On the Quest for Democracy

At Quest for Democracy (Q4D), we facilitate direct access to State Legislators and provide close engagement with the democratic process for hundreds of community members, nonprofit organizations, and formerly incarcerated individuals. We speak to the devastating realities of the criminal legal system and challenge assumptions of incarceration and rehabilitation. 

Q4D is a powerful platform for the movement of directly impacted individuals to build and lead the movement to release incarcerated people, to restore human and civil rights, to reunify families and communities, and to provide relief to families and those on the inside. Participants who had registered for legislative advocacy training learned about the California legislative process and the deep intricacies of each of the bills on this year’s policy platform. People were split into small teams based on their interests. On the event day, these teams made various visits to different legislators in the California State Assembly and Senate to speak to their personal experiences addressed by this platform.

The policy platform uplifted at at this year’s Q4D followed the three R’s of LSPC’s mission: LSPC organizes communities impacted by the criminal justice system and advocates to release incarcerated people, to restore human and civil rights, and to reunify families and communities. Below are the bills from the Q4D platform that LSPC and AOUON co-sponsored in 2025’s CA legislative process.

RELEASE (FROM BONDAGE & SLAVERY)
Assembly Bill 475 • End Slavery in CA Statute
Author: Wilson
Position: Support

Existing law requires the CDCR to require each able-bodied inmate to work as prescribed by CDCR regulations, AND to participate in 8 hours a day of programming, including labor, education, counseling, physical fitness, and other programs, 5 days per week; anyone who fails to participate as required is subject to a loss of privileges, including the earning of good conduct credit. This bill would no longer require CDCR to require each able-bodied inmate to work and would instead require CDCR to develop a voluntary work program and to prescribe rules and regulations regarding voluntary work assignments for CDCR inmates, including the wages for work assignments, and would require wages for work assignments in county and city jail programs to be set by local ordinance. However it does not explicitly prohibit discipline for declining a work assignment or any labor. This bill also fails to ensure that ALL labor in CDCR MUST be voluntary, therefore leaving loopholes to CDCR to exploit to continue forced labor practices.

Assembly Bill 1279 • Juvenile 3 Strikes
Author: Sharp-Collins
Position: Support

Existing law (Prop 184, 1994; Three Strikes Reform Act, 2012, and Prop 6, 2012), commonly known as the Three Strikes Law, imposes additional years of imprisonment in state prison on a person who commits a serious or violent felony and has been convicted of, or who has a prior conviction for, a serious or violent felony. A prior
juvenile adjudication constitutes a prior serious or violent felony conviction for purposes of this sentence enhancement if the juvenile was 16 years of age at the time and other requirements are met. This bill would prohibit a prior juvenile adjudication from being considered a prior serious or violent felony conviction for purposes of sentence enhancement.

Assembly Constitutional Amendment 6 • Remove Slavery from CA Constitution
Position: Oppose Unless Amended

The California Constitution prohibits slavery and prohibits involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. This measure would instead prohibit slavery in all forms. This measure would clarify that its provisions do not prohibit the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from awarding credits to an incarcerated person who voluntarily accepts a work assignment.

We oppose this amendment because as it is currently worded, involuntary servitude would still exist for incarcerated people if the California Constitution were amended to say, “Slavery in all forms is prohibited” because slavery is technically already prohibited; that prohibition does not extend to forced prison labor because under constitutional law, forced prison labor is considered a form of punishment, not slavery.

RESTORE (HUMAN & CIVIL RIGHTS)
Assembly Bill 247 • Incarcerated Firefighters Wages
Author: Bryan
Position: Support

Existing law makes an inmate of a county jail who has completed training for assignment to a state or county facility as an inmate firefighter, or who is assigned to a state or county facility as an inmate firefighter, and who is eligible to earn one day of credit for every one day of incarceration, instead eligible to earn 2 days of credit to reduce their term for every one day served in that assignment or after completing that training. This bill would maintain this credit provision and additionally mandate that incarcerated hand crew members receive an hourly wage of $19 when engaged in an active fire incident. This bill would require that wage to be updated annually.

Assembly Bill 248 • Living Wage for All
Author: Bryan
Position: Support

Existing law authorizes incarcerated workers to be paid no more than $2 for each 8 hours of work performed in jail. This bill would remove this cap and instead put the wage determination on the county board of supervisors This bill challenges exploitative labor practices within jails, which have been criticized for perpetuating economic disparities.

