Two-Thirds of Reyes Policy Proposals Clear Senate Committees
Bills offer tangible solutions to challenges faced by everyday Californians
(SACRAMENTO) — Senator Eloise Gómez Reyes (D-Colton) today announced that nine of 13 bills from her 2025 Legislative Package passed the Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense File hearing last week. With this milestone, 75 percent of her proposals continue to advance through the legislative process.
“People all over California are facing serious barriers in their everyday lives, and it is our role as statewide leaders to seek solutions that will open doors and provide space for families, businesses, and communities to thrive,” said Senator Reyes. “My 2025 Legislative Package seeks to meet tangible needs for our Inland Empire neighbors, and I’m pleased that my colleagues in the Senate appreciate the value of these proposals.”
The Senate Appropriations Committee holds its Suspense File Hearing biannually to evaluate fiscal costs associated with bills that pass Senate policy committees. The Committee evaluates the total cost of all bills before taking any of them up for a vote, so that potential State Budget impacts can be thoroughly considered. Now that the majority of bills have passed out of Senate Appropriations Committee, they will next be heard for a vote on the Senate Floor by June 6. The full Legislative Package is listed below, with their current status indicated. More information about each bill can be found at the links below or on Senator Reyes’ website.
Business, Jobs & the Economy
- SB 245 Streamlining Expungements for Fire Camp Participants
Location: Sen Floor
Would streamline and clarify the expungement process established under AB 2147 (Reyes, 2020) for individuals who have successfully participated in the California Conservation Camp Program, institutional fire house programs, or county incarcerated individual hand crew programs.
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- SB 415 PLANS Act
Location: Senate Floor
Would strengthen and clarify changes to recently enacted legislation, AB 98 (Carrillo, 2024) related to logistics use development and requirements. The bill is meant to serve as a clean up to last year’s historic effort.
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- SB 781 Small Business Utilization Plans
Location: Assembly Desk; Awaiting Committee Referral
Would encourage cities and counties to adopt Small Business Utilization Plans to leverage local contracting activities to support small businesses and foster local economic growth. The bill would also clarify that the state is able to continue to fund small business programs regardless of federal matching requirements.
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- SB 847 Uninsured Employers’ Benefits Trust Fund
Location: Assembly Desk; Awaiting Committee Referral
Would prevent uninsured employers from evading their responsibility to reimburse the Uninsured Employers Benefits Trust Fund (UEBTF) by authorizing the Director of Industrial Relations (DIR) to make a prima facie determination in relation to UEBTF cases.
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Civil & Voter Rights
- SB 294 CA Know Your Rights Act
Location: Assembly Desk; Awaiting Committee Referral
Creates a template for employers to inform employees about their rights to equal and just treatment under the law. Also protects families by requiring notice to a worker’s emergency contact should they be arrested or detained by ICE.
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- SB 316 High School Voter Registration
Location: Senate Floor
Would provide high school students in California opportunity and resources needed to pre-register to vote, register to vote, and information about how to vote by the end of their eleventh grade.
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Education
- SB 271 Transforming Higher Ed for Student Parents through Financial & Childcare Support Services
Location: Senate Floor
Requires student parents on higher education campuses to be notified about childcare and financial aid resources available to them at one of the following campus locations: a financial aid office, a child development center, or a basic need center.
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- SB 305 Community College Financial Aid Access
Location: Held in Senate Appropriations; Will not advance this year
Would have established a systemic approach to ensure that first-time and continuing community college students apply for financial aid (or opt-out) during college orientation and throughout their college journey. Would have built on the success of California’s universal financial aid completion policy for high school seniors established by AB 469 (Reyes, 2021).
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SB 334 Education Against Harassment Act
Location: Assembly Desk; Awaiting Committee Referral
Would require the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) to consider including resources and information related to sexual harassment and its related protections in the Health Education Framework in K-12 Public Schools. Would also establish “Sexual Harassment Safety Weeks” in California schools to inform students and parents of the resources available to them and also cultivate a safer school environment.
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SB 686 Affordable Housing Financing
Location: Assembly Desk; Awaiting Committee Referral
Would allow the sale and refinancing of housing projects that were funded by Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) loans in order to deploy additional affordable housing opportunities.
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- SB 352 Aging & Disability Emergency Preparedness Act
Location: Assembly Desk; Awaiting Committee Referral
Would require Aging and Disability Resource Connection (ADRC) programs to provide disaster and emergency preparedness training specifically designed to help older adults and people with disabilities prepare for emergency events. Would also ensure that area agencies on aging and independent living centers are prioritized for state assistance when a state of emergency is proclaimed.
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- SB 485 Public Defender Job Security & Integrity Act
Location: Assembly Desk; Awaiting Committee Referral
Would eliminate the "at-will" employee status of appointed Chief Public Defenders, so that they can only be removed by the board of supervisors with a 3/5 vote for reasons such as neglect of duty, malfeasance, misconduct, or other justifiable causes.
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- SB 548 Overdose Death & Addiction Reduction Act
Location: Held in Senate Appropriations; Will not advance this year
Would have established a goal to reduce alcohol and drug related addiction deaths by 50 percent by 2033. Would have required the California Health and Human Services Agency (CHHS) to direct the Behavioral Health Task Force to develop recommendations to support an implementation plan for reducing alcohol and drug-related addiction deaths by 2033 goal.
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- SB 659 Online Sales to Minors
Location: Held in Senate Appropriations; Will not advance this year
Would have allowed a public prosecutor or a parent or legal guardian of a minor, who has acquired a product prohibited to minors, to take legal action against an online business who sold that product. The bill would enhance punishment in place for the illegal sale of prohibited products to minors by establishing meaningful penalties for negligent, willful and intentional violations of law in a civil case.
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- SB 800 Highway Emergency Life Protection program
Location: Senate Floor
Would establish a pilot program requiring Caltrans to install suicide deterrents on 10 freeway overpasses in San Bernardino County.
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Utilities
- SB 618 Utility Rebate Promise
Location: Held in Senate Appropriations; Will not advance this year
Would have required the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) develop a standardized methodology for calculating the cost to a customer for interruption of electrical service during a public safety power shutoff. The CPUC would have been authorized to assess fines to an investor owned utility for violating commission rules or laws and direct those fines as credits to customers affected by the shut offs.
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Senator Eloise Gómez Reyes represents Senate District 29, Colton, Fontana, Highland, Loma Linda, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, Rialto, San Bernardino, Upland, Grand Terrace, Loma Linda, and the unincorporated communities of Bloomington and Muscoy.