As the 20th Anniversary celebration of the Women’s Foundation California Solís Policy Institute (SPI) gets underway, we are proud to announce this year’s slate of feminist bills, each designed to transform and reimagine California. Our SPI fellows bring innovative and expansive thinking to create legislative moves and cultural shifts toward a feminist future.
SPI fellows have been working hard for months to craft legislation, secure authors, and they are now moving their work forward through committees. WFC is proud to support these California Senate bills:
SB 474
Basic, Affordable Supplies for Incarcerated Californians (BASICs)
Criminal Justice Reform
Senator Josh Becker
SB 474, known as the BASICs Act, will require the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to maintain active canteens at all facilities and sell all goods at the original price paid to vendors, creating more equity and access to basic needs.
- Who to write to: Submit a letter of support here.
- Who to call: Senator Anthony Portantino’s (Chair of the Appropriations Committee) office at 916-651-4025 and Senator Brian Jones’s (Vice chair of the Appropriations Committee) office at 916-651-4040
- Spread the word: Check out their toolkit here.
- Who to talk to: Our Criminal Justice Reform team – sign up for updates!
- Learn more: Review the FACT sheet
SB 521
CalWorks: Pregnancy or Parenting
Economic Security
Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas
SB 521 protects pregnant, parenting, and lactating students from potential Cal-Learn and CalWORKS penalties by adding destabilizing events and violations of Title IX protections to the lists of acceptable reasons for not meeting satisfactory progress requirements.
- Who to write to: Submit a letter of support here.
- Who to call: Senator Anthony Portantino’s (Chair of the Appropriations Committee) office at 916-651-4025 and Senator Brian Jones’s (Vice chair of the Appropriations Committee) office at 916-651-4040.
- Who to talk to: Our Economic Security team – sign up for updates!
We also want to celebrate the hard work of our SPI Reproductive Justice and Trauma team and our Community Health team.
AB 957
Family Law: Gender Identity
Reproductive Justice and Trauma
Will empower TGI youth and their families by clarifying that affirming a child’s gender identity is in their best interest. Passed out of its first house and is now in the Senate.
And last but not least, we want to lift up our Community Health team for championing drug education and prevention and designing a concept for an opioid overdose certification and training program for high school students, which shaped the current AB 915 (Arambula).
All of this hard work positions us closer to realizing California’s intersectional feminist future.
TAKE ACTION ON SB 474 & SB 521!
Help give these Senate bills an extra boost to get them through the Appropriations Committee by calling or writing a letter of support. Feel free to use the “draft script” below to make your voice heard.
- Draft Call Script
Hi – My name is XXXXX and I’m calling from XXXX. I am calling to let you know that as a California resident, it is important to me to see BILL NUMBER cross the finish line. I care deeply about building a California where we all can thrive with health, safety, and prosperity, and passing BILL NUMBER is an important part of making that a reality in our state.