Ahead of the September 30 deadline for final action on legislation, Governor Newsom took action on bills passed by the Legislature in the second year of the 2025-26 legislative session, including several of EDGE’s priority bills.
All bills that were signed by the Governor will become law and take effect on January 1, 2027, unless they contain an urgency clause. The Governor signed several of EDGE’s priority bills this session. These measures strengthen apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship pathways, reform dual enrollment, protect students accessing new federal Workforce Pell Grants, and support paid work-based learning opportunities through the Strong Workforce Program.
Our 2026 Policy Priorities centered on four pillars: advancing equitable pathways to quality jobs, investing in the social determinants of work, strengthening data and policy alignment for economic mobility, and protecting and sustaining California’s workforce infrastructure. Throughout the 2026 session, EDGE actively engaged on legislative and budget priorities that expand economic mobility for all Californians, especially those facing systemic barriers, while also addressing the workforce needs of California employers.
Alongside our legislative efforts, EDGE advocated for budget investments in entrepreneurship and small businesses, Cradle-to-Career data, Workforce Pell implementation, and dual enrollment. While the final 2026-27 state budget maintained key education and workforce investments, significant safety net reductions, new federal work requirements, and impacts on immigrant Californians reinforced the critical importance of addressing the social determinants of work so Californians can access and succeed in education, training, and employment. Please see our complete budget overview here.
Following the close of the 2025-26 legislative session, the Legislature will reconvene in January to begin the 2027-28 session. The year ahead will also mark a major transition for California, with a new Governor and Administration taking office and setting priorities that will shape the state’s policy and budget landscape. This transition will create an important opportunity for EDGE and our partners to collectively advocate for policies and investments that strengthen education and workforce pathways, expand economic mobility, and ensure the needs of underserved Californians and employers are reflected in the state’s priorities.
The following is a summary of EDGE’s 2026 bill and budget priorities with their final outcomes.
2026 EDGE Priority Bills
AB 1980 (Caloza) – Equal Representation in Construction Apprenticeships Grant Program. This bill requires the Department of Industrial Relations, through the Division of Apprenticeship Standards, to establish the Equal Representation in Construction Apprenticeships (ERiCA) Grant Program to increase equitable access to building and construction career pathways for women, nonbinary individuals, and other underrepresented groups.
Position: Support
Status: Chaptered
AB 1871 (Fong) – Dual Enrollment. This bill reforms the College and Career Access Pathways (CCAP) Dual Enrollment Program to remove student-level barriers and expand participation.
Position: Support
Status: Chaptered
AB 2466 (Fong) – Strong Workforce Program. This bill authorizes regional consortia to use Strong Workforce Program funds to support paid work-based learning for students and employers, with the goal of increasing employability and expanding job opportunities in high-demand fields.
Position: Support
Status: Chaptered
AB 1534 (Irwin) – Workforce Pell. This bill establishes an approval process for short-term workforce programs seeking access to newly authorized federal Workforce Pell Grants that ensures program vetting and incorporates guardrails to protect CA learners.
Position: Support
Status: Chaptered
SB 1340 (Richardson) – Small Business Contracts. This bill would have required annual reporting on the share of state contracts awarded to small and micro businesses, making it easier to track whether agencies are meeting California’s goal of directing at least 25% of contracting dollars to small businesses.
Position: Support
Status: Vetoed by Governor Newsom; view message here.
SB 1006 (Padilla) – Cal Grant B. This bill would have indexed the amount awarded under the Cal Grant B to inflation, ensuring that financial aid for non-tuition costs maintains its value over time rather than falling further behind rising costs.
Position: Support
Status: Held in Senate Appropriations Committee
SB 1054 (Cabaldon) – EDD Data. Would direct the Employment Development Department to collect hours worked, job type, and occupation information through existing employer wage filings, strengthening CA’s workforce data infrastructure and supporting a more streamlined response to federal HR 1 work verification requirements to help Californians maintain access to critical benefits.
Position: Co-Sponsor
Status: Held in Assembly Appropriations Committee
AB 2300 (Arambula) – Workforce Development: Applicable Law. This bill would have helped reduce administrative burdens on local workforce development boards by simplifying grant administration, reporting, and oversight requirements, helping them focus more resources on connecting Californians to education, training, and employment opportunities.
Position: Support
Status: Held in Senate Appropriations Committee
2026 EDGE Budget Priorities
Investments in Education & Students
Dual Enrollment Expansion. The budget provided $100 million one-time to expand dual enrollment opportunities statewide, creating opportunities to strengthen pathways for learners, including adults pursuing a high school diploma or equivalency, to earn college credit and move into postsecondary education and careers.
Credit for Prior Learning (CPL). The budget approved $37 million Proposition 98 General Fund ($35 million one-time and $2 million ongoing) to continue enabling Californians to convert real-world experience into college credit.
Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System. The budget maintained the ongoing $15 million investment in C2C and provided an additional $1.3 million one-time to support Workforce Pell implementation, strengthening California’s ability to connect education and workforce data and understand learner outcomes.
Investments in Workforce Development
Strong Workforce Program. The budget included $15.8 million one-time to partially restore prior Strong Workforce Program funding that had been shifted to other programs, helping sustain paid work-based learning opportunities and connections between students, employers, and quality jobs.
Social Entrepreneurs for Economic Development (SEED). The budget provided $10.8 million one-time for SEED, continuing support for entrepreneurship and small business opportunities in immigrant and other underserved communities.
Workforce Pell Grant Implementation. The budget provided $664,000 one-time to support implementation of the new federal Workforce Pell Grant program, helping California prepare to expand access to federal financial aid for eligible short-term career training programs.
Manufacturing Investment Credit. The proposed $210 million Manufacturing Investment Credit was not included in the final budget. The credit would have helped California manufacturers offset local sales and use taxes on qualifying equipment investments, supporting business growth, economic competitiveness, and job creation in manufacturing and related sectors.
Social Safety Net for Underserved Communities
Child Care. The budget included a $269.2 million ongoing General Fund investment restoring 3,430 previously reduced child care slots and expanding 22,770 additional subsidized slots, along with a 2.01% cost-of-living adjustment for child care providers. While an important investment, additional support is needed to expand access and strengthen provider stability so families have reliable child care that allows them to participate in education, training, and work.
Food Assistance. The final budget preserved the previously planned expansion of the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to residents age 55 and older regardless of immigration status, but did not expand access to additional immigrant Californians under age 55. This leaves many immigrant Californians without critical food assistance that can help them meet basic needs while pursuing work and education.
Health Care for Immigrant Californians. The final budget provided temporary funding to maintain full-scope Medi-Cal coverage for certain immigrant Californians through July 2027, delaying some coverage reductions. However, significant barriers and reductions remain, threatening access to care that is essential to stability and continued participation in education, training, and work.
For questions, please contact Valerie Johnson, EDGE Policy and Advocacy Manager, at vjohnson@caedge.org.