California action steps and updates for April 12th, 2023

OPPOSED BILLS

AB 665

Minors: consent to mental health services.

Status of Bill:
4/10/23 -
In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.

Action Step:

  • Call your senator regarding your opposition to AB 665. Find your rep here.

    • Hello, I am asking the Senator to vote NO or Abstain on AB 665, there are better solutions to solve the Medical Coverage for mental health without removing the guardrails for abuse of the current law.”

  • Submit your letter of opposition to legislative portal ASAP.

  • Waiting for committee referral for updated action campaign. It will most likely be Senate Judiciary Committee.

  

AB 659

Cancer Prevention Act aka HPV vaccine mandate bill for college students.

Status of Bill:
3/31/23 : Assigned to Assembly Health Committee. Hearing has been postponed.

Action Steps:

  • Call Assembly Health Committee to voice your concerns on clarity of bill .

    • Sample script:

      “Hello, I am a California resident. Regarding AB 659. Please ask author to change language to “recommend” instead of “expected”, this will make the intent more clear and not subject to misinterpretation of the bill.

    • Call bill author, Asm. Aguilar Curry’s office at (916) 319-2004 to thank her for dropping mandate and ask her to clarify language to reflect a recommendation not requirement.

  • Submit your letter of opposition unless amended to legislative portal ASAP.

  • Tweet Assembly Health Committee members. AB 659 language needs to reflect that HPV vaccine is a recommendation not a requirement. Remove “expected” and replace with “recommendation” in the bill.

AB 1078

Instructional materials: removing instructional materials and curriculum: diversity

Status:

Asm Education Committee Hearing Date: 04/26/23

Action Steps:

  • Submit your letter of opposition to legislative portal ASAP.

  • Call Assembly Education Committee to vote NO on AB 1078

    • Sample script: “Hello, I am asking the Assembly member to vote NO or Abstain on AB 1078.

  • Use our one click action campaign to email and tweet committee members.


BILLS TO SUPPORT

  • Submit your letter of support to legislative portal for the following bills.

  • Call Committee members to voice your support.

Sample script:

Hello, my name is ___________. I wanted to voice my support for __________. Please vote yes. Thank you.

SB 16

Civil rights: discrimination enforcement

This bill would also specify that nothing in the California Fair Employment and Housing Act shall be construed to limit or restrict efforts by local entities to enforce state law prohibiting discrimination against classes of persons covered by the act in employment and housing, including experience addiction to the social media platform.

Status:

Sen Appropriations Committee Hearing Date: 04/17/23

AB 99

Department of Transportation: state roads and highways: integrated pest management.

Requires the Department of Transportation (CalTrans) to develop a statewide policy to use integrated pest management (IPM) on state roads and highways. Requires CalTrans to annually report on its website the amount, location and type of pesticides used. Requires CalTrans to provide a 24 hour notice before applying a pesticide.

Status:

Asm Transportation Committee Hearing Date: 04/24/23

 

AB 370

Pupil instruction: State Seal of Biliteracy.

This bill would change the criteria needed to be met by a pupil to be awarded the State Seal of Biliteracy by requiring the pupil to both demonstrate proficiency in English by meeting one of 5 4 specified requirements and demonstrate proficiency in one or more languages other than English by meeting one of 3 specified requirements.  The bill would instead require a pupil who is an English learner to achieve an Oral Language composite score of level 4 on the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California rather than attain a level demonstrating English language proficiency on whose assessments to be awarded the State Seal of Bi-literacy.

Status:

04/03/23 Re-referred to ASM Appropriation committee

 

AB 590

State-funded assistance grants and contracts: advance payments.

This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to improve and expand the state’s existing advance payment practices for state grants and contracts with nonprofits. The bill would authorize an administering state agency to advance a payment to a recipient entity, defined to mean a private, nonprofit organization qualified under federal law, subject to meeting specified requirements. The bill would require the administering state agency to prioritize recipient entities and projects serving disadvantaged, low-income, and under-resourced communities, and to ensure an advance payment to the recipient entity does not exceed 25% of the total grant or contract amount. The bill would require the recipient entity to satisfy certain minimum requirements, including providing an itemized budget and submitting documentation, as required by the administering state agency, to support the need for advance payment.

