Bill Text: CA ACA7 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Government preferences.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6)
Status: (Engrossed) 2026-05-26 - From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on ED. [ACA7 Detail]
Download: California-2025-ACA7-Amended.html
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Amended
IN
Senate
May 26, 2026 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
May 07, 2025 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Constitutional Amendment
No. 7
| Introduced by Assembly Member Jackson (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bryan, Elhawary, and McKinnor) (Coauthors: Senators Richardson and Weber Pierson) |
February 13, 2025 |
A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by amending Section 31 of Article I thereof, relating to government preferences.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACA 7, as amended, Jackson.
Government preferences.
The California Constitution, pursuant to provisions enacted by the Proposition 209, an initiative measure adopted by the voters at the November 5, 1996, statewide general election, prohibits the state from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting, as specified.
This measure would, instead, limit the above prohibition to the operation of public employment, higher education admissions and enrollment, and public contracting. The measure would require that it appear on the ballot at the November 7, 2028, statewide general election.
Digest Key
Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California at its 2025–26 Regular Session commencing on the second day of December 2024, two-thirds of the membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of the State of California, that the Constitution of the State be amended as follows: follows, and that this measure shall appear on the ballot at the November 7, 2028, statewide general election:
That Section 31 of Article I thereof is amended to read:
SEC. 31.
(a) The State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, higher education admissions and enrollment, or public contracting.(b) This section shall apply only to action taken after the section’s effective date and is limited to the areas of public
employment, higher education admissions and enrollment, and public contracting.
(c) This section shall not be interpreted as prohibiting bona fide qualifications based on sex that are reasonably necessary to the normal operation of public employment, higher education admissions and enrollment, or public contracting.
(d) This section shall not be interpreted as invalidating any court order or consent decree that is in force as of the effective date of this section.
(e) This section shall not be interpreted as prohibiting action that must be taken to establish or maintain eligibility for any federal program, where ineligibility would result in a loss of federal funds to the State.
(f) For the purposes of this section, “State” shall include, but not necessarily be limited to, the State itself, any city, county, city and county, public university system, including the University of California, community college district, school district, special district, or any other political subdivision or governmental instrumentality of or within the State.
(g) The remedies available for violations of this section shall be the same, regardless of the injured party’s race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin, as are otherwise available for violations of then-existing California antidiscrimination law.
(h) This section shall be self-executing. If any part or parts of this section are found to be in conflict with
federal law or the United States Constitution, the section shall be implemented to the maximum extent that federal law and the United States Constitution permit. Any provision held invalid shall be severable from the remaining portions of this section.
