Advocacy at the California Capitol
CALACAP works with policymakers, state agencies, and organizational partners to advance policies that strengthen California’s behavioral health system and improve access to comprehensive care for children, adolescents, and families.
Our advocacy is grounded in the clinical expertise of child and adolescent psychiatrists who care for young people across California every day.
Our advocacy includes:
- Analyzing and taking positions on legislation affecting California kids and their mental health
- Providing expert testimony and meeting with legislators about the potential impacts of legislation
- Working with legislators to develop evidence-based policy solutions
- Collaborating with stakeholders across California’s support systems
- Monitoring state budget proposals and advocating for investments that uplift California kids
Legislative Priorities
2026 Sponsored Bills
SB 363 (Wiener): Care Denial Transparency
- Cosponsored by CALACAP, Children Now, and the Chronic Care Coalition
- This bill will hold health plans accountable for baseless coverage denials and provide critical transparency into why denial rates are on the rise. It requires health plans and insurers to report to the Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) and Department of Insurance (CDI) denials and modifications made to provider- recommended care. The information will then be publicly published annually.
- Additionally, plans and insurers will be fined for violations under SB 363, including a failure to report a modification or denial of treatment. Unreasonably high rates of Independent Medical Review (IMR) overturns or reversals by health plans during the IMR process will also constitute a violation of the legislation. If more than 50% of a plan’s IMRs result in patients receiving the denied care that will also constitute a violation and lead to a fine. Each category of care (surgical, behavioral, medical, and pharmaceutical) counts separately towards the threshold.
AB 2011 (Hart): Protecting Access to Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Care
- Cosponsored by CALACAP, California Department of Insurance, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, the Kennedy Forum, the Steinberg Institute, and the CA State Association of Psychiatrists
- This bill codifies the 2024 federal Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) Final Rule into California state law to ensure that Californians retain strong, enforceable mental health and substance use disorder (MH/SUD) parity protections—regardless of changes at the federal level.
- By embedding these protections in statute, California ensures stability for regulators, health plans, providers, and consumers; continued access to MH/SUD care during federal transitions; and clear, enforceable standards that reduce litigation uncertainty.
If you have any questions on CALACAP’s legislative priorities, please contact CALACAP’s Legislative Advocate, Lizzie Guansona, lizzie@syaslpartners.com
Click on each legislative session to see supported legislation:
2025-2026
Sponsor
SB 363 (Wiener) – Health care coverage: independent medical review.
SB 531 (Rubio) – Course of study: mental health education.
Support
AB 49 (Muratsuchi) – Schoolsites: immigration enforcement.
AB 73 (Jackson) – Mental health: Black Mental Health Navigator Certification.
AB 82 (Ward) – Health care: legally protected health care activity.
AB 249 (Ramos) – Housing: Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program: youth-specific processes and coordinated entry systems.
AB 298 (Bonta) – Health care coverage cost sharing.
AB 308 (Ramos) – Mobile crisis teams or units: procedures.
AB 319 (Jackson) – Foster youth: trauma-informed services.
AB 384 (Connolly) – Health care coverage: mental health and substance use disorders: inpatient admissions.
AB 408 (Berman) – Physician Health and Wellness Program.
AB 419 (Connolly) – Educational equity: immigration enforcement.
AB 440 (Ramos) – State bridges and overpasses: suicide prevention.
AB 489 (Bonta) – Health care professions: deceptive terms or letters: artificial intelligence.
AB 510 (Addis) – Health care coverage: utilization review: peer-to-peer review.
AB 512 (Harabedian) – Health care coverage: prior authorization.
AB 539 (Schiavo) – Health care coverage: prior authorizations.
AB 577 (Wilson) – Health care coverage: antisteering.
AB 689 (Rubio, Blanca) – Foster youth: disaster aid assistance.
AB 704 (Lowenthal) – Criminal records: destruction.
AB 727 (González, Mark) – Pupil and student safety: identification cards.
AB 785 (Sharp-Collins) – Community Violence Interdiction Grant Program.
AB 822 (Elhawary) – Commission on the State of Hate.
AB 843 (Garcia) – Health care coverage: language access.
AB 951 (Ta) – Health care coverage: behavioral diagnoses.
AB 952 (Elhawary) – Youth Offender Program Camp Pilot Program.
AB 1032 (Harabedian) – Coverage for behavioral health visits.
AB 1037 (Elhawary) – Public health: substance use disorder.