Assembly Bill 1424 • Climate Justice and Emergency Response Act
Author: Rodriguez
Position: Support

This bill would require the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to submit a rulemaking proposal for the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board’s review and adoption that is specifically applicable to workers in any prison or institution under the jurisdiction of the CDCR, and would require the CDCR to take various actions relating to climate control and working conditions in prisons, including ensuring that facilities are equipped with adequate cooling systems, adding shade structures, ensuring that facilities install temperature monitoring systems, and establishing and regularly updating an emergency response and evacuation plan for each correctional facility to protect the safety of incarcerated individuals during extreme weather events. The bill would require the department to implement an annual training for all staff on preventing, identifying, and managing heat-related illnesses, and would require the creation of a working group to ensure regular maintenance, upkeep, accessibility of use, and implementation of these actions related to climate control and working conditions.

Senate Bill 423 • Incarcerated Firefighters Workforce Development
Author: Smallwood-Cuevas
Position: Support

This bill would require the CDCR and the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to expand access to community college courses that lead to degrees and certificates in specified subjects including fire science for individuals serving in California Conservation Corps handcrews or institutional firehouses. Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and requires the department to be responsible fire protection and prevention. This bill would require that the department, CCC, and CDCR operate an enhanced firefighter training and certification program at the Ventura Training Center and would also require the operation of an enhanced firefighter training and certification program at a facility in the northern region of the state.

REUNIFY (FAMILIES & COMMUNITIES)
Assembly Bill 651 • Access to Justice
Author: Bryan
Position: Support

Existing law requires notice of and the opportunity for an incarcerated parent to be physically present in proceedings terminating their parental rights or seeking to adjudicate the child of a prisoner a dependent child of the court. This bill would also require notice of, and the opportunity for an incarcerated parent to be physically present in, specified additional dependency hearings relating to their child. Existing law authorizes a parent to waive their right to be physically present, or a person in charge of the incarcerating institution to submit an affidavit that the prisoner does not intend to appear at the proceeding. The bill would additionally require an incarcerated parent who has waived the right to be physically present to be given the opportunity to participate in those proceedings by videoconference or teleconferencing.

Assembly Bill 800 • Vending Machines in CDCR Visiting Rooms
Author: Ortega
Position: Support

Existing law establishes the CDCR’s powers and duties regarding the administration of correctional
facilities and the care and custody of inmates. This bill would require the department to price all food items sold in prison vending machines at the same average market retail price as in the community in which the prison is located. The bill would also require the department to take into consideration research that exists on junk foods and snacks as a cause of obesity in children and families when providing food in the state prison, and to encourage the provision of affordable, fresh, and nutritious food items in prison vending machines and the sourcing of food items from local farmers and producers.

Assembly Bill 923 • Detention and Incarceration of Pregnant and Postpartum Defendants
Author: Quirk-Silva
Position: Support

This bill would authorize a pregnant or postpartum defendant to request a stay of execution of their sentence if the pregnant or postpartum defendant is detained or incarcerated in a county jail for any period of time through the end of the pregnancy or the postpartum period. When a court is exercising discretion regarding matters such as releasing a defendant on their own recognizance or accepting a diversion or deferred entry of judgment agreement, this bill would make a rebuttable presumption against detention and incarceration of a
pregnant or postpartum defendant when given sufficient notice of pregnant or postpartum status, and would require a court that decides to detain or incarcerate a defendant after this consideration to make specific findings on the record that the risk to public safety is substantial enough to outweigh the risk of incarceration.

Assembly Bill 1195: Incarcerated Parent Visitation
Author: Quirk-Silva
Position: Support

Existing law establishes that the incarceration or institutionalization of a parent or guardian can be grounds for removal of a dependent child from their custody if the child’s parents or guardian cannot arrange for the care of the minor. In this case, existing law requires the court to order reasonable services, including visitation, unless the court determines those services would be detrimental to the child. This bill would require any order placing a child in foster care, and ordering reunification services, to include specified provisions if the parent of the dependent child is incarcerated in a county jail, including, among others, that the incarcerated parent is entitled to regularly scheduled, in-person visitation, that the county jail is required to ensure that the incarcerated parent is made available to attend regularly scheduled, in-person visits with their dependent child, and that the child welfare agency and county jail are required to document all scheduled visits and submit that documentation to the court at each hearing in the dependency action. The bill would also authorize the use of videoconferencing technology or telephonic communication in lieu of in-person visits.