By Chris Reefe, CSBA Legislative Director
On May 23, the Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees took up their suspense files, collectively announcing the outcomes of nearly 1,100 legislative measures. Held nine days after the release of the Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May Budget Revise, where it was revealed that the state is facing a $12 billion budget deficit, controlling for costs of pending legislation was the theme of the day. In both committees, the respective chairs shared that many bills would be held or heavily amended to reduce cost pressures on the state budget.
The suspense file compiles bills with a price tag of over $150,000 to be considered in bulk in order to weigh their fiscal impact as a whole. Suspense hearings provide the Legislature, specifically the respective Appropriations Committees, with a singular opportunity to address bills with significant financial price tags, along with some politically difficult measures. Ultimately, less fortunate legislation may be “held on suspense,” meaning the bill dies in the committee, mostly due to its costs.
Only two of CSBA’s six sponsored bills were in a committee’s suspense file and both will now join the other four bills in continuing forward in the Legislature. The two bills out of suspense are:
Assembly Bill 1381 (Muratsuchi, D-Torrance) — Education workforce housing predevelopment budget proposal
- AB 1381 would establish a state revolving loan fund to provide zero-interest loans to local educational agencies to help with feasibility studies and predevelopment work for housing projects. Loan amounts would be up to $200,000 per LEA based upon enrollment.
AB 1111 (Soria, D-Fresno) — Electric school buses
- This measure will address the impacts of AB 579 (Ting) from 2023, which requires all future school-bus acquisitions to be zero-emission, by providing a five-year extension to the purchasing requirement for LEAs unable to meet the charging infrastructure and maintenance and repair obligations.
- This includes addressing the “scrapping” requirement, which mandates LEAs to dispose of a diesel bus when they purchase a zero-emission bus.
Other significant education legislative measure outcomes
Accountability and Local Control and Accountability Plans
AB 860 (Sharp-Collins, D-San Diego) — Local Control and Accountability Plans (LCAP): technical assistance: county superintendent of schools’ recommendations
- AB 860 would have required the county superintendent to submit recommendations, in writing, for amendments for an LEA LCAP, if the LEA was identified for differentiated assistance.
- Status: Held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 862 (Castillo, R-Corona) — California School Dashboard: LCAPs: college and career pathway data
- AB 862 would have revised the Dashboard to include data on the percentage of students intending to enroll in college or enter a registered apprenticeship or career pathway. It would have also included intentions for college enrollment and apprenticeships as a measurement of school climate in the LCAP.
- Status: Held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file
- CSBA Position: Tracking
Charter school accountability and oversight
AB 84 (Muratsuchi) — School accountability: Office of the Education Inspector General: school financial and performance audits: charter school authorization, oversight, operations, and contracting: data systems
- AB 84 would establish new requirements for non-classroombased (NCB) charter schools in the areas of auditing and accounting standards, the funding determination process, contracting process, authorization of NCB charters by small districts and the authorizer oversight process.
- Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly Floor
- CSBA Position: Support
Senate Bill 414 (Ashby, D-Sacramento) — School accountability: school financial and performance audits: chartering authorities: tort liability: educational enrichment activities: flex-based instruction
- SB 414 would add new auditing standards and training requirements for certified public accountants, expand charter authorizer oversight duties and require charter school governing boards to publicly review annual audit findings. It would also establish vendor contracting rules, directs the State Board of Education (SBE) to revise its funding determination process for charter schools, replaces references to NCB charter schools with “flex-based” charter schools throughout the Education Code and defines charter schools as public entities under the Government Claims Act.
- Status: Passed the Senate Appropriations Committee and is on the Senate Floor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
Curriculum and instruction
AB 715 (Zbur, D-Hollywood/Addis, D-Morro Bay) — Educational equity: discrimination
- AB 715 would prohibit an LEA governing board or body from allowing the use of any instructional materials or curriculum if its use would subject a pupil to unlawful discrimination and permits uniform complaints to be filed directly with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI). It would also expand the definition of nationality to include a person’s actual or perceived shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics, or residency in a country with a dominant religion or distinct religious identity, and clarifies that discrimination on the basis of religion includes, including antisemitism or Islamophobia.
- Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly Floor
- CSBA Position: Opposed
AB 887 (Berman, D-Menlo Park) — Pupil instruction: high schools: computer science courses: implementation guide
- AB 887 mandates that by Jan. 1, 2027, each school district and charter school serving grades 9-12 must create and publicly share a plan to offer at least one computer science course in every high school.
- Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly Floor
- CSBA Position: Opposed
AB 1454 (Rivas, R-Folsom) — Pupil literacy: administrative services credential program standards and professional development: instructional materials
- AB 1454 would require the state to adopt revised instructional materials for English language arts and development for kindergarten through eighth grade by June 30, 2027. It would also provide increased support and resources to implement effective literacy instruction using a program identified by the SBE or another program aligned with proposed standards. Also adds new reporting and adoption requirements for LEAs, especially when adopting materials that are not approved by the SBE.
- Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly Floor
- CSBA Position: Oppose Unless Amended
Governance and elections
AB 810 (Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks) — Local government: internet websites and email addresses
- AB 810 would require all school districts and county offices of education to convert their website and email address domains to “.edu” by Jan. 1, 2031.
- Status: Held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file
- CSBA Position: Opposed
SB 249 (Umberg, D-Orange County) — County boards of education: elections: consolidation
- SB 249 would require any election for the elected members of a county board of education to instead be consolidated with the statewide general election beginning in 2026.
- Status: Passed Senate Appropriations Committee and is on the Senate Floor
- CSBA Position: Disapprove
SB 644 (Blakespear, D-Encinitas) — Political Reform Act of 1974: contribution limits
- SB 644 would have applied contribution limits to candidates for judicial, school district and community college district positions and would have allowed local entities to impose stricter limits if desired.
- Status: Held in the Senate Appropriations Committee suspense file
- CSBA Position: Tracking
Immigration enforcement
AB 1348 (Bains, D-Delano) — Average daily attendance (ADA): emergencies: immigration enforcement activity
- AB 1348 would add immigration enforcement activities, through June 30, 2029, to the list of specified emergency situations an LEA can experience that may qualify for an approval of attendance and instructional time credit (form J-13A waiver) from the SSPI when schools remain open but experience a material decrease in attendance due to an immigration enforcement.
- Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly Floor
- CSBA Position: Support if Amended
SB 48 (Gonzalez, D-Long Beach) — Immigration enforcement: schoolsites: prohibitions on access and sharing information
- SB 48 would prohibit an LEA, to the extent possible, from granting federal immigration authorities access to a schoolsite or its pupils or consenting to searches without a valid judicial warrant or court order. It further specifies how an LEA is to respond to requests from immigration authorities with or without a valid judicial warrant or court order.
- Status: Passed Senate Appropriations Committee and is on the Senate Floor
- CSBA Position: Support if Amended
SB 98 (Pérez, D-Pasadena) — Elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education: immigration enforcement: notification
- SB 98 would require LEAs to issue a notification to specified individuals when the presence of immigration enforcement is confirmed on their respective campuses or schoolsites.
- Status: Passed Senate Appropriations Committee and is on the Senate Floor
- CSBA Position: Disapprove
Labor relations and benefits
AB 65 (Aguiar-Curry, D-Winters) — School and community college employees: paid disability and parental leave
- AB 65 would require LEAs and community colleges to provide up to 14 weeks of full pay for pregnancy-related leaves of absence taken by certificated, academic and classified staff in addition to other forms of leaves of absence.
- Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly Floor
- CSBA Position: Opposed
AB 340 (Ahrens, D-Silicon Valley) — Employer-employee relations: confidential communications
- AB 340 would prohibit a public employer from questioning an employee or employee representative regarding representation-related communications made in confidence between the employee and employee representative. It would also prohibit a public employer from compelling disclosure of such communications to a third party, unless the investigation involves a criminal matter.
- Status: Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly Floor
- CSBA Position: Opposed
AB 1233 (Hoover, R-Folsom) — Noncertificated employees: applicants: previous employment: California School Information Services (CSIS)
- AB 1233 would have required the CSIS, by July 1, 2027, to develop a noncertificated position statewide data system for tracking hiring data for such positions, including any egregious employee misconduct investigations resulting in a substantiated report by an LEA, and requires an LEA review the data system before hiring an open noncertificated position.
- Status: Held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file
- CSBA Position: Support
AB 1247 (Garcia, D-Rancho Cucamonga) — Classified employees: school districts and community college districts: contracting out: training requirements
- AB 1247 requires that contracted employees at a school district or community college district (CCD) meet or exceed the minimum qualifications and standards required of direct hires with the same job functions and requires a district provide them with the same health care or retirement benefit contributions as a direct hire. It would have also required a school district or CCD to compensate classified employees for any time necessary to complete required training at the employee’s regular pay rate.
- Status: Held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file
- CSBA Position: Opposed
SB 494 (Cortese, D- Silicon Valley) — Classified school and community college employees: disciplinary hearings: appeals: contracted administrative law judges
- SB 494 is a re-introduction of SB 433 from 2023, which was vetoed by Gov. Newsom. It would remove the authority of an LEA and their duly elected governing board to render personnel decisions concerning classified staff by placing it into the hands of an administrative law judge (ALJ) and make the decision of the ALJ final.
- Status: Passed Senate Appropriations Committee and is on the Senate Floor
- CSBA Position: Opposed
School finance and Local Control Funding Formula
AB 477 (Muratsuchi) — Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF): base grants: funding targets
- AB 477 would establish higher LCFF target levels for the 2036–37 fiscal year and states the intent of the Legislature to increase wages by 50 percent with the increased LCFF funding.
