California lawmakers are finding that laws passed in Sacramento do not always work as intended once implemented. A new Assembly oversight program has identified gaps in laws addressing wildfire recovery, insurance, foster care and clean energy.
Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister) announced Aug. 17 that the Assembly had completed the first year of its Outcomes Review program. Billed as the first initiative of its kind in the nation, the program enlisted 15 Assembly members to evaluate 14 laws they authored or championed. Through public hearings and community meetings, lawmakers assessed whether the measures were producing their intended results.
“Passing a law isn’t the finish line,” said Rivas. “The Outcomes Review project makes sure we’re checking our work.”
The reviews identified both successes and shortcomings. The expansion of telehealth largely improved access to care and provided patients with greater flexibility. Affordable housing financing reforms also strengthened coordination among state agencies and could reduce duplicative paperwork, development costs and delays.
Other reviews uncovered more significant implementation problems.
One focused on Assembly Bill (AB) 238, which was enacted after the Eaton and Palisades fires to provide eligible borrowers with up to 12 months of emergency mortgage forbearance. The review found lender noncompliance, insufficient consumer complaint data and a need for stronger coordination between state and federal agencies.
Those findings helped shape AB 1842 and AB 1847, both victim-protection bills that are currently pending in the Senate.
After discovering that California’sFAIR Plan clearinghouse was failing to transition affected homeowners back into the private insurance market, Assemblymember Lisa Calderon (D-Whittier) introduced AB 69 to fix the issue.
A separate review found that the California Public Utilities Commission’s implementation of AB 2316 had not fulfilled the law’s intent or produced new community solar projects. In response, Assemblymember Chris Ward (D-San Diego) introduced AB 1813, legislation to overhaul the state’s renewable energy program and increase access to solar technology.
Lawmakers also found that the FAIR Plan clearinghouse was not effectively helping homeowners move into the traditional insurance market, prompting the introduction of AB 69, legislation adding new reporting, notification, and access requirements.
The program identified additional implementation problems related to foster care placement protections, oversight of charitable fundraising and wage theft enforcement.
Rivas said the findings demonstrate the need for lawmakers to continue evaluating legislation after it takes effect.
“This isn’t oversight for its own sake — it’s what accountability looks like, and we’re just getting started,” he said.
The Assembly plans to expand the Outcomes Review program in 2027 by involving more lawmakers and holding additional public hearings and community meetings. The next phase, according to Rivas, will build on the pilot year as lawmakers seek to identify implementation problems earlier and improve how state laws work in practice.
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