ICYMI: Here’s How Assembly Democrats Took Action and Delivered Results This Legislative Session

Friday, September 11, 2026

SACRAMENTO - Speaker Robert Rivas began the 2025-26 Legislative Session by calling on his Assembly colleagues to "chart a new path forward and renew the California Dream by focusing on affordability."

This became the north star for the Assembly's work. And in 2026, Assembly Democrats turned that goal into action.

Making California More Affordable

Affordability is about more than the price of a home. It's about whether a family can pay rent, keep the lights on, afford a doctor's visit and put food on the table.

In the face of unprecedented economic attacks against California's workers, businesses and economy this year by the Trump administration, Assembly Democrats stood tall, defended the Golden State and built a new foundation that invests in stability, reliability and a better day-to-day quality of life.

During the 2026 legislative year, the Assembly advanced measures to return money to utility ratepayers, protect consumers from unfair pricing practices, make water more affordable, strengthen protections against predatory financial practices and raise wages for agricultural workers.

The Legislature also continued investments in child care by adding more than 20,000 new options for families, along with important funding for food banks and other safety net programs that help families manage rising costs.

The 2026-27 state budget reinforced the Assembly's commitment to affordability: no new taxes on individuals, workers or families, while protecting essential services and maintaining access to health care for as many Californians as possible in the face of cuts by the Trump administration.

The goal was straightforward: Make sure Californians have more stability, more opportunity and more money in their pockets.

• AB 2589 (Irwin) - Make sure that, when there are savings for investor-owned utilities due to federal corporate tax changes, those dollars are passed along to ratepayers.
• AB 2646 (Krell) - Raises wages for farmworkers by setting a $19.75 minimum hourly wage for certain agricultural workers, with annual cost-of-living increases.
• AB 1776 (Aguiar-Curry) - Strengthens California's consumer protection laws to make sure there is competition between businesses, protecting small businesses and keeping costs down for everyday Californians.
• AB 2116 (Schiavo) - Defends small businesses against predatory lending practices and strengthens financial protections for entrepreneurs.
• AB 2463 (Petrie-Norris) - Brings greater transparency and accountability to how utility profits are determined so ratepayers can better see how electricity and gas rates are set.
• AB 2739 (Soria) - Makes water more affordable by creating a long-term fund to support water rate assistance and local water infrastructure investments.

Building More Homes, Faster

During this legislative session, Assembly Democrats delivered once-in-a-generation reforms that will make it easier to build housing in all corners of the state.

And this year, building on landmark housing reforms enacted in 2025, the Assembly continued to remove barriers that slow housing construction, while expanding opportunities for homeownership, accelerating development near jobs and transit, and helping vulnerable Californians remain safely housed.

The Assembly also passed the $11.25 billion Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026, putting a historic investment in affordable housing and homeownership opportunities for veterans, military families, and working Californians before voters on the November ballot. The bond is designed to leverage federal tax credits and private financing, with an estimated $4 in outside investment for every $1 invested by the state.

And the work did not stop there.

New housing laws make it easier to build townhomes, speed construction near major transit hubs, help builders resolve problems before costly litigation, protect disaster survivors from losing their homes and connect affordable housing and other community projects to electricity faster.

Together, these reforms represent a long-term effort to increase housing supply, lower costs and make the California Dream of owning a home more attainable.

• AB 1751 (Quirk-Silva) - Makes building townhomes easier and faster to offer more affordable housing options to middle-class Californians.
• AB 1786 (Harabedian) - Supports local governments with housing, infrastructure and other public projects faster by expanding best-value contracting options.
• AB 1842 (Harabedian) - Protects disaster survivors from losing their homes by requiring mortgage forbearance when a declared emergency makes their home uninhabitable.
• AB 2074 (Haney) - Speeds-up housing construction near major transit hubs and helps lower barriers to building new homes.
• AB 2518 (Sharp-Collins) - Connects affordable housing, health facilities and other community projects to power faster by establishing clearer utility energization timelines.

Protecting Health Care and the Safety Net

Assembly Democrats responded to the Trump administration's attack on health care and multibillion-dollar cuts by using the state budget to protect Californians from the harshest consequences of Trump's cuts.