Status:

03/29/23 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (March 29). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

 

AB 731

Pupil literacy: home book delivery: grant program

This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature for this purpose, establish the Home Book Delivery and School Connection Grant Program for the purpose of increasing access to books that are culturally relevant and reflect the diversity of the state, and build connections between school and home to support pupils in achieving grade-level reading by 3rd grade. The bill would require the department to award formula grants to up to 75 local educational agencies that opt in to the program. The bill would require the department to fund selected local educational agencies with pupils in transitional kindergarten, kindergarten, and grades 1 to 3, inclusive, that have the highest percentage of 3rd-grade pupils scoring at the lowest performance level on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress in English language arts who opt in to the grant pilot program. The bill would authorize the department to select a county office of education assist in the administration of the grant program.

Status:

4/05/23 Re-referred to ASM Com. on ED.

AB 801

Student privacy: online personal information.

Early Learning Personal Information Protection Act and the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act, prohibit the operator of specified internet websites, online services, online applications, or mobile applications from knowingly engaging in targeted advertising to amass a profile about a preschool, prekindergarten, or K–12 student, selling a student’s information, or disclosing covered information.  This bill would additionally provide that, when applied to K–12 students, “covered information” does not include official records, files, and data directly related to a student and maintained by the school or local educational agency, including information within records encompassing all the material kept in the student’s cumulative folder.

Existing law requires an operator to take specified other actions relating to the protection of a student or parent’s covered information, including implementing and maintaining reasonable security procedures and practices, and deleting a student’s covered information if the school or district requests deletion of data under the control of the school or district.

This bill would require an operator to delete a preschool, prekindergarten, or K–12 student’s covered information that is not subject to the CCPA if the student, or the student’s parent or legal guardian, as provided, requests an operator to delete the covered information under the operator’s control if the student is no longer attending the school or district, and would require an operator to require documentation that the student no longer attends the school or district.

Status:

03/27/23 Re-referred to Assembly Education Committee

 

AB 802

Curriculum: right to examine.

This bill would require each school district, county office of education, and charter school to provide written notice to a pupil’s parent or guardian of their right to examine the curriculum materials of the class or classes in which their child is enrolled, as provided.  The bill would authorize each of those local educational agencies to post information on that right to their internet website if they maintain an internet website.

Status:  

04/03/23 Re-referred to Assembly Appropritations.

  

AB 1652

Curriculum: right to examine

Existing law provides that parents and guardians of children enrolled in public schools have the right, and should have the opportunity, as mutually supportive and respectful partners in the education of their children within the public schools, to be informed by the school, and to participate in the education of their children, as specified to include, among other things, examining the curriculum materials of the class or classes in which their child is enrolled.

This bill would require each school district, county office of education, and charter school to post the process for examining curriculum materials on their internet website.

Status: 

03/09/23 Referred to Assembly Education Committee

  

ACR 4

Positive Parenting Awareness Month.

This measure would declare the month of January 2023 as Positive Parenting Awareness Month in California. 

WHEREAS, Raising children and youth in California to become healthy, confident, capable individuals is the most important job parents and caregivers have as their children’s first teachers; and

WHEREAS, The quality of parenting or caregiving, starting prenatally, is one of the most powerful predictors of children’s future social, emotional, physical, and behavioral health; and

WHEREAS, Positive parenting is a protective factor that strengthens family relationships, increases parents’ confidence, and drives children’s social, emotional, and relational health and development; and

Read more....

Status: 

Sen 3rd Reading - Asm Bills 04-13-2023 #71

Contact your senator to vote yes.

 

SB 291

Pupil rights: recess.

The bill would require, commencing with the 2024–25 school year, a school district, county office of education, or charter school to provide a daily recess, as defined, of at least 30 minutes. The bill would prohibit school staff members from restricting a pupil’s recess unless there is an immediate threat to the physical safety of the pupil or the physical safety of one or more of the pupil’s peers, as provided.