AB 1043 (Wicks) – Age verification signals: software applications and online services.
AB 1084 (Zbur) – Change of name and gender and sex identifier.
AB 1120 (Elhawary) – Foster care: rights of foster youth.
AB 1135 (Macedo) – Pupil safety: teen dating violence.
AB 1230 (Bonta) – Pupil discipline: expulsions: procedures.
AB 1460 (Rogers) – Prescription drug pricing.
AB 1487 (Addis) – Public health: Two-Spirit, Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Intersex Wellness and Equity Fund.
SB 41 (Wiener) – Pharmacy benefits.
SB 59 (Wiener) – Change of name or gender and sex identifier.
SB 98 (Pérez) – Elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education: immigration enforcement: notification.
SB 243 (Padilla) – Companion chatbots.
SB 306 (Becker) – Health care coverage: prior authorizations.
SB 388 (Padilla) – California Latino Commission.
SB 418 (Menjivar) – Health care coverage: prescription hormone therapy and nondiscrimination.
SB 579 (Padilla) – Mental health and artificial intelligence working group.
SB 627 (Wiener) – Law enforcement: masks.
SB 805 (Pérez) – Crimes.
2023-2024
Sponsor
AB 599 (Ward) – Suspensions and expulsions: tobacco.
AB 2711 (Ramos) – Suspensions and expulsions: voluntary disclosures.
SB 516 (Skinner) – Health care coverage: prior authorization.
SB 598 (Skinner) – Health care coverage: prior authorization.
Support
AB 19 (Patterson, Joe) – Pupil health: opioid antagonists.
AB 29 (Gabriel) – Firearms: California Do Not Sell List.
AB 360 (Gipson) – Excited delirium.
AB 373 (Gipson) – Intersession programs: foster children and homeless youth: priority access.
AB 443 (Jackson) – Peace officers: determination of bias.
AB 589 (Boerner) – Homeless youth: transitional housing.
AB 665 (Carrillo, Wendy) – Minors: consent to mental health services.
AB 815 (Wood) – Health care coverage: physician and provider credentials.
AB 816 (Haney) – Minors: consent to medical care.
AB 852 (Jones-Sawyer) – Peace officers.
AB 866 (Rubio, Blanca) – Juveniles: care and treatment.
AB 912 (Jones-Sawyer) – Strategic Anti-Violence Funding Efforts Act.
AB 1079 (Jackson) – Discrimination: Public engagement.
AB 1110 (Arambula) – Public health: adverse childhood experiences.
AB 1282 (Lowenthal) – Mental health: impacts of social media.
AB 1451 (Jackson) – Urgent and emergency mental health and substance use disorder
treatment.
AB 1557 (Flora) – Pharmacy: electronic prescriptions.
AB 1788 (Quirk-Silva) – Mental health multidisciplinary personnel team.
AB 1799 (Jackson) – Child abuse: reporting.
AB 1815 (Weber) – Discrimination: race: hairstyles.
AB 1825 (Muratsuchi) – California Freedom to Read Act.
AB 1842 (Reyes) – Health care coverage: Medication-assisted treatment.
AB 1858 (Ward) – Comprehensive school safety plans: active shooters: armed assailants: drills.
AB 1877 (Jackson) – Juveniles: sealing records.
AB 1902 (Alanis) – Prescription drug labels: accessibility.
AB 1907 (Pellerin) – California Child and Family Service Review System: Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) assessment.
AB 1913 (Addis) – Pupil safety: child abuse prevention: training.
AB 1915 (Arambula) – Pupil health: drug education: opioid overdose training program.
AB 1955 (Ward) – Support Academic Futures and Educators for Today’s Youth Act.
AB 2007 (Boerner) – Homeless youth: transitional housing.
AB 2052 (Jones-Sawyer) – School-Based Health and Education Partnership Program.
AB 2064 (Jones-Sawyer) – Community Violence Interdiction Grant Program.
AB 2137 (Quirk-Silva) – Homeless and foster youth.
AB 2161 (Arambula) – The Early Psychosis Intervention Plus Program.
AB 2237 (Aguiar-Curry) – Children and youth: transfer of specialty mental health services.
AB 2267 (Jones-Sawyer) – Youth Reinvestment Grant Program.
AB 2477 (Zbur) – Foster care: independent living.
AB 2556 (Jackson) – Behavioral health and wellness screenings: notice.
AB 2700 (Gabriel) – Emergency medical services: alternate destinations.
AB 3031 (Lee) – LGBTQ+ Commission.
