LGBTQ Caucus Raises Awareness During Pride Month

2024 Legislative & Budget Priorities

2024 #1 Priority Legislation

 

AB 1955 (Ward, LGBTQ Caucus) – SAFETY Act
The Support Academic Futures & Educators for Today’s Youth Act (SAFETY Act), would strengthen existing California protections against forced outings of LGBTQ+ students in schools; provide critical resources for parents and families of LGBTQ+ students to support them in working towards family acceptance on their own terms; and provide additional protections to educators who face retaliatory actions from administrators and school boards for seeking to create an inclusive and safe school environment.

 

2024 Priority “Sponsored” Legislation

 

AB 1899 (Cervantes) – Gender-Inclusive Jury Questionnaires
This bill requires Judicial Council to create a template juror questionnaire that is inclusive of gender expression and identity.

AB 1979 (Ward) – Doxing Victims Recourse Act
This bill provides recourse for victims who have been harmed as a result of being doxed by allowing a victim to pursue civil action to receive restitution for the harms endured as a result of being doxed.

AB 2258 (Zbur) – Protecting Access to Preventive Services
The bill codifies longstanding federal guidance that health plans and insurers must cover services that are integral to providing recommended preventive care – including anesthesia and polyp removal during a colonoscopy; placement, management, and removal of long-acting reversible contraceptives; and, ancillary and support services for PrEP including HIV and other STI screening – without cost sharing.

AB 2442 (Zbur) – Expedited Medical Licensure for Gender-Affirming Care
This bill requires the expedited processing of licensure applications by the Medical Board of California, the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, the Board of Registered Nursing, the Physician Assistant Board, the Board of Behavioral Sciences, and the Board of Psychology for applicants demonstrating a commitment to providing gender-affirming health care or gender-affirming mental health care services within their licensed scope of practice.

AB 2477 (Zbur) – Foster Care Cash Savings
This bill permits youth transitioning to adulthood from foster care the chance to grow the best financial safety net possible by updating state law to clarify that young adults have the ability to accumulate cash savings while in foster care.

AB 2498 (Zbur) – California Housing Security Act
This bill aims to prevent individuals from falling into homelessness by providing rent subsidies to a range of rent-burdened populations, including former foster youth, older adults, adults with disabilities, people experiencing unemployment or homelessness, and recently incarcerated people.

AB 3031 (Lee and Low) – Statewide LGBTQ+ Commission
This bill establishes a Statewide LGBTQ+ Commission to serve as a state-level focal point for identification of key issues for the Caucus to prioritize in the future.

SB 11 (Menjivar) – California State University Mental Health [Two-Year Bill]
This bill would require the CSU to decrease the ratio of students to mental health counselors to address increased student needs and work to create a pipeline for CSU students to become mental health professionals. Also, this bill would increase data collection on CSU’s mental health services and student wellbeing.

SB 729 (Menjivar) – Health Care Coverage for Infertility and Fertility Treatment [Two-Year Bill]
This bill would expand access to fertility care for Californians, including coverage for in vitro fertilization (IVF). Also, this bill would revise the definition of infertility to ensure same-sex couples are covered by health care insurance and are treated without discrimination.

SB 954 (Menjivar) – Youth Health Equity + Safety (YHES) Act This bill seeks to address the