Civil Rights Department: antidiscrimination campaigns.

Assembly Member Jackson anchors a new Government Code provision authorizing the Civil Rights Department to create statewide and regional anti-discrimination media campaigns, contingent on appropriation, to discourage discrimination across protected characteristics such as disability, gender, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation, using radio, social media, and television as the primary channels. The timing envisions campaigns beginning no later than the later of July 1, 2026 or one year after appropriation, reflecting a funding-dependent rollout.

The bill specifies a governance mechanism in which the department convenes a working group to develop an implementation plan. The nine members appointed by the department director must reflect geographic and demographic diversity and possess marketing and messaging expertise, supplemented by one Assembly member and one Senate member. The working group would not be subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, a prerogative the bill justifies with findings that diverse and expert input is necessary for campaign development. The distribution of advertisements intended to combat hate violence would be determined by hate crime rate data for each community with a common protected characteristic, as reported by the Attorney General or other reliable data sources.

Operationally, the section would not take effect until funding and positions are appropriated, with the department required to notify the Secretary of State, the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, and the Legislative Counsel Bureau upon appropriation. The bill adds a single new Government Code section focused on creating and administering the outreach program, while maintaining the Civil Rights Department’s broader role under existing civil rights laws without altering enforcement powers or penalties. The provision references a data-driven allocation framework and ties campaign deployment to the availability of budgetary resources, without specifying funding amounts in the statute.

In context, the measure creates a funded outreach program that complements existing civil rights enforcement by expanding public messaging, while raising questions about transparency for the working group and the mechanics of data-based ad allocation. The proposal relies on future budget decisions to define scope and scale, and leaves open-ended questions about content standards, performance metrics, and reporting requirements, which would be addressed through subsequent budgetary action and implementation steps.