Legislative Updates

Overview

Legislative Updates

The CFT Legislative Department introduces and lobbies for passage of union-sponsored bills. As bills develop staff recommend a position, in accordance with guidelines established by the CFT Convention, to the Legislative Committee, a standing committee of the Executive Council. The department publishes regular updates and information to communicate the progress of CFT’s advocacy efforts in the state Capitol.

  • Legislative Updates, posted below, communicate the progress of CFT-sponsored bills and other priority bills.  
  • State Budget Briefs track and analyze education expenditures in the California budget.
  • Legislative Report lists positions on all bills of interest to the CFT, and is more comprehensive but published less frequently.
  • Legislative Scorecard annually tracks how legislators vote on bills and issues that matter to CFT members. The California Labor Federation also publishes an annual scorecard.
Article Coronavirus Part-time faculty
Legislative Action

Governor signs three of four CFT-sponsored bills, vetoes AB 375 to increase part-time faculty workload
Legislative Update

The governor signed three of four CFT-sponsored bills that made it to his desk in year one of the current two-year session. The session closed on September 10 and Governor Newsom had until October 10 to sign the bills.

Article Coronavirus
Safe Workplaces

Legislature fails to extend COVID-19 Supplemental Sick Leave
Legislative Update

The COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (SPSL) is set to expire September 30. The CFT, in partnership with other unions, engaged in a long campaign to try and pass an extension before the end of the legislative session.

Thousands of CFT members signed our action to extend the supplemental sick leave to help elevate this issue, slow the spread of COVID-19 and keep our schools and communities safe. However, those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.

Article State Budget
Education Funding

What’s in the largest ever state education budget?
An overview of California's historic investment coming in 2021-22

On July 9, Governor Newsom signed a historic education budget with an unprecedented investment in our students and schools.

The California Legislature voted on and passed identical budget bills (AB/SB 129) on June 28, after reaching agreement with the governor about most budget issues. The full budget is $263 billion, thanks to an extraordinary surplus and the latest round of federal stimulus funding from the American Rescue Plan. A few outstanding details will be finalized in trailer bills.

Article State Budget
Legislative Action

Governor’s May Revision proposes highest level of education funding in California history
Legislative Update

California began the previous budget year with a looming recession forecasted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and a projected $54 billion deficit. However, due mostly to the inequitable recovery of the stock market, profits from Silicon Valley, and high-income earners that did not lose their jobs, the state now has projected a $75.7 billion surplus.

Article
Legislative Action

CFT introduces significant bills in the new legislative session
Legislative Update

The CFT is sponsoring or co-sponsoring numerous bills in the new legislative session. You can find them below with links to the bill language. 

MOVING BILLS

Community college part-time faculty reemployment
Assembly Bill 375 (Medina, D, Riverside) requires that negotiation on reemployment preference for part-time, temporary faculty assignments be based on the minimum standards not exceeding 80% to 85% of a full-time equivalent load, and would prohibit the community college district from restricting the terms of the negotiated agreement to less than that range, unless explicitly agreed upon by an individual part-time, temporary faculty member and the district. Sponsor

Article Coronavirus
Safe Workplaces

Supplemental Paid Sick Leave expires September 30
Some relief available in the Cal/OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard

September 8, 2021 — Legislature fails to pass extension

The COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave is set to expire on September 30, 2021. CFT, in partnership with other unions, engaged in a long campaign to pass an extension before the end of the legislative session on September 10. However, those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. The CFT will continue to advocate for the governor’s office to provide administrative relief in the short term and work towards possible legislative solutions with our labor allies next year.

While not as comprehensive as Supplemental Paid Sick Leave, the Cal/OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard still contains provisions that allow “exclusion pay” for workers who are unable to work because they were exposed to COVID-19 at the worksite. Exclusion pay means the employer continues to pay you even if you must be “excluded” from the worksite. Exclusion pay remains in effect until January and will likely be extended through March.

Article State Budget
Legislative Action

Governor’s budget proposes increases for education, financial incentive to return to in-person
Legislative Update

Gov. Newsom released the annual January budget proposal for the 2021-22 budget year, totaling $227.2 billion on Friday, January 8. The budget is very different from what lawmakers anticipated six months ago, when the 2020-21 budget was finalized, thanks to much larger than expected tax receipts.  The proposal includes $34 billion allocated to reserves (including the Public School System Stabilization reserve) and as discretionary surplus funding.

Article State Budget
Education Funding

Legislative Analyst forecasts state revenue windfall for 2021-22
Legislative Update

Each November, the Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) is tasked with providing the state Legislature with forecasting of the state’s revenue and budget constraints. Those numbers have just been released to provide a starting point for what to expect in budget negotiations for the California 2021-22 state budget.