Tag: 2026-27 Legislation

The 2026 legislative session is officially over—and The Arc of California has some big wins to celebrate!

By Julie Schurman, Esq., Director of Public Policy, The Arc & UCP California Collaboration

The 2026 legislative session has officially come to a close, and The Arc of California has a lot to celebrate.

Throughout the year, The Arc worked alongside people with disabilities, families, local chapters, service providers, advocates, and legislators to advance policies that strengthen disability rights, improve access to services, and make California systems work better for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Some of our biggest victories came from legislation we sponsored ourselves. Other bills we supported made it across the finish line and were signed into law. We also faced some disappointments, including important bills that were vetoed and one bill we opposed that was signed.

HERE IS WHERE SOME OF OUR BIGGEST PRIORITIES LANDED:

A Major Special Education Victory: $2.4 Million for Statewide Parent Advocacy

One of our biggest wins of the year came from AB 2189 (Nguyen), authored by Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen and sponsored by The Arc of California.

The idea behind AB 2189 was simple but important: families and students who experience California’s special education system every day should have a stronger voice in changing that system.

The proposal would create a statewide network bringing together parents, students with disabilities, former students, and advocates to share information, build advocacy skills, organize across communities, and advocate for systemic improvements in special education.

Although AB 2189 itself did not go forward we ultimately secured $2.4 million in the state budget to make its central vision a reality.

The three-year investment will be administered by the State Council on Developmental Disabilities and will support the creation of a statewide Special Education Parent Action Network. The network is expected to begin taking shape in early 2027.

This victory was possible because hundreds of parents and advocates across California got involved. Families shared their experiences, organizations joined our coalition, and people with direct experience with special education helped explain why California needs a statewide voice for change.

That is advocacy in action.

Sponsored AB 1575 Signed Into Law: Changing the Language of the Lanterman Act

We are also celebrating the Governor’s signature on AB 1575 (Arambula), another bill sponsored by The Arc of California.

For decades, California’s Lanterman Act has used the word “consumer” to describe people with developmental disabilities who receive regional center services.

AB 1575 changes that.

The new law replaces “consumer” throughout the Lanterman Act with “person eligible for regional center services.” It also updates other outdated terminology and removes gendered language.

Words matter. People with IDD are people first. This legislation brings the language of California’s landmark developmental-disability civil rights law closer to the person-centered values that should guide the services and supports people receive.

More Disability Priorities Signed Into Law

Several other bills supported by The Arc also received the Governor’s signature.

AB 2233 (Ta) From now on, health plans and insurance companies generally cannot reduce or limit approved behavioral health treatment hours for people with autism, during a six-month treatment period. This new law helps protect access to the treatment people need.

AB 2414 (Nguyen) this new law strengthens recognition and support for California’s Direct Support Professional (DSP) workforce. The new law formally defines “direct support professional” in state law and standardizes the use of that term. It also requires the Department of Developmental Services (DDS) to develop billing guidance by April 1, 2027, so that providers can be compensated for required training.

DSPs provide essential support that helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities live more independently and participate fully in their communities. Their work can include employment and job coaching, transportation, support with daily activities and health needs, assistance accessing community resources, and helping people advocate for their rights and goals.

Clearly defining and recognizing DSPs in state law will also make it easier to collect consistent workforce data and develop policies to address California’s ongoing DSP workforce shortage. Just as importantly, ensuring there is a way to compensate DSPs for required training recognizes that training is part of the professional work necessary to provide high-quality, person-centered support.

AB 2324 (Gonzalez) is an important win for young people who help care for family members with disabilities, chronic illnesses, or other support needs. The new law will help California recognize the valuable skills youth caregivers already develop and explore ways to connect their caregiving experience with school credit, career training, and future jobs in caregiving and direct support professions. It also recognizes that young caregivers may need support themselves as they balance caregiving, school, and everyday life.