Status:

04/12/23 From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (April 12). Re-referred to Senate Com. on APPR.

 

SB 292 

Education expenses: Education Savings Account Act of 2024

This bill would enact the Education Savings Account Act of 2024 and establish the Education Savings Account (ESA) Trust, to be known as the ESA Trust, as a fund within the State Treasury to be administered by the ESA Trust Board. During the first 4 school years following the operative date of the act, the bill would authorize certain children eligible to be enrolled in kindergarten, or in an elementary or secondary school, in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to establish an ESA, based on parent or guardian income. The bill would remove these income eligibility limits after 4 school years following the operative date of the act, thereby entitling every child eligible to be enrolled in kindergarten, or in an elementary or secondary school, in any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to establish an ESA. The bill would specify that every child enrolled in an eligible school shall be entitled, pursuant to this act, to a credit to the child’s account for tuition, elementary and secondary eligible education expenses, and undergraduate or graduate eligible education expenses, as defined. Commencing with the first fiscal year following the operative date of the act, the bill would require the Department of Finance to determine, on July 1 of each year, the annual ESA deposit amount for the upcoming school year. The bill would specify the procedure for calculating the ESA deposit amount and would require the Controller to transfer an amount of money from the General Fund to the ESA Trust equal to the ESA deposit amount multiplied by the number of ESAs established, as provided.

The bill would require the ESA Trust Board to be composed of specified members and would vest the ESA Trust Board with certain powers and duties. The bill would establish 2 accounts within the ESA Trust, the ESA Trust Program Account and the ESA Trust Administrative Account, and would continuously appropriate the monies in the program account to the ESA Trust Board for purposes of the bill, thereby making an appropriation.

The bill would require the Superintendent of Public Instruction to establish a procedure for the parents and legal guardians of eligible students to apply to establish an ESA and submit an executed participation agreement. The bill would authorize the ESA Trust Board to disburse funds from ESAs to eligible schools. The bill would define “eligible school” as a campus of the California Community Colleges, the California State University, and the University of California, a full-time private school, a private college or university, a public college or university, or a vocational educational or training institution, as specified. The bill would specify the procedures for participating eligible schools to receive funds disbursed by the ESA Trust Board. Once an eligible student graduates from high school or obtains a high school equivalency certification, the bill would impose a $60,000 cap on the balance in any ESA available for an eligible student’s use for tuition, undergraduate or graduate eligible education expenses, or expenses associated with vocational education. The bill would require the Department of Finance to adjust this limit annually for inflation using the California Consumer Price Index.

Status: 

Sen Education Committee Hearing Date: 04/19/23

 

SB 347

Vehicles: driver education and training: grant program.

This bill would require the DMV to establish a grant program to provide vouchers for high school students to attend automobile driver education and driver training by a driving school or independent driving instructor.

Status:

Sen Transportation Committee Hearing Date: 04/25/23

 

SB 845 

Let Parents Choose Protection Act of 2023

This bill, beginning July 1, 2024, would require large social media platform providers, as defined, to create, maintain, and make available to specified third-party safety software providers a set of third-party-accessible application programming interfaces to allow a third-party safety software provider, upon authorization by a child 13 years of age or older, or a parent or legal guardian of a child, to manage a child’s online interactions, content, and account settings and initiate secure transfers of the child’s user data for these purposes, as provided. The bill would prohibit the third-party safety software provider from disclosing user data unless specified exceptions apply and would authorize the child or the parent or legal guardian, as applicable, to revoke the authorization with the third-party safety software provider or disable registration with the large social media provider.

The bill would require the third-party safety software provider to register with the Attorney General’s office as a condition of accessing an application programming interface from a large social media platform provider and would require the Attorney General to affirm that the third-party safety software provider meets specified requirements, including that it is solely engaged in the business of internet safety. The bill would also require a large social media platform to register with the Attorney General’s office within 30 days of meeting specified requirements, including that it enables a child to share images, text, or video through the internet with other users of the service, as provided, and has more than 100,000,000 monthly global active users or generates more than $1,000,000,000 in gross revenue per year, as provided. The bill would require the Attorney General to post both registration lists on its internet website, and to establish processes to deregister third-party safety software providers and large social media platform providers if certain criteria is met.

