2023 Legislative Agenda

Blog · Updates

With the 2023 legislative session in full swing, we’re advancing a bold new policy agenda that aims to address some of the most pressing civil rights and civil liberties challenges facing vulnerable Californians today.

We’re also cultivating relationships with the largest freshmen class of state lawmakers sworn in to office in more than half a decade.

Amending the California Constitution is critical to our agenda this year. With your help, we’ll fight to secure majority support from the California Legislature to approve these proposals for the ballot.

Our bill package will continue to advance stronger protections for people encountering our criminal legal system: immigrants, the unhoused, people seeking abortion and gender-affirming care, students, and many more. Below is a current list of sponsored legislation. This page will continue to be updated to add more information and additional sponsored bills in the works.

  • SB / AB = Senate Bill / Assembly Bill
  • ACA = Assembly Constitutional Amendment
  • Parenthesis note the principal author of the legislation.

Sponsored Legislation

Criminal Justice and Police Practices
  • ACA 8 (Wilson) – Amends the Constitution to ban the practice of forced labor and involuntary servitude in our prisons and jails. Learn more about this bill. Status: In Senate Committee
  • AB 93 (Bryan) – Bans consent searches without evidence-based justifications, thereby limiting police interactions that lead to more intrusive stops of people of color. Learn more about this bill. Status: Failed
  • AB 742 (Jackson) – Protects people from the dangerous deployment of police canines for arrest, apprehension, and crowd control by ending the use of canines for these purposes. Learn more about this bill. Status: On Assembly Floor
  • AB 1584 (Weber) – Provides for judicial discretion during competency restoration proceedings. Status: Failed
  • AB 1209 (Jones-Sawyer) – Requires prompt appointment of counsel in criminal cases and that people be allowed to waive counsel only after meeting with a defense attorney. Learn more about this bill. Status: Failed
Racial and Economic Justice
  • AB 920 (Bryan) – Protects people who are houseless by amending California’s anti-discrimination statute to include “housing status” as a protected class. Learn more about this bill. Status: Failed
  • AB 1266 (Kalra) – The End Debtor’s Prison Act will continue the trajectory of fine and fee justice in California by ending bench warrants for minor infractions so that families can focus on what matters –devoting their limited time and resources to meeting critical needs. Status: Failed
  • ACA 10 (Haney) – Amends the Constitution to enshrine a right to housing. Learn more about this bill. Status: In Assembly Committee
Gender Equity and Reproductive Justice
  • AB 793 (Bonta) – Blocks law enforcement agencies from compelling tech companies to hand over the names and identities of all people whose digital data shows they’ve spent time near a California abortion clinic or searched for information about gender-affirming care online. Learn more about this bill. Status: In Senate Committee
LGBTQI+ Rights
  • ACA 5 (Low) – Amends the Constitution to repeal the discriminatory language against same-sex marriage from Proposition 8. Status: Passed Legislature, to be on 2024 Ballot 🎉
Technology and Civil Liberties
  • AB 1034 (Wilson) – Bans the use of facial recognition technology on police body worn cameras. Learn more about this bill. Status: On Senate Floor
Education Equity
  • AB 1323 (Kalra) – Eliminates mandatory notification requirements for educators to report certain student-involved incidents to police, thereby reducing interactions between students and law enforcement. Learn more about this bill. Status: In Assembly Committee
  • SB 274 (Skinner) – Ensures students cannot be suspended or expelled for disruption or defiance, which disproportionately targets Black and Brown students, and students with disabilities. Learn more about this bill. Status: Signed into law 🎉
Voting Rights & Civic Engagement
  • ACA 4 (Bryan) – Amends the Constitution to restore the voting rights of people currently incarcerated in prison. Learn more about this amendment. Status: On Assembly Floor
  • AB 764 (Bryan) – Modernizes the redistricting process by amending the FAIR MAPS Act to reduce political influence in the process and to enact stronger transparency and public engagement requirements for local jurisdictions. Learn more about this bill. Status: Signed into law 🎉
  • AB 453 (Cervantes) – Expands the California Voting Rights Act (CVRA) by requiring that CVRA hearings requesting public input on the composition of election districts be held at a certain time. Status: In Senate Committee
Immigrant Rights
  • SB 852 (Rubio) – Enacts prohibitions on ICE engagement in probationary searches. Status: Signed by governor 🎉
  • SB 54 Implementation – We’re working to strengthen the California Values Act, which ensures that no state or local resources are diverted to fuel any attempt by the federal government to carry out mass deportations; and prohibit probation searches by immigration enforcement.

2023 is a consequential year for the ACLU in California and nationally. We will need your voice and support to be successful at enacting these transformative policy proposals in the Legislature and on the ballot. Watch your inbox for messages to take action, follow us on social media, and subscribe to our e-mail list to get the latest alerts.