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Shor M. Masori<\/p>\nBy Shor M. Masori in San Diego, California<\/p>\n
Shor M. Masori<\/p>\n
Jewish California has moved all six of its priority bills through the Legislature. As of September 10, each awaited Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s signature to become law or his veto.<\/p>\n
Those bills are:<\/p>\n
SB 1387 \u2013 To collect voluntary demographic data on Jewish identity, which henceforth will be described in official state records as an ethnicity as well as a religion.<\/p>\n
AB 1763 \u2013 To expedite religious absences from public school.<\/p>\n
AB 395 \u2013 To reduce scheduling conflicts with religious holidays.<\/p>\n
AB 1836 \u2013 To cover cost of security at offsite nonprofit events.<\/p>\n
AB 2664 \u2013 To protect access to houses of worship<\/p>\n
and AB 1853 \u2013 To ban prohibited content in candidate\u2019s ballot statements.<\/p>\n
Founded in 1972 as the Jewish Public Affairs Committee (JPAC) of California, the coalition represents 43 organizations, including federations and social-service agencies. CEO David Bocarsly\u2019s team develops proposals based on members\u2019 needs, finds legislative authors, and organizes support. He calls the Legislative Jewish Caucus the community\u2019s voice in government and his coalition its voice to government.<\/p>\n
Bocarsly, interviewed by telephone, said he wants lawmakers to realize that some Jewish Californians experience hunger, homelessness and poverty, including immigrants and Jews of color whose needs can be obscured by broader demographic categories. Better data would guide services and research into health disparities. SB 1387 adds voluntary identification of Jewish ancestry or ethnicity to covered state-agency forms in 2029 and recognizes Jewish ethnicity in education law.<\/p>\n
Jewish California lists 59 supporting Jewish organizations. A June 23 committee analysis recorded 10 Jewish groups or chapters opposing the measure, including three Jewish Voice for Peace chapters, Bend the Arc, and Workers Circle. JVP argues that one ethnicity category obscures Jewish diversity and government records could enable persecution. Its members also opposed last year\u2019s K\u201312 antisemitism law, citing censorship concerns.<\/p>\n
Respondents could still select multiple ethnicities. Bocarsly acknowledges that fears of \u201clists of Jews\u201d stem from valid intergenerational Holocaust trauma. SB 1387 prohibits agencies from disclosing identifying information or using the data for registries, law enforcement or immigration enforcement. Public reports would show aggregate totals rather than names. If a category were so small that other available information could reveal someone\u2019s identity, the agency would have to combine it with a larger category or withhold that count.<\/p>\n
California signed its similar Middle Eastern and North African data law on October 6, 2025. Sexual orientation and gender identity data requirements became law October 7, 2015, and were expanded September 28, 2024. Bocarsly said Jewish California was part of the coalition that helped pass earlier LGBTQ data legislation.<\/p>\n
He pointed to transgender communities seeking better data and stronger privacy despite fears of government targeting. \u201cIf others can benefit from good data, so can we,\u201d he said. He connects that work to a broader belief: \u201cOur safety is wrapped up in the safety of other people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Indeed, many of the proposals, while intended to address the Jewish community\u2019s concerns, would also help other groups. Muslim and Hindu families would also benefit from the two calendar proposals. AB 1763 would remove the parental written request and principal approval requirements for religious absences. AB 395 covers scheduling conflicts with holidays including Yom Kippur, Eid and Diwali. From 2027\u201328, K\u201312 boards would have to consider holidays when scheduling first days and high school graduations; community colleges and California State University would have to make reasonable efforts for mandatory events, with the University of California asked to do the same. State agencies would have to make similar scheduling efforts, with local legislative bodies encouraged to avoid conflicts.<\/p>\n
For organizations holding these holiday celebrations, the cost of gathering can determine whether an event happens at all. Bocarsly recalled more security than ever at his last local Hanukkah lighting in a park. Elsewhere, he said, events \u201caren\u2019t happening at all, because they can\u2019t afford that security.\u201d<\/p>\n
AB 1836 would extend nonprofit security grants to qualifying offsite events, allowing up to $25,000 of an award for those costs. Equality California joined the effort as Pride organizers face similar expenses.<\/p>\n