The bill would provide that a large social media platform provider is not liable for damages arising out of the transfer of user data to a third-party safety software provider in accordance with these provisions if the large social media platform provider has in good faith complied with specified requirements.

Status:

03/01/23 Referred to Senate Judiciary Committee

  

SCA 5 

Educational expenses: education savings accounts

This measure, notwithstanding the constitutional provisions referenced above or any other provision of the California Constitution, would authorize the state, and every agency or political subdivision of the state, to disburse funds pursuant to an agreement between the state and a parent or legal guardian of an eligible child for tuition and education-related expenses, as provided by statute, and provide tax or other public benefits to private schools, private colleges, private universities, or private vocational educational or training institutions, irrespective of religious affiliation, to further the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement. This measure would define average daily attendance to include all children enrolled in public kindergarten schools, elementary schools, and secondary schools and all children who are eligible to enroll in public kindergarten schools, elementary schools, and secondary schools but have chosen to fund their kindergarten, elementary, or secondary education with an Education Savings Account, as provided.   This measure would authorize the Legislature, by statute, to require the allocation of ad valorem property tax revenue in the manner described in the Education Savings Account Act of 2024.

Status:

Sen Education Committee Hearing Date: 04/19/23

AB 1314 has been shelved, as the Assembly Education Chair has stated the bill will not be heard.

Granada Hills Charter School Denies Prom to Students!

Dear PERK Members,

Protection of the Educational Rights of Kids, PERK, has been notified by concerned community members and parents of students at Granada Hills Charter School. It has been brought to our attention that the school is discriminating against students with an illegal vaccination policy.  We were informed that the school was excluding seniors from Prom, based on their vaccination status for Covid-19. We were also informed that students, including seniors, have been excluded from in person learning based on their vaccination status for Covid-19. 

Attorney Jennifer Kennedy asked PERK to sponsor a prom for these seniors.  We agreed to do so.  However, good news came in yesterday.  Because of the push back from activists, parents, and organizations, like PERK, Granada Hills Charter School has changed their policy to all students to attend all indoor events, such dances, performances, athletic games, and prom.  They can now attend prom regardless of their vaccination status.  We would like to especially acknowledge the work and efforts of attorney Jennifer Kennedy who has tirelessly and directly advocated for these students and families. 

 The heroes here are truly the brave students, who have remained steadfast in their faith and in their belief in our inalienable, God-given right to individual liberty. Their principled conviction in refusing an unconstitutional, coerced, experimental, and dangerous injection has cost them dearly.  Since January 2022, GHC has denied children at both the TK8 and the high school the right to be on campus, in class with their friends and teachers, and has denied them every sport, academic team, and extracurricular activity offered to everyone else.  These children have been harmed by the very adults charged with their educational development and preparation for the future.  I honor the sacrifices they have made, with grace and grit, that many adults would not have borne.  While this sudden decision by GHC to return the right to Prom--that it never should have taken--is welcome, it is not enough.  Every Covid-19 mandate must fall: for students, employees, and campus visitors.  That is the only goal, and I will not rest until we reach it—together. - Jennifer Kennedy, Attorney at Law

Here is the letter PERK sent to Granada Hills Charter School who continues to implement illegal vaccination policies on three points. 

 ·       Granada Hills Charter School has no authority to enact its Covid-19 vaccine policy.

·       Granada Hills Charter School cannot require students to participate in independent study programs.

·       Granada Hills Charter School is illegally barring students from extracurricular activities such as prom.

 We have addressed these problematic issues in our recent letter to Granada Hills Charter’s Governing Board and Executive Director.  We ask for your continued support of PERK as we continue this work defending your children and parental rights.

Sincerely,

Amy Bohn

PERK President

Parents making a difference.

Attorney Jennifer Kennedy with GHC parents.

