# California State Legislature, 2023–2024 session

The 2023–2024 session was a session of the California State Legislature. The session first convened on December 7, 2022, and ended on November 30, 2024.

## Major events
### Vacancies and special elections

* May 24, 2024: Republican assemblymember Vince Fong (32nd–Bakersfield) resigns to become the U.S. representative for California's 20th congressional district.

### Leadership changes

* June 30, 2023: Democratic assemblymember Robert A. Rivas (29th–Hollister) replaces assemblymember Anthony Rendon (62nd–Lakewood) as speaker of the Assembly, as Rendon is termed out at the end of the session.
* February 5, 2024:
** Democratic senator Mike McGuire (2nd–Healdsburg) replaces senator Toni Atkins (39th–San Diego) as president pro tempore of the Senate.
** Democratic senator Lena Gonzalez (33rd–Long Beach) replaces senator McGuire as Senate majority leader.

### Party changes

* August 8, 2024: Democratic senator Marie Alvarado-Gil (4th-Jackson) switches to the Republican Party.

## Legislation

Notable topics discussed by legislators included local journalism support (California Journalism Preservation Act) and regulation of AI (Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act).
The following bills were signed or vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2023 or 2024.

### Signed

* SB4 - streamlines affordable housing on lands owned by faith-based organizations and institutions of higher education
* SB684 - requires cities to ministerially allow property owners to subdivide multifamily lots to create subdivisions with up to 10 houses, townhouses or condos in multi-family-zoned areas.
* AB418 - California Food Safety Act, prohibits red dye 3, propylparaben, brominated vegetable oil and potassium bromate from all foods meant for human consumption
* SB261 - requires large companies to biennially report their financial risks from climate change
* SB253 - U.S. corporations earning more than $1 billion and doing business in California must annually report their global emissions of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gases
* SB385 - allow trained physician assistants to conduct surgical abortions without direct supervision by a physician
* SB487 - prohibit health insurers and the state from penalizing medical providers who have been sanctioned in other states for performing procedures that are otherwise legal in California, including abortion and gender-affirming care
* AB1228 - raises the minimum wage for workers to $20 an hour next April, and creates a Fast Food Council composed of industry, worker, and government representatives to set minimum wage, safety, and employment and training standards for workers in large fast food chains and their franchises
* AB969 - would limit the use of hand counting of ballots in most elections
* SB616 - increases the number of paid sick days employers must provide to workers from three to five
* AB1373 - would authorize the state Department of Water Resources the authority to procure clean power when needed under the state Public Utilities Commission, particularly from offshore wind, geothermal and long duration storage
* AB1 - would allow state legislative staff to unionize beginning in 2026
* SB497 - would require state courts and the state Labor Commission to assume employers are illegally retaliating if they take certain disciplinary actions against a worker who in the prior 90 days has made a wage claim or a complaint about unequal pay.
* AB12 - limits the amount that landlords can require in security deposits to one month’s rent, rather than the previous two months’ rent
* AB1418 - would prohibit counties and cities from requiring landlords to evict people when a household member is a convicted felon
* SB389 - authorize the State Water Board to investigate and seek verification of all water rights claims regarding California's water bodies, no matter how old
* SB43 - expands the legal definition of “gravely disabled” to make it easier to place someone into involuntary treatment
* AB1955 - allows educators discretion in informing parents of a child's LGBTQ+ identity, but bars disclosure being a requirement.
* AB1078 - prohibits school boards from banning or censoring textbooks or school library books which describe racial or LGBTQ+ issues

### Vetoed

* AB957 - would require judges to consider a parent’s affirmation of their child’s gender identity in custody disputes
* SB403 - would add caste as a form of prohibited ancestry discrimination
* SB799 - workers who have been on strike for at least two weeks could receive funds
* AB469 - would create a state-funded, governor-appointed ombudsperson’s office to review state agencies’ denials of public records requests
* SB58 - would decriminalize certain psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin and psilocin, mescaline (except peyote) and DMT

