual history in civil cases. SB 1386 clarifies that, under California’s civil rape shield law, evidence of a victim’s other sexual assault or sexual history may not be brought in to impeach their testimony as to consent or absence of injury in a civil proceeding.

• SB 1137 (Senator Smallwood-Cuevas): Recognizing Intersectionality under California Anti-Discrimination Laws
  Intersectionality is an analytical framework that captures how different forms of discrimination operate together and can result in unique and amplified forms of harm. This bill amends state anti-discrimination laws to clarify that they protect against discrimination and harassment based on not just one protected characteristic, but also the combination of two or more protected bases (e.g., gender and race, gender and age, race and LGBTQ+ status).

• SB 729 (Senator Menjivar): Provide Equitable Fertility Coverage
  Anyone seeking to build a family deserves equitable access to infertility treatment and care. SB 729 advances reproductive freedom in California by requiring large group health plans to provide coverage for fertility and infertility care, including IVF. The bill also updates the definition of “infertility” to be inclusive of LGBTQ+ family planning experiences.

• SB 1090 (Senator Durazo): Early Application for Paid Family Leave and Disability Insurance Benefits
  California’s Paid Family Leave and State Disability Insurance programs provide critical support to working families, but workers are not currently permitted to apply until they are already on unpaid leave from work. SB 1090 allows workers to apply for these programs up to 30 days in advance of an anticipated leave, reducing access barriers that particularly affect lower-to middle-income workers.

• AB 2085 (Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan): Advance Access to Reproductive Health Care by Streamlining Clinic Licensure
  A key barrier to reproductive health care is clinic access. AB 2085 prohibits unjustified local interference with the delivery of constitutionally protected health care by establishing a streamlined approval process for development of comprehensive community health care clinics in California. 

• AB 2499 (Assemblymember Schiavo): Strengthening Safe Leave
  AB 2499 empowers survivors of violence to secure their safety without sacrificing their economic security. This bill allows survivors and their family members to take leave from work to obtain or provide safety and recovery-related support. It also allows them to access safety-related employment accommodations and streamlines access to and enforcement of these critical rights.

• AB 2843 (Assemblymember Petrie-Norris): Eliminating Medical Cost Sharing for Rape Survivors
  This bill removes the issue of cost-sharing as a barrier to a rape survivor seeking medical care and forensic testing. While rape kits are free, other costs associated with an ER visit are not. AB 2843 ensures rape survivors will be able to access forensic services and necessary healthcare after a sexual assault without the financial barriers associated with an ER visit.

2024 Budget Wins:

The legislative wins build on budget victories achieved earlier in the year during a very difficult budget year. Although largely not making new investments, the 2024-25 budget breaks decades of harmful precedent by embracing that austerity is a failed policy, and sets the new standard that the anti-poverty safety net must be protected during a deficit. This budget establishes a new blueprint for how California safeguards family and child stability when a budget crisis hits. New data that California poverty has soared—with deep racial, ethnic, and gender inequities—underscore the need for bold action in the 2024-25 budget to advance the future free from poverty which is a policy choice.

Reimagine CalWORKs:
While we were disappointed that the Administration could not commit to reimagine reforms in the budget, we applaud the Governor’s leadership in applying to the TANF pilots, a generational opportunity to make evidence-based changes to modernize CalWORKs. CalWORKs families are overwhelmingly led by Black and Latina mothers, who have already faced several forms of systemic racial and gender discrimination before accessing CalWORKs, and who have demanded a program that is trauma-informed, healing, and delivers real pathways out of poverty. We thank the many leaders in the Legislature who continue to prioritize a reimagined CalWORKs program through the TANF pilots and the agreement in AB 161 to discuss necessary program reforms to achieve this comprehensive vision.

Child Care Funding:
The final 2024-525 budget keeps California’s promise to reach 200,000 child care slots over time. The budget protects 11,000 child care slots that were proposed to be cut this year. These slots are more than numbers. Families will have the opportunity to build their dreams because of access to affordable child care. 

The final budget also includes a stronger plan to address the true cost of child care, strengthening child care providers’ pay and supporting them to serve more children with subsidized child care. 

Funding for Domestic Violence and Other Crime Victim Services:
The 2024 budget included $103 million in one-time funding to backfill federal funding reductions and support crime victim services across California. The investment in the state budget will prevent devastating service cuts and allow organizations to provide services for survivors in 2024. For some organizations, it will prevent increased wait times and even office closures in rural communities.

