NextGen California Shares Key Policy Wins But Also Raises Concerns as the 2026 State Legislative Session Closes

The State Legislature passes several NextGen California priority bills and policies which will address climate, food insecurity, workforce development, and more

SACRAMENTO, CA, UNITED STATES, September 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Today, with the end of the legislative session, NextGen California applauds the Legislature for passing several of their top priority bills which will address important issues in the areas of food insecurity, immigrants’ rights, workforce development, inclusive democracy, and higher education equity.

“The NextGen California team is pleased to see our advocacy efforts pay off as several of our priority bills were passed by the State Legislature at the conclusion of the 2026 legislative session,” said Arnold Sowell Jr., Executive Director for NextGen California. “Many of our policy priorities are on their way to Governor Newsom for signature. These bills address a wide range of issues impacting the lives of California communities including ending food insecurity, creating a more robust workforce development environment, standing by our immigrant communities, strengthening our elections systems, and addressing higher education equity.

“These victories represent months of hard work and collaboration between the NextGen team legislative offices, our partners, as well as dedicated Californians who took action in support of our work. We look forward to continuing our mission to build a more equitable, prosperous, and climate-resilient California for all and will be making a final advocacy push to urge the Governor to sign these bills into law.”

NextGen California bills that were passed by the State Legislature and are on their way to the Governor for final action include:

Climate:
SB 327 (McNerney) – Protecting Ratepayers from Utility Abuses: Protects Californians from spiking electric and gas utility costs by prohibiting for-profit utilities from charging ratepayers to lobby against local efforts to municipalize energy utility service.
SB 913 (Becker) – Clean Local Power Act: Enables customer-owned resources like home batteries and smart thermostats to be fully utilized to provide grid reliability, support California’s clean energy transition, and lower costs for ratepayers.
SB 868 (Wiener) – Small-Scale Solar Access – “Balcony Solar”: Lowers barriers that prevent Californians, specifically renters and apartment dwellers, from accessing affordable solar by making portable solar generation more accessible.

Food Insecurity: AB 1857 (Aguiar-Curry) – The Grocery Store Access Act: Prohibits restrictive covenants that limit grocery stores and supermarkets from locating in otherwise suitable commercial properties.

Higher Education: AB 1896 (González & Rivas) – Get the Feds Out (GTFO) Act: Disqualifies anyone who has engaged in immigration enforcement activity between January 20, 2025, and January 20, 2029, from being employed as a state, county, or local public agency employee or peace officer in the State of California.

Immigration:
AB 1537 (Bryan, Carrillo, Ortega) – Peace Officers and Secondary Employment: Prohibits certain peace officers from engaging in any form of secondary employment, including contract based or individual contractor work, that involves the arrest, detainment, transportation, or deportation of individuals pursuant to federal immigration laws.
AB 1807 (Gabriel & Carrillo) – Immigration Enforcement: Use of State-Owned Property: Protects immigrant Californians by prohibiting the use of State-owned properties for the purposes of certain federal immigration enforcement activities.

Inclusive Democracy:
AB 1116 (Berman) – Expanded Online Voter Registration: Allows all eligible Californians to register to vote online.
SB 1164 (Cervantes) – The California Voting Rights Act of 2026: Prohibits election policies and practices that result in — or is likely to result in — voter suppression.

Workforce:
AB 2301 (Soria) – Community College Baccalaureate Degree in Nursing Pilot Program: Establishes a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree pilot program at 10 California community college districts to address California’s growing nursing shortage, expand affordable access to bachelor’s degrees, and strengthen healthcare workforce capacity in underserved regions.
SB 845 (Pérez) – High School Youth Apprenticeship: Expands youth apprenticeship in the state by implementing key components of the Master Plan for Career Education and California Youth Apprenticeship Committee recommendations.
SB 1012 (Smallwood-Cuevas) – Fire Camp to Career Act: Creates equitable and sustainable pathways for incarcerated individuals with fire camp experience to access stable, union-affiliated skilled trades careers.

Although the NextGen team had a great deal of success on the legislative front, we were disappointed to see that the negotiations around a final budget deal did not go far enough on pressing climate issues facing the state. Specifically, these budget bills did not address the growing wildfire risks to the state, rising ratepayer electricity costs, and recent regulatory actions which undermine the state’s Cap-and-Invest program.

Additionally, as recent changes to the federal student loan system changes are already wreaking havoc and throwing hard working families into financial distress, we are disappointed to see that no funding was allocated for the state program especially designed to support California’s over 4 million student loan borrowers, The Student Loan Empowerment Network administered by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.

The NextGen California team appreciates the candid partnership it developed with the Newsom Administration over the years and looks forward to continuing this work with the next gubernatorial Administration. We also want to thank the State Legislature and the many individual State Legislators who championed our policy, programmatic, and fiscal priorities. Our team now begins the process of developing a new set of priorities.


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NextGen California is a nonprofit advocacy organization that breaks down barriers and rebalances power in the State Capitol on behalf of all Californians. To learn more, visit nextgenpolicy.org.

Robin Swanson
Swanson Communications
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