A year ago this summer, the California State Assembly elevated Assemblymember Robert Rivas to become its 71st Speaker. In his inaugural speech, Rivas emphasized his vision for a Legislature focused squarely on practical actions to improve day-to-day quality of life for Californians: reducing the economic burdens on families, restoring the quality of taxpayer-funded public services, using every tool possible to address chronic homelessness, and protecting the natural environment and cultural diversity that distinguishes California from anywhere else in the country.
What Speaker Rivas Said:
“I feel, and I know you all do too, a great sense of responsibility, because we are the ones who can keep the door open for the next generation. We are responsible for protecting the building blocks of Californians’ everyday lives. From the water we drink, to the air we breathe, from children’s schools, to our public hospitals — it is on us. To face these challenges, we must return our attention to the basics.”
Over the past year, Speaker Rivas has fought for and delivered on this vision, day after day, in constant collaboration with California’s historically large and diverse Assembly Democratic Caucus.
Making California More Affordable
Addressing the high cost of living is the top priority for Californians and Speaker Rivas. Since taking office, he fought for and won some of the most impactful wage increases in state history, putting more money directly into the pockets of California families. Because of his leadership and the hard work of the Assembly Democratic Caucus, today in California:
- California workers are guaranteed at least five days of paid sick leave
- Many fast food workers saw their minimum wage increase to $20/hour
- The state allocated $9 million in funding for local diaper and wipe distribution programs for low-income families with young children
- Farmers received $20 million in direct assistance for damage to their businesses from floods
- The state allocated $500 million in new funding for the Low Income Housing Tax Credit.
- The state allocated $10 million in new funding for medically necessary hearing aids for children.
- California is opening up 11,000 new general child care slots for families to access.
- Health industry workers are scheduled to see historic minimum wage increases over the coming years
- Consumer advocates have new powerful tools to fight illegal gas price gouging by oil companies.
Increasing Housing & Addressing Homelessness
It is clear that our state faces a sharp statewide shortage of affordable housing. Many residents are finding it harder to achieve the California Dream as they are unable to find and afford stable quality housing. Growing up in crowded farmworker housing, Speaker Rivas understands the stress and difficulties inadequate housing situations can place on families and residents. That is why Speaker Rivas and the Assembly have:
- Fought to restore more than $1 billion in housing cuts, including $500 million to help build low-income housing
- Added $1 billion to tackle homelessness crisis, via the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention (HHAP)
- Introduced legislation to keep migrant farmworker housing open year-round, and remove restrictions on the length of time a person or family can stay in an agricultural worker housing unit at a migrant farm labor center.
- Approved a measure for voters this fall, which would establish a requirement at 55 percent approval for local bond measures to fund housing projects and investments.
- Appropriated $150 million in 2024-25 and $100 million in 2025-26 for clearing dangerous mass homeless encampments
Protecting Communities
Californians want, need and deserve to feel safe. While violent crime rates remain at historic lows, organized criminal enterprises have compromised all of us with large-scale, coordinated smash-and-grab burglaries. These crimes victimize business owners of all sizes and their employees, and have a chilling effect on everyone’s sense of well-being. At the same time, Californians do not want to return to the state’s mass incarceration past, both because of high costs to taxpayers, and also because they want to see rehabilitation programs succeed. Speaker Rivas prioritized public safety from Day One in office, sponsoring and driving a comprehensive, bipartisan legislative bill package to reduce retail theft and hold thieves accountable.
Increasing Resources for Low-Income and Homeless Californians
With the support of his family and community, Speaker Rivas elevated himself out of poverty and farmworker housing to the State Capitol, a trajectory that gives him a direct understanding how public services truly change lives when delivered efficiently, effectively and with compassion.
- In one of his earliest actions in office, Speaker Rivas created a new Budget Subcommittee on Human Services, to focus on ensuring CalWORKs, CalFresh and In-home Supportive Services are more effective and impactful.