However, funding remains precarious and reductions will likely occur in the near future if federal funding does not rebound in this federal fiscal year, or without state support in the years ahead. We are grateful to the legislature for including ongoing funding in their initial budget plan, and will work to secure that commitment in future years to provide needed stability to survivors and service providers across the state.

Quotes from Stronger California Advocates:

Jessica Ramey Stender, Policy Director & Deputy Legal Director, Equal Rights Advocates; Co-Chair, Stronger California Advocates Network:
“For 10 years, the Stronger California Advocates Network has advanced collaborative, cross-sector, and community-inspired solutions to the overlapping challenges that women and families face in their daily lives. This year’s policy and budget wins will help Californians overcome intersecting barriers to achieving economic security, from workplace discrimination and harassment, to inadequate family caregiving support and asset-building opportunities, to barriers to reproductive health care. Our 2024 wins build on a decade of progress to address the most pressing needs of our families and communities, setting a blueprint for other states to follow.”

Katie Duberg, Political Organizing Director, California Work & Family Coalition (on SB 1090):
“Being able to apply for Paid Family Leave and State Disability Insurance benefits in advance will make a huge difference for working Californians, especially with benefit rates increasing to 90% for many workers next year. Californians welcoming a new child, recovering from their own serious health condition, or caring for a seriously ill family member will have one less thing to worry about.”

Tony Hoang, Executive Director, Equality California (on SB 729):
“With increasing attacks on reproductive freedom and IVF across the country, we are immensely grateful to Governor Newsom for once again demonstrating that California is committed to ensuring that all people have the freedom to make personal decisions about their reproductive lives and futures. With Governor Newsom’s signature on SB 729, an estimated 10 million Californians will now have access to the full spectrum of fertility and infertility services, including IVF, and be given the opportunity to become a parent regardless of sexual orientation or relationship status. This tremendous achievement would not have been possible without the leadership of Senator Menjivar, and we extend our enormous gratitude to her for never backing down in the fight for equitable access to reproductive health care for LGBTQ+ and all Californians.”

Dr. Missy Maceyko, Director of Public Policy, AAUW California (on AB 2843):
“AAUW California would like to thank Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris for championing AB 2843, which will waive cost-sharing requirements for rape survivors in California. Cost-sharing requirements for most private health plans can be a painful barrier for rape survivors who wish to access emergency medical care and to seek justice following an assault. While rape kits and forensic exams are free, diagnostic and medical services result in an average $362 to $647 cost-share burden that for many, makes seeking care impossible.  The decision to not seek care results in untreated injuries, additional survivor trauma and the loss of evidence and healing that accompanies the pursuit of justice. In turn, without forensic evidence, sexual predators remain free and a continued threat to their survivor, and potentially, future victims. AB 2843 will provide needed care for thousands of rape survivors every year, and will take rapists off the streets.”

Katherine Wutchiett, Senior Staff Attorney, Work and Family Program (on AB 2499):
“No one’s job should be on the line when they need to help a loved one move from an abusive home, find new childcare for their grandchildren after their child is killed, or hold their sibling’s hand in court when they seek a restraining order. AB 2499 empowers survivors and their families to do what they need to get safe and recover after a traumatic event.”

Mariko Yoshihara, Policy Director at California Employment Lawyers Association (on SB 1137):
“We are proud to partner with Senator Smalllwood-Cuevas, Equal Rights Advocates, and Legal Aid at Work on SB 1137. In signing this measure, Governor Newsom has ensured clarity in the law by enshrining the framework of intersectionality into anti-discrimination protections. Especially in a state as diverse as California, our laws must be explicit and clear in their recognition of workers who experience discrimination and harassment based on the intersection of multiple protected characteristics.”

Krista Colón, Senior Director of Public Policy and Communications Strategies, California Partnership to End Domestic Violence (on crime victim services state budget funding):
“The inclusion of $103 million in one-time funding to shore up crime victim services will ensure that survivors experiencing violence now will receive support during the most traumatic and dangerous times of their lives. To create a safer California, survivors must be able to process their trauma, meet their basic needs and begin to heal. We are grateful for this year’s funding and are committed to ongoing advocacy to sustain funding for survivors of crime on an ongoing basis.”

About the Stronger California Advocates Network

Since 2015, the annual Stronger California Legislative Agenda has provided concrete policy solutions to address the fact that many women and their families in California face obstacles to enjoying economically secure lives. California has the fifth largest economy in the world, but one of the nation’s highest poverty rates, which disproportionately harms women and children. Affordable child care access is lower in California than in other states, and women are paid less than their male counterparts for the same work in virtually every sector. Women are also more likely to work in low-paid jobs and have fewer opportunities to advance in their careers.