Assembly designates July 14–18 as California Western Monarch Protection Week

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 103, designating July 14–18, 2025 as California Western Monarch Protection Week, was adopted by the Assembly on June 4, 2025.

Assemblymember Jordan Addis presented the measure on behalf of the California Legislative Central Coast Caucus and reviewed steep declines in western monarch numbers over recent decades. Addis and other speakers cited data that counts of western monarchs during peak migration have fallen more than 80% in 25 years — from figures cited in the transcript of over 1.2 million in earlier decades to 233,000 in the most recent peak year — and noted a 2024 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to designate more than 4,300 acres in California as critical monarch habitat. The sponsor said the week is intended to focus attention on milkweed restoration, habitat protection and conservation efforts at overwintering groves along the coast.

Co‑sponsors and supporters including Assemblymember Pellerin and Assemblymember Hart spoke to the economic and community importance of monarch overwintering sites, particularly in coastal communities such as Pacific Grove, Goleta and Santa Cruz. Pellerin used a symbolic prop (butterfly wings) to emphasize the conservation message; Hart recounted population declines at Elwood Grove, noting historical counts as high as 80,000 and recent counts as low as 34 at that site.

The clerk recorded 65 coauthors during the coauthoring period. The Assembly adopted the resolution by voice vote; the chair announced the ayes prevailed and the resolution was adopted. The measure is commemorative and encourages conservation efforts; it does not appropriate funds.