Stronger California launches 2025 Policy Agenda Advancing Gender, Racial, and Economic Justice

March 20. 2025

For Immediate Release
Mar 20, 2025

Media Contact
Nazirah Ahmad
[email protected]

View the full agenda

Led by Equal Rights Advocates, the Stronger California Coalition’s 2025 Agenda advances economic security for women, families, and communities throughout California.

SACRAMENTO, March 20, 2025 – Today, the Stronger California Advocates Network, a coalition of 65 nonprofit and advocacy organizations chaired by Equal Rights Advocates, announced its 2025 legislative agenda responding to federal civil rights attacks and addressing the most pressing needs of California women, workers, and families. 

Addressing federal attacks on trans- and gender-nonconforming people, immigrants, and access to reproductive healthcare, the agenda includes bills placing guardrails on ICE entering schools and childcare facilities; making California a Transgender State of Refuge; and expanding access to medical abortion.

Among other key policies in this year’s agenda are measures to ensure Early Childhood Education programs receive additional funding and support to recover from the Los Angeles wildfires; strengthen California’s pay equity law (SB 642) (particularly important as the gender pay gap has widened for the first time in 20 years); make paid family leave benefits more inclusive to LGBTQI+ people (SB 590); and expand deadlines for filing sexual assault claims (AB 250). 

View the full agenda of 14 bills and 4 budget requests here.

“As our rights face systematic attacks nationwide, California must continue to lead with bold, innovative policies that protect women’s economic security and advance gender justice,” said Noreen Farrell, Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates and Chair of the Stronger California Advocates Network. “California’s women and families deserve economic security, safe workplaces, and the ability to care for loved ones without risking their livelihoods. California’s leadership in advancing these policies is more important than ever.”

“These bills address critical gaps in our existing protections,” said Jessica Ramey Stender, Policy Director & Deputy Legal Director of Equal Rights Advocates. “SB 642 builds on California’s leadership in pay equity and transparency measures by ensuring workers can effectively enforce their rights under the law and close gender and racial wage gaps. AB 250 gives sexual assault survivors a meaningful pathway to justice and increases accountability, and SB 590 recognizes that family caregiving extends beyond biological ties.”

The Stronger California Agenda has a proven track record, with seven new bills signed into law in 2024 alone. Since its founding in 2015, the coalition has helped pass dozens of laws addressing the economic needs of California’s working communities.

The Stronger California Advocates Network will work closely with the California Legislative Women’s Caucus and other legislative champions to advance these priorities throughout the 2025 legislative session.

For a complete list of 2025 Stronger California policy priorities, visit StrongerCA.org.

Quotes from Leading Organizations

“CalWORKs is supposed to be our state’s foundation for helping families get back on their feet—with cash support and services that help people stabilize and move out of poverty. But that foundation is weakened by outdated, punitive policies that continue to punish families—especially those led by Black and Latina mothers who already face systemic racism every day, only to encounter more of it in the very program that’s meant to help. Our kids and families can’t wait any longer. It’s time to stop building budgets around sanctions and denial of aid—and start building a system that centers families, is trauma-informed, and truly supports people on their path out of poverty. We’re deeply grateful for the leadership of Asm. Quirk-Silva and Sen. Durazo—now let’s follow the evidence and reimagine CalWORKs for the future our families deserve.” – Shimica Gaskins, President & CEO, GRACE/End Child Poverty California

“All families deserve to be able to care for one another during times of serious illness — regardless of blood or legal relationship. Without access to paid leave, families with low incomes have to make devastating choices about whether to work or be there with a loved one when needed. SB 590 will make California’s life-changing Paid Family Leave program more equitable by allowing care for chosen and extended family, which will make care possible for those who are most marginalized.” — Julia Parish, Senior Staff Attorney, Legal Aid at Work

“Each year, more than 800,000 victims of crime in California turn to victims’ services programs to access safety and start healing. Without state intervention to backfill federal funding reductions, we will see victims unable to meet with lawyers to file restraining orders, turned away from emergency housing, and denied the essential counseling they need. As a result of these cuts, large numbers of survivors of sexual and domestic violence, child abuse, human trafficking, and elder abuse will be left unsupported at the most dangerous and vulnerable points in their lives. We are grateful to see Stronger California prioritizing survivors in their agenda and call on the legislature and administration to provide $176 million every year for five years.” –  Krista Colón, Senior Director of Public Policy and Communication Strategies, California Partnership to End Domestic Violence. 

“Algorithms decide who gets access to benefits, housing, and healthcare every day. These algorithms, left unchecked, leave people vulnerable to automated discrimination—without them even knowing about it. People deserve transparency into the tools that are making decisions about their lives and the opportunity to change these decisions if they’re wrong.” —Catherine Bracy, Founder and CEO of TechEquity Collaborative

“When sexual violence happens at work, employees can feel threatened and unsafe. But they often have no choice but to keep working in a place that endangers their mental, emotional and physical health. AB 250 gives employees not just the time to seek justice against their abuser — it also holds accountable those seeking to cover up the sexual assault.” – Mariko Yoshihara, Legislative & Policy Director, California Employment Lawyers Association

“As attacks on reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy escalate across the country—including efforts to deny transgender people access to basic healthcare—California must lead the way in protecting sensitive patient data and ensuring that healthcare providers can do their jobs without fear. AB 82 and SB 497 will build on previous legislation to better safeguard patient privacy, protect medical providers from threats, and ensure that all Californians can receive the essential healthcare they need. We thank the Stronger California Advocates Network for prioritizing these timely and urgently needed bills.” – Tony Hoang, Executive Director, Equality California

To speak with Noreen Farrell, Jessica Stender, or other Stronger California Advocates Network leaders, contact Blake Case at [email protected] or (601) 832-6079. 

About Equal Rights Advocates

Equal Rights Advocates fights for gender justice in workplaces and schools across the country. Since 1974, they have been fighting on the front lines of social justice to protect and advance rights and opportunities for women, girls, and people of all gender identities through groundbreaking legal cases and bold legislation that sets the stage for the rest of the nation.

About the Stronger California Advocates Network

The Stronger California Advocates Network is a coalition of 65 nonprofit and advocacy organizations working to advance policy reforms that address the intersecting obstacles women and families face to leading economically secure lives. Chaired by Equal Rights Advocates, the Network develops and advocates for the annual Stronger California Legislative Agenda to build a more equitable California economy.