2019 Primary Legislation Affecting LGBTQ Issues

Senate Bills

• SR 15 (Mitchell, Atkins, Bradford, Galgiani, Wiener): Senate Resolution proclaiming February 7, 2019, as Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day in California. Declares that a higher proportion of LGBTQ individuals have HIV compared with any other group in the United States.  Status: 1 Adopted.
  
  

• SR 16 (Rubio): Senate Resolution recognizing February 2019 as Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. References statistics stating that LGBT teens are more likely to experience physical dating violence and emotional abuse than heterosexual teens.  Status : Adopted.
  
  

• SB 12 (Beall, Portantino): Establishes the Integrated Youth Mental Health Program using funds from Proposition 63 (2004) to be administered by the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission.2 One of the core components of the program is a focus on vulnerable and marginalized youths, including LGBTQ youths.  Status : Senate Health Committee.
  
  

• SB 30 (Lara and Wiener): Removes the requirement that people be of the same sex or of the opposite sex and older than 62 to enter into a domestic partnership.  Status:  Senate Judiciary Committee.
  
  

• SB 42 (Skinner): Establishes the “Getting Home Safe Act,” which specifies certain release standards for individuals incarcerated in county jail. Also gives individuals being released from county jail the right to request assistance with entering drug or alcohol rehabilitation programs. The bill states that current county jail late-night release practices are especially dangerous for women, including transgender women.  Status : Senate Public Safety Committee.
  
  

• SB 132 (Wiener): A spot bill that expresses legislative intent to ensure that transgender individuals in custody have equal rights and protections.  Status : Senate Rules Committee.
  
  

• SB 156 (Wiener): Authorizes a pharmacist to initiate and furnish pre-exposure prophylaxis and postexposure prophylaxis if a pharmacist completes a training program approved by the board; complies with specified requirements, such as assessing a patient and providing a patient with counseling and tests; and provides the services in a private and sanitary location. Also expands the Medi-Cal schedule of benefits to include pre-exposure prophylaxis and postexposure prophylaxis as pharmacist services. Finally, prohibits plans and insurers from subjecting the drug treatments, including pre-exposure prophylaxis or postexposure prophylaxis, to prior authorization or step therapy.
  
  

• SB 201 (Wiener): Prohibits a physician and surgeon from performing any treatment or intervention on the sex characteristics of an intersex minor if the treatment or intervention may be deferred until the intersex minor can provide informed consent, as described. Requires a physician and surgeon to provide a written and oral disclosure before performing the treatment or intervention and to obtain the informed consent of the intersex minor to the treatment or intervention. Authorizes a physician and surgeon to perform the medical procedure without the minor’s consent if it is medically necessary and the physician and surgeon provides the written and oral disclosure to the parent or guardian and obtains their informed consent. Authorizes an intersex minor to provide informed consent to treatment or intervention on their sex characteristics.  Status:  Double-referred to the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee.
  
  

• SB 255 (Bradford): Expands the current requirements on electric, gas, water, and telephone companies to annually submit a plan and report the outcomes for increasing procurement from women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises.  Status : Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee.
  
  

• SB 433 (Monning): Creates a three-year pilot program under the California Department of Public Health to award grants to five counties to establish youth development and diversion programs with the goal of minimizing youth contact with the juvenile or criminal justice systems. The bill proposes the programs target populations with the highest need, including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, and Intersex (LGBTQQI) youths.
  
  

• SB 530 (Galgiani): Requires the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement under the Department of Industrial Relations to develop recommendations for an industry- specific harassment and discrimination prevention policy and training standard for use by employers in the construction industry.3
  
  

• SB 534 (Bradford): Requires insurers with premiums written equal to or above

  $100 million to submit a report on its minority, women, LGBT, veteran, and disabled veteran-owned business procurement efforts to the insurance commissioner annually.
  
  

• SB 672 (Morrell): Creates an “opt-in” requirement, rather than the current “opt-out” requirement for a pupil in a grade lower than seventh-grade sexual health education and HIV prevention education. Requires each school district to notify parents and guardians about its plan to provide sexual health education and HIV prevention instruction for the upcoming school year and to inform them, among other things, that written and audiovisual educational materials used in the instruction are available for inspection. Requires a school district to make the materials available for inspection before the date of instruction on the school district’s Internet website. By imposing additional duties on school districts, county boards of education, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
  
  

• SB 704 (Bradford): As written, a spot bill that makes non-substantive changes to the Public Utilities Code, which requires electrical, gas, water, and telephone corporations with gross annual revenues exceeding $25 million to submit a plan for increasing procurement from women, minority, LGBT, and disabled veterans- owned businesses.
  
