End of Session Update

My Final Legislative Session: 14 Bills Passed, Millions Secured for SD 26

Dear Neighbor,

With the legislative session behind us and multiple bills signed by the Governor, I am looking back on our work together with immense gratitude. Serving Senate District 26 has been the honor and privilege of a lifetime. Every bill we moved and every budget dollar we secured grew directly out of conversations with you - families, workers, and advocates right here in our district.

Together, we turned community challenges into statewide action. I am proud to share the major wins we brought home for our district and all of California this year.
 

Our Legislative Package is Now Law! 
 

Fourteen of our bills were signed into law by Governor Newsom! These new measures deliver direct protections for working families: increasing fines for companies that delay cleanup after a disaster, establishing a framework for the California Department of Justice to inspect and report on detention centers, giving renters upfront information on pet policies, and expanding bereavement leave to include extended and chosen family.

• SB 716: Lineage Emergency
• SB 1085: Restoration of Water Supply Assessment Requirement
• SB 1149: Bereavement Leave for Chosen and Extended Family
• SB 1160: Eviction Data from Superior Courts
• SB 1170: Risk-Pooling Insurance JPAs for Affordable Housing Developers
• SB 1187: Updating the Brown Act
• SB 1227: Civil Service Apprenticeships
• SB 1285: Safeguarding New Horizons for Justice-Impacted Youth
• SB 1296: Pet Protections for Tenants
• SB 1342: Sunsetting Records
• SB 1361: Transit Investment Protection Act
• SB 1371: Waste Haulers Rights
• SB 1388: Affordable Housing Risk Reduction Program
• SB 1399: DOJ Investigative Framework for Detention Centers
   

Budget Wins for Senate District 26 and All of California

 

In a tough fiscal year with steep federal cuts, our top priority was protecting vital safety nets while bringing targeted investments back to our neighborhoods. We defended public transit, preserved healthcare coverage, and maintained legal defense for immigrant families, while delivering key regional wins:

• Up to $12.5 Million for Lineage Fire Recovery: Environmental remediation, mobile clinics, and safety-net relief for families in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles.
• Direct Neighborhood Wins: Critical funding for local green spaces like Elephant Hill ($1M) and the LA River Bowtie Parcel ($3M), senior support in Chinatown ($1M), workforce training at the Hospitality Training Academy ($5M), youth centers, and affordable housing coordination.
• Core Safety Net Protections: Sustained funding for immigration legal services ($175M total), diaper bank distributions ($16.5M), stabilization for our district's 28 adult day care (CBAS) centers ($900K), and protected transit funding through 2030 ($600M/year).

Federal cuts forced hard choices in our state budget, and not every priority we fought for made it in - especially health for all Californians regardless of immigration status. Still, we defended the programs our families rely on, from transit to immigration legal services, and we won new investments for our communities. Advocating for working families in this district has been one of the greatest honors of my life. I’m proud to share with you some of what we got done together this year:
 

Lineage Fire Recovery in East Los Angeles and Boyle Heights

For months, families in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles lived through the unimaginable: toxic smoke from the Lineage Logistics warehouse fire, then the stench and pest infestations from the 88 million pounds of rotting food through the hottest months of the year while Lineage blew past cleanup deadline after deadline. In response, I authored SB 716 to hold bad actors accountable. As these communities recover, I will continue to stand with them, and I'm proud that we secured up to $12.5M to help families get back on their feet:

• $5M for the LA County Department of Public Health for cleanup, remediation, and environmental recovery
• $4.5M for the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles for safety net services
• $2M for the LA Federation of Labor for emergency response
• $1M for LA County mobile clinics
   

More Direct Wins for Senate District 26
 

• $5M for the Hospitality Training Academy Regional Worker Training Center, preparing local workers for high-road careers
• $4M for the LA County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA) to coordinate housing investments across our region
• $3M to acquire the Bowtie Parcel along the LA River, expanding public green space
• $1M for the Chinatown Service Center to support low-income seniors living at Cathay Manor
• $1M for the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA revitalization and Wellbeing Initiative
• $1M for the Legacy LA Youth and Community Center in Boyle Heights
• $1M to acquire Elephant Hill in El Sereno, preserving open space
• $500K for the Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles swimming pool renovation
   

Protecting Immigrant Families

Throughout my time in the Legislature, I have fought for immigrant families, from defending community safety nets to securing funding for immigration legal services. This year, we built on that work, bringing total ongoing state investment in immigration legal services to $175M:

• $40M of this funding is focused on deportation defense. This is sustained funding that keeps attorneys in courtrooms, especially as federal enforcement actions accelerate.
• $15M is for the Children's Holistic Immigration Representation Project (CHIRP), which provides legal representation to immigrant children.
• We also won $10M for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) for their Immigrant Welcome and Empowerment Center, right here in SD 26.
   

