Assembly Arts Entertainment Sports And Tourism Committee

Well, good morning. I want to welcome you all to 2026 and to today's hearing of the Assembly Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports and tourism. We have two items are on our agenda today. AB 1706 by assembly woman Sanchez was pulled from the agenda at the request of the author. Each bill in this committee will have up to two main witnesses and support and two in opposition.

And each witness would receive up to two minutes to be able to present the bill. I invite you to feel free to submit written testimony through the position portal on the committee's website which will become part of the official record of the bills this morning. We are in state Capitol room 444. And for those attending in person, please know that any conduct which disrupts, disturbs or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the hearing is prohibited. Continued disruptions will result in individuals being escorted from the Capitol by Assembly sergeants. Importantly, I want to take a moment to recognize our new committee secretary for her first hearing. Would you please welcome Veronica Levins. And I would certainly like to invite all members of the committee to Capitol Room 444 at this time. We have a short agenda, but an important one. And we'd like to invite up through a subcommittee, our first author, Assemblymember Alanis. When you are ready, you may approach the presentation table and begin.

Good morning. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Members. Every day, hundreds of thousands of students participate in school athletics. They place their trust in the adults responsible for making sure their games and competitions are safe and fair. AB 1572 aims to strengthen that trust by requiring the California Interscholastic Federation, or cif, to conduct annual reviews to make sure that sports. Sports officials such as referees, umpires and judges have met the highest safety, training and qualification standards. This bill will also create an accessible online platform for schools and athletic programs to easily verify the qualifications and certification status of officials. By improving transparency and accountability, schools will be better equipped to ensure that only properly qualified individuals are officiating students sporting events. With me today is Michelle McKay Underwood, who represents CIF. To answer any technical questions and. Thank you.

No. I know you have a busy day. Michelle Underwood, on behalf of the California Interscholastic Federation, the state Office and its 10 sections are in support and here to answer any questions you may have.

Yes.

And do I sit over there or do I just sit here?

Okay. So my name is Beth Bourne, and I represent the coalition of sane people and mothers that are concerned about cif, the California Interscholastic Federation, having coaches believe or actually being forced to tell children that they are born in the wrong body and that a boy can compete in girls sports and a girl can compete in boys sports if they have a transgender identity, which could be.

Oh, yes. So why would we require that coaches be registered Right. Right now, it's worked in the past where we've allowed coaches who are trusted by the school principals, the school athletic director, the school administration. They've already gone through the process, the background checks. What this is trying to do is force coaches to comply with this insane California Interscholastic Federation, which. It's child abuse to tell children that they could be born in the wrong body and that girls should allow boys in their locker rooms and in their sp. Thank you.

If you want to protect children.

It's great bill. I'd love to be added as a co author.

We will. Thank you. Move the bill at a time. We have a quorum. We'll be able to take a motion. That's all right, Mr. Vice Chair. I appreciate it, the enthusiasm with that. We don't have a quorum yet, but I invite you to close and we'll take a vote at the time that we have a quorum.

Thank you, Senator Alanis. I certainly recognize your passion in this area. You've done several pieces of good work here to be able to further the support for our students and the health that they have through a lot of our CIF related sports activities. I know this is an extension of a pilot program that has actually proven very well and Everything. So we want to make sure when something is working well that it's becoming the new norm. We know that referees are officials that interact daily with our student athletes. They do play a very critical role in ensuring fair competition and maintaining a lot of order in the field and or on the court. So we do appreciate that this bill does aim to ensure the safety and well being of our high school athletes by holding a lot of those individuals officiating our school contest to a baseline level of vetting comparable to other adults who work with students. I think at this time, we do have a member of our committee joining us, so we will go ahead and pause to establish quorum. Madam Secretary, please call the roll.

Present.

Yes, ma'. Am.

Here.

Here.

call the roll on the item AB 1572? The motion is due passed to the Assembly Committee on Education.

Ward, Aye. Lackey, Aye. Lackey, Aye. El hawari. Jeff Gonzalez. McKinnor. Ortega.

Ortega, Aye. Cork Silva.

Cork. Silva. Aye. Valencia. Spurr. Spur.

That will pass, has five votes. We will hold the roll open for absent members.

Thank you. I see our second and final author of the day, Ms. Summer Pacheco, who's here to present AB 1665. If you want to get yourself situated, no rush. When you are ready, you may begin your presentation.

Okay.

AB 1034 by Assemblymember Avila Farias, signed into law last year, took an important step by requiring teachers to undergo youth mental health training to receive their teaching credentials. As we equip teachers with the training to support mental health, we should also consider other trusted adults in students lives who may not yet have the tools to do so. As trusted mentors, coaches are often the first to hear about student athlete mental health challenges. They have the unique opportunity to spot mental health crisis and point students towards appropriate resources. School coaches are required to complete training to support student athlete physical health, including education on concussions, cardiac arrest and heat illness. Yet these safety courses do not include any instruction about how to support student athletes mental health. Even though physical and mental well being are closely connected, AB 1665 requires sports coaches to complete a mental health training course. Approved by the California Department of Education, the bill will equip coaches who see and interact closely with student athletes to recognize when a student may be struggling. The committee amendments ensure that the bill applies to all school coaches K through 12 and align the bill with the California Interscholastic Federation's existing statute. With me today in support of the measure is Danielle Domenicoli, former high school, college and pro athlete and current sport Development Director for the Sacramento Running Association. I will now hand it over to her.