At houses of worship, the debate concerned how close protesters could approach. AB 2664 would establish a protected area extending 100 feet from each entrance and exit. Within that area, someone protesting or distributing leaflets could not deliberately move within eight feet of a person entering or exiting unless that person consented. ACLU California Action argued that existing laws already protect access and that the additional rule would burden speech on public sidewalks.<\/p>\n
Bocarsly argues that speech and worship deserve equal First Amendment protection, citing a 1993 Colorado clinic-access law that the Supreme Court upheld in 2000. He recalled telling an ACLU representative: ask permission to give someone a flyer from eight feet away, then approach if they agree. Protesters could still speak within the larger zone.<\/p>\n
While that debate unfolded, an antisemitic candidate statement appeared in the state\u2019s June primary guide. On June 8, lawmakers used California\u2019s \u2018gut and amend\u2019 process to replace AB 1853\u2019s contents after introduction deadlines so that it could pass in time for November elections. The bill would limit statements to candidates\u2019 qualifications and require removal of prohibited content, including threats and incitement.<\/p>\n
Three days later, the same process revived a debate about campus conduct. A 2024 law Jewish California helped pass requires CSUs to publish protest rules, address harassment and intimidation, and educate students about their responsibilities. UC, whose charter grants it a certain level of autonomy, is asked to comply.<\/p>\n
Assemblymember Sade Elhawary\u2019s AB 2551, sponsored by the California Faculty Association, proposed hearings on those rules alongside repeal of the 2024 law in 2029. Supporters alleged disproportionate punishment of minority students. Bocarsly agreed those concerns deserved examination but objected to choosing repeal before the hearings on the law\u2019s impact actually took place. After initial appeals failed, Bocarsly said, about 8,000 people contacted lawmakers to oppose the repeal. Jewish California withdrew its opposition after working with the committee chair to remove the repeal provision.<\/p>\n
The union had also proposed changes to the K\u201312 antisemitism law, citing academic freedom. The law created an antisemitism prevention coordinator and strengthened responses to discrimination. Bocarsly called it \u201cprobably the biggest legislative achievement\u201d in the California Jewish community\u2019s history. The union\u2019s proposal never reached a hearing.<\/p>\n
The school law drew support from leaders and members of the Black, Latino, Asian American and Pacific Islander, LGBTQ and Native American caucuses. Bocarsly said that alliance grew from years of the groups advocating for one another\u2019s communities.<\/p>\n
This year, the coalition supported roughly 20 additional bills, including efforts to preserve health coverage and food assistance after federal cuts. Lawmakers passed Assemblymember Mia Bonta\u2019s proposal to help eligible Californians retain Medi-Cal coverage under new federal work requirements. Among its safeguards, counties would have to check other grounds for eligibility before cutting off coverage.<\/p>\n
A food-aid expansion stalled in August. Bocarsly said state officials wanted to help but could not afford every request, even with a budget of roughly $352 billion. Other appeals produced funding: Jewish California\u2019s policy tracker reports that it joined the coalition advocating for immigrant legal services, which received $175 million in this year\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n
For Bocarsly, those efforts and the six bills follow the same principle: California can protect its residents as their needs grow and federal support recedes. Each bill began with a need raised by Jewish organizations and advanced through years of communities continuing to show up for one another. If Newsom signs them, the six measures would turn that shared advocacy into state law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Shor M. Masori in San Diego, California Shor M. Masori Jewish California has moved all six of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":460188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[74,76,75],"class_list":["post-460187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=460187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/460187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/460188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=460187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=460187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=460187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}