By David Bocarsly
SACRAMENTO, California — Today, we’re announcing our bill package – which includes critical bills to counter antisemitism in schools, combat hunger, and uplift vulnerable communities.
Amidst threats to Jewish students in schools and vulnerable people across the state, we’re championing impactful bills and budget items that build a more tolerant society and protect social service programs at risk from federal cuts.
*Indicates a JPAC-sponsored item
*California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program – $80 million: Reaffirms the second allocation in the two-year commitment for the state’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NGSP), which provides funding for synagogues and other nonprofits at risk of hate-motivated violence to secure their institutions from hate crimes.
*Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program (HSAP) – $36 million: Provides $36m over three years for the Holocaust Survivor Assistance Program (HSAP) to provide trauma-informed at-home care for frail Holocaust survivors. The state previously funded this program for three years, which is set to expire in June – just as the last generation of survivors ages into a time in life where they require this support.
Identifying and Preventing Hate in K-12 Schools – $5 million: Provides funding for an initiative to address Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Anti-Arab, Anti-Immigrant, and Anti-Trans hateful beliefs and behaviors in K-12 schools. This initiative is led by the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and Professor Ron Avi Astor, a leading expert in school safety.
San Diego Holocaust Center – $4.5 million: Funds the purchase of a vehicle for San Diego’s first ever mobile Holocaust Center, being developed by Jewish Federation of San Diego.
SFCJL Modernization – $6 million: Funds critical modernization projects at the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living (SFCJL). The campus has buildings over 50 years old, with infrastructure has aged over time. SFCJL is working on $36 million of capital projects to modernize and upgrade these buildings, over the next five years, to ensure it can continue to serve future generations of California’s older adults.
AB 237 (Patel): Closes a loophole that complicated prosecution of criminal threats. This bill will clarify that it is criminal to threaten to commit a crime at a daycare, school, university, workplace, house of worship, medical facility, or public venue with reckless disregard for safety.
*AB 395 (Gabriel): Requires State bodies to make every reasonable effort to avoid scheduling public meetings of State agencies, K-12 first days & graduations, and public higher ed first days on religious holidays.
AB 449 (Jackson): Requires California to launch statewide and regional media campaigns – on radio, social media, and TV – to combat discrimination and hate crimes. Campaigns should be based upon, but not limited to, disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation – and ensure the advertisements are proportional to the communities most impacted as reported under the AG’s annual hate crimes report.
AB 458 (Stefani): Requires a comprehensive vetting process for members of the gun industry seeking to supply state law enforcement agencies. This bill addresses a problem recently exposed by a Brady investigation which found law enforcement agencies across CA have spent millions of taxpayer dollars to buy firearms from manufacturers and dealers with repeated violations of federal firearm regulations.
AB 785 (Sharp-Collins): Establishes a Community Violence Interdiction Grant Program to fund community driven solutions to decrease violence in neighborhoods and schools. Eligible programs include supportive programs that preemptively reduce and eliminate violence and gang involvement, programs that create recreational opportunities during peak times of violence, health programs that address youth trauma, youth diversion programs, and school-based health centers.
AB 822 (Elhawary): Extends the sunset repeal date of the existing Commission on State of Hate from 2027 to 2031 – which has undertaken significant work to analyze and address hate crimes and hate incidents in California. JPAC sponsored the 2021 bill (AB 1126, Bloom) that established the Commission.
AB 1127 (Gabriel): Prohibits the sale of any semi-automatic handguns in California that are easily convertible into a fully automatic machine gun by using a converter attachment.
*AB 1468 (Zbur, Addis, Becker): Unbiased Ethnic Studies – Implements ethnic studies with accuracy and integrity, and without bias in California’s K-12 schools.
SB 19 (Rubio): Safe Schools and Places of Worship Act – Prosecutors across California have found it difficult to hold people accountable for making criminal threats against schools and places of worship unless they identify a specific person in their threat. SB 19 would address this ambiguity and make it easier to successfully prosecute wrongdoers who threaten to commit death or great bodily injury to any person on the grounds of a school or place of worship.
*SB 472 (Stern): $10m Budget Request: Holocaust and Genocide Education (HGE) – Provides school districts with grants for professional development or other needed supports in order to effectively teach HGE. It also creates an annual reporting requirement for districts on how they are teaching HGE. This bill is designed to implement two of the recommendations from the Governor’s Council on HGE.
This legislative agenda is a bold declaration that the California Jewish community stands up for ourselves and for all vulnerable people.
We need your help to pass these bills into law. Take action:
–Ask an organization you’re involved with to sign on in support of any or all of these bills.
–Join us at JPAC Capitol Summit in Sacramento, May 5-6, to lobby for these bills. Register here by April 21st!
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David Bocarsly is the executive director of the Jewish Public Affairs Committee of California.