CFA Sponsored & Co-sponsored Bills on Governor’s Desk + Travel Ban Lifted

Through the collective effort of CFA members’ legislative advocacy centered around anti-racism and social justice, we have made significant headway in securing more rights and protections for all CSU faculty, staff, and students.

Currently, there are three sponsored and co-sponsored bills on the governor’s desk awaiting approval.

Among them is Assembly Bill 1123, which would offer faculty a full semester of paid parental leave for the birth, adoption, and/or fostering of a child.

CFA members supported this bill because the CSU refused and continues to refuse to correct this systemic inequity by only offering an inhumane 30-day parental leave. Their antiquated leave policy reinforces a long-term equity gap in which the careers of early career faculty, women/women-identified faculty, and other employees are sidetracked.

When making a decision on this bill, we hope the governor will remember California’s commitment to supporting parents, workers, and children.

Take action with CFA members to urge Newsom to sign AB 1123 so our faculty can have the time they need with their families.

To protect workers with a stronger safety net while on strike, Senate Bill 799 makes striking workers eligible for Unemployment Insurance benefits after a strike has lasted two weeks. Striking workers currently do not qualify for Unemployment Insurance benefits.

In many cases, employers rely on this expectation and exploit workers’ financial precarity as a means to end a strike. This bill would offer workers a safety net and allow them to continue fighting against unsafe and unsustainable working conditions.

The third bill on the governor’s desk, which passed off the Assembly Floor with unanimous consent, is SB 808. This bill intends to hold the Chancellor’s Office and CSU management accountable for their past failures in the handling of Title IX violations.

The CSU would be required to submit a report to the legislature on the investigations and outcomes of sexual harassment reports and formal sexual harassment complaints. It would then require the CSU to post these annual reports on its website.

When testifying at a joint hearing on the CSU’s mishandling of Title IX violations of sexual misconduct, CFA Sacramento President Anne Luna-Gordinier remarked, “We are at a crossroads where we can change at a more profound level. There are many constructive recommendations in this audit in which we hope to continue to engage. We would like to call on all of us to take this opportunity to reimagine the institutional processes that led to these systemic failures and to create real cultural change centered on our students, faculty and staff, past and present.”

Although the aforementioned three bills are still waiting for the governor’s approval, Newsom recently signed into law SB 447. This bill repeals the current travel ban to states with anti-LGBTQ+ laws and replaces it with an outreach campaign called the Building and Reinforcing Inclusive, Diverse, Gender-Supportive Equity Project (BRIDGE Project).

While the travel ban initially restricted travel to four states in 2016, it had since ballooned to include twenty-six states.

At the same time, a growing number of critics were concerned that the travel ban was counter-productive and unintentionally isolating members of the LGBTQ+ community in those states with anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

The goal of the BRIDGE Project is to help unify LGBTQ+ communities by creating out-of-state marketing and advertising campaigns designed to raise awareness and educate the public on issues relating to social equity, civil rights, and anti-discrimination.

This bill will go into effect at the start of next year.

For more details on the status of our sponsored and co-sponsored bills, click here.