SB 974 (Seyarto) is an important win for families planning for the long-term needs of a loved one with a disability. The new law makes clear that a qualifying Special Needs Trust can be used to pass down a family home while still receiving Proposition 19 property tax protections. Special Needs Trusts can also help people with disabilities receive support from their families while protecting their eligibility for important public benefits. This change can help prevent a family home from facing higher property taxes simply because it is passed through a Special Needs Trust, giving families another tool to plan for the long-term stability and support of their loved one with a disability.

AB 280 (Aguiar-Curry) takes aim at a familiar health care problem: inaccurate provider directories. The new law requires the development of uniform standards and a centralized system for collecting, managing, and verifying provider-directory information. More reliable directories can make it easier for people with disabilities and other Californians to determine which health care providers are actually available through their coverage.

SB 1349 (Gonzalez) will take a closer look at some of California’s largest tax breaks, including tax breaks that benefit corporations, to determine whether they are actually achieving their intended goals. California gives up billions of dollars in revenue each year through tax breaks, but some have not been regularly reviewed to determine whether they are working. Under the new law, the Legislative Analyst’s Office will study several of the largest tax breaks and identify opportunities for the state to save money by reducing or limiting those that are not working effectively. Those savings could mean more state revenue available for important public priorities, including the services and supports Californians with disabilities rely on.

Two Important Bills Were Vetoed

Not every priority made it across the finish line.

The Arc supported AB 2081 (Stefani), which would have expanded access to California’s Home and Community-Based Alternatives (HCBA) Waiver. The waiver helps children, adults, and seniors with disabilities who need a high level of care receive that care at home and in their communities instead of in a hospital, nursing facility, or other institution. More than 6,000 Californians were on the waiting list at the end of 2025. AB 2081 would have expanded the waiver by 5,000 slots, helping more people with disabilities get the care they need at home, stay with their families, and remain part of their communities.

Governor Newsom vetoed the bill.

We were also disappointed by the veto of AB 2526 (Muratsuchi), an important special education funding proposal supported by The Arc.

California provides additional funding for students with certain low-incidence disabilities. AB 2526 would have created a framework, contingent on additional state funding, to extend targeted funding to students eligible to take California’s alternate assessments.

That distinction matters. Eligibility for an alternate assessment is determined through a student’s IEP and can help identify students who have particularly intensive support needs.

The bill offered a path toward a special education funding system that better recognizes the actual level of support a student requires. Although AB 2526 did not become law this year, the underlying problem remains: schools need adequate resources to provide the intensive services and supports required by students with significant support needs.

AB 2490 Signed Despite Our Opposition

The Governor also signed AB 2490 (Valencia), which The Arc opposed.

We recognize the very real teacher shortage facing California schools, including special education classrooms. Having the same substitute teacher for a longer period may provide students with more stability than having substitutes constantly change.

However, we did not believe AB 2490 provided the right solution.

The new law creates an alternative pathway to an Emergency Career Substitute Teaching Permit for people who do not meet the existing substitute teaching experience requirements. Instead, they can qualify through professional development, orientation training, and mentoring. A substitute who qualifies through this pathway may serve for up to 70 cumulative days in the same classroom, including a special education classroom.

This raised particular concerns for students with disabilities. Special education classrooms require educators who are prepared to understand and implement IEPs, accommodations, specialized instruction, and the individual needs of their students. The Arc was concerned about expanding long-term special education assignments to substitutes with significantly less classroom experience.

AB 2490 does include additional requirements intended to support these substitute teachers and provide oversight. However, we believe California should address its teacher shortage by investing in recruiting, preparing, and retaining qualified special education teachers while maintaining strong protections for students with disabilities.

Although AB 2490 is now law, The Arc will continue advocating for students with disabilities to have qualified, well-prepared educators in their classrooms.

Advocacy Gets Results

No legislative session ends with every bill going the way advocates hoped.

But 2026 demonstrated what organized disability advocacy can accomplish.

