California State Legislature, 2023–24 session

The 2023–2024 session is the current session of the California State Legislature. The session first convened on December 7, 2022.

Leadership changes

 * June 30, 2023: Democratic assemblymember Robert A. Rivas (29th–Hollister) replaces assemblymember Anthony Rendon (62nd–Lakewood) as speaker of the Assembly, as Rendon is termed out at the end of the session.
 * February 5, 2024:
 * Democratic senator Mike McGuire (2nd–Healdsburg) replaces senator Toni Atkins (39th–San Diego) as president pro tempore of the Senate.
 * Democratic senator Lena Gonzalez (33rd–Long Beach) replaces senator McGuire as Senate majority leader.

Legislation
The following bills were signed or vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2023 or 2024.

Signed

 * SB4 - streamlines affordable housing on lands owned by faith-based organizations and institutions of higher education
 * AB418 - California Food Safety Act, prohibits red dye 3, propylparaben, brominated vegetable oil and potassium bromate from all foods meant for human consumption
 * SB261 - requires large companies to biennially report their financial risks from climate change
 * SB253 - U.S. corporations earning more than $1 billion and doing business in California must annually report their global emissions of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gases
 * SB385 - allow trained physician assistants to conduct surgical abortions without direct supervision by a physician
 * SB487 - prohibit health insurers and the state from penalizing medical providers who have been sanctioned in other states for performing procedures that are otherwise legal in California, including abortion and gender-affirming care
 * AB1228 - raises the minimum wage for workers to $20 an hour next April, and creates a Fast Food Council composed of industry, worker, and government representatives to set minimum wage, safety, and employment and training standards for workers in large fast food chains and their franchises
 * AB969 - would limit the use of hand counting of ballots in most elections
 * SB616 - increases the number of paid sick days employers must provide to workers from three to five
 * AB1373 - would authorize the state Department of Water Resources the authority to procure clean power when needed under the state Public Utilities Commission, particularly from offshore wind, geothermal and long duration storage
 * AB1 - would allow state legislative staff to unionize beginning in 2026
 * SB497 - would require state courts and the state Labor Commission to assume employers are illegally retaliating if they take certain disciplinary actions against a worker who in the prior 90 days has made a wage claim or a complaint about unequal pay.
 * AB12 - limits the amount that landlords can require in security deposits to one month’s rent, rather than the previous two months’ rent
 * AB1418 - would prohibit counties and cities from requiring landlords to evict people when a household member is a convicted felon
 * SB389 - authorize the State Water Board to investigate and seek verification of all water rights claims regarding California's water bodies, no matter how old
 * SB43 - expands the legal definition of “gravely disabled” to make it easier to place someone into involuntary treatment

Vetoed

 * AB957 - would require judges to consider a parent’s affirmation of their child’s gender identity in custody disputes
 * SB403 - would add caste as a form of prohibited ancestry discrimination
 * SB799 - workers who have been on strike for at least two weeks could receive funds
 * AB469 - would create a state-funded, governor-appointed ombudsperson’s office to review state agencies’ denials of public records requests
 * SB58 - would decriminalize certain psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin and psilocin, mescaline (except peyote) and DMT

Officers
The Secretary, the Sergeant-at-Arms, and the chaplain are not members of the Legislature.