Three bills sponsored by Jewish California (formerly the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California) passed through their final policy committees on Tuesday and are set to be heard by the state senate in August.
AB 1853 - Hate Speech in Official Voter Guides
The first bill, AB 1853, was written after a candidate statement with antisemitic conspiracy theories and white nationalist rhetoric was mailed out to 23 million voters as part of California's Official Voter Information Guide for the June 2026 Primary, according to Jewish California.
AB 1853 limits candidate statements in official state and county voter guides to their own qualifications and record. It also bars attacks on individuals or groups as well as links to external content. Finally, it gives election officials authority to reject candidate statements that do not comply with these standards.
AB 395 - Advancing Equal Access to Schools and Government
The second bill requires state agencies, local governments, universities, and K-12 schools to make "good faith reasonable efforts" not to schedule important events, such as public meetings or graduations, during religious, cultural, or ancestral holidays. This, Jewish California noted in its statement, is so that "no Californian is excluded from civic life by observance."
The bill applies to holidays from a broad spectrum of religions and cultures and, for the first time ever, acknowledges several Jewish and non-Jewish holidays, such as Eid al-Adha and Diwali, in California state law.
AB 549 - Heritage Schools
The third bill lowers the minimum age to enroll in after-school cultural and language programs, also known as heritage schools, to include transitional kindergarten (TK) students. This, Jewish California noted, corresponds with the state's 2025-2026 rollout of no-cost transitional kindergarten in the California public school system.
Transitional kindergarten is a California school grade between preschool and kindergarten that allows children whose birthdays are close to the kindergarten cutoff date to bridge the developmental gap and develop the skills needed for success in elementary school.
AB 549 was introduced in June after it was discovered that synagogues running after-school programs for elementary-school-aged children were being forced to turn away TK-aged children.
All three bills will be heard by the Senate Appropriations Committee and, if passed, will be heard on the Assembly Floor at the end of August.