Local lawmaking impacts people at the lowest level: our day to day quality of life. Things can get changed on a local level when bills get passed by the State Senate or Assembly.

A bill headed through the California legal system gets written into law, interpreted in courts, executed by state residents or businesses, enforced by the government and distributed to the public. But before all of that can happen, it starts as an idea. This is where the Junior League CalSPAC Committee comes in. 

CalSPAC advocates for bills on the California ballot surrounding issues the Junior League is passionate about including education, family support, health, anti-human trafficking and violence prevention. The bills can either be recommended by a lobbying organization, delegates currently in CalSPAC or JL community partners. CalSPAC Committee members choose which bills to support based on their relevance to community projects and objectives. 

JLOEB members Angela Wuerth, Senior SPAC Delegate, and Shanta “Shay” Franco-Clausen, Junior SPAC Delegate serve as our representatives, voting on behalf of the Junior League of Oakland-East Bay and its members. 

Most recently, CalSPAC supported three bills that were signed into law by Governor Newsom. 

–AB 1394, which cracks down on social media to prevent human trafficking.

–AB 899, which requires baby food companies to display the level of heavy metals found in their products readily on their websites.

– SB 290, which gives domestic abuse survivors access to police evidence or phone calls for use in court.

CalSPAC also sponsored SB 848, which expands the state’s family leave policy to include five days of reproductive loss leave.

These bills will go into effect in Jan. 2024.

While CalSPAC can take positions on legislation, it remains nonpartisan and does not support individual candidates.