A new, bipartisan and bicameral group of state legislators has launched the California Legislative Children’s Caucus, uniting Assembly and Senate members from both sides of the aisle to focus exclusively on the needs of the state’s nearly nine million children.
The caucus aims to move away from fragmented policy-making and ensure that every legislative and budgetary decision is “child-centered.”
Founded by Assemblymember Mia Bonta (D-Oakland), the caucus has rallied more than 40 members and an extensive contingent of advocacy partners, including The Children’s Partnership, Children’s Law Center of California, and First 5 Association of California. The urgency of their mission is underscored by alarming statistics shared at the Feb. 18 launch event at the State Capitol.
“Child poverty in California has more than doubled since 2021,” Assemblymember Bonta stated, citing a rise from 7.5% to a staggering 18.6% in 2024. This increase means nearly one in every five California children is currently living in poverty. Beyond the economic hardship, Bonta also addressed the mental health toll, noting that teenagers have a “greater likelihood of feeling like they have such great hopelessness and a sense of helplessness that they are more likely to think about committing suicide.”
“One in five Californians are children and yet, when we sit to write policy, children are rarely the first people we think of, and very often not in the room. That ends today,” said San Diego-area Assemblymember Dr. Darshana Patel.
More than 40% of California’s children rely on Medi-Cal for their health care coverage, said Patel who serves on the Assembly Health Committee, chairs the Select Committee on youth mental health and treatment access. Patel will lead the Assembly Education Committee beginning March 2, where she’ll seek to see the governor’s Universal Transitional Kindergarten adequately funded.
“I’ve seen these challenges through many distinct lenses, and I’ve learned something important. The lens that you look through determines the problems that you see and the problems that you see may, in fact, limit the solutions you propose,” Assemblymember Patel said. “That is the deeper truth this caucus is built upon.”
Patel emphasized the need to dismantle policy silos that fail to address the complexity of a child’s life. “Our kids don’t experience hardships in silos… Housing costs, food security, child care needs, health care, education, these aren’t separate crises. In fact, they compound one another,” she said.
Members of the new group stressed the importance of connecting work across all legislative committees. The caucus has established a comprehensive set of pillars to guide its legislative agenda including early childcare; foster youth and children’s welfare; physical and mental health; education, equity and civic engagement; youth justice and shared safety; housing security and environmental sustainability; economic security and financial literacy.
Several members outlined immediate legislative priorities that directly address the caucus’s pillars:
Senator Dr. Aisha Wahab, a former foster youth herself, will be introducing SB 381, a bill to grant adopted persons aged 18 or older legal access to their original birth certificate, connecting them with their history and heritage. She also detailed her work on a task force reviewing the Alameda County child welfare audit, stressing the need to protect vulnerable children from being exploited when systems fail.
Assemblymember Dr. LaShae Sharp-Collins (D-San Diego) highlighted Assembly Bill 1755, which seeks to abolish the “outdated 100-hour rule” under CalWORKs. She argued that the rule acts as a “benefits cliff” by punishing parents who work more hours to provide for their families.
AB 1755, she says, will ban this arbitrary cap, tying support instead to income to help families escape poverty. She also mentioned Assembly Bill 1884, which focuses on nicotine testing for student athletes to combat the growing issue of youth vaping and protect their health.
The message from the founding members was a unified call to action. Assemblymember Dr. Corey A. Jackson (D-Riverside) acknowledged a shared and sacred responsibility to ensure the next generation is better off than the last.
The previous generation, Assemblymember Jackson said, knew that if they worked hard, got a good education, “kept our head down and we kept our mouth shut” they’d be able to purchase a home in California and raise their children. “That system no longer works for the next generation,” he said. “We have to be the creators of the next system of opportunities for young people. If we don’t, our legacy will be one of failure in the history of mankind.”
Putting children first has to be more than a slogan, Assemblymember Sharp-Collins said. “It is not speeches, but policies that actually support families trying to build a better future. When parents have stability, we know for a fact that children have stability as well.”