As the first bill in her 2025 legislative package, SB12 would provide a permanent governmental framework focused on streamlining services, creating grant programs, and engaging stakeholders to enhance support for immigrant and refugee families in California.
Sacramento, Calif. – On September 22, 2024, The Climate Resilient Schools Act by Majority Leader Gonzalez (D-Long Beach) was vetoed by Governor Newsom for the second consecutive year after successfully passing the Legislature with a strong majority vote. The legislation would have created a roadmap for California school districts to access federal funding to upgrade school facilities amidst a changing climate and increasingly severe weather.
Our childhoods have unfolded in a California that is on fire.
We’ve lost school days. Our friends have lost homes. Our communities live in constant fear of destruction. As we navigate adolescence in a California fundamentally altered by climate change, our schools should be sanctuaries. But due to outdated infrastructure built for an era before climate change, they cannot keep us healthy when extreme weather strikes.
The passage of a landmark state law in 2022 to ban new drilling within 3,200 feet of homes, schools, child care centers and hospitals and establish new health protections for existing wells seemed to be the victory they sought. They never imagined it might take nearly another decade for it to take full effect.
“Students and their families deserve schools that offer a quality learning environment. With severe weather becoming more frequent in recent years due to climate change that also means updating our school facilities to handle these growing challenges,” said Senator Lena Gonzalez. “
Sacramento, California – El 19 de agosto de 2024, el Gobernador Newsom vetó el Proyecto de Ley del Senado (SB) 674, Ley de Transparencia y Reducción de la Contaminación en Refinerí
“This is a devastating blow to the years of hard work and advocacy by communities affected by refinery air pollution,” said Majority Leader Gonzalez (D – Long Beach). “Fenceline communities urgently need improved air monitoring, and it shouldn’t be this difficult to establish a system that provides them with the most basic necessities—transparency and information about the toxic chemicals being released into their neighborhoods. I am deeply disappointed by this outcome, but we cannot walk away from this issue. Our communities demand and deserve stronger protections.”
“Students and their families deserve schools that offer a quality learning environment. With severe weather becoming more frequent in recent years due to climate change that also means updating our school facilities to handle these growing challenges.” said Senator Lena Gonzalez (D-Long Beach). “I am thankful to the incredible organizations and community leaders who have helped us get this far, and I urge my Assembly colleagues for their support on the Assembly Floor for the Climate Resilient Schools Act so that we can help prepare our schools for the future.”
Senate Majority Leader Lena Gonzalez, D-Long Beach, and Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, introduced Senate Bill 537 to address injustices committed against Mexicans and Mexican Americans during the Great Depression.