SPRING RECESS

ACTION STEPS March 31st - April 10th

During Spring Recess, most legislators will be back in their local district offices starting on Friday March 31st. This is the perfect time to meet them and engage in their local community events. If your Assembly member is on the Assembly Health (regarding AB 659) or Assembly Education (regarding AB 1078) committee, then your activism is crucial! Contact your rep to find our about local events you can attend. Make an appointment at their local office. Or call their local office to register your opposition. The reps in these committees have the power to vote down these bills.

AB 659 - HPV Cancer Prevention Act (Aguiar-Curry)Read more

Sample script:

“Hello, I am a California resident. I oppose AB 659. Please vote NO or Abstain, unless the author removes the HPV vaccine mandate.”

AB 1078 Instructional materials: removing instructional materials and curriculum: diversity (JACKSON) Read more

Sample script: “Hello, I am asking the Assembly member to vote NO or Abstain on AB 1078.


Please contact your local Assembly member regarding:

AB 665

Minors: consent to mental health services is currently on the Assembly floor for possible vote next week. (Carrillo and Weiner)

“Hello, I am asking the Assembly member to vote NO or Abstain on AB 665, there are better solutions to solve the Medical Coverage for mental health without removing the guardrails for abuse of the current law.”


Legislator Events

Be sure to go to your legislators local events. Develop a relationship with them, inform them of your concerns on these different bills. Check your legislators social media or website for events in your area and check the PERK events calendar regularly for updates. If you know of any upcoming events please email us here.

CALIFORNIA BILL UPDATE: March 31, 2023

BILLS WE OPPOSE



AB-665 Minors: consent to mental health services (Carrilllo and Weiner)

Assembly Bill 665 would remove the requirement that children must be a danger to themselves or others, or be alleged incest or abuse victims, before seeking care without their parents' consent. This will remove the guardrails that prevent abuse of current law, so instead of cases of emergency, mental health professionals or school psychologists can refer for treatment and/or send a child to residential shelter services for any reason without parental consent.

Status: Asm 3rd Reading File Assembly Bills 03-30-2023 #62

If it is passed it will head to Senate.

Take action by contacting your Senator about AB 665.


AB-659 Cancer Prevention Act aka HPV vaccine mandate bill (Aguilar- Curry)

Declare the public policy of the state that pupils are expected to be fully immunized against human papillomavirus (HPV) before admission or advancement to the 8th grade level of any private or public elementary or secondary school.Adds the HPV vaccine to the list of required immunizations for all college students 18-26, with only a medical exemption option to opt out.

Status: 03/23/23 In Health committee: Hearing postponed by committee.


AB-1078 Instructional materials: removing instructional materials and curriculum: diversity. (Jackson)

Prevents Local School Board Control of Books/Curriculum in Public Schools

Status: 03/02/23 Referred to Com. on ED.


BILLS WE SUPPORT

AB-1314 Gender identity: parental notification (Essayli and Gallagher)

Would provide that a parent or guardian be notified, if a child requests to be publicly addressed by a different gender pronoun other than their birth certificate, or to use facilities of a different gender, a parent must be notified.

Status: 03/13/23 Re-referred to Com. on ED.

SB-292 Education expenses: Education Savings Account Act of 2024 (Grove)

This bill would enact the Education Savings Account Act of 2024 and establish the Education Savings Account (ESA) Trust.

Status: 03/27/23 April 12 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author.


SCA 5  Educational expenses: education savings accounts (Grove)

This measure would authorize the state, and every agency or political subdivision of the state, to disburse funds pursuant to an agreement between the state and a parent or legal guardian of an eligible child for tuition and education-related expenses, as provided by statute, and provide tax or other public benefits to private schools, private colleges, private universities, or private vocational educational or training institutions, irrespective of religious affiliation, to further the promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural improvement. And to appear on the same statewide election ballot.

Status: 03/27/23 April 12 set for first hearing canceled at the request of author. 


AB-1652 Curriculum: right to examine.  (Sanchez R)  

 This bill would require each school district, county office of education, and charter school to post the process for examining curriculum materials on their internet website.

Status: 03/09/23 Referred to Com. on ED.


