News & Commentary

This summer Californians celebrated a historic victory when Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law AB 1266 – the School Success and Opportunity Act. The law makes sure that all students, including transgender students, have the opportunity to graduate from California’s public schools, by ensuring they can be themselves and fully participate in school facilities and activities such as sports and physical education that match their gender identity.

The ACLU of California took a position on over 118 bills before the legislature. This year stands as one of the most robust in advancing our civil liberties: the governor signed into law 12 of our priority bills.

Shocking revelations about creepy government surveillance came in waves over the summer, from the Snowden leaks to the Hemisphere Project, through which the government has paid AT&T for access to a mind-bogglingly vast database of our telephone calls. In many cases of new surveillance technologies like Hemisphere, there are serious constitutional concerns that courts have not yet reviewed. That’s where we come in.

Today is a frustrating day in California. Despite huge overwhelming support from California voters from across the state and political spectrum, Gov. Jerry Brown has vetoed an historic sentencing reform bill that was sent to his desk with bipartisan support in the state Legislature.

Today Governor Brown missed an important opportunity to improve educational opportunities for our most vulnerable students by vetoing SB 744. The bill, authored by Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Long Beach) would have protected students by establishing fair transfer processes, ensuring that students’ educational needs are met and providing clear pathways for students to return to traditional schools.

Yesterday, Governor Brown signed AB 154 to expand access to abortion in California. The legislation addresses a current shortage in the state—52% of California counties don’t have an accessible abortion provider—and allows women to receive care in their own communities from providers they already know and trust. At a time when reproductive health, rights, and justice are under attack in so much of our country, the success of AB 154 is not just a California victory, it’s a national one.

Comedian and actor David Moss fell into hard times with a drug addiction that immediately became a struggle he couldn’t overcome. Addiction had landed him in a cycle of arrests – not just one or two times, but a whopping 14 times for the same charge: being under the influence of a narcotic.

Today marks the 37th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment, which in 1976 stripped poor women of Medicaid coverage for abortion, turning a legal right into something that is out of reach for many.

Students in all of California’s public schools deserve at least these basic necessities for educational opportunity. The plaintiffs in the historic Williams v. California lawsuit fought for this principle, and on September 29, 2004, when legislation implementing the settlement agreement was signed into law, they helped to usher in a new era for public education in California.