Gabriel’s community violence intervention office bill signed into law
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino, Tarzana, Woodland Hills, Reseda, Canoga Park, Winnetka, West Hills, Van Nuys, Lake Balboa) this weekend saw Gov. Gavin Newsom sign his AB 2378, which creates a new Office of Community Violence Intervention to oversee and expand the state’s flagship violence prevention grant program.
That program, the California Violence Intervention and Prevention Grant Program, known as CalVIP, funds community organizations that work in the neighborhoods hit hardest by gun violence to head off shootings before they happen.
“California has become a national leader in reducing gun violence because we’ve made a sustained commitment to investing in smart, proven strategies to stop violence before it occurs,” said Gabriel. “AB 2378 builds on that leadership by creating a dedicated Office of Community Violence Intervention to strengthen and coordinate this lifesaving work across our state.”
According to Gabriel’s office, California’s homicide rate fell to 3.5 per 100,000 residents in 2025, the lowest since the state began tracking crime statistics in 1966. Homicides dropped 18.6% and the statewide violent crime rate fell 10.2% in a single year.
His office also said communities that received CalVIP funding saw homicides decline nearly three times as much as those that did not.
Demand for the money has surged. Funding requests topped $1 billion in the most recent application cycle, according to Gabriel’s office. Newsom signed the law codifying CalVIP in 2019, and a 2023 measure authored by Gabriel established its permanent, dedicated funding source.
Schultz bill limiting undercover tactics on youth in custody signed
Assemblymember Nick Schultz (D-Burbank, Glendale, North Hollywood, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Toluca Lake, Valley Village, La Crescenta, Sunland-Tujunga) saw Gov. Gavin Newsom sign his AB 1905 last week, which bars law enforcement from using undercover officers or agents to obtain statements from young people in custody.
The law covers anyone who was 17 or younger at the time of the alleged offense and is 26 or younger while in custody. It bars police from sending in an undercover officer or agent whose law enforcement role the young person doesn’t know about to draw out statements.
Without clear statutory limits, Schultz’s office said, courts have been left to decide after the fact whether such statements were obtained consistently with constitutional protections, and AB 1905 replaces that patchwork with a single statewide standard.
“Research and case experience consistently demonstrate that juveniles are more susceptible to pressure, manipulation, and deception, particularly when they are unaware that they are speaking with someone acting on behalf of law enforcement,” said Schultz. “AB 1905 puts in place clear guardrails, promotes fairness, and reduces the risk of unreliable statements.”
The bill directs courts to weigh violations when deciding whether a statement is admissible and to consider willful violations when assessing an officer’s credibility. It includes an exception for imminent threats to life and applies only to statements obtained on or after Jan. 1, 2027, so pending cases are not affected.
The age cutoff rests on brain science. Schultz’s office cited studies showing the prefrontal cortex, which governs planning, impulse control and decision-making, reaches structural maturity around the mid-twenties. The bill’s definition of youth mirrors the one California already uses in Penal Code Section 1016.7.
Chu demands HHS return teen pregnancy prevention funds
U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Pasadena, Monterey Park, San Gabriel, Alhambra, west San Gabriel Valley) last week spearheaded a Congressional partisan letter demanding that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. return more than $100 million in congressionally approved funding for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program before it expires when the federal fiscal year ends Wednesday.
The program funds local groups that work to reduce teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and other health risks for young people. HHS terminated most existing grants this summer and announced plans to redirect the money to programs the lawmakers describe as ideologically conservative.
Democratic lawmakers say federal courts stopped that redirection, but the money now sits unused, with no public plan to return it to grantees.
“As the fiscal year rapidly comes to an end on September 30, we are very concerned that your Department has failed to distribute over $100 million of the $101 million in funding Congress provided for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program,” the lawmakers wrote.
The letter says only $579,499 of the $101 million appropriation has gone out, to a single grantee. “The only reasonable path forward is to provide funding to the grantees that were previously subject to the Department’s arbitrary terminations,” the lawmakers wrote.
Torres, Padilla reintroduce BASIC Act for students’ basic needs
U.S. Rep. Norma Torres (D-Pomona) and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) reintroduced the Basic Assistance for Students in College Act last week, legislation that would create a $1 billion competitive grant program to help colleges connect students to food, housing, child care and other necessities.
The bill targets a problem that has followed students onto campus. Nearly one in four college students nationwide experiences food insecurity, twice the rate of all U.S. households, and one in 10 experiences homelessness, according to the lawmakers. Since fiscal 2021, Torres and Padilla have secured more than $43 million for existing basic needs grants that reach schools in 22 states and Puerto Rico, including $10 million in fiscal 2026.
“No student working toward a college degree should have to wonder where their next meal will come from or whether they can keep a roof over their head,” said Torres.
The bill would set aside $40 million for planning grants to help schools identify unmet needs and $960 million for implementation grants to provide direct housing, food and child care help, connect students to public benefits and partner with community organizations.
At least 25% of the money would go to community colleges and another 25% to historically Black colleges and universities, tribal colleges, and other minority-serving institutions. It would also improve data sharing to identify students who may qualify for programs like SNAP, WIC, Medicaid, and housing assistance, while protecting student privacy, and require a national report on student basic-needs insecurity.
“No student should have to choose between meeting their everyday needs and pursuing higher education,” said Padilla.