AB - 1023 School cybersecurity (Papan D)

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation that would provide additional support and funding to local educational agencies to improve and expand protections against cybersecurity threats.

Status: 03/27/23 Re-referred to Com. on E.M.


SB 16 - Civil rights: discrimination: enforcement. (Smallwood-Cuevas D)

This bill would also specify that nothing in the California Fair Employment and Housing Act shall be construed to limit or restrict efforts by local entities to enforce state law prohibiting discrimination against classes of persons covered by the act in employment and housing, including experience addiction to the social media platform.

Status: Sen 2nd Reading - Sen Bills 03-30-2023 #6 - PASSED.

Heading to Assembly Rules. Take action now by contacting your Assembly Member to vote YES on SB 16.


AB-801 Student privacy: online personal information

This bill would require an operator to delete a preschool, prekindergarten, or K–12 student’s covered information if the student, or the student’s parent or legal guardian, requests an operator to delete the covered information under the operator’s control if the student is no longer attending the school or district, and would authorize an operator to require documentation that the student no longer attends the school or district.

Status: 03/27/23 Re-referred to Com. on ED.


AB-802 Curriculum: right to examine. - support

This bill would require each school district, county office of education, and charter school to provide written notice to a pupil’s parent or guardian of their right to examine the curriculum materials of the class or classes in which their child is enrolled, as provided, to post information on that right to their internet website if they maintain an internet website, and to ensure that each of their individual schools posts information on that right on their individual internet website if they maintain an individual internet website.

Status: 02/23/23 Referred to Com. on ED.

Legislators are on Spring Recess until until Monday, April 10th. Use this time to contact your local legislators about these bills.

In remembrance of the 6 lives lost at the Covenant School in Tennessee shooting. #defendourchildren

In remembrance of the 6 lives lost at the Covenant School

by Rebecca Heinemann, Co-founder of PERK - Franklin, TN

 When I first heard the news of the school shooting in Nashville and that it was not my son’s Catholic school, I was relieved and felt I could put the news in my back pocket and move along my day. But as the reality of the tragedy began to sink in and how close to home it all was, I realized I needed to take action and go check on him. I needed to know more, and I needed to do something.

 My first step was to attend the prayer service that very day at his school before his pickup. At this gathering is when it truly hit me that this horrific school shooting could have been my child’s school —which is only 18 minutes away. It could have been my child. I now can’t stop seeing the bodycam scenes of the officers running through the school and hearing the intense gunfire playing over and over in my head and I think of the parents who dropped off their child that day never to see them again. All horrific and senseless.

 There is no question that we have come to a dark place in America, and I search for answers as to how we got here and how we get out. Most importantly how do we protect the children? Protecting our children has been spiraling downward for years. Did it begin with mothers leaving the household for careers? Having less time to pay attention to what is truly going on with their children? I don’t judge anyone who has done this —as I placed my career first and foremost until I was 39 and thank God, was blessed with my son at 43. But I do start to question our culture and how we have placed motherhood on the back burner. Where did it get us as a society? Have our children suffered in the long run? How do we get back to that place where motherhood is revered? How can we protect and support our children, while also allowing them the freedom to thrive and gain independence?

 After moving away from LA, I thought my child would be safe in rural Tennessee in a Catholic school tucked away in farm fields, roaming cows and horses. I thought we could live peacefully away from the politics in an idyllic world, but I was wrong. The events of March 27 showed me that the fight to protect our children goes on more than ever because it’s coming from all angles. I’m not sure of next steps, but I hope all mothers will begin to think to themselves what more can I do. Be alert, be aware and join in the movement to protect our children.    

 
Please say a prayer for those who lost their lives at the Covenant School.

(TOP ROW) Katherine Koonce, 60 -head of the school; Mike Hill, 61 (custodian); Cynthia Peak, 61 - substitute teacher; (BOTTOM ROW) Evelyn Dieckhaus, 9; Hallie Scruggs, 9; William Kinney, 9

Link to more information on the victims - https://www.foxnews.com/us/who-are-nashville-school-shooting-victims