A proposal that began as our sponsored AB 2189 resulted in a $2.4 million state investment in statewide special education advocacy. Our sponsored AB 1575 was signed into law, modernizing the language of the Lanterman Act. And numerous bills we supported addressing health care, autism services, DSPs, young caregivers, caregiver succession planning, and state fiscal transparency are becoming California law.

Those victories belong to the people who made calls, sent letters, testified at hearings, told their stories, joined coalitions, met with lawmakers, and continued showing up throughout the legislative process.

The legislative session may be over, but the work is not. We will continue working with people with disabilities, families, advocates, providers, and policymakers to build on these victories and tackle the issues that remain unfinished in 2027.

August 2026 Legislative Update: Which Disability Bills Are Moving Forward?

By Julie Schurman, Esq., Director of Public Policy, The Arc & UCP California Collaboration

August 13 was a major deadline at the California State Capitol. The Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees decided which bills that would have a cost to the state could continue moving through the Legislature. Bills that passed are now one step closer to the Governor’s desk. Bills that were “held under submission” will not move forward this year.

For The Arc & UCP California Collaboration, there was some good news. Several bills we support made it through Appropriations:

AB 2526 (Muratsuchi) – More Resources for Special Education
AB 2526 would change how certain special education funding is calculated and would provide additional resources to support students with significant disabilities.

AB 2081 (Stefani) – Expanding Home and Community-Based Services
AB 2081 would expand California’s Home and Community-Based Alternatives (HCBA) Waiver, which helps people who might otherwise need institutional care receive services in their homes and communities. Beginning in 2027, the bill would require California to increase the number of available waiver slots by 10,000, in addition to other planned increases. This is a bill that Assembly Member Stefani has repeatedly introduced over a number of years, and has been supported by the Arc of California each time. 

AB 2233 (Ta) – Protecting Access to Autism Treatment
AB 2233 would give families more flexibility in using authorized behavioral health treatment hours. If treatment hours are approved as part of a six-month treatment plan, health plans and insurers generally could not restrict when those hours are used during that authorization period, as long as their use remains consistent with the treatment plan and clinical guidelines.

AB 2414 (Nguyen) – Recognizing Direct Support Professionals
AB 2414 takes an important step toward recognizing the professionalism and value of this workforce. By establishing a clear statutory definition of a Direct Support Professional and directing DDS to develop billing guidance to facilitate training-related pay differentials, this bill supports workforce development, promotes consistency across the developmental services system, and helps lay the foundation for improved recruitment and retention efforts. The bill also ensures that DSPs are appropriately recognized within future DDS rate model reviews, which is the first step toward increasing DSP pay. 

SB 974 (Seyarto) – Special Needs Trusts and Family Homes
The bill would recognize qualifying special needs trusts as an eligible way to transfer certain family property for purposes of California’s applicable property tax exclusion. This could mean that some families will pay less property tax when transferring their family home to their disabled loved one through a Special Needs trust. 

SB 1349 (Gonzalez) – Reviewing California Tax Breaks
SB 1349 would require the Legislative Analyst’s Office to review major state tax expenditures, including whether they are a cost-effective use of public resources and whether savings could be achieved by reducing or limiting them.

AB 880 (Bennett) – Prompt Payments for Nonprofits
AB 880 recognizes that nonprofit organizations providing public services to people with disabilities should be afforded the same basic expectation of timely payment as other entities doing business with the state. The nonprofit status of an organization does not eliminate payroll obligations, operating expenses, or the need for predictable cash flow. If anything, many community-based nonprofits have fewer financial reserves and less access to capital to withstand substantial payment delays. By expanding the Prompt Payment Act’s definition of “grant” to include agreements between state agencies and nonprofit organizations, AB 880 would help establish greater accountability and fairness in the state’s payment practices to non-profits that are paid via Medi-Cal.

