| By Shane LaVigne, LaVigne Strategies CSLEA Legislative Update: Appropriations Suspense File Results The California Legislature reached one of the most consequential deadlines of the 2026 legislative session Thursday, as the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees conducted their end-of-session Suspense File hearings. |
| Hundreds of bills carrying significant state fiscal impacts faced a critical decision: advance to the floor or be held in committee for the year. For CSLEA and California’s public safety community, Thursday brought important developments on several closely watched measures. AB 1383 Advances Unanimously AB 1383 (McKinnor), a public employee retirement measure supported by CSLEA, advanced unanimously from the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday. The bill makes changes to PEPRA safety retirement benefits, including changes related to safety retirement formulas and collectively bargained prospective benefit increases. The bill will impact CSLEA’s peace officer and firefighter members. AB 1383 now moves forward in the legislative process. CSLEA will continue advocating for the measure during the final weeks of session. SB 1013: Automated License Plate Readers SB 1013 (Cervantes), which would establish new requirements and restrictions governing law enforcement use of Automated License Plate Recognition (ALPR) technology, also advanced Thursday. The measure addresses the use, retention, access and sharing of ALPR information by law enforcement agencies, including a general 30-day retention requirement for certain ALPR data, subject to specified exceptions. CSLEA will continue monitoring SB 1013 as it moves through the Legislature. SB 747: Civil Rights SB 747 (Wiener), legislation creating a new state civil cause of action for violations of federal constitutional rights, advanced from the Appropriations Committee with amendments that are now in print. The amendments expressly allow a defendant to assert absolute or qualified immunity to the same extent available in a federal Section 1983 action under similar circumstances. The amendments also add a severability clause and clarify that the bill does not create or expand an immunity defense in other actions under California law. CSLEA will continue evaluating the measure as it advances through the Legislature. SB 1004: Law Enforcement Masks SB 1004 (Wiener), legislation related to the use of masks by law enforcement officers, advanced from the Appropriations Committee with amendments that are now in print. The amendments narrow the bill’s enhanced damages provisions to false imprisonment and false arrest. For those claims, the amended bill also expressly preserves defenses based on lawful authority, including specified arrest authority and circumstances involving an arrest made pursuant to a warrant that reasonably appeared valid and applicable to the person arrested. CSLEA continues to oppose SB 1004 and will evaluate the impact of the amendments as the bill moves forward. AB 1729: State Employee Telework AB 1729 (Lee), legislation addressing telework programs for state employees, advanced from the Senate Appropriations Committee and is moving forward in the Senate. The bill would require state agencies to develop and implement telework plans where telework is practical and beneficial and provide written justification when an agency’s operational needs require employees to report to a workplace. It would also require the Department of General Services to establish a telework dashboard tracking cost savings and other benefits of state telework programs. AB 2537: Cannabis Enforcement AB 2537 (Chen), a measure related to enforcement against illegal cannabis activity, was held in the Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday and will not advance this year. The bill sought to strengthen enforcement against unlicensed cannabis operations and provide additional tools to address illegal activity in California’s cannabis market. With the measure held on the Suspense File, those proposed changes will not move forward this legislative session. Legislature Enters Final Weeks of Session Thursday’s Suspense File hearings significantly narrowed the field of legislation that will remain alive during the final weeks of the 2026 legislative session. With the Appropriations deadline behind them, lawmakers will turn their attention to the Senate and Assembly floors, where remaining legislation will face final votes before the Legislature adjourns August 31. CSLEA’s legislative team will remain engaged through the end of session, advocating on legislation affecting CSLEA members and California’s public safety workforce. |
