2025 California Policy Priorities
Each year, the Alliance focuses on a slate of policies that advance race and gender justice by transforming systems failing our boys and men of color, their families and communities.
To see our 2025 California policy priorities, click here or expand the boxes below.
Education Equity
[VETOED BY GOVERNOR] AB 7 (BRYAN): LEGACY OF HARM & EXCLUSION CONSIDERATION ACT
Allows California State University, the University of California, independent
institutions of higher education, and private postsecondary educational institutions to consider providing a preference in admissions to applicants who are descendants of American Slavery.
Co-Sponsors: ABMoC, BARHII, Western Center on Law and Poverty, UC Student Association, California Faculty Association, BLM Grassroots
POWER BUILDING FOR EDUCATION JUSTICE
Over the next year, ABMoC will be focused on strengthening the capacity of our
partners and community members to engage in the legislative process at the Capitol and in district offices, ensuring that community wisdom shapes policies that combat systemic racism and transform school climates. ABMoC will educate elected officials on the importance of standing firm against punitive disciplinary practices while advancing community-centered solutions through strategic advocacy.
In addition, ABMoC is convening an Education Power Summit in the spring, where partners will participate in workshops and strategy sessions to coordinate education justice efforts statewide and regionally to help identify priorities, gaps, and opportunities for collaboration, ensuring a more powerful, united movement for education justice.
Community Safety & Justice
[DID NOT PASS ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS] AB 800 (ORTEGA): REDUCING VENDING MACHINE FOOD PRICES IN PRISON
Reduces food prices in California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
(CDCR) visiting rooms, providing immediate financial relief for incarcerated individuals and their families. The bill also ensures that healthy food options are available in prison vending machines.
Co-Sponsors: ABMoC, The Coalition for Family Unity
Youth Leadership and Justice
[DID NOT PASS SENATE APPROPRIATIONS] SB 824 (MENJIVAR): THE SUPPORTING HEALTHY, INDIVIDUALLY FOCUSED TRANSITION (SHIFT) ACT
Ensures that the youth justice system prioritizes rehabilitation and the services,
programs, and placements young people need to return to the community
successfully. Addressing gaps in existing law, this bill delineates how courts and other stakeholders can effectively plan for a young person’s progress toward rehabilitation and reintegration, with the ultimate goals of reducing recidivism and helping youth flourish when they return home.
Co-sponsors: ABMoC, Pacific Juvenile Defender Center, The California Alliance for Youth and Community Justice (CAYCJ), National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY), Burns Institute
[TWO-YEAR BILL – ON ASSEMBLY FLOOR] AB 1279 (SHARP-COLLINS): PATHWAYS TO JUSTICE: END JUVENILE THREE-STRIKES
Would eliminate strikes committed as a juvenile from being used to enhance future
adult felonies. This bill would also allow people to petition for resentencing if their
prior juvenile adjudication was used to enhance an adult felony conviction.
Co-Sponsors: ABMoC, Prison FTIO, Reversion 36, C.H.A.N.G.E.S, CURYJ, FLY, The Place For Grace, LSPC
[SIGNED INTO LAW] AB 1376 (BONTA): END ENDLESS PROBATION
Limits the time young people spend under probation supervision to six months unless
the court determines (after a hearing) that it is in the young person’s best interest to
extend probation—limits probation conditions, requiring that they are individually.
tailored, developmentally appropriate, and reasonable.
Co-sponsors: ABMoC, Young Women’s Freedom Center, Burns Institute, National Center for Youth Law (NCYL)
Economic Security
[DID NOT PASS SENATE APPROPRIATIONS] SB 592 (SMALLWOOD-CUEVAS) – STRENGTHENING LIMITED EQUITY HOUSING COOPERATIVES ACT
Helps tenants—especially in communities of color—buy their buildings and create long-term housing stability by removing property tax barriers to community ownership.
Co-sponsors: ABMoC
[DID NOT PASS ASSEMBLY APPROPRIATIONS] SB 423 (SMALLWOOD-CUEVAS) – ENHANCING WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT FOR INCARCERATED FIREFIGHTERS
Creates pathways for incarcerated firefighters to enter public service through job training, certifications, and civil service preference points—while reinvesting state savings into reentry, mental health, and workforce programs.
Co-Sponsors: ABMoC
Healing Together Campaign Priorities
$20M FOR HEALING-CENTERED VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAMS
Make significant investments in healing-centered, culturally rooted programs to end
domestic and sexual violence by expanding nonviolence initiatives tailored for men,
people with disabilities, LGBTQIA individuals, and diverse communities. Funding would support community-based organizations in piloting and scaling restorative and transformative justice programs, including helplines and interventions for those at risk of causing harm.
CALIFORNIA EXPANSION OF THE CALL FOR CHANGE HELPLINE
Expansion of an innovative, free, and confidential intimate partner abuse prevention
helpline, serving adults and teens who are at risk of harming their intimate partner or
who have questions about how to be a safe partner. The Helpline is part of an effort
to provide interventions outside the criminal legal system and a move away from
punitive measures.
To see our 2024 policy agenda click here, and for our 2023 policy priorities, please see here.