AB 3089 (Jones-Sawyer) – Chattel slavery: formal apology.
AB 3221 (Pellerin) – Department of Managed Health Care: review of records.
AB 3260 (Pellerin) – Health care coverage: reviews and grievances.
SB 9 (Cortese) – Raising the Age for Extended Foster Care Pilot Program Act of 2023.
SB 10 (Cortese) – Pupil health: opioid overdose prevention and treatment: Melanie’s Law.
SB 11 (Menjivar) – California State University: mental health counseling.
SB 43 (Eggman) – Behavioral health.
SB 94 (Cortese) – Recall and resentencing: special circumstances.
SB 238 (Wiener) – Health care coverage: independent medical review.
SB 282 (Eggman) – Medi-Cal: federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics.
SB 294 (Wiener) – Health care coverage: independent medical review.
SB 326 (Eggman) – The Behavioral Health Services Act.
SB 350 (Ashby) – Pupil attendance: excused absences.
SB 363 (Eggman) – Facilities for inpatient and residential mental health and substance use disorder: database.
SB 372 (Menjivar) – Department of Consumer Affairs: licensee and registrant records: name and gender changes.
SB 373 (Menjivar) – Board of Behavioral Sciences, Board of Psychology, and Veterinary Medical Board: licensees’ and registrants’ addresses.
SB 456 (Menjivar) – Multifamily Housing Program: nonprofit corporations: homeless or at-risk youth.
SB 509 (Portantino) – School employee and pupil training: youth mental and behavioral health: mental health education.
SB 805 (Portantino) – Health care coverage: pervasive developmental disorders or autism.
SB 959 (Menjivar) – Trans-inclusive care: resources and support services.
SB 976 (Skinner) – Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act.
SB 1017 (Eggman) – Available facilities for inpatient and residential mental health or substance use disorder treatment.
SB 1057 (Menjivar) – Juvenile justice coordinating council.
SB 1079 (Menjivar) – Youth Housing Bond Act of 2024.
SB 1184 (Eggman) – Mental health: involuntary treatment: antipsychotic medication.
SB 1318 (Wahab) – Pupil health: suicide prevention policies: pupil suicide crisis.
SB 1320 (Wahab) – Mental health and substance use disorder treatment.
SB 1353 (Wahab) – Youth Bill of Rights.
Legislative Priorities
Each year, the California Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry recognizes individual California legislators for their leadership in advancing policies that improve the mental health of children and adolescents.
By highlighting champions of children’s mental health, CAACAP seeks to recognize policymakers whose work is making a meaningful difference for California’s youth and families.
2025
Assemblymember Dr. Corey Jackson
2024
Assemblymember Gail Pellerin
Assemblymember Diane Papan
2023
Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin
Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur
2022
Senator Scott Wiener
2021
Senator Susan Eggman
How to Engage in the Legislative Process
- Find your Legislative Representative: findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov
-
Contact your representative via
- Phone
- Online
- Written letters
- In-person visits
- Sign up for your representative’s newsletters
- Testify at public hearings
- Track legislation online: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
- Join CALACAP’s GAA or CARE Committee
- Attend CALACAP’s Spring and Fall Advocacy Days
Tips for Advocacy
Be Prepared
Do your homework. Providing legislators with organized, useful, clear and concise information will assist them in making informed decisions. When you are lobbying specific legislation, know the bill number, bill author, proponents/opponents, and where the bill is in the legislative process.Be Honest
Your credibility matters. Always be truthful. There are two rules to remember:- Do not hesitate to say: “I don’t know, but I will try to get that information for you.”
- Do not guess or make-up an answer.
Be Brief
State your views concisely and clearly:- Don’t Waste Time: The most valuable commodity a legislator (or anybody else) has is time. Some legislators may have only a few minutes to meet with you, so be succinct. Avoid getting sidetracked and stay on message.
- Know The Basics: You’re not expected to be a policy expert. Speak from the perspective of your organization and its needs.
- Use Personal Stories: Share specific anecdotes or facts that illustrate the real-world impact of the issue.
- Anticipate Questions: If you’re unsure how to respond, you can always say you don’t know. Your job is to advocate, not solve every policy challenge.
- Do Not Overkill. Recognize when you’ve gotten what you came for, or as much as you’ll get. A legislator and/or their staff will avoid you in the future if you ramble or otherwise waste his/her time. Be an active listener and be sensitive when a legislator wants to talk.