California Senate committee advances bills on childcare staffing, campus housing, Native regalia and school board pay

A California State Senate subcommittee on Wednesday advanced a package of Assembly bills that included a temporary permit for associate teachers to address a childcare staffing shortage, expanded authority for community colleges to build student and staff housing, and measures on board composition, credentialing representation and ceremonial regalia.

The committee approved motions to pass seven bills to policy or appropriations committees. Top items included Assembly Bill 753, which the committee sent to the Senate Human Services Committee after testimony from Assemblymember (author) and early childhood providers; and AB 648, which would allow community colleges to build housing on property they own or lease within a half-mile of campus and was sent to the Senate Local Government Committee.

Why it matters: Providers and college officials told the committee the measures respond to immediate shortages and long-standing barriers. Childcare advocates cited severe workforce gaps that force centers to close classrooms, while community colleges said constrained land-use authority and local zoning slow needed campus housing projects that could serve students and surrounding communities.

Childcare staffing and AB 753

Assemblymember Garcia, the bill’s author, said AB 753 “proposes a temporary solution to the urgent staffing crisis within our childcare field.” Maeva Mark, vice president for advocacy and policy at Cadango, and Julia Terry of the Child Care Resource Center testified in support. Mark said Cadango has about 5,000 children and families in the Bay Area, employs more than 800 teachers and logged 466 vacancies from July 2023 to 2025; she added the organization had 143 associate teacher vacancies in that period.

The bill would allow individuals who have completed at least six early childhood education (ECE) units to be employed as an interim associate teacher for up to two years while they complete the 12 units required for the full permit. Supporters…