Please click on the links below for more info about each bill
AB 42 (Bonta) Bail: Pretrial Release
California’s current money bail system unfairly penalizes people with low and moderate incomes, increases racial disparities in the criminal justice system, and fails our families and our communities. The California Money Bail Reform Act of 2017 (Senate Bill 10 – Hertzberg; Assembly Bill 42 - Bonta) seeks to reform this system to make it more just and to make communities safer. This legislation, we intends to significantly reduce the use of money bail and to increase the number of people who are able to safely return home after arrest.
AB 186 (Eggman) Safer Substance Use Services
This bill allows local governments the discretion to authorize public health and medical intervention programs intended to reduce death, disability, or injury due to the use of controlled substances
AB 340 (Arambula) Mental Health Services for Low-Income Children
AB 535 (Jones-Sawyer): Restoring Jury Service Rights for the Rehabilitated
AB 535 eliminates the unjust exclusion of people with felony convictions from jury service by reinstating their civil right to jury eligibility.
AB 415 (Chui & Reyes) Transitional Jobs Support Act
AB 415 ensures that the CalFresh program is working with employment social enterprises to leverage the best economic outcome for program participants.
AB 1008 (McCarty) Fair Chance Act
In 2013, California enacted historic “ban the box” legislation (AB 218) applicable to state agencies as well as all cities and counties. Recognizing that limited access to employment opportunities by people with conviction records is a matter of statewide concern, the legislature delayed inquiries into job applicant conviction histories until later in the hiring process in order to reduce barriers to public-sector employment for people with conviction histories and thus decrease unemployment in communities with concentrated numbers of people with conviction histories.
AB 1115 (Jones-Sawyer) Reducing Recidivism Through Expungement Relief
AB 1115 authorizes a court, in its discretion, to grant expungement relief for a petitioner previously convicted of an offense included in AB 109 (2011), public safety Realignment.
AB 1308 (Stone) Youth Offender Parole Hearings
This bill would require the Board of Parole Hearings to conduct youth offender parole hearings for offenders sentenced to state prison who committed those speci ed crimes when they were 25 years of age or younger, rather than 23 yrs as required by the current law.
AB 1344 (Weber) Prisoner Voting Education (No fact sheet)
AB 1384 (Weber) Trauma Recovery Centers
AB 1384 creates clear guidelines for the provision of Trauma Recovery Center (TRC) services administered by the Victims Compensation Board (VCB) in California. By setting clear guidelines and bolstering training for new trauma recovery centers, this bill will ensure that victims of crime in California receive the comprehensive and timely services they need to heal, and to avoid negative economic consequences for themselves and their communities.
AB 1578 (Jones-Sawyer) Protecting California Against Federal Attacks on Lawful Marijuana Activity
AB 1578 will protect Californians who are operating lawfully under our state laws by providing that absent a court order, local and state agencies, including regulators and law enforcement, shall not assist in any federal enforcement against state authorized medical cannabis or commercial or noncommercial marijuana activity.
SB 10 (Hertzberg) Bail: Pretrial Release (See AB42)
SB 180 (Mitchell) Repeal Ineffective Sentencing Enhancements Act - The Rise Act
The Repeal Ineffective Sentencing Enhancement Act (RISE) will reduce jail overcrowding by amending the code section that doubles or triples the sentence for a nonviolent drug offense if a person has been previously convicted of a similar offense. As of 2014, there were more than 1,635 people in county jails across California sentenced to five to ten years. There were at least 124 people sentenced to more than ten years in county jail. The leading causes of these excessive sentences are drug sales, possession for sale, or similar nonviolent drug offenses, which are compounded by cruel and costly sentencing enhancements. Thousands more are serving such sentences in prison.
SB 222 (Hernandez) Access to Medi-Cal
SB 222 will increase access to critical health care services for Medi-Cal beneficiaries immediately after incarceration, a time of increased risk for medical problems, recidivism, and even death.
More and more California is working to shut the revolving prison door by strengthening re-entry support to inmates before they are released from state prison. SB 708 adds another tool to achieving that goal by enrolling eligible inmates into CalFresh, employment and other assistance prior to release.