Dear PERK Members,
The Governor’s deadline has come and gone. On September 30, Governor Newsom finished acting on every bill the Legislature sent him. It was his last signing period, since he is termed out. Here is where every bill we asked you to weigh in on ended up.
The short version: he signed all five bills on his desk. That means three wins for children and two losses we will keep fighting.
Three Bills We Supported Are Now Law
AB 1763: Religious absences (Asm. Alex Lee). Signed September 30. Students will now get an excused absence for religious holidays and ceremonies without a parent submitting a written request or getting a principal’s approval. Faith is finally treated the same as illness or bereavement. It passed both houses without a single no vote.
AB 1766: Human trafficking and online safety (Asm. Maggy Krell). Signed September 30. When the state next revises its health curriculum framework, it must consider age-appropriate lessons on preventing human trafficking and staying safe online.
AB 767: Sexually violent predators near schools (Asm. Juan Alanis). Signed September 18. Placement restrictions now cover day care centers. The bill also makes clear that qualifying home-based private schools count as schools. Homeschool families now have the same protection as everyone else.
Two Bills We Opposed Became Law
AB 2691: Felony convictions and elective office. Signed September 27. We asked for a veto so the Legislature could restore the version the Assembly passed 67–0. That did not happen. The new law does keep people convicted of sexual assault and human trafficking felonies off the ballot, and that is a good thing. But the gaps we flagged in the final language are still there, and closing them is unfinished business.
AB 2563: Sex discrimination. Signed September 30 and takes effect January 1, 2027. It rewrites how sex discrimination is defined across California law without preserving the sex-based protections for girls’ restrooms and locker rooms, domestic violence shelters, and girls’ sports. We will be watching closely how schools and courts apply it.
5 Bills We Opposed Did Not Become Law
AB 2651: Immunization Bill (Huge Health Freedom Win). Passed the Assembly, then held in Senate Appropriations on August 13.
AB 673: Unaccompanied homeless pupils. Held in committee.
AB 1579: Children’s Crisis Continuum Pilot Program. Never rescheduled after the author canceled its hearing.
AB 1631: Elementary education: kindergarten. Held in committee.
SB 608: Sexual health. Never moved.
Your letters are part of that record.
Bills We Supported That Did Not Make It
We tell you about these too.
SB 1377: Medical Exemption Protection Bill. PERK’s sponsored bill was a landmark moment with bipartisan support, but it did not make it out of the Senate Health Committee.
AB 68: Armed school resource officers
AB 1538: Corruption
AB 1628: Safe surrender
AB 1998: Intimate spaces
SB 1015: Crimes against minors
Several of these died in Appropriations without a public vote. That is how most bills end in California: quietly, on a suspense file, with no one on the record. It is one of the reasons we do this work.
Your Voice Reached Washington, Too
Thank you to the 767 parents who took our Parent Vaccine Survey. Your answers became part of PERK’s formal comment to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on informed consent and religious freedom in vaccine recommendations. Read the summary in our Resources section: (Click Here)
What Happens Next
The new Legislature convenes December 7, and a new Governor takes office in January. That means a new person will decide which bills become law. We are already preparing new legislation on health freedom and child protection, and working toward an informational hearing to put California’s health freedom issues on the public record.
We will be back with a full list well before the first hearing. Watch your inbox in January.
Thank you for showing up on these. It was a lot to ask, and you did it!
Sincerely,
Amy Bohn
Co-Founder and CEO, PERK
