After over nine months of work, the California State Legislature has concluded the 2025 Session. I am so grateful for the many residents of the 44th Assembly District who have taken the time to interact with our office with your questions, comments, and concerns.
Since last December, I’ve been working on a package of bills to improve public safety, protect our natural resources, increase affordability, and boost our housing production. I’m happy to report that 10 bills have made it to the Governor’s desk, including an early victory with AB 379, which Governor Newsom signed over the summer. Here’s a summary of a few of the bills:
AB 379 – Combatting Sex Trafficking
California has some of the strongest laws in the nation regarding human trafficking and protecting children. Many of those laws, including the law that prohibits contacting a minor with the intent to commit a sex offense, carry felony penalties. AB 379 allows prosecutors to charge felonies against adult predators who solicit 16 and 17 year olds. If the age of the adult offender is within three years of the minor — for instance, if an 18 year old solicits a 17 year old — this solicitation remains illegal and can be charged as a misdemeanor. The bill also strengthens penalties for businesses that look the other way on human trafficking, includes new tools to help prosecutors go after predators, and increases funding for supportive services for survivors.
AB 43 – Protecting Wild and Scenic Rivers
California has more than 2,404 miles of rivers and streams protected in the federal and state wild and scenic rivers systems. In 2018, California shielded our state’s wild and scenic rivers from any rollback of protections at the federal level. With those protections set to expire in December of 2025, AB 43 removes the sunset and provides a permanent pathway for the administrative inclusion of a federal wild and scenic river in California into the state wild and scenic rivers system if the federal government acts to eliminate federal protection for all or some of the federally protected river.
AB 44 – Improving Energy Affordability
This bill addresses California’s energy affordability challenges by clarifying the process by which load-serving entities may use demand management technologies to reduce or shift their electricity consumption away from the most expensive hours. Rather than maximizing the wholesale purchase of fossil fuel generation to maintain grid reliability, AB 44 allows retail electricity providers to better customize their own programs to reduce the need to purchase dirty power during hours when the grid is the most expensive and polluting to operate.
AB 321 – The Better Informed Decisions Act
AB 321, the Better Informed Decisions Act, streamlines the process that permits judges to decide whether a wobbler case will move forward as a misdemeanor or felony when they have sufficient evidence to make that decision, before trial. This ensures that individuals face consequences proportionate to their actions and that public resources spent on trials are appropriate to the severity and complexity of each case.
AB 361 – Best Value Procurement for School Districts
Current law provides Los Angeles Unified School District with an alternative method for bidding and building school construction projects that considers factors like experience, quality, and performance—not just the lowest price—when awarding public contracts. AB 361 removes the sunset on the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Best Value Procurement pilot program and expands the option statewide to any school district for public works projects over $1 million that meet specified labor requirements.
AB 734 – Protecting California’s Biodiversity
California is a global biodiversity hotspot. As we develop projects, including energy projects, it is important that we consider the near-term impact of development on our biodiversity, fish and wildlife habitat, and natural landscapes while addressing the long-term impacts of climate change. AB 734 provides the public with the necessary biological resource information to participate effectively and efficiently in the public review and comment processes associated with project permitting.
AB 1036 – Criminal Procedure: Post-Conviction Discovery
AB 1036 ensures greater fairness in the post-conviction process by allowing individuals convicted of felonies resulting in a state prison sentence to obtain discovery materials from the state. The bill broadens the definition of "discovery materials" to include exculpatory and mitigating evidence along with jury selection notes after in camera review and necessary redactions. By expanding and modernizing post-conviction discovery statutes, California can improve the efficiency and fairness of its justice system while correcting wrongful convictions.
AB 1050 – Expanding Housing Development in Commercial Centers
AB 1050 will help with the redevelopment of vacant commercial centers by extending existing law for removing covenants, conditions, and restrictions on a property that preclude housing to mixed-use and mixed-income housing development. Importantly, this bill does not alter state housing laws related to project approvals, nor does it change local zoning ordinances or the entitlement process.
AB 1150 – Improving Airport Rental Car Facilities
AB 1150 increases the daily maximum user fee that airports may collect from airport rental car customers to $12 per day and starting January 1, 2026. Proceeds from these fees can only be used for maintenance, safety improvements, and to modernize facilities to meet future demands at airport rental car facilities.
AB 1319 – Protecting California’s Endangered Species
AB 1319 puts into place a clear and expedited process at the Fish and Game Commission to place imperiled species (fish, wildlife, plants, and insects) when federal protections are repealed or weakened. It also provides greater certainty for developers with pre-existing federal permits during the provisional listing of those endangered species, and improves our ability to combat trafficking.
Governor Newsom now has until October 13th to sign bills into law, or veto them. In the months ahead, I’ll be working with my staff, stakeholders, and constituents to put together the 2026 legislative package. If you have recommendations for bills, budget priorities, or need help with state services, please do not hesitate to contact our district office. Our phone number is (818) 558-3043, and email address is Assemblymember.Schultz@Assembly.ca.gov.
