Senate education subcommittee advances bills on student safety, school meals, teacher pay and campus services; votes recorded

The Senate Education Committee moved a slate of education-related bills after hours of testimony from lawmakers, college and district leaders, student advocates and labor and industry groups.

The proposals ranged from a student medical-amnesty measure and expanded substitute-teacher time limits to a new state review of ultra-processed foods in school meals. Committee members spent the longest periods on safe-parking at community colleges, a broad teacher-pay target proposal and whether to expand written notice and alternatives for K-12 animal dissection assignments.

Why it matters: The bills touch core education operations — how districts staff classrooms and disciplinary and health responses, what schools feed students, and how campuses and community colleges respond to homelessness. Many of the measures advanced do not themselves appropriate money but either set state expectations or move to fiscal committees where costs will be weighed.

What the committee did - AB 602 (student medical-amnesty): Following testimony from UC Berkeley students and youth advocates about students who avoided calling for emergency help, the committee passed the bill as amended to the Senate Appropriations Committee. The author, Assemblymember Haney, and student witnesses argued the change would reduce fatal delays in life‑threatening incidents and require rehabilitation or counseling as part of the response. Opponents said the bill should not preclude appropriate discipline in repeat or nonmedical cases; the committee limited the protection to once per academic term and retained exemptions for sexual assault, hazing and other violations.

- AB 90 (community college overnight/safe parking): Assemblymember Jackson won committee passage, as amended, to Senate Judiciary after colleges, community groups and several community college leaders debated whether safe parking is an appropriate, funded response. Supporters described safe parking as a last-resort stabilization tool for students living in vehicles; opponents from campuses said existing…