Good morning. As you mentioned, I'm Danielle Domenicali. I'm a former student athlete and currently serve as the Sport Development Director for the Sacramento Writing association and I'm here today to support AB 1665. I grew up playing multiple sports but ultimately found my greatest success in cross country and track. After high school, I went on to compete at the Division 1 level where I earned All American honors and later spent a year competing as a sponsored professional athlete. While achieved success in my sport, I also experience challenges that I now recognize could have been mitigated if my coaches had been better equipped to understand mental health concerns. When I first started distance running in high school, I asked one of my previous coaches if I should try to lose weight to look less like a soccer player and more like a distance runner. He said something along the lines of yeah, that could help. Maybe try and clean up what you eat. At the time it seemed like a small, harmless comment, but for me it reinforced the idea that I didn't yet look the part. And so throughout my running career, I compared my physical appearance to women excelling in sports. I became convinced that restricting what I ate was necessary to perform at the highest level. Looking back, I now understand I was struggling with body dysmorphic disorder, which led to disordered eating and a condition known as relative energy deficiency in sport. Although I had great moments of success in my running, toward the end of college, I suffered my first stress fracture. After graduating, I struggled to complete workouts and experienced significant declines in both my physical and mental health. It took me many years to rebuild a healthy relationship with my body and my sport. I have met many athletes with similar experiences. In today's world where social media amplifies pressures around appearance and performance, I believe these challenges are becoming even more widespread. In my current role, I work with athletes of all ages, from elementary school students to professional athletes. I see firsthand how critical mental health is not only for performance, but for confidence, belonging and overall well being. Athletes are often their own toughest critics and the environment we create for them matter deeply. Providing coaches with training to recognize warning signs, communicate responsibly and support athletes in accessing help is essential. I respect respectfully urge you to support AB 1665.

Good morning. Leah Barrows on behalf of California Hospital association in support.

Andrew Govener on behalf of The San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, the A's, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants in support. Apologies for not getting our letter in on time, but we'll have one shortly.

Good morning. Dylan Elliott, on behalf of the California

Yeah,

Okay, thank you. Good morning Chairman Ward and members of the committee. My name is Meg Madden speaking on behalf of Women Are Real, a California based nonpartisan women's coalition advocating for the sex based rights of women and girls. About 65% of this group is Democrats and over 75% are lesbian or bisexual. Women Are Real strongly supports the mental health and well being of student athletes, especially girls. We firmly oppose AB 1665. The bill requires mental health training for high school coaches that is defined and approved by the California Department of Education and the California Interscalactic Federation, two organizations that have repeatedly shown they cannot be trusted to protect girls mental health. The CIF and the CDE direct coaches to allow boys into girls locker rooms and onto girls teams. This profoundly erodes girls safety, dignity, privacy as well as their trust in the adults meant to protect them. This practice is also not mentally beneficial to any boy who has been misled to believe that he is somehow female. Ironically, Boys and girls with trans delusions often suffer from eating disorders and body dysmorphia. There is no credible evidence that so called social transition prevents suicide or improves long term mental health outcomes. The ACLU itself conceded this before the Supreme Court. Worldwide health bodies are retreating from these interventions due to weak evidence. History shows US bills like AB 1665 are used to push ideological hogwash about gender identities. This time under the guise of mental health for athletes. We urge you to reject AB 1665 and protect California's girls from policies that place ideology above their safety, dignity and genuine well being. Thank you and I welcome any questions.

Chairman Ward and members of the committee, Good morning. My name is Beth Bourne representing cause the Californians United for Sex Based Evidence and Policy and Law, a nonpartisan coalition. We strongly oppose AB 1665 which would mandate mental health training for CIF high school coaches approved by the California Department of Education. California volunteer coaches already compete extensive record required training from accredited sources. There's no evidence that additional training is necessary or would be helpful. But even if there were, the CDE nor CIF can be trusted to develop or approve safe effective training in this area. Both have embraced extremist gender identity ideology, encouraging school staff, including coaches, to identify, affirm and even secretly facilitate social transitions for students without parents knowledge. This amounts to unlicensed psychiatric practice and has contributed to tragic outcomes. We see this in lawsuits against districts like LA Unified after secret interventions by the school allegedly led to a young man's suicide. And in Palo Alto Unified where two trans identified minors took their lives in the space of a year. Despite school and family affirmation, there is no credible evidence that affirmation prevents suicide. As even the ACLU has admitted. There's no evidence that this bill's mandate would be helpful in every reason. To fear misuse, to push activists agenda over genuine therapy. We urge you to vote no on AB 1665 to protect students. Thank you for your time and I welcome any questions.

Thank you.

Leslie Sawyer, acting as myself chair of

Thank you very much. Any other members of the public wishing to register a position? Okay, we'll turn this back to committee member questions or comments? Some member, Cork Silva.

So, Mersebert, so I just want to

Thank you.

Thank you. And I just want to thank you all for this opportunity to present AB 1665. And to the comments. Thank you so much. Because protecting our student athletes is important. And I am working with Assemblymember Gabriel and Assemblymember Erwin on their bills as well. And so for me and for us, protecting our student athletes are important. Assemblymember Erwin actually has a story what happened in her district with an athlete committing suicide. And that just goes to show why these three bills are so important and so vital to protect our student athletes. And with that, I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

AB 1665. Motion is due. Pass with amendments to the Assembly Committee on Education.

Ward.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Yes.

That bill will be out. Has seven votes. We'll hold the roll open for absent members.

Thank you. And Madam Secretary, we'll go back to item number one to pick up any absent members. And when you are ready, you may reopen the roll.

Aye.

Just the opposite.

Al Hawari. Jeff Gonzalez.

Jeff gonzalez. Aye. McKenna.

Mckenna. Aye. Valencia.

Valencia I.

AB 1572. Al Hawari.

Al Hawari. Aye.

AB 1665. Al Hawari.

Al Hawari, aye.

Congratulations.

AB 1665. Lackey, aye. Lackey, aye.