  

• SB 741 (Galgiani): As written, likely a spot bill that removes an outdated operative date to the statute that authorizes an individual to file a petition with the Superior Court in any county seeking a judgment recognizing the change of gender to female, male, or nonbinary. The judgment, upon request, is required to include an order that a new birth certificate be prepared for the person reflecting the change of gender and any name change ordered in specified jurisdictions.
  
  

Assembly Bills

• HR 12 (Gipson, Gloria): House Resolution proclaiming February 7, 2019, as Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day in California. Declares that a higher proportion of LGBTQ individuals have HIV compared with any other group in the United States.  Status : Adopted.
  
  

• HR 14 (Eggman): House Resolution proclaiming March 2019 as Social Work Month in California. Proclaims that social workers have been in the forefront of social justice reforms, including the push for equal rights for LGBTQ individuals.  Status : Adopted.
  
  

• ACR 27 (Carrillo): Assembly Concurrent Resolution honoring the legacy of Bayard Rustin, a civil rights leader who fought for civil, legal, and human rights for African Americans and for the LGBTQ community.  Status : Adopted.
  
  

• AB 175 (Gipson): Revises and expands the rights of individuals in foster care to include the right to be referred to by the individual’s preferred name and gender pronoun, the right to maintain the privacy of the individual’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer and Questioning (LGBTQQ) status and gender identity, and the right to have reasonable access to computer and Internet, among other revisions.  Status : Assembly Judiciary Committee.
  
  

• AB 307 (Reyes): Requires the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council to develop and administer a grant program to support young people experiencing homelessness.4 Specifies that grant recipients must use the funds to provide certain defined supportive services including those for LGBTQ youths.  Status : Assembly Human Services Committee.
  
  

• AB 383 (Mayes, Friedman): Establishes the Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse to coordinate all government programs that invest capital in energy technologies that advance environmental protection, among other responsibilities. The bill requires the clearinghouse to work with market actors to support the growth of women, minority, LGBT, and disabled veteran business enterprises.  Status : Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
  
  

• AB 413 (Jones-Sawyer): Amends the California Education Code to change the terms “at-risk” and “high-risk” when describing certain risk factors that make youths more likely to be involved with the criminal justice system to “at-promise” and “high-promise,” respectively. The current definition of high-risk and at-risk youths include LGBTQ youths.  Status : Double referred to Assembly Education Committee and Public Safety Committee
  
  

• AB 493 (Gloria): Requires public schools (including charter schools) to annually provide training to seventh through 12th grade teachers and certificated employees about school site and community resources available to support LGBTQ pupils.  Status : Assembly Education Committee.
  
  

• AB 512 (Ting): Requires all mental health plans under Medi-Cal to prepare a cultural competency assessment plan to address disparities and outcomes by race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, gender identity, and immigration status.  Status : Assembly Health Committee.
  
  

• AB 543 (Smith): Requires each educational institution to create a poster notifying pupils of the institution’s written policy on sexual harassment and to prominently and conspicuously display the poster in specified public and private areas on campus. The bill would require the poster to be age-appropriate and culturally relevant, be no smaller than 8.5 by 11 inches and 12-point font, and display certain information pertaining to the policy, including the rules and procedures for reporting charges of sexual harassment. In addition, the bill requires a copy of the policy to be provided to new and continuing pupils at the beginning of each semester, quarter, or summer session.  Status:  Double referred to Assembly Education Committee and Higher Education Committee.
  
  

• AB 650 (Low): Spot bill that states intent to enact legislation that would require data collection for violent crimes and deaths involving members of the LGBTQ community.
  
  

• AB 837 (Holden): Requires each local law enforcement agency to require peace officers to attend periodic training in the investigation of hate crimes and would authorize each agency to make the training culturally relevant to the community served by the agency. The bill would require Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to develop guidelines and establish standards for the training.  Status:  Assembly Public Safety Committee.
  
  

• AB 962 (Burke): Requires licensed hospitals with operating expenses at or above $25 million to submit an annual report to the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development on their minority, women, LGBT, and veteran-owned business enterprise procurement efforts.5  Status : Assembly Health Committee.
  
  

• AB 984 (Lackey): Establishes the LGBT Youth Suicide Prevention Program, which would build resource centers focused on medical, support, and suicide prevention services for the LGBT youth population and their families in Los Angeles and San Diego counties and the city and county of San Francisco.
  
