Legislation
2023 - 2024
EDGE Policy Update - End of Session September 2024
On September 30th, Governor Newsom made his final decisions on nearly 950 bills passed by the Legislature. Hundreds of these bills were signed into law, bringing significant changes for working families, returning students, opportunity youth, and the state’s workforce.
EDGE Policy Update - August 2024
After a month-long summer recess, the Legislature reconvened on August 5th to address pending legislation with fiscal implications for the state. On August 15th, the Senate and Assembly conducted their Appropriations Suspense Hearing, deciding the outcome of bills with substantial costs, including several of EDGE’s priority measures related to dual enrollment, skills training, and student financial aid.
EDGE Policy Update - July 2024
On July 4th, the Legislature kicked off a month-long summer recess and is scheduled to reconvene on August 5th. Prior to the recess, Governor Newsom signed the final 2024-2025 State Budget which includes total expenditures of $297.9 billion.
EDGE Policy Update - June 2024
On June 22nd, state leaders reached a consensus on the budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year. This budget, crafted through discussions between the Governor and legislative leaders, successfully addresses the anticipated $28 billion shortfall.
EDGE Policy Update - May 2024
On May 24th, the Legislature wrapped up the House of Origin deadline, passing hundreds of measures
in the Senate and Assembly that addressed various issues, including education, social safety net, and
workforce development.
EDGE Policy Update - April 2024
On April 4th, an agreement was reached between the Governor and the Legislature to tackle the
state’s deficit. The Early Action budget blueprint aims to slash the deficit by around $17.3 billion. View
the key points of the agreement here.
EDGE Policy Update - February 2024
The California Legislature reached its bill introduction deadline on February 16, with a total of 1,556 Assembly Bills and 662 Senate Bills introduced. As we move into the second year of the two-year legislative session, it’s already shaping up to be another busy session at the Capitol! A multitude of legislation has been put forward, many seeking to provide support to underserved working families, displaced workers, small businesses, opportunity youth, and returning students.
EDGE Legislative Update, End of Session October 2023
On October 14, Governor Newsom took final action on all pending measures that were passed by the Legislature – nearly 900 bills. Of these bills, hundreds were signed into law which will impact working families, returning students, opportunity youth, and the state’s workforce. Building upon last year’s efforts, the Governor signed critical measures that EDGE has been supportive of throughout the year in the areas of dual enrollment, expanding student financial aid access, and strategies that support opportunity youth and returning students who have been disconnected from the education and workforce systems.
EDGE Legislative Update, September 2023
On September 1st, the Legislature held the Appropriations Suspense Hearing where the Assembly and Senate took action on hundreds of bills that had significant fiscal cost. Key bills of interest that passed off the suspense file included student financial aid access, dual enrollment eligibility, and securing a social safety net for working families. Once the fate of all fiscal bills was determined at the suspense hearing, the Legislature voted one last time on all final bills before sending them to the Governor on September 14th, marking the end of the legislative session.
EDGE Legislative Update, August 2023
On August 14th, the Legislature returned from a month-long summer recess and hit the ground running by holding several fiscal committee hearings in preparation for the September 1st suspense hearing. The Assembly and Senate suspense hearings will determine the fate of key bills and if passed, will advance to a final floor vote before heading to the Governor’s desk.
EDGE Legislative Update, July 2023
On July 14th, the Legislature kicked off a month-long summer recess and is scheduled to reconvene on August 14th. Prior to the recess, Governor Newsom signed the state budget – a $310 billion spending plan that invests and protects funding programs in the areas of education, workforce development, and social safety net services to support underserved Californians who continue to face socioeconomic barriers across the state.
EDGE Legislative Update, June 2023
On Friday, June 2nd, the Legislature met the House of Origin deadline – the last day for the Senate and Assembly to pass bills introduced in their respective houses. Thus far, we’ve seen various measures pass through the Legislature in the areas of workforce development and higher education access intended to support working families, underserved opportunity youth, and returning students.
EDGE Legislative Update, April 2023
On April 10th, the Legislature returned from their week-long spring recess and faced a fast-approaching deadline for policy committees to send all fiscal bills to the appropriations committees by April 28th. Thus far, we’ve seen legislation pass several key committees in the areas of workforce development and higher education access intended to support working families, small businesses, underserved opportunity youth, and adult learners.
2022- 2023
EDGE Legislative Update, End of Session, October 2022
On September 30th, Governor Newsom took final action on all pending measures that were passed by the Legislature – a total of 1,166 bills. Of these bills, hundreds were signed into law that are considered to be some of the most historic pieces of legislation ever approved, such as workplace rights and better working conditions for farmworkers and fast-food workers, increased paid family leave for workers paid low wages, remedial education reform, investments in training to expand the health care workforce, measures to address climate justice and housing affordability, and increased career tech education opportunities.
EDGE Legislative Update, August 2022
August 31st marked the end of the 2021-2022 legislative session, where hundreds of bills were voted on by the Legislature. EDGE is excited to see the passage of our priority bills that are now on the way to the Governor’s desk! The Governor has until September 30th to sign or veto all bills passed by the Legislature, and we are working hard to ensure measures that are intended to support working families, adult learners, opportunity youth, students earning low incomes, and industry are chaptered into law.
EDGE Legislative Update, July 2022
On July 1st, the Legislature kicked off a month-long summer recess and is scheduled to reconvene on Monday, August 1st. Prior to the recess, Governor Newsom signed the state budget on June 30th – a historic $300 billion budget package in the areas of education, workforce development and the economy. The 2022-23 state budget reflects an agreement and collaboration between the Governor and the Legislature after months of negotiations on how to best meet the needs of all Californians. We are excited to see several of EDGE’s budget priorities make it into the final budget, including a commitment to revamping the state’s student financial aid system (Cal Grant Reform), investments to strengthen and expand dual enrollment opportunities, financial relief for small businesses, and investments in health care and food security for immigrant communities.
EDGE Legislative Update, June 2022
Throughout the month of June, policy committees held various hearings and voted on hundreds of bills in the areas of student financial aid reform, remedial education, dual enrollment opportunities, and workforce development strategies – all intended to support working families, small businesses, students, opportunity youth, adult learners, and strengthen California’s workforce. As for next steps, all bills must pass their respective policy committee by the July 1st deadline, prior to summer recess, in order to advance in the legislative process.
EDGE Legislative Update, April 2022
On April 18th, the Legislature returned from their week-long spring recess and faced a fast-approaching deadline for policy committees to send all fiscal bills to the appropriations committees by April 29th. Thus far, we’ve seen groundbreaking legislation pass several key committees in the areas of student financial aid reform, dual enrollment opportunities, and strengthening workforce development strategies – all intended to support working families, small businesses, underserved students, opportunity youth, adult learners, and to ultimately boost California’s workforce.
2021- 2022
EDGE Legislative Update, October 2021
As the Governor’s deadline to take action on pending legislation came to a close on October 10th, all of us at EDGE are excited to see several priority bills chaptered into law! Building upon last year’s efforts to support and uplift working families and bolster California’s economy, the Governor signed critical measures that EDGE has been supportive of throughout the year in the areas of broadband access, expansion of workforce training opportunities, and support services for justice-involved students attending community colleges.