ICAN Statement of Support for California AB 715 and SB 48

The Israeli-American Civic Action Network (ICAN) strongly supports AB 715 (Zbur, Addis) and SB 48 (Gonzalez), legislation now before the California Senate Education Committee that takes important steps to protect students from discrimination, harassment, and bias, including antisemitism.

ICAN represents the Israeli-American and Jewish-American communities across California. Our mission is to combat antisemitism and hate, expand Holocaust education, and ensure Jewish and Israeli students are afforded equal protection in California schools.

AB 715 establishes clear prohibitions against antisemitic learning environments and strengthens protections for all students through the creation of the Office of Civil Rights and an Antisemitism Prevention Coordinator. SB 48 builds on this framework by requiring additional discrimination prevention coordinators and ensuring that local educational agencies maintain equitable and secure learning environments.

These measures advance the policy framework first envisioned in SB 1421 (Stern, 2024), which ICAN proudly supported, and we commend Senator Stern in that earlier effort, which laid the groundwork for today’s more comprehensive approach.

We thank Assemblymembers Zbur and Addis, Senator Gonzalez, and their colleagues for carrying this effort forward in the current legislative session. Their leadership reflects the urgency of addressing the alarming rise in antisemitism and related forms of hate across California.

AB 715 and SB 48 are necessary steps in the right direction. They provide strong protections, clear accountability, and a coordinated statewide framework to ensure that schools remain safe, inclusive, and respectful environments for every student.