In February, California accelerated $90 million in critical funding to protect access to reproductive and women's health care services statewide, ensuring Planned Parenthood centers remain open and able to provide essential care - including cancer screenings, contraception, STD testing and treatment, and safe abortion services - even as federal actions have forced clinic closures in other states.

The 2026-27 budget provides $300 million to help keep health coverage affordable as federal subsidies disappear, $190 million to support hospitals facing financial pressure, and continued protections for Medi-Cal, dental care and in-home services for seniors, veterans and people with disabilities.

It also delivers more than $100 million for food banks, protects food assistance and creates 25,000 new subsidized child care opportunities.

The Assembly also advanced legislation to strengthen the health care system itself - from helping eligible Californians maintain Medi-Cal coverage to expanding access to behavioral health treatment, supporting home-based care and protecting patients from harmful federal changes.

• AB 1591 (Michelle Rodriguez) - Build California's health care workforce by creating a pipeline program for students pursuing careers in pediatric medicine.
• AB 1857 (Aguiar-Curry) - Improve food access by stopping large grocery chains from using restrictive covenants to block new grocery stores from opening on abandoned sites.
• AB 2081 (Stefani) - Expand access to home-based care so Californians with significant medical needs can receive care in their communities instead of more costly institutional settings.
• AB 2244 (Gabriel) - Make it easier for families to identify healthier foods by creating a "Non-Ultraprocessed Certified" food standard and seal.
• AB 2531 (Irwin) - Help veterans access abortion and contraception care when those services are not covered by their existing health care.
• AB 2765 (Ahrens) - Protect children, families and foster youth from hunger by expanding CalWORKs support and seeking federal protection from SNAP cuts.

Energy Affordability and Data Center Protections

Assembly Democrats made energy affordability a central piece of their goals this year.

The Assembly passed legislation to ensure utility customers benefit when investor-owned utilities receive Trump's tax cuts.

Bills that passed this year will also bring greater transparency to how utility profits are determined, and speed up the process of bringing new clean energy projects onto the grid.

This work builds on the Assembly's 2025 energy affordability package, which is expected to return approximately $3 billion in Climate Credits to Californians each year while strengthening California's clean-energy infrastructure and reliability. The package also includes a partnership with Western states expected to save Californians more than $1 billion annually in energy costs.

But the Assembly also confronted a newer challenge: Who pays for the enormous amount of energy required by the next generation of technology?

As data centers and artificial intelligence expand across California, Assembly Democrats advanced legislation to protect ratepayers from higher electricity costs driven by large energy users and to require data centers to disclose their water use so communities can better plan for the demands these facilities place on local resources.

California is welcoming innovation and new economic opportunity while making sure families do not shoulder the costs.

• AB 2313 (Berman) - Helps homeowners make the switch from gas to clean electric energy when gas service lines need replacement.
• AB 2383 (Zbur) - Protects Californians from being stuck with higher electricity costs driven by large energy users like data centers.
• AB 2463 (Petrie-Norris) - Brings greater transparency and accountability to how utility profits are determined so ratepayers can better see how electricity and gas rates are set.
• AB 2493 (Petrie-Norris) - Speeds up the process to connect new clean energy projects to the grid, helping California bring more affordable power online faster.
• AB 2518 (Sharp-Collins) - Helps connect affordable housing, health facilities and other community projects to power faster.
• AB 2589 (Irwin) - Makes sure that, when there are savings for investor-owned utilities due to federal corporate tax changes, those dollars are passed along to ratepayers.
• AB 2619 (Papan) - Requires data centers to disclose water use and helps local communities plan for the strain large facilities can place on water supplies.

Social Media, AI and Protecting Our Children

Artificial intelligence is transforming work, health care and the economy. Social media is changing how children learn, communicate and grow up. And new technologies are creating risks that government has a responsibility to address.

The Assembly passed a first-in-the-nation law prohibiting social media platforms from allowing children under 16 to create or maintain accounts on apps with addictive features. New legislation also strengthened online age-safety and privacy protections and required platforms to better respond to child sexual abuse material.

At the same time, the Assembly took on the broader implications of artificial intelligence - protecting workers from invasive AI-powered surveillance, ensuring new protections around use of AI in health care settings, preparing for AI-driven changes to the workforce and giving public employees a voice when AI is being used in the workplace.

