Friend –

ACLU California Action represents YOU in statewide advocacy. The 2024 legislative year has wrapped, and thanks to your support, we had another fruitful year in the legislature! Staying true to ACLU's core values, we sponsored and supported legislation to protect civil liberties, advance equity, and dismantle systems of oppression. This year, in particular, a lot of our advocacy resulted in the defeat of bad legislation.

Through the passionate work of our staff, we developed and deployed successful strategic campaigns, including to fend off a rise in government surveillance and censorship. Strategic campaigns are tailored to invite community engagement in order to influence legislators' votes. Successes highlighted below required collective effort including phone calls to legislators, social media engagement, opinion articles, interviews, rallies, and press conferences. Many of you even visited your representatives and participated in text banks.

We are grateful for your advocacy – your activism reached tens of thousands of California residents. We could not have achieved these successes without you!

Below are just a few of our 2024 wins:

• SPONSORED - Increasing Transparency in Local Elections (AB 453 - Cervantes): This bill, co-sponsored by Asian Law Caucus, requires public hearings concerning a transition to district-based elections to begin at a fixed time regardless of the order of other items on the agenda. Legislative Attorney Ruth Dawson led our work on this bill.
• SPONSORED - Strengthening Voter Registration (AB 2127 - Berman): California's New Motor Voter Program is a powerful tool to maintain accurate voter rolls and register new voters. Led by Ruth Dawson alongside the League of Women Voters, we extended the life of the Motor Voter Taskforce by another five years. ACLU is a member of the Taskforce, which advises the Secretary of State and DMV on effective implementation of the California New Motor Voter Program.
• OPPOSED - Stopping Invasive Face Surveillance (AB 1814 - Ting): Legislative Advocate Becca Cramer-Mowder, with the help of hundreds of ACLU volunteers and a coalition of more than 70 social justice organizations, stopped AB 1814, which would have created one of the worst facial recognition laws in the country. This was the third time in five years that Californians rallied to reject legislation sanctioning government use of face surveillance.
• OPPOSED - Restricting Use of Police Attack Dogs (AB 2042 - Jackson and AB 3241 - Pacheco): Police attack dogs are commonly used against those who are unarmed, experiencing a mental health crisis, or suspected of only minor crimes – this violent tool needs to be reined in. AB 3241 and AB 2042 granted law enforcement the authority to write the first statewide rules on the use of attack dogs. The new rules would have codified the existing brutal and racially-motivated practices. Led by Legislative Attorney George Parampathu, we stopped both of these bad bills.
• OPPOSED - Fighting Illegal Detention (AB 2641 - Essayli): This bill would have sidestepped constitutional principles of due process and advanced an egregious violation of the Fourth Amendment. Among other provisions, AB 2641 mandated the prolonged detention of a person in local jail – beyond the point when they would otherwise be released – on the basis of an ICE hold request. It would have unleashed scapegoating against immigrants and undercut community safety. Legislative Advocate Cynthia Valencia worked to secure the bill's early failure.
• OPPOSED - Defending Due Process (SB 820 - Alvarado-Gill): Led by Legislative Advocate Duke Cooney, we were successful in defeating this bill, which sought to reduce guardrails designed to protect against abuse of power in property seizures. This bill would have subverted the criminal warrant process and incentivized racial profiling and pretextual traffic stops.
• SPONSORED - Ending Forced Labor and Making Communities Safer (ACA 8 - Wilson): California's Constitution permits slavery, styled as "involuntary servitude," as punishment for a crime. Through ACA 8, the legislature placed a measure on the November 2024 ballot to close the loophole and prohibit the state from using forced labor. Because slavery will not reduce crime, we encourage you to Vote Yes on Proposition 6. Prop 6 will prioritize rehabilitation, reduce recidivism, and make our communities safer. I am proud to have co-led this campaign alongside organizations that have successfully fought for decades to protect the rights of those inside our carceral facilities.

ACLU California Action is honored to stand with you as we protect, defend, and extend the rights of all Californians. Let's do it again. Stay tuned for updates on next session's legislative priorities!

In solidarity,

Carmen-Nicole Cox
Pronouns: she, her, hers
Director of Government Affairs, ACLU California Action