  

• AB 1625 (Robert Rivas): Requires the Office of the Attorney General to, among other things, establish and maintain on its website a list of unflavored tobacco products. The bill notes that flavored tobacco producers are disproportionately marketed to certain minorities and LGBTQ individuals and thus a growing number of cities and counties have restricted or banned the sale of flavored tobacco; however, many manufactures do not disclose whether their products are flavored so they can be difficult to accurately identify. This bill would create a reliable and complete public list of unflavored tobacco products.
  
  

• AB 1640 (Boerner Horvath): Requires the financial officer of each local agency to submit a written report to the State Controller’s Office on how it plans to spend any budget reserves on specified priorities, which include LGBTQ+ centers.
  
  

• AB 1693 (Cervantes): Revises the definitions of certain business enterprises, including LGBT business enterprises, to meet certain requirements under the Public Utilities Code, which requires public utilities providers with annual gross revenues of more than $25 million to submit a plan to increase procurement from women, minority, LGBT, and disabled veteran business enterprises.
  
  

Legislation Amending Code Sections Referring to LGBTQ Issues but Currently Making No Changes to the Provisions

Senate Bills

• SB 40 (Wiener): A spot bill that makes technical, non-substantive changes to the procedures for appointing a conservator for a person incapable of caring for his/her own health and well-being due to a serious mental illness or substance use disorder. The Welfare and Institutions Code section being amended includes a provision for services reflecting special needs of LGBT individuals, and the bill makes no changes to that section.  Status : Senate Rules Committee.
  
  

• SB 188 (Mitchell): Amends the current law against discriminatory employment and housing practices based on specified personal characteristics including race, sexuality, and religion to include hairstyles historically associated with race. The Government Code section being amended includes a provision that protects an individual’s sexuality, and the bill makes no changes to that section.  Status : Senate Judiciary Committee.
  
  

• SB 493 (Jackson): Expands California’s Equity in Higher Education Act to require institutions to provide students with protections relating to complaints of sexual harassment. The law already establishes protections for LGBTQ students, and the bill makes no changes to that section.

Assembly Bills

• AB 685 (Reyes, Ramos): Expands the requirements pertaining to court-appointed counsel for a child or non-minor dependent in court proceedings to include requirements regarding the federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 and cultural competency and sensitivity related to providing adequate care to Indian children in out-of-home care. The Welfare and Institutions Code section being amended provides for training and instruction regarding cultural competency and sensitivity for adequate care to LGBT youths in out-of-home care, and the bill makes no changes to that section of law.  Status : Assembly Human Services Committee.
  
  

• AB 686 (Waldron, Ramos): Expands the requirements pertaining to the proceedings for determining the placement of an Indian child who has been removed from the custody of a parent or guardian. The Welfare and Institutions Code section being amended governs the caregiver training requirements, which includes, among other things, instruction on best practices for providing adequate care for youths identifying as LGBT, and the bill makes no changes to that section of law.  Status : Assembly Human Services Committee.
  
  

• AB 819 (Mark Stone): Changes the resubmittal requirements for a resource family—a person or family that met the criteria for providing foster care—who previously withdrew an application. The Welfare and Institutions Code section being amended governs the caregiver training requirements, which includes, among other things, instruction on best practices for providing adequate care for youths identifying as LGBT, and the bill makes no changes to that section.
  
  

• AB 865 (Reyes): Changes the caregiver training for foster youths to include in-person training regarding the care and supervision to children who have been trafficked. The Welfare and Institutions Code section being amended also includes, among other things, the requirements for instruction on best practices for providing adequate care for youths identifying as LGBT, and the bill makes no changes to that section of law.  Status : Assembly Human Services Committee.
  
  

• AB 1422 (Gipson, Chu): Adds committing a criminal act because of the victim’s actual or perceived homeless status to the definition of a hate crime. The Penal Code section being amended includes motivation due to a victim’s actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity in the definition of a hate crime, and the bill makes non-substantive changes to those sections.

Legislation That May Have an Effect on the LGBTQ Community

Given the disproportionate number of LGBTQ youths who end up homeless; are victims of sex trafficking and sexual violence; attempt or commit suicide; need mental health intervention and support; or are victims of bullying in school, we have included current legislation that relate to these issues.