These efforts reflect a simple principle: California can lead the world in innovation while making sure technology serves communities and people are safe online - especially children.

• AB 2 (Lowenthal) - Creates meaningful accountability for large social media platforms that cause injury to children.
• AB 1709 (Lowenthal) - Protects kids under 16 from addictive social media features.
• AB 1856 (Wicks) - Strengthens California's online age-safety law so websites, browsers and apps can better protect children's privacy and safety.
• AB 1883 (Bryan) - Protects workers from invasive AI-powered workplace surveillance by limiting employers' use of tools that track, profile or make sensitive inferences about employees.
• AB 1946 (Wicks) - Holds social media platforms accountable for responding to child sexual abuse material and strengthens protections for children online.
• AB 2047 (Bauer-Kahan) - Helps stop the spread of 3D-printed ghost guns by requiring firearm-blocking technology in certain 3D printers.

Standing Up for Immigrant Communities and California Values

As Washington escalated attacks on immigrant communities, Speaker Rivas and Assembly Democrats repeatedly stood up against the Trump administration's indiscriminate ICE raids, inhumane detention centers and fear campaigns targeting communities of color.

The Assembly passed dozens of measures strengthening oversight of ICE and protecting schools, hospitals, child care facilities and voting centers from reckless immigration enforcement.

New legislation also strengthens protections for immigrant workers and families, cracks down on ICE impersonators and expands access to legal resources and information about Californians' rights.

The 2026-27 state budget makes significant, strategic investments to ensure California's immigrants will continue to access health care, legal aid, essential services and feel protected and safe in their communities.

The Assembly also established a $25 million State Litigation Fund to give California the resources to challenge unlawful federal actions and protect the state's interests - which has already saved over $207 billion in taxpayer dollars for California's families, workers and businesses from unprecedented federal overreach.

• AB 1633 (Haney) - Imposes a 50 percent tax on private immigration detention centers and directs the revenue to immigration-related services.
• AB 1801 (Lee) - Requires cities, counties and other public agencies to provide public notice and follow specified procedures before approving the construction or reuse of buildings for private detention facilities.
• AB 1806 (Gabriel) - Requires an independent state investigation into fatal federal immigration officer-involved shootings.
• AB 1896 (M. González) - Disqualifies certain individuals who personally engaged in federal immigration enforcement from becoming California peace officers or holding other public employment.
• AB 2230 (Ávila Farías) - Protects children and families by prohibiting child care facilities from voluntarily allowing law enforcement into nonpublic areas without a judicial warrant, subpoena or court order, except in limited circumstances.
• AB 2624 (Bonta) - Extends California's existing Safe at Home address confidentiality program to immigration support service providers, employees and volunteers who face documented threats, harassment or violence.

Making Sure Government Works for You

For Speaker Rivas, passing legislation is only the beginning.

This year marked the successful completion of the Assembly's first-in-the-nation Outcomes Review pilot, an effort to go back and examine whether laws are actually working as they should.

The program puts a simple question at the center of governing: Are laws working as intended?

Fifteen Assembly members participated in the 2026 review process, examining the implementation of laws affecting affordable housing, farmworker housing, community solar, mortgage forbearance and insurance, groundwater recharge and other issues.

That focus on results is part of Speaker Rivas' broader effort to make the Legislature more accountable - including reducing the number of bills members can introduce, strengthening oversight of state programs and requiring greater transparency around how taxpayer dollars are spent.

No More Status Quo: A California Ready for What Comes Next

The accomplishments of the 2025-26 Legislative Session tell a larger story.

Assembly Democrats delivered real change on the issues Californians feel every day - the cost of a home, the price of electricity, access to health care and food - while also confronting the challenges that will define California's future, from artificial intelligence and social media to data centers, climate change and a changing economy.

They did it with a focus on the same principle Speaker Rivas laid out at the beginning of the session: Affordability.

As the state looks toward the next legislative session, Speaker Rivas and Assembly Democrats will continue that work - lowering costs, protecting Californians, demanding accountability and building a stronger California where the California Dream remains within reach for the next generation.