Truancy.

Assembly Member Ahrens, joined by Calderon, Lee, and Senator Pérez, advances a measure that removes a criminal misdemeanor historically imposed on parents or guardians when a child in kindergarten through eighth grade is chronically truant and has been offered support services. The core change is the repeal of that offense, with no new penalties or mandatory programs authored in the measure, which carries the short-title designation More Help Not Less Act of 2025.

Key provisions establish the act’s naming and remove the targeted criminal liability, leaving the compulsory education requirements for children 6 to 18 years old intact. The text does not introduce replacement penalties, new enforcement mechanisms, or mandated services. It does not specify an explicit effective date within the measure and indicates no statewide appropriation; the Fiscal Committee is noted as responsible for review. The legislative history shows amendments in both houses during 2025, with passage in September 2025 and enrollment on September 12, 2025.

Context and potential implications hinge on a policy framing that emphasizes non-criminal approaches to truancy. The bill’s authors describe a shift away from criminal penalties for parental conduct related to chronic truancy; however, the text does not prescribe new support programs or funding to accompany the repeal. Consequently, truancy interventions would continue to rely on existing Education Code provisions and local district practices, without a specified statewide replacement mechanism within this measure. Stakeholders—parents and guardians, students, school districts, law enforcement, and juvenile-justice actors—are affected primarily by the removal of the identified misdemeanor and by the absence of an explicit substitute framework in the bill.