October-November, 2025
How is Sacramento spending our tax dollars this month? Let’s sniff out the ways…
Compiled by Jennifer Zeiter
SB 518
Description and supposed purpose:
This bill, signed into law October, 2025, establishes the “Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery,” the first state agency of its kind in the United States, designed to implement reparative justice measures by creating a state infrastructure to address the lasting harms of slavery.
Explanation and actual impact:
Reparations have come to California! Although slavery was never a west coast issue (CA never had slavery), taxpayer money will be allotted for the whole new PAID “State Reparations Agency" toward educating the public, identifying recipients, and dispensing payouts. Basically, another layer of bureaucrats paid with our taxpayer dollars with zero accountability.
SB 627
Description and supposed purpose:
The "No Secret Police Act," effective January 1, 2026, bans most law enforcement officers from wearing masks or other facial coverings during their duties.
Explanation and actual impact:
This will allow anyone to identify and “dox” members of police, thus putting our law enforcement officers at risk. Thankfully, although intended to apply to ICE, CA has no authority over federal agents. HYPOCRISY ALERT: Newsom exempted his own security personnel.
SB 155
Description and supposed purpose:
Formation of the “California Civic Media Program,” to support California news organizations and enhance the public good through journalism.
Explanation and actual impact:
In reality, this is a propaganda agency slush fund to be paid to local news outlets directly from our state’s general fund to media who support in lockstep the liberal Democrat agenda.
AB 1207
Description and supposed purpose:
Strengthens and extends the state's mechanism for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through 2027.
Explanation and actual impact:
Newsom is doubling down on the climate change tax, currently running $10B/year and now extended through 2027. It will mean a $.28 to $.43/gallon tax increase in the state that already has the most expensive gas in the nation. Where does that money go? No one really knows….
AB 1127
Description and supposed purpose:
Bans the sale, transfer, or delivery of "semiautomatic machinegun-convertible pistols," starting July 1, 2026.
Explanation and actual impact:
This will apply to any firearm which is "possibly modifiable" to increase number of rounds it could fire, thus effectively banning most hand guns, and further weakening the Second Amendment. This will be appealed to SCOTUS and hopefully will be held unconstitutional.
SB 79
Description and supposed purpose:
The “Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act,” effective July 2026, mandates local governments to allow for denser, multi-family housing near public transit stops.
Explanation and actual impact:
The law overrides local zoning restrictions to increase high density housing. By liberally defining “public transit stops,” it allows developers to build on R-1 land and build housing developments up to 6 stories high, with no local control. This is possibly coming to a neighborhood near you soon…
AB 361
Description and supposed purpose:
To allow California school districts to use a "best value" procurement method for public construction projects exceeding $1 million.
Explanation and actual impact:
In reality, this will end fair and open competitive bidding on State projects. It basically means that unless you have a union, you can't bid on state projects. This benefits big contractors and unions to the exclusion of smaller construction companies.
SB 42
Description and supposed purpose:
The "California Fair Elections Act of 2026" would give voters the option to allow public financing of elections by repealing the 1988 ban on public campaign funds.
Explanation and actual impact:
Allows for political campaigns to be funded by our tax money.
AB 288
Description and supposed purpose:
Expands state-level labor protections by allowing California's Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) to handle private-sector labor disputes.
Explanation and actual impact:
This results in a massive giveaway to union bosses, basically instructing PERB to take over what would otherwise be handled by the Federal National Labor Relations Board.
AB 495
Description and supposed purpose:
The so-called "Family Preparedness Plan Act," is a California bill that creates new legal options for parents to ensure their children are cared for if they become temporarily unavailable, such as due to immigration enforcement, military deployment, or incarceration.
Explanation and actual impact:
This would allow anyone to take custody of minor children without the parents’ say, and without any legal process, by simply signing a written statement, without even requiring notarization verifying the identity of the signer. It opens the door to child trafficking and strips parental rights.
AB 49, SB 98, SB 805, & SB 627
Description and supposed purpose:
These four separate bills recently signed into law in California create protections for undocumented immigrants and increase restrictions on law enforcement.
Explanation and actual impact:
All of the above are designed to keep immigration officers from doing their jobs, blocking them from school campuses, keeping them from examining official records, and further hampering and endangering such officers who are enforcing the law.
(Thanks to Olena from Pixabay for the logo image)