2022 Sponsored Legislation
CWDA is sponsoring or cosponsoring several bills this legislative session. We will update this page as bills are introduced, and add fact sheets and sample support letters in this section.
PLEASE NOTE: For the 2022-23 Session, most legislative committees ask that letters be submitted via the online Advocates portal, rather than via email or fax. The portal can be found at: https://calegislation.lc.ca.gov/Advocates/ and you will need to create a profile before submitting letters on behalf of your organization.
Governor’s Letters should be submitted to: leg.unit@gov.ca.gov
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Active Bills
AB 1686 (Bryan) – Child Welfare Agencies: Enforcement
Status: Pending action by Governor Newsom
Would clarify referral criteria to child support enforcement for parents whose children are placed into foster care, indicating a presumption that a child support referral is likely to pose a barrier to reunification for families engaging in that process.
Co-Sponsored with the Alliance for Children’s Rights and the Los Angeles Dependency Lawyers.
AB 2259 (Berman) - Foster Youth: Substance Use Disorders
Status: Held in Senate Appropriations Committee; bill was incorporated into 2022-23 Budget Act.
Would require the State Department of Social Services (DSS), in collaboration with the State Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), to establish a grant program to fund the development and implementation of evidence-based models and promising practices to serve foster youth with substance use disorders who are residing in family-based settings.
AB 2262 (Calderon) – In-Home Supportive Services: Needs Assessment.
Status: Held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee
Simplifies the In-Home Supportive Services Program (IHSS) annual reassessment process for certain program recipients by requiring the Department of Social Services to establish an alternative annual reassessment process, as specified, for program recipients with stable needs and whose IHSS hours do not fluctuate, or fluctuate very little, each year.
Co-Sponsored with Justice in Aging.
AB 2306 (Cooley) – Foster Care.
Status: Vetoed by Governor Newsom
Would modernize and expand the Independent Living Program (ILP).
AB 2306 (Cooley) Sponsor Letter
AB 2579 (Bennett) – Family Finding.
Status: Held in Senate Appropriations Committee
Would require counties to implement model practices for intensive family finding and support for foster children as early as possible and throughout their time in foster care. Specifically, the bill requires counties to identify relatives, non-related extended family members, and other adult-like connections for foster children, children detained but not adjudicated, and candidates for foster care. Additionally, as a condition of receiving funds for this purpose, counties must submit a county plan to the Department of Social Services that describes, among other things, the population to be served and the expected outcomes and method for tracking outcomes.
AB 2579 (Bennett) Sponsor Letter
SB 1054 (Ochoa-Bogh) - Public Social Services: Multidisciplinary Personnel Teams.
Status: Signed by Governor Newsom
Would clarify existing law by explicitly allowing adult protective services staff and child welfare services staff to disclose information with each other for the specified and limited purposes of prevention, intervention, management or treatment of abuse or neglect of minors, dependent adults and those over the age of 65.
SB 1054 (Ochoa-Bogh) Sponsor Letter
SB 1090 (Hurtado) – Family Urgent Response System.
Status: Pending action by Governor Newsom
Would clarify populations of youth eligible for the Family Urgent Response System (FURS). Specifically, SB 1090 clarifies that youth and families supported by FURS includes a child or youth who is the subject of a petition to declare them a dependent child of the juvenile court and a youth, children who are receiving child welfare services through a family maintenance program or voluntary placement agreement, foster children placed in California through the Interstate Compact Placement Agreement by another state, and youth who has exited foster care for any reason, including reunification, guardianship, adoption, or emancipation.
Co-Sponsor: Children Now
SB 1090 (Hurtado) Sponsor Letter