The California Legislature approved hundreds of bills before ending its regular session on Aug. 31. Now, Gov. Newsom decides whether they become law.
Already he’s signed a contentious package of bills to address retail theft and he agreed to a deal — not written into legislation — to help fund local newsrooms and AI research.
Newsom has until Sept. 30 to decide on bills passed in the final days, a total of 991; he sometimes waits until right before the deadline to weigh in on contentious ones. And because he controls the fate of legislators’ bills, that could give him leverage during the special session he called on gas prices.
The governor gives a few typical reasons for vetoing bills: He deems them redundant, or calculates that their potential cost threatens to worsen the state’s budget situation. But he also blocks bills because they’re controversial, or opposed by powerful special interests.
While the Legislature can override vetoes, it takes a two-thirds vote in both the Assembly and Senate and that rarely happens. Governors can also allow bills to become law without their signature, but that doesn’t occur very often, either.
Here are some noteworthy bills we’re tracking.
Ban more plastic bags
WHAT THE BILL WOULD DO
SB 1053 bans all plastic grocery bags in California, so customers would have to use paper or reusable bags, effective Jan. 1, 2026. Voters approved a similar ban in 2016, but a loophole allowed for plastic bags that are thick enough to reuse.
WHY IT MATTERS
Plastic waste contributes to 3.4% of all greenhouse gas emissions, according to The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. According to a CalRecycle report, plastic grocery bags made up more than 231,000 tons of California waste in 2021. When plastic enters a landfill, it breaks down into microplastics, which can seep into soil and contaminate groundwater.
GOVERNOR’S CALL ✅ SIGNED
Newsom announced Sept. 22 he approved the bill.
Let undocumented students work on campus
WHAT THE BILL WOULD DO
AB 2586 by Assemblymember David Alvarez, a Democrat from Chula Vista, would make California the first state in the nation to allow public colleges and university students who are undocumented to work at their campuses. The bill is based on a novel legal theory, first proposed by UCLA law professors, that argues that the 1986 federal law that bars undocumented residents from working doesn’t apply to state employers. About 60,000 students at California’s community colleges, California State University and the University of California could benefit from the bill.
WHY IT MATTERS
The bill would mean more economic opportunity for undocumented college students. It may also prompt other state legislation to allow more state agencies to hire undocumented residents. How the bill is received by the federal government will be top of mind for state and national immigration and education watchers. The stakes may be even higher if Donald Trump again wins office: He and his aides want to deport millions of undocumented Americans and establish deportation camps near the southern border.
GOVERNOR’S CALL ❌ VETOED
Newsom announced Sept. 22 he vetoed the bill. In his veto message, he said the courts need to decide this issue first.
Give tenants more time to respond before eviction
WHAT THE BILL WOULD DO
AB 2347 by Assemblymember Ash Kalra, a San Jose Democrat, would give tenants 10 business days to respond to an eviction notice, doubling the current deadline of five business days. If a tenant doesn’t respond within that time frame, they automatically lose their eviction case.
WHY IT MATTERS
California has one of the highest rates of homelessness in the county. California already has laws on the books that restrict how and when landlords can boot tenants from their rental properties, but this bill would give tenants more legal leverage to make use of those protections. Supporters hope that will keep more Californians from becoming homeless in the first place.
GOVERNOR’S CALL ✅ SIGNED
Newsom announced Sept. 24 he signed the bill, among other consumer protection proposals.
Make undocumented immigrants eligible for homebuyer and jobless aid
WHAT THE BILLS WOULD DO
AB 1840 and SB 227, written by Assemblymembers Joaquin Arambula and María Elena Durazo, respectively, aim to ensure Californians are not excluded from assistance programs due to their immigration status.
AB 1840, written by Arambula, a Democrat from Fresno, makes clear that undocumented first-time homebuyers can apply for a program that offers 20% downpayment assistance of as much as $150,000. The bill has drawn national media attention, with Republicans claiming it follows “a long litany of taxpayer dollar giveaways…that encourage and reward illegal immigration.” A spokesperson for Arambula said the bill only clarifies that undocumented Californians can participate in “Dream for All” and other home purchase assistance programs if they meet all other eligibility and financial criteria. The program ran out of $300 million in funding 11 days after launching in 2023. Because of the state budget shortfall, no new funds were appropriated this year.
SB 227 requires the Employment Development Department, by next March, to come up with a plan on how to give undocumented workers who lose their jobs access to unemployment benefits. Employers pay into the unemployment fund; an expansion would likely need to be funded by the state. Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2022 vetoed a similar bill directly requiring the new program because lawmakers hadn’t identified a funding source. This version would make the administration figure out how to create the program, including how much it would cost, and then send the plan back to lawmakers and the Department of Finance for review.
WHY IT MATTERS
Decades of work went into building a social safety net for California’s roughly 2.3 million undocumented immigrants, who still have the highest poverty rates in the state. Some argue that because undocumented immigrants pay taxes, they should also have access to taxpayer-funded programs, like unemployment insurance. According to USC’s California Immigrant Data Portal, undocumented immigrants paid an estimated $3.7 billion in state and local taxes in 2019.