- Status: Passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly Floor
- CSBA Position: Opposed
AB 1204 (Alvarez, D-San Diego) — LCFF: school districts and charter schools: pupils experiencing homelessness: supplemental and concentration grants: regional adjustment factors: grade-span adequacy adjustments
- AB 1204 would make an array of changes to the LCFF, including expanding unduplicated pupils to include students experiencing homelessness, permit pupils who meet multiple criteria to be counted two or three times, require the LCFF cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to be no less than 4 percent and create a regional cost-adjustment factor for COLA starting in 2030–31, increase supplemental grants from 20 percent to 35 percent, lower the threshold for concentration grants from 55 percent to 45 percent, and require the development of a regional-cost factor.
- Status: Turned into a two-year bill, remaining in the Assembly Appropriations Committee
- CSBA Position: Oppose Unless Amended
AB 1391 (Addis) — Education finance: transitional kindergarten: funding for basic aid school districts and necessary small schools
- AB 1391 would have required the SSPI, beginning with the 2025–26 school year allocate ADA-based funding for students attending a transitional kindergarten (TK) program to a basic aid school district or necessary small school district.
- Status: Held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file
- CSBA Position: Approve
SB 743 (Cortese) — Education finance: Education Equalization Act: Equalization Reserve Account
- SB 743 would exclude revenues from counting towards the Proposition 98 minimum funding guarantee and create the Equalization Reserve Account to increase funding for non-basic aid school districts.
- Status: Passed Senate Appropriations Committee and is on the Senate Floor
- CSBA Position: Opposed
Special education
AB 560 (Addis) — Special education: resource specialists: special classes
- AB 560 would require LEAs to take all reasonable steps to distribute the workload associated with initial assessments across all resource specialists employed by the LEA in an equal manner.
- Status: Passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly Floor
- CSBA Position: Support if Amended
Student safety and discipline
AB 772 (Lowenthal, D-Long Beach) — Cyberbullying: off-campus acts: model policy
- AB 772 would require the California Department of Education (CDE), on or before June 30, 2026, to develop, post on its internet website, and distribute to each LEA, a model policy for how to address cyberbullying acts occurring outside of school hours. It would also require every LEA, on or before July 1, 2027, to adopt and post on its internet website a policy on the matter using the CDE’s model policy or a locally developed policy.
- Status: Passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly Floor
- CSBA Position: Opposed
AB 1230 (Bonta, D-Oakland) — Pupil discipline: expulsions: procedures
- AB 1230 would substantially expand the requirements on LEAs when developing and implementing a rehabilitation plan for an expelled student, including requiring school boards assist expelled students with identifying accessible opportunities to meet their rehabilitation plan requirements, prohibiting students or their parents to pay for any costs associated with the rehabilitation plan, and precludes the school board from denying readmission for students who faced barriers in meeting their rehabilitation plan due to financial or transportation barriers.
- Status: Passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly Floor
- CSBA Position: Oppose Unless Amended
SB 848 (Pérez) — Pupil safety: school employee misconduct: child abuse prevention
- SB 848 would establish various requirements that are intended to improve student safety by addressing school employee misconduct, clarifying professional boundaries, enhancing comprehensive school safety plans, expanding child abuse prevention training requirements, and requiring instructional programming on abuse prevention. It would also create a statewide system for tracking employee misconduct investigations.
- Status: Passed Senate Appropriations Committee and is on the Senate Floor
- CSBA Position: Tracking
Teacher credentialing
AB 811 (Ahrens) — Teacher credentialing: computer science instruction: workgroup
- AB 811 extends the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing’s (CTC) deadline for convening a workgroup on computer science credentialing to July 1, 2026, instead of July 1, 2024, and extends the deadline for the workgroup to report its findings and recommendations to July 1, 2027, instead of July 1, 2025. It also extends the repeal of these provisions by two years to Jan. 1, 2030, instead of Jan. 1, 2028.
- Status: Held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file
- CSBA Position: Tracking
AB 959 (Hadwick, R-Alturas) — Teacher credentialing: administrative services credential: internship program
- AB 959 would permit an LEA or a regionally accredited institution of higher education to offer a one-year internship program approved by the CTC required for candidates seeking to obtain a preliminary administrative credential.
- Status: Passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly Floor
- CSBA Position: Support
AB 1119 (Patel, D-San Diego County) — Teacher credentialing: dual credentialing: workgroup
- AB 1119 would require the CTC to convene a workgroup, on or before July 1, 2026, to recommend measures to develop and establish efficient routes for teacher candidates and existing teachers to obtain a dual credential with an education specialist credential.
- Status: Passed the Assembly Appropriations Committee and is on the Assembly Floor
- CSBA Position: Support
What’s next?
These bills now head to the respective floors of the Assembly and Senate. Over the next two weeks the Assembly and Senate will have until Friday, June 6, to pass out all measures.
Because this is the first year of the two-year legislative session, bills that fail to pass are dead for the year and typically become “two-year” bills where they could be taken up again in January 2026.
CSBA’s Governmental Relations team will continue to track these and other educational measures the Legislature is considering and keep members up to date on the latest developments and advocacy opportunities.
