Thirteen Rogers Bills Clear Assembly, Head to Senate

Press release from the Office of Assemblymember Chris Rogers:

Thirteen bills authored by Assemblymember Chris Rogers have successfully made it to the Senate ahead of the May 29th House of Origin deadline. This deadline requires all bills introduced in the Assembly to be passed and sent to the Senate if they are to continue to be considered in this legislative session.

“My legislative package champions emerging industries and important programs for the North Coast so that we can build a more resilient and secure future,” said Assemblymember Chris Rogers. “I look forward to continuing to advance our region’s priority issues, such as keeping tribal kids out of foster care, enhancing use of prescribed burns, boosting biomass opportunities, and protecting workers.”

The following bills will be heard in Senate policy committees:

• AB 1574 – Tribal Foster Youth
  This bill is designed to preserve families and prevent tribal children from entering foster care by creating the Tribal Foster Care Prevention Services Program. This program will allow tribes and tribal organizations to receive funding to provide prevention services for children and families at risk of entering the foster care system.  Last year I authored a very similar bill that Governor Newsom vetoed due to concerns on how this program would function in the current framework. This bill addresses his concerns. 40% of Humboldt county’s foster youth come from tribes. This bill would save counties money while providing better outcomes for vulnerable kids.
• AB 1583 – Wage Theft
  Clarifies prosecutorial jurisdiction for wage theft and labor trafficking offenses where jurisdiction is ambiguous.
• AB 1601 – Pension COLA
  Provides flexibility for Sonoma County’s retirement system to collaborate annually and designate the recipients, amount and funding source of a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) and require the actuarial impact on future annual costs to be reported in accordance with existing law before any benefit increases are authorized. This measure is limited to Sonoma County, where retirees has not received a COLA since 2008. Since then, inflation has eroded over 50% of their purchasing power.
• AB 1657 – Restraining orders
  Prohibits courts from requiring that notice be provided to the opposing party before filing an ex parte (temporary) restraining order. An ex parte restraining order is a court order that is granted without the prior notice to the opposing party. These orders are designed for urgent situations where waiting for a hearing could cause harm to the individual filing the order. This bill addresses an important loophole in the law that threatens the safety of victims of domestic violence and comes directly from attorneys in our district who work with these victims.

• AB 1666 – Biomass utilization
  Address long-term feedstock supply barriers, a procurement mandate for innovative building materials, such as mass timber, and guardrails ensuring the eligibility of California sourced wood waste only. AB 1666 would establish several policies to address California’s wood waste crisis and support the state’s wildfire prevention goals by incentivizing the deployment of non-combustion biomass technologies.

• AB 1699 – Good Fire Act
  The Good Fire Act is a bipartisan, comprehensive plan designed to significantly expand California’s capacity to conduct prescribed burns and support cultural burning practices. The bill draws on indigenous knowledge to address critical operational, liability, and certification barriers that have limited the state’s ability to use beneficial fire as a tool to reduce catastrophic wildfire risk and restore ecological health.

• AB 1761 – PCIA transparency
  Requires the Public Utilities Commission and Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs) to disclose all data used to calculate Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) costs, including cost inputs, forecasting assumptions, and methodologies. The bill would ensure that when parties make proposals in proceedings to change the PCIA they provide all the underlying data informing that proposal. Greater transparency allows Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) and Energy Service Providers (ESPs) to better advocate for their customers and assess proposals to change the PCIA. It also can inform cost forecasts and shield customers from sudden rate swings.

• AB 1811 – Health Profession Shortage Areas (HPSA)
  Supports rural, medically underserved, and low-income areas across California by preserving Health Profession Shortage Areas (HPSA). With limited federal and state resources, HPSA designations create better prioritization of resources and focus on areas of highest need.

• AB 2078 – Stationary Engineers
  Existing laws prohibit an employer from allowing an employee to work over five hours in a workday without providing them with a 30-minute meal break. However, under current law, some employees are still covered by a collective bargaining agreement (CBA). This bill provides additional flexibility for stationary engineers by exempting them from the 30-minute meal break law and letting them handle this through their CBAs. This allows the employees to leave work on time after completing their shift.
• AB 2314 – Child Care Stability and Alignment Act of 2026
  The Child Care Stability and Alignment Act of 2026 strengthens fiscal accountability and improves alignment between child care enrollment and funding practices. This bill prioritizes full use of appropriated child care funds, protects family continuity of care, and increases transparency in the transfer and reporting of child care funds. It also modernizes fiscal monitoring practices to better reflect how voucher-based child care programs operate.

• AB 2369 – Clean Energy Transmission Planning
  AB 2369 would allow the CA Independent System Operator to factor in energy-only resources into future transmission infrastructure planning. This can expedite clean energy resources like wind and solar to be connected more quickly to California’s electric grid.

• AB 2494 – State Demonstration Forests
  Redefines management of demonstration state forest lands to include maximizing the promotion of climate resiliency goals, enhanced outdoor access, protecting biodiversity, and compatible research efforts. Under AB 2494, the sale of timber and other forest products will be allowed only under these new modernized management principles.

• AB 2663 – Cocktails To-Go
  During the COVID-19 pandemic, legislation was passed to allow certain restaurants and alcohol manufacturers that operate a bona fide public eating place at their production site to sell alcoholic beverages for off-sale consumption under specific conditions. AB 2663 extends the sunset on this legislation so that these establishments can continue to sell cocktails to-go.