(The Center Square) – California’s progressive lawmakers in the state Democratic Party announced their 2026 legislative priorities on Tuesday, discussing bills ranging from artificial intelligence regulations to child care support and health care.
The Progressive Caucus announced its bills during a press conference at the Capitol. The caucus includes 37 Democratic members of the state Senate and Assembly.
“As California faces difficult budget years, many of us are working on progressive revenue solutions that make sure the cost of programs that people rely on are not shifted onto working people and taxpayers,” Assemblymember Sade Elhawary, D-Los Angeles, told reporters in Sacramento.
At least two of the proposals forwarded by the 20 or so bills discussed on Tuesday either create new methods of funding, such as the elimination of the Waters Edge corporate tax break, would be paid for by new revenue generation or would go through the normal appropriations process, Assemblymember Alex Lee, D-Milpitas, said, answering a question from The Center Square.
“In the totality of things, we’re envisioning new programs and new investments, but we’re also talking about who isn’t paying their fair share,” Lee said. “In California, the bottom 20% pay only 0.3% point more than the top 1% of all Californians.”
The elimination of the Waters Edge tax break, in particular, was introduced in recent weeks by Assemblymember Damon Connolly, D-San Rafael, and aims to make corporations in California pay more taxes to help backfill important social services programs that often rely on federal money. Those programs, like Medi-Cal, saw reductions in federal budget dollars after the summer 2025 passage of the federal budget – House Resolution 1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“It’s estimated to cost Californians roughly $3-4 billion a year, and incentivizes shifting as much income as possible offshore through the use of subsidiaries and tax havens,” Connolly said about Assembly Bill 1790. “AB 1790 restores fairness by repealing this tax break at a time when the wealth gap in America is as it was during the Gilded Age.”
Other legislation announced on Tuesday included bills that limit corporations’ ability to purchase homes instead of families, requiring employers to provide adequate health care coverage to employees, restoring Medi-Cal access to illegal immigrants in California, reforming laws to help keep the doors open for struggling child care providers, limiting retailers’ ability to use customers identifiable information to change prices on goods and services for different demographics of customers, and reinforcing regulations that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