Senate Bills

• SB 35 (Chang): Establishes the California Alliance to Combat Trafficking and Slavery (California ACTS) Task Force to collect and organize data on the nature and prevalence of trafficking in persons in California and organize collaborative efforts between local and state governments and nongovernmental organizations for protecting victims of trafficking, among other related duties. The task force would be chaired by a designee of the attorney general and would be composed of state officials, law enforcement officers, and representatives of organizations that provide various services to victims of human trafficking, as specified. The task force would be required to meet at least once every two months and report specified findings and recommendations to the Office of Emergency Services and the Legislature by December 31, 2020, and March 31, 2021, and additional findings and recommendations to the governor, the attorney general, and the Legislature by July 1, 2021.  Status:  Senate Public Safety Committee.
  
  

• SB 48 (Wiener): States the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that creates a right to shelter for unhoused residents throughout the state, which would be required to include the navigation center model. The bill would state the purposes of this legislation, including ensuring that every person living on California’s streets has the ability to promptly secure shelter that is safe and supportive. The bill would specify certain elements that the right to shelter would include. The bill would specify that the right to shelter is not intended to be in lieu of prioritizing permanent housing for people who lack housing.
  
  

• SB 218 (Bradford): Eliminates the intent language contained in the California Fair Employment and Housing Act.  Status:  Senate Judiciary Committee.
  
  

• SB 273 (Rubio): Requires each public middle school and junior high school, other than charter schools, to provide all enrolled students with instruction on the importance of healthy relationships in accordance with specified criteria.  Status:  Senate Education Committee.
  
  

• SB 316 (Rubio): Requires a public school that serves pupils in any of grades ninth through 12th, inclusive, and that issues pupil identification cards to have printed on the back of the pupil identification cards the telephone number for a domestic violence hotline.  Status:  Senate Education Committee.
  
  

• SB 331 (Hurtado): Requires counties to create a suicide-prevention strategic plan that places particular emphasis on preventing suicide in children younger than 19.  Status:  Senate Health Committee.
  
  

• SB 428 (Pan and Portantino): Requires an applicant for a clear multiple or single subject teaching credential to complete a course in youth mental health first aid. The bill would authorize a teacher to provide youth mental health first aid to pupils and would prohibit a teacher who does so from being held liable for any civil damages as a result.
  
  

• SB 510 (Jones): Requires a person convicted of a human trafficking offense against a minor or of taking a minor for the purpose of prostitution, when any part of the violation takes place upon the grounds of, or within 1,000 feet of, a public or private elementary, vocational, junior high, or high school during the hours that the school is open for classes or school-related programs, or at any time when minors are using the facility, to receive, in addition to any other penalty imposed, an additional term of one year in state prison.
  
  

• SB 582 (Beall): Requires the California Health Facilities Financing Authority and the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, when making grant funds available on and after July 1, 2021, to allocate at least half of the funds to local educational agency and mental health partnerships, as specified. The bill would require the funding to be made available to support prevention, early intervention, and direct services, as determined by the commission. The bill would require the commission, in consultation with the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to consider specified criteria when determining grant recipients. The bill would require the commission to provide a status report to the fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature, as specified, no later than March 1, 2022. The bill additionally would appropriate $15 million each fiscal year to the commission for grants pursuant to the provisions.
  
  

• SB 680 (Wieckowski): Updates the Song–Beverly Credit Card Act of 1971 by deleting references to a woman and her maiden name and replacing them with references to a person and a person’s birth name.
  
  

Assembly Bills

• AB 34 (Ramos): A spot bill that expresses the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would address social bullying to provide a safe and supportive learning environment for all pupils.
  
  

• AB 70 (Berman): A spot bill that expresses the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would support youth mental health in schools.
  
  

• AB 135 (Cervantes and Colley): Expands the list of specified offenses in Proposition 83 of the November 7, 2006, statewide general election to include human trafficking of the minor.
  
  

• AB 260 (Quirk-Silva): Requires a California Community College or the California State University campus that issues student identification cards to include on the back of the cards the telephone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, the Crisis Text Line, or a local crisis telephone number and text line, and specified local law enforcement and security telephone number information. Also, requires the campuses to post the information on fliers in campus restrooms and gymnasiums.
  
  

• AB 300 (Chu): Requires a law enforcement agency’s informational, incident, and crime reports to include a check box indicating whether the underlying incident in the report is a hate crime or hate incident. Also requires a law enforcement agency to complete for each hate crime or hate incident a supplemental hate crime or hate incident report form that indicates the type of bias motivation and any other identifying information to assist in prosecution of the hate crime or hate incident.  Status:  Assembly Public Safety Committee.
  
  

• AB 301 (Chu): A spot bill that expresses the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would implement all of the recommendations set forth in the California State Auditor’s May 2018 report “Hate Crimes in California: Law Enforcement Has Not Adequately Identified, Reported, or Responded to Hate Crimes.”
  