- As Speaker, he has championed investments into programs to address homelessness. These include:
- $4.3 billion in housing and homelessness-related expenditures and enhanced oversight
- $379 million directly to communities to support programs to address homelessness locally
- $1 billion in funding for local emergency homeless funding in this year’s budget
Improving Public Education
As a product of public schools himself, Speaker Rivas understands education is an investment in our future generations and the California Dream. Through his leadership, the Assembly accomplished the following:
- Protecting funding for the Golden State Teacher Grant to ensure a pipeline of new qualified teachers in high-need classrooms across California
- Rejecting budget cuts to the Middle Class Scholarship, preserving money to help college students afford higher education
- Sending a $10 billion school infrastructure bond to the voters to approve in November
Advancing Health Care Access
In a medical emergency, every minute matters, and for rural communities such as those in Speaker Rivas’ district, life-saving care can oftentimes be too far away. Under the Speaker’s leadership, the Assembly has worked diligently to protect and expand residents’ access to preventative and emergency care by:
- Restoring hundreds of millions of dollars in public health funding and retaining investments in health-care workforce training and child and youth behavioral health
- Delivering community and distressed hospitals immediate financial assistance to sustain services in local and rural communities
- Allowing Arizona reproductive care providers to immediately perform abortion services for Arizonans who travel to California
Supporting Victims And Survivors
Under the Speaker’s leadership, California has made historic budget investments to help victims and survivors. Budget and legislative accomplishments include:
- $99 million for crime victims services
- $54 million for grants for human trafficking victim services
- $12 million to process sexual assault kits
- Extending criminal protective orders issued against domestic violence convicts from 10 to 15 years.
Defending Children and Young Adults
As he entered into office, the Speaker recognized that California’s children and young adults were especially vulnerable to sexual assault, driven by technologies that give predators greater access to victims. On his watch, the Assembly has:
- Allocated $10 million for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Forces
- Created a new crime to intentionally distribute sexual deepfake of identifiable individuals.
- Required CSU and UC to give students information on how to get a sexual assault forensic exam and transportation to and from the exam.
- Eliminated the time limit to recover civil damages for childhood sexual assault.
- Allowed wiretapping and interception of electronic communication to combat child pornography.
- Required social media platforms to provide a mechanism to report child sexual abuse materials.
- Helped introduce legislation to expand flavored-tobacco ban and provide law enforcement with new tools and authority to target illicit vendors that exploit law and target young people
Fighting Fentanyl to Save Lives
Working with Assemblymembers from both sides of the aisle, the Speaker provided new and important tools to fight Fentanyl’s devastating impact on Californians:
- $42.8 million for statewide enforcement program to combat fentanyl manufacturing, distribution, and trafficking by organized criminal enterprises.
- $183 million to develop and distribute low or no-cost Naloxone and test strips to save people’s lives.
- $14.6 million to communities to support local fentanyl mitigation programs.
Advocating for Urgent Climate Action
Speaker Rivas strongly believes tackling climate change should be a top priority for California lawmakers. Over the past year, Speaker Rivas has furthered the Golden State’s legacy as a vanguard for climate action by:
- Sending a $10 billion bond, focused on wildfire prevention and clean air and water projects, to the voters for consideration in November
- Taking meaningful and landmark steps to secure cleaner energy, invest in zero-emissions vehicles and require greater transparency and accountability when it comes to large companies and their emissions footprint, including the passage of SB 253 and SB 261
- protecting more than $5 billion this budget year in climate-related investments
- passing legislation to strengthen the state’s fence-line air monitoring program, which aims to protect vulnerable communities from the harmful effects of refinery air pollution
- passing AB 126, which reauthorized California’s Clean Transportation Program and guarantees funding to cut vehicle pollution in underserved communities.
Supporting Local, Independent and Statewide Businesses
In the past year, Speaker Rivas has prioritized supporting businesses across California, including focusing on reducing retail theft and ensuring that small and independent businesses can thrive.
- Developing a retail crime and theft legislative package that would protect businesses of all sizes, provide law enforcement tools to ensure people who steal are held accountable and keep owners and customers.
- Sending a $10 billion school infrastructure bond and a $10 billion climate infrastructure bond to the voters for consideration in November
- Extending the Film and Television Tax Credit Program at $330 million General Fund per year for five years beginning in 2025-26, with significant enhancements to strengthen and support diversity in the California film industry.
- Helped orchestrate a PAGA compromise agreement, recognizing companies that follow labor laws and putting more muscle into enforcement.
- Implementing into law a required high school course in personal finance
Centering The Work Around Accountability
Speaker Rivas has always emphasized the Assembly’s responsibility to “look in the rearview mirror” and understands that good governance is about the quality, not the quantity, of bills — and feels the Legislature must always know what’s working, what’s not, and why.
- In one of his earliest actions as Speaker, he established a new Budget Subcommittee on Accountability and Oversight, with an independent chairperson, to examine state expenditures and recommend course-corrections earlier in program lifespans. The committee helps the Assembly collectively make informed decisions about whether to further invest or modify funding. broad authority to closely review state programs and expenditures, with the goal of delivering the most effective and efficient public services.
Transparency, Always
Since taking office, Speaker Rivas has participated in several dozen media interviews, press conferences and moderated events, giving reporters, community members and the public unprecedented access to his perspective, governance and goals.