In recent years, natural disasters such as winter storms and extreme heat have shed light on how farmworkers, over half of whom are undocumented, can lose work with little notice. But with a tight state budget, Newsom has cited costs in halting or slowing down the state’s expansions of social services.
GOVERNOR’S CALLS ❌ VETOED
Newsom announced on Sept. 6 that he vetoed AB 1840 to expand homebuyer aid to undocumented immigrants, citing budget concerns. With “finite funding available for CalHFA programs, expanding program eligibility must be carefully considered within the broader context of the annual state budget to ensure we manage our resources effectively,” he wrote.
Newsom announced Sept. 28 that he vetoed SB 227 on jobless aid. In his veto message, Newsom wrote that it “sets impractical timelines, has operational issues, and requires funding that was not included in the budget.”
Limit the use of smartphones during school hours
WHAT THE BILL WOULD DO
AB 3216 would require the governing body of a school district, a county office of education, or a charter school to develop and adopt a policy to limit or prohibit the use of smartphones by students during the school day by July 1, 2026. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would constitute a state-mandated local program.
WHY IT MATTERS
Calls to limit how students use smartphones are driven in part by concerned educators. A Pew Research Center survey released in June found that 1 in 3 middle school teachers and nearly 3 in 4 high school teachers call smartphones a major problem. During school hours in a single day, the average student receives 60 notifications and spends 43 minutes — roughly the length of a classroom period — on their phone, according to a 2023 study by Common Sense Media.
GOVERNOR’S CALL ✅ SIGNED
Newsom announced Sept. 23 he approved the bill.
Study reparations for families forced out of Chavez Ravine
WHAT THE BILL WOULD DO
AB1950, by Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, would have created a state-level task force to study the displacement of residents, business owners and landowners in Chavez Ravine between 1950 and 1961, and advise on compensation for their descendants. The bill would also have required the city to erect a permanent memorial in recognition of the displaced residents and landowners of the Chavez Ravine community, land that eventually became the home of Dodger Stadium.
WHY IT MATTERS
Chavez Ravine, an area of about 300 acres north of downtown Los Angeles, was home to generations of mostly Mexican American families who were displaced in the 1950s after the city said the land was needed to build affordable housing. When the housing project never materialized, the city traded the land to the Dodgers to build what is now Dodger Stadium. City officials used eminent domain and other political ploys to seize the properties. An estimated 1,800 families were ultimately displaced.
GOVERNOR’S CALL ❌ VETOED
Newsom announced Sept. 20 he vetoed the bill. In his veto message, he said such a task force should be established at the local level.
Offer students a “tuition-free bachelor’s degree” at community colleges
WHAT THE BILL WOULD DO
AB 2093 would allow students to pursue a bachelor’s degree at California community colleges tuition free. Under the California Promise Program, students seeking two-year degrees are already eligible for tuition fee waivers. The bill, introduced by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago, would expand the program by offering two additional years of tuition-free education to all first-time and returning full-time students who submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) or a California Dream Act application.
WHY IT MATTERS
After many years of gradual increases, the number of undergraduate degree earners fell for the second year in a row by 2.8% in the 2022-23 academic year, according to a report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The proposed legislation allows more students an opportunity to earn a four-year degree without collecting significant debt. If signed by the governor, the bill would reportedly become the first such law in the U.S.
GOVERNOR’S CALL ❌ VETOED
Newsom announced Sept. 22 he vetoed the bill.
Stop legacy admissions at private colleges
WHAT THE BILL WOULD DO
AB 1780 by Assemblymember Philip Ting, a Democrat from San Francisco, would bar private nonprofit colleges from making admissions decisions based on whether a student has ties to a donor or an alumnus. About a half dozen colleges currently factor legacy or donor ties in their admissions decisions — including Stanford and University of Southern California. The bill would take effect next September. Schools that report that they violated the law would appear on a list published by the Department of Justice. They’ll also be required to publish aggregate data about their newly admitted class, including who were and were not admitted with legacy or donor ties, but not in a way that identifies individual students. Students with legacy or donor ties could still be admitted, just without preferential treatment.
WHY IT MATTERS
So far four states have approved such bans on either public or private institutions. But because California is the most populous state and enrolls more college students than any other, the bill takes on an outsized role in the national conversation about wealth, race and access to college. Bill backers say it will be a necessary corrective to last year’s U.S. Supreme Court ban on race-based affirmative action. If that decision may have caused a chill on student desire to apply for college, this bill would send a welcoming signal in response, backers say.
The bill would again cement California as a trendsetter in state policy that takes on national resonance. The state was the first to ban affirmative action at public institutions through a voter-approved proposition in 1996, setting off a wave of similar efforts across multiple states.
GOVERNOR’S CALL ✅ SIGNED
Newsom announced Sept. 30 that he signed the bill. “In California, everyone should be able to get ahead through merit, skill, and hard work,” he said in a statement. “The California Dream shouldn’t be accessible to just a lucky few, which is why we’re opening the door to higher education wide enough for everyone, fairly.”
To learn about more of Newsom’s decisions, see this tracker by Cal Matters.