Some Important Bills Did Not Move Forward

Unfortunately, several bills supported by The Arc & UCP California Collaboration were held in Appropriations and will not move forward this session. These include AB 1925 (Gonzalez), which proposed studying a statewide permanent disability certification that could potentially reduce the need for people with lifelong disabilities to repeatedly prove their disability; AB 2191 (Quirk-Silva), which would have supported statewide resources for alternate pathways to a high school diploma for students with disabilities; AB 2208 (Stefani), which addressed upcoming federal changes to Medi-Cal; and AB 2360 (Arambula), which would have strengthened plain-language requirements for state government documents.
SB 1202 (Weber Pierson), which would have required California to publicly track Medi-Cal enrollment, disenrollment, work requirements, and exemptions through a new data dashboard, was also held. SB 363 (Wiener), which sought greater accountability around health insurance treatment denials and independent medical reviews, did not advance either.

One Harmful Bill Made it Through Appropriations

AB 2490 (Valencia) – Lowering Experience Requirements for Long-Term Substitute Teachers

Unfortunately, AB 2490 also passed the Senate Appropriations Committee and will continue moving through the Legislature. The Arc & UCP California Collaboration opposes this bill because of its potential impact on students with disabilities.

AB 2490 would allow substitute teachers to spend more than one-third of the school year in a general or special education classroom, with only minimal training and unspecified support. 

Staffing classrooms with untrained teachers is a solution for districts, not students. Students with disabilities deserve qualified and well-prepared educators who understand their individual needs and can implement their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). The Arc will continue opposing the bill as it moves through the final weeks of the legislative session.

What Happens Next?

For the bills that survived Appropriations, the legislative session is not over. They must still complete their remaining floor votes in the Senate or Assembly before they can be sent to the Governor for consideration.

Other Bill Updates

AB 1575 (Arambula), one of the Arc’s sponsored bills, which would change the term “consumer” in the Lanterman Act to “person eligible for regional center services” is headed to a final floor vote on August 17th. 

AB 2189 (Ngyuen) related to Special Education advocacy will be converted to a budget bill, and is making its way through the 2026 budget bill process, with funding already earmarked for the initiative.  

AB 2324 (Gonzalez), recently signed by the Governor, recognizes the valuable experience of young people who provide care to family members and helps connect those experiences to education and career opportunities in caregiving and direct support professions.

The Arc & UCP California Collaboration will continue advocating for legislation that strengthens services, protects access to health care and education, supports families and the disability workforce, and advances the rights of Californians with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Stay tuned as we head into the final weeks of the 2026 legislative session.

Your Voice Matters: Key Legislative Hearings You Should Know About

By Julie Schurman, Director of Public Policy, The Arc & UCP California Collaboration

As California moves forward with key budget decisions and legislation, several important hearings in the coming days and weeks could directly impact people with developmental disabilities, their families, and the professionals who support them. These proposals include potential cuts to essential services like In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) and Medi-Cal Dental, as well as legislation that strengthens protections and advances equity for our community. Now is the time to stay informed and engaged. While public testimony must be given in person, there are still meaningful ways to participate—by submitting comments via email, calling committee members and tuning in to watch the hearings live. Your voice matters, and policymakers do pay attention.

Wednesday March 25: Governor’s Proposed Cuts to IHSS

ABOUT IN-HOME SUPPORT SERVICES (IHSS) CUTS:

California is considering a set of proposals that would significantly change the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program by removing key protections and shifting costs in ways that could limit access to care. In response to reduced federal funding tied to H.R.1, the state is looking for ways to reduce spending—putting critical IHSS supports at risk for those who depend on them.

One proposal would eliminate the IHSS Backup Provider Program, which helps ensure individuals continue receiving care if their regular caregiver is unavailable. Without this support, people could be left without assistance for essential daily needs.

Another proposal would end the IHSS Residual Program, which currently allows individuals to continue receiving services for a limited time if their Medi-Cal coverage is interrupted due to administrative issues or eligibility changes. Removing this safeguard could result in an abrupt loss of care.