Fighting for Health for All

Health care is a human right, and no one should lose access to a doctor because of their immigration status. I fought to reverse last year's cuts to Medi-Cal for undocumented Californians. While the enrollment freeze remains in place and that fight must continue, we won important protections:

• $300M to lower health care costs and keep $0 monthly plans available for lower-income Californians through Covered California.
• $250M for public hospitals.
• Up to $190M for struggling community hospitals.
• $197M for county eligibility workers and $39M for Medi-Cal navigators, helping families keep their coverage under new federal rules designed to push people off.
• Planned cuts delayed by a year, protecting dental coverage and full-scope care for roughly 200,000 immigrant Californians, including asylees and refugees, through July 2027.
   

Housing and Homelessness
 

• $900M for homelessness prevention
• $700M for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and the Multifamily Housing Program
• $100M for housing stability programs
• This funding exists alongside policy reforms expected to cut the cost of each new affordable unit by $60,000 to $70,000.
   

Supporting Families
 

• $16.5M for diaper banks: A funding source I've championed, it has reached more than 1.7 million families and distributed over 204 million diapers since 2019, including more than 25 million through the LA Regional Food Bank.
• $108M to keep food banks fully stocked statewide.
• $20M to expand foster youth advocacy.
• $15M for the California Nutrition Incentive Program, to stretch CalFresh dollars.
• $15M for Local Food Purchase Assistance.
• $900K for Community-Based Adult Services (CBAS) centers: Helps stabilize centers that provide daytime care for seniors and adults with disabilities so their families can keep working. With 29 centers closed statewide since 2020 and most struggling to stay open, this is a vital first step. Our district is home to 28 of them - one of the largest concentrations in the state - serving many immigrant families who don't speak English at home.
• IHSS Saved: We rejected proposed cuts to In-Home Supportive Services, preserving hours and bargaining rights for 800,000+ Californians.
   

Investing in Our Schools, Students, and Child Care
 

• $2.4B in ongoing funding for students with disabilities: Represents the largest special education investment in state history.
• $2.2B more for local K-12 public schools, including a 4.31% funding boost to help districts support students and manage rising costs.
• 25,000 new child care spots - focusing on babies and toddlers under 3 - and giving child care providers a 2% pay increase.    
• Universal Education Support: Preserves free school meals, free summer school, and universal preschool.
• Protecting College Access: Safeguards core funding for UC and CSU campuses, while raising the Cal Grant age limit to 30 so older students can afford college.
   

Justice and Second Chances
 

• $30M for civil legal aid: Funded through the Equal Access Fund and Access to Justice Commission to help low-income Californians get legal help with housing and employment disputes. As a member of Senate Budget Subcommittee #5 overseeing these programs, I made this request a top priority.
• $11M for Trauma Recovery Centers: Replaces sudden federal funding cuts to keep life-saving services available for victims of crime.
• $5M for a Jails to Jobs pilot in Los Angeles County: Connects people leaving incarceration with stable employment.
   

Keeping Transit Running

Public transit gets workers to their jobs, students to school, and seniors to their appointments. Since 2022, I've worked through the budget to build and defend California's investment in public transit, including leading the Senate budget subcommittee that oversees transportation funding. This year, we protected:

• $400M a year for transit capital and $200M a year for transit operations, protected through 2030 after proposed changes threatened to eliminate them.
   

Statewide Wins for Working Families

Beyond our district priorities, the final state budget protects key programs for families across California:

• $60M for local conservation corps: Builds a statewide career pathways program giving young people hands-on training for careers in environmental services - a continuation of my ongoing push to pair climate funding with youth job training.
• $39M for workers' rights, securing $30M for workplace outreach and $9M ongoing to enforce state labor laws.
• Small Business Relief: A 50% LLC tax cut for new small businesses over their first three years.
• Fiscal Responsibility: The 2026-27 budget is balanced this year and next, and limits how much the largest corporations can use tax credits to reduce what they owe.
   

To learn more about the complete state budget details, visit ebudget.ca.gov.
 

November Election Reminder

 Make a plan to vote. The general election is Tuesday, November 3, 2026. LA County voters can use their vote by mail ballot or vote in person at any vote center. Some vote centers open as early as October 24.

Plan your vote at plan.lavote.gov.

If you would like to become an election worker, visit lavote.gov to learn how to apply as a community election worker.
 

Know Your Rights

As your State Senator, I stand with you and am committed to ensuring you have immediate access to vital legal information, trusted resources, and unwavering support to protect your families and uphold your rights.

These cards are also available in:

• Arabic
• Chinese (Simplified) / Chinese (Traditional)
• Farsi
• Tagalog
• Vietnamese

If you have concerns if you see ICE in your neighborhood or if someone you know is detained, you can call the Los Angeles Rapid Response Hotline: 1-888-624-4752. This is a multilingual, confidential hotline.

Legal Disclaimer: This article and these documents are for general informational purposes only. The presence of these documents does not constitute legal advice by the California State Senate. If you need legal advice, please contact an attorney.

Stay Connected

The best way to stay up to date on what we're doing in Sacramento and across the district is to follow us on social media. We share event updates, legislative news, and community resources regularly. Use the icons below to find us on Instagram, Facebook, and X.

And if you ever need help navigating state services, have a question about legislation, or just don't know where to turn, please reach out. Call my district office at (213) 483-9300 or visit my website. We are here, and we want to hear from you.
 

Sincerely,

María Elena Durazo
Senator, District 26