  

• AB 619 (Chiu): Currently makes non-substantive changes and likely is a spot bill that will make changes to the Sexual Health Education Accountability Act.
  
  

• AB 621 (Diep): Currently makes non-substantive changes and likely is a spot bill that will make changes to the statutes pertaining to juvenile offenders who were victims of human trafficking.
  
  

• AB 624 (Gabriel): Requires, commencing July 1, 2020, schools and postsecondary educational institutions that issue pupil or student identification cards to have printed on the back of the cards telephone numbers for the National Sexual Assault Hotline, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, and a sexual or reproductive health hotline.  Status:  Double referred to Assembly Education Committee and Higher Education Committee.
  
  

• AB 662 (Cunningham): Requires language in the law pertaining to “enticing” women younger than 18 into prostitution or illicit sex recast the offenses in gender- neutral terms and remove the requirement that the minor be of previous chaste character.  Status : Assembly Public Safety Committee.
  
  

• AB 663 (Cunningham): Reduces the punishment for solicitation to imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months and a fine of not less than $500 but not exceeding $2,000, except when the defendant knew or should have known that the person solicited was a minor at the time of the offense. In addition, the bill requires that 75 percent of the money received pursuant to the fine to be retained by counties and expended to provide shelter, counseling, and other direct services and exit programs for victims of commercial sexual exploitation and commercial sexual abuse.  Status:  Assembly Public Safety Committee.
  
  

• AB 666 (Gabriel and O’Donnell): Currently a spot bill expressing the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to state Department of Education protocols on pupil mental health.
  
  

• AB 757 (Grayson): Requires POST, on or before January 1, 2021, to adopt training requirements for local public safety dispatchers that include three hours of training in recognizing the signs of human trafficking. The bill would require a person hired on or after January 1, 2021, to have received the training before beginning duty and would require a person employed as a local public safety dispatcher before January 1, 2021, to receive the training no later than January 1, 2022.  Status:  Assembly Public Safety Committee.
  
  

• AB 806 (Bloom): Expands access for homeless youths to higher education, including adding formerly homeless youths to the students to be granted or requested to be granted priority enrollment.  Status:  Assembly Higher Education Committee.
  
  

• AB 916 (Muratsuchi): Expands suicide prevention, education, and gatekeeper programs to reduce the severity, duration, and incidence of suicidal behaviors to community colleges and four-year colleges and universities.  Status:  Assembly Health Committee.
  
  

• AB 1235 (Chu): Renames runaway and homeless youth shelters “homeless youth prevention centers” and would expand the categories of youths for whom the center is required to provide services to include youths at risk of homelessness and youths exhibiting status offender behavior, as the terms are defined by the bill.
  
  

• AB 1510 (Reyes): Expands the statute of limitations for civil suits to additional types of criminal sexual conduct and specifies that the civil action may be brought against any person for committing the sexual assault or other criminal sexual conduct, any person or entity who owed a duty of care to the plaintiff, where a wrongful or negligent act by that person or entity was a legal cause of the sexual assault or other criminal sexual conduct that resulted in the injury to the plaintiff, and any person or entity where an intentional act by that person or entity was a legal cause of the sexual assault or other criminal sexual conduct that resulted in the injury to the plaintiff. The bill clarifies that it is unnecessary for a criminal prosecution or other proceeding to have been brought as a result of the sexual misconduct or, if a criminal prosecution or other proceeding was brought, that the prosecution or proceeding resulted in a conviction or adjudication.
  
  

• AB 1546 (Kiley): Currently a spot bill that express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to school districts employing staff to address the issue of pupil mental health.
  
  

• AB 1599 (Cunningham): Makes it a crime for a person to cause another person to touch an intimate part of either those persons or a third person for the specific purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse, by threatening to use their authority to incarcerate, arrest, or deport the victim or another person, if the touching is against the will of the victim and the victim has a reasonable belief that the perpetrator is a public official.
  
  

• AB 1764 (Carrillo): Currently a spot bill that states the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would establish the Eugenics Sterilization Compensation Program, administered by the California Victim Compensation Board, for the purpose of providing victim compensation to any survivor of state-sponsored sterilization conducted pursuant to eugenics laws in California between 1909 and 1979.
  
  

• AB 1777 (Levine): Currently a spot bill that makes non-substantive changes to the California Suicide Prevention Act of 2000 and codifies findings and declarations regarding the suicide rate among youths.
  
  

• AB 1781 (Fong): Currently a spot bill stating the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation regarding human trafficking.