Additional changes would shift the full cost of increased IHSS service hours to counties, creating financial pressure that could lead to reduced services and uneven access to care across different parts of the state.

POSITION: Oppose Cuts

HEARING DETAILS: Wednesday, March 25 at 1:30 p.m. at State Capitol, Room 444 (enter on L Street). Public comment at the end of the hearing, which could go past 5:00 p.m. Click HERE for full agenda.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED:

    • Email Assembly Budget Committee with your public comment opposing these cuts to: AsmBudget@asm.ca.gov – Click HERE for sample messaging.
    • Attend hearing in person and participate in public comment at the conclusion of the hearing.
    • Watch Livestream available here

Thursday, March 26: Medi-Cal Dental Budget Cuts 

ABOUT MEDI-CAL DENTAL CUTS: The Governor’s proposed budget includes nearly a $1 billion cut to Medi-Cal Dental, about one third of the program’s total funding. If approved, payments to dentists who accept Medi-Cal would drop by 40 percent to 80 percent, depending on the service. In a recent survey, more than half of dentists said they would stop accepting Medi-Cal patients or reduce the care they provide. These cuts are set to take effect on July 1, 2026. Reducing the program by this much would severely weaken California’s dental safety net, putting access to care at risk for roughly 15 million people who rely on Medi-Cal Dental

POSITION: Oppose Cuts. 

HEARING DETAILS: Thursday, March 26 after 9:30 a.m. (may start in afternoon): Senate Budget Sub 3 at the Senate Swing Space (1021 O St, Sacramento, CA, Room 1200). This agenda item may not be heard until early afternoon and run until 5 p.m.  Public comment is at the end of the hearing.  Click HERE to view agenda.

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED:

Click HERE to learn more.

Monday, April 6: SB 1052 – SCDD Authorized Representatives

ABOUT SB 1052 (Gonzalez).  SB1052, introduced by Senator Lena Gonzalez, strengthens and clarifies Welfare and Institutions Code §4541 to ensure continuity of authorized representation for individuals with developmental disabilities served by regional centers. SB 1052 modernizes and clarifies the statute governing Authorized Representatives, which is a critical safeguard that protects civil rights when an individual with disabilities does not have a parent, guardian, or conservator legally authorized to assist them. Co-Sponsored by The Arc of California, State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD), the Integrated Community Collaborative, and Disability Voices United.

POSITION: Support

HEARING DETAILS: Monday, April 6 after 3 p.m. at in Senate Health Services Committee at Senate Swing Space: 1021 O Street, Room 2200

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED:

Click HERE to learn more.

Tuesday, April 7 — AB 2347 –  Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training

ABOUT AB 2347 (Ahren).  Existing law defines a “hate crime” as a criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of actual or perceived characteristics of the victim, including, among other things, race, religion, disability, and sexual orientation. Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), in consultation with specified subject-matter experts, to develop guidelines and a course of instruction and training for law enforcement officers addressing hate crimes. Existing law also requires POST to consult with the subject-matter experts if the guidelines or course of instruction are updated. Beginning January 1, 2027, AB 2347 would require POST to conduct a comprehensive review of existing hate crimes training programs, as specified. The bill would require the review to be completed by January 1, 2028. The bill would require POST to, by July 1, 2028, adopt evidence-based training requirements to address the gaps identified in the review regarding the prevention, identification, and investigation of hate crimes.

POSITION: Support

HEARING DETAILS: Tuesday, April 7 at 8:30 a.m. in Assembly Public Safety Committee hearing at the State Capitol in Room 126

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED:

Click HERE to learn more.

Thank you to everyone in our community who continues to speak up, share your experiences, and stay engaged in the policymaking process. Advocacy takes time and effort, and your voice plays a critical role in shaping decisions that affect services, supports, and rights across California. Whether you attend a hearing, submit a comment, or simply stay informed, you are helping build a stronger, more inclusive future for all.

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