New California Laws 2026
SB 744, Cabaldon. Accrediting agencies. This bill provides that, for purposes of any code or statute, recognition of national or regional accreditation by the United States Department of Education (USDE) as of January 1, 2025, is retained until July 1, 2029 for an accrediting agency that continues to operate in substantially the same manner as it did on January 1, 2025. An act to add and repeal Section 144.7 of the Busi- ness and Professions Code, and to amend, repeal, and add Section 66010 of the Education Code, relat- ing to postsecondary education. SB 848, Pérez. Pupil safety: school employee mis- conduct: child abuse prevention. This bill (1) estab- lishes new requirements to improve pupil safety by addressing school employee misconduct, clarifying professional boundaries, enhancing comprehensive school safety plans, expanding child abuse preven- tion training requirements, requiring instructional programming on abuse prevention, and creating a statewide system for tracking employee misconduct investigations. It also (2) expands the definition and reporting responsibilities of mandated reporters. An act to amend Sections 32280, 32281, 32282, 44010, 44242.5, 44830.1, 44939.5, and 51950 of, to amend, repeal, and add Section 44691 of, to add Sec- tions 44051 and 44052 to, and to add Article 10 (com- mencing with Section 32100) to Chapter 1 of Part 19 of Division 1 of Title 1 of, the Education Code, and to amend Section 11165.7 of the Penal Code, relating to pupil safety. SB 853, Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement. Public employees’ retirement. This bill makes technical, non-substantive amendments to clean up and clarify specified portions of the Edu- cation and Government Codes regulating the Califor- nia State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), and the County Employees Retirement Law of 1937 (37 Act or CERL) retirement systems. An act to amend Sections 22104.8, 22131, 22146.5, 22713, 22954, 22955, 22955.1, 24616.2, and 26122 of the Education Code, and to amend Sections 7522.02, 20034, 20069, 20638, 20639, 31462.05, 31470.14, and 31680.9 of the Government Code, relating to public retirement systems. 2025 Assembly Elections Laws AB 5, Berman. Elections: official canvass. Re- quires county elections officials to report vote totals for all ballots, except specified types of ballots that require special processing, by the 13th day after the election. An act to add Section 15307 to the Elections Code, relating to elections. AB 16, Alanis. Vote by mail ballots: processing. Conforms state law governing the processing of vote by mail (VBM) ballot return envelopes and ballots to a recent change in state law that allows elections of- ficials to begin sending VBM ballots to voters earlier than the 29th day before the election. Continued on page 32
contract with LEAs in existing provisions; and, (3) expands existing provisions to also apply to state or federally subsidized child care programs operated by or under contract with LEAs. An act to amend Section 4119.2 of the Business and Professions Code, and to amend Sections 49414 and 49423 of the Education Code, relating to pupil health. SB 619, Committee on Education. Public postsec- ondary education. This bill makes various technical, clarifying, and conforming changes to a number of provisions with the Education Code related to the new California General Education Transfer Curricu- lum (CalGETC) singular general education transfer pathway from California Community Colleges (CCC) to California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC) campus and updates foster and kin An act to amend Sections 48800, 66721.7, 66739.5, 66746, 79420, and 79500 of, and to amend the head- ing of Article 8 (commencing with Section 79420) of Chapter 9 of Part 48 of Division 7 of Title 3 of, the Ed- ucation Code, relating to postsecondary education. SB 631, Richardson. Charter School Revolving Loan Fund. This bill makes several changes to the Charter School Revolving Loan Fund (CSRLF), in- cluding increasing the maximum loan amount for charter schools, expanding loan eligibility and estab- lishing loan prioritization criteria, modifying repay- ment terms, and revising how the loan interest rate is calculated. An act to amend Sections 41365, 41366.5, and 41366.6 of the Education Code, relating to charter schools. SB 638, Padilla. California Education Interagen- cy Council: California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program. This bill revises the Cal- ifornia Career Technical Education Incentive Grant (CTEIG) Program and establishes a new statewide coordinating entity, the California Education Inter- agency Council (Council), to strengthen alignment of career technical education (CTE) and workforce development efforts. An act to amend Sections 53070 and 53074 of, and to amend, repeal, and add Sections 53070.1, 53071, 53072, and 53075 of, the Education Code, and to add Sections 11906, 11907, and 11908 to the Government Code, relating to career technical education. SB 640, Cabaldon. Public postsecondary educa- tion: admission, transfer, and enrollment. This bill establishes the California State University (CSU) di- rect admission program between participating CSU campuses and local educational agencies (LEAs), and it further requires the California Community Colleges (CCC) to promote the CSU dual admission transfer program. An act to amend Section 66744.1 of, and to add Sec- tion 66209 to, the Education Code, relating to public postsecondary education. SB 670, Cervantes. Adult Education Program: immigrant integration. Updates the definition of im- migrant integration for purposes of Adult Education Programs in California. An act to amend Section 84901 of the Education Code, relating to adult education.
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