## State Senate

| 32 | 8 |
| Democratic | Republican |

### Officers

| Position | Position | Name | Party | District |
| | Lieutenant Governor | Eleni Kounalakis | Democratic | |
| | President pro tempore | Mike McGuire | Democratic | 2nd–Healdsburg |
| | Majority leader | Lena Gonzalez | Democratic | 33rd-Long Beach |
| | Assistant majority leader | Angelique Ashby | Democratic | 8th-Sacramento |
| | Assistant majority leader | Aisha Wahab | Democratic | 10th-Hayward |
| | Democratic Caucus Chair | Monique Limón | Democratic | 19th–Santa Barbara |
| | Majority whip | Dave Cortese | Democratic | 15th–Los Gatos |
| | Assistant majority whips | Maria Elena Durazo | Democratic | 24th–Los Angeles |
| | Assistant majority whips | Steve Padilla | Democratic | 18th–Chula Vista |
| | Minority leader | Brian Jones | Republican | 40th–Santee |
| Secretary | Secretary | Erika Contreras | Erika Contreras | Erika Contreras |
| Sergeant-at-Arms | Sergeant-at-Arms | Katrina Rodriguez | Katrina Rodriguez | Katrina Rodriguez |
| Chaplain | Chaplain | Sister Michelle Gorman, RSM | Sister Michelle Gorman, RSM | Sister Michelle Gorman, RSM |
The Secretary, the Sergeant-at-Arms, and the chaplain are not members of the Legislature.

### Members

| District | Name | Party | Residence | Term-limited? | Notes |
| 1 | Brian Dahle | Republican | Bieber | Yes | |
| 2 | Mike McGuire | Democratic | Healdsburg | | Majority leader until February 5, 2024; president pro tempore since February 5, 2024 |
| 3 | Bill Dodd | Democratic | Napa | Yes | |
| 4 | Marie Alvarado-Gil | Republican | Jackson | | First elected as a Democrat before switching parties on August 8, 2024 |
| 5 | Susan Eggman | Democratic | Stockton | Yes | |
| 6 | Roger Niello | Republican | Fair Oaks | | |
| 7 | Steve Glazer | Democratic | Orinda | Yes | |
| 8 | Angelique Ashby | Democratic | Sacramento | | |
| 8 | Nancy Skinner | Democratic | Berkeley | Yes | |
| 10 | Aisha Wahab | Democratic | Hayward | | |
| 11 | Scott Wiener | Democratic | San Francisco | | |
| 12 | Shannon Grove | Republican | Bakersfield | | |
| 13 | Josh Becker | Democratic | Menlo Park | | |
| 14 | Anna Caballero | Democratic | Merced | | |
| 15 | Dave Cortese | Democratic | San Jose | | |
| 16 | Melissa Hurtado | Democratic | Bakersfield | | |
| 17 | John Laird | Democratic | Santa Cruz | | |
| 18 | Steve Padilla | Democratic | Chula Vista | | |
| 19 | Monique Limón | Democratic | Santa Barbara | | |
| 20 | Caroline Menjivar | Democratic | Los Angeles | | |
| 21 | Scott Wilk | Republican | Santa Clarita | Yes | |
| 22 | Susan Rubio | Democratic | Baldwin Park | | |
| 23 | Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh | Republican | Yucaipa | | |
| 24 | Ben Allen | Democratic | Santa Monica | | |
| 25 | Anthony Portantino | Democratic | Burbank | Yes | |
| 26 | María Elena Durazo | Democratic | Los Angeles | | |
| 27 | Henry Stern | Democratic | Malibu | | |
| 28 | Lola Smallwood-Cuevas | Democratic | Los Angeles | | |
| 29 | Josh Newman | Democratic | Fullerton | | |
| 30 | Bob Archuleta | Democratic | Pico Rivera | | |
| 31 | Richard Roth | Democratic | Riverside | Yes | |
| 32 | Kelly Seyarto | Republican | Murrieta | | |
| 33 | Lena Gonzalez | Democratic | Long Beach | | Majority leader since February 5, 2024 |
| 34 | Tom Umberg | Democratic | Santa Ana | | |
| 35 | Steven Bradford | Democratic | Gardena | Yes | |
| 36 | Janet Nguyen | Republican | Huntington Beach | | |
| 37 | Dave Min | Democratic | Irvine | | |
| 38 | Catherine Blakespear | Democratic | Encinitas | | |
| 39 | Toni Atkins | Democratic | San Diego | Yes | President pro tempore until February 5, 2024 |
| 40 | Brian Jones | Republican | Santee | | Minority leader |