SACRAMENTO—Children and youth, mental health services, public safety, and clarifying Native American rights and protections are the focus of 2026 bills introduced by Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-San Bernardino).
Ramos stated, “This 2026 package focuses on my longtime priorities – families, public safety and correcting past inequities against California Native American. It’s a package that centers around the vulnerable and toward ensuring safe and healthy communities.”
AB 308, Mobile Crisis Response Teams or units: Encourages county behavioral health directors to develop trainings for mobile crisis response teams focusing on protocols for individuals with autism, behavioral health issues, or other developmental disabilities. Sponsors: Autism Society Inland Empire and Autism Heroes. Referred to Assembly Committee on Human Resources.
AB 1579, Children’s Crisis Pilot Program: Amends existing law to expand upon allowable program types for residential crisis services within the Children’s Crisis Pilot Program to allow more flexibility to meet the needs of foster youth across the state. Sponsors: Just Advocates and California Alliance of Child and Family Services. Referred to Assembly Committee on Human Resources.
AB 1581, Indigenous Student Undercount: Addresses the severe undercount of Indigenous students in California schools. The American Institutes for Research reports that up to 70% of Indigenous students are not represented in data reporting or analysis in the United States or California. Underreporting results in fewer resources and opportunities for Native American students. Sponsor: Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians. Referred to Assembly Education Committee.
AB 1586, School Safety & Opioid Overdose Prevention Act: Directs the State Department of Health Care Service, working in consultation with the State Department of Education and the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, to provide School Resource Officers both training and on-duty access to naloxone. Sponsor: Association of Alcohol & Drug Program Executives.
AB 1592, California Indian Heritage Center Support Organization: Authorizes the California Department of Parks and Recreation to enter into an agreement with the California Indian Heritage Center (CIHC) Support Organization to help facilitate the Department’s ongoing efforts to build the CIHC facility. Referred to Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.
AB 1681, Victim Notification: Protects crime victims’ rights by ensuring they receive timely notifications about an offender’s release, parole hearings, escapes, or special parole conditions. AB 1681 would require automatic transmittal of required victim notification information to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation when a defendant is sentenced to state prison. Measure would eliminate the need for victims to navigate a separate, burdensome process during an already traumatic time. Sponsor: California District Attorneys Association, Orange County District Attorney’s Office, and San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office. Referred to Assembly Committee on Public Safety.
AB 1769, Tribal Articulation: Facilitates seamless transfer of course credits (articulation) for students attending tribal colleges to California public postsecondary educational institutions. AB 1769 would call on the California Community Colleges, California State University, and University of California systems to develop and implement transfer agreements regarding courses or sequences of courses acceptable in lieu of specific course requirements at another campus. Articulation agreements would ensure effective and efficient progress of students attending tribal colleges seeking transfer to another institution to minimize coursework duplication. Sponsor: Table Mountain.
AB 1824, Indian Child Welfare Act: Clarifies and strengthens compliance with the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and California ICWA in probate guardianship and conservatorship proceedings by placing clear, enforceable requirements directly in the Probate Code. Changes would eliminate confusion, prevent avoidance and ensure probate courts consistently apply ICWA protections that already exist under state and federal law.
Sponsor: California Indian Legal Services, California Tribal Families Coalition and Morongo Band of Mission Indians.
AB 1841, California Native American Day: Designates California Native American Day as a paid holiday for all state employees. This bill builds on a 2021 Ramos measure, AB 855, that established a paid holiday for judicial employees. Sponsor: California Native Vote Project.
AB 1881, California Indian Freedom Act of 2026: This bill strengthens protections for California Indian religious practices and sacred places by ensuring government agencies respect cultural traditions and works closely with tribes before taking actions that could affect their ability to express their traditions freely.
AB 1889, Criminal Protective Orders: Authorizes the court to issue a protective order (CPO) that is valid for up to 10 years, or two years after the defendant’s release, whichever is later. CPOs are routinely issued in cases involving domestic violence, human trafficking, criminal activity related to gang violence, or registerable sex offences to discourage offenders stay away from victims and witnesses. Sponsor: Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
AB 1948, Concealed Carry Weapons Permits: Extends the duration of the newly issued Carry Concealed Weapons Licenses to three years and allows for renewed licenses to be issued for up to six years. Sponsor: San Bernardino County Sheriff Shannon Dicus.
AB 1966, Undocumented Victims of Crime Protections: Adds a two-year enhancement to an individual who commits specified crimes against an undocumented individual such as murder, rape, assault, trafficking, kidnapping, witness tampering and domestic violence listed in the Immigration and Nation Act. AB 1966 aims to prevent persons from avoiding prosecution on serious felonies by threatening highly vulnerable populations from reporting crimes or testifying at criminal trials.
AB 2018, California Missing Persons Program Update: Clarifies and expands California’s ability to take full advantage of improvements in science and organizational partnerships for the California's Missing Persons DNA Program. Sponsor: Attorney General Rob Bonta.
AB 2115, State Apology to California Native Americans: Calls on the State Legislature to apologize for the State's atrocities against Native Americans. Governor apologized formally in 2019.
AB 2187, Tribal Public Contracts: Adds California’s federally recognized tribes and their government owned tribal business enterprises from state competitive bidding requirements, facilitating their participation in the state’s procurement system. Sponsor: Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians.
AB 2356, Tolowa Dunes State Park Return: Facilitates the return of Tolowa Dunes State Park to the original stewards. Sponsor: Tolowa Dee-ni' Nation.
AB 2539, Yurok Compact Amendment: Ratifies the Yurok Tribe’s compact amendment. Sponsor: Yurok Tribe.
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Assemblymember James C. Ramos proudly represents the 45th Assembly district that includes the Cities of Fontana, Highland, Mentone, Redlands, Rialto and San Bernardino. He is the first and only California Native American serving in the state’s legislature. Ramos chairs the Assembly Budget Subcommittee #6 on Public Safety and the Assembly Select Committee on Native American Affairs.
