AB 871 (Stefani): Requires financial institutions to provide an annual training on financial elder abuse that includes making reports to both local APS or law enforcement and the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Expanding the reports to federal authorities will improve coordination of resources, aid local law enforcement in their investigation and improves the chance of recovering stolen funds. 

(Co-Sponsored with California Elder Justice Coalition)

AB 1846 (Stefani): Improves California’s existing kin-first policy framework by ensuring that foster youth placements with a relative extend across the full dependency case. This approach is consistent with the substantial body of research demonstrating the long-term benefits of kinship care. This clarification will provide dependency court judges with clear authority to order placement with approved kin caregivers when placement with a relative is in the child’s best interests. 

(Co-Sponsored with Children’s Law Center of California and Dependency Legal Services)

AB 2126 (Elhawary): Strengthens California’s child welfare workforce by reducing barriers that prevent peer partners, including youth partners, parent partners, and Medi-Cal certified Peer Support Specialists, from being hired in community-care licensed settings. 

(Co-Sponsored with California Alliance for Child and Family Services, The Children’s Partnership, and the Alliance for Boys and Men of Color)

AB 2478 (Schultz): Strengthens California’s commitment to placing children with family and other trusted adults when they cannot safely remain at home. Building on direction previously enacted by the Legislature in AB 2830 (Rivas), the bill implements a streamlined Kinship Family Approval pathway and clarifies emergency placement rules so children can be placed more quickly with safe caregivers who already know and care about them. 

(Co-Sponsored with Alliance for Children’s Rights and Children’s Law Center of California)

AB 2567 (C. Rodriguez): Lowers barriers to accessing CalWORKs Immediate Needs and Temporary Housing Assistance program by removing the requirement that a CalWORKs applicant also apply for all available income prior to receiving Immediate Needs or Temporary Housing Assistance. This will allow these critical supports to be accessed quickly during the ongoing CalWORKs application.  

(Co-Sponsored with the Reimagine CalWORKs Coalition)

AB 2684 (Nguyen): Provides older foster youth in Extended Foster Care flexibility to request virtual visitations with their social workers when the youth lives out of state. This allows the youth greater agency and collaboration with their social worker while still maintaining quarterly in-person visitation. 

SB 1051 (Menjivar): Allows Emergency Child Care Bridge Navigators to directly submit referrals to county child welfare agencies for their approval of a childcare voucher for an eligible foster child.

(Co-Sponsored with Child Care Resource Center, Child Care Alliance of Los Angeles, Thriving Families California, Children Now, Alliance for Children’s Rights, California Child Care Resource & Referral Network, and Crystal Stairs)

SB 1143 (Caballero): Clarifies that when a Child Advocacy Center conducts a forensic interview in a child welfare investigation, law enforcement, county counsel, and child welfare are allowed to access the recordings of those interviews.