By Antonio Ray Harvey
Contributing Writer
LOS ANGELES — A bill authored by Assemblywoman Sade Elhawary, D-Los Angeles, and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom will extend by four years the work of the California Commission on the State of Hate.
Assembly Bill 822 allows the commission to continue analyzing the state of hate in California; developing recommendations for prevention and response; issuing an annual report; and creating policy recommendations through Jan. 1, 2031.
Assembly Bill 1126, which created the commission in 2022, had a sunset clause in it, calling fot the commission’s work to be completed by the end of this year.
“We introduced AB 822 to make sure the State of Hate Commission can keep doing the work to protect our communities and stop the spread of hate,” Elhawary said. “This fight isn’t over, and we need to keep showing up.”
The bill passed both houses with broad bipartisan support, receiving a 65-3 approval in the Assembly on June 2, and a unanimous decision of 39-0 in the Senate on Sept. 8.
Newsom signed the bill on Oct. 13 as part of a package aimed at combating the rise of hate crimes and rhetoric. AB 822 addresses various forms of discrimination and hate, including measures to protect LGBT communities and strengthen laws against specific threats of violence.
The commission is a state-appointed public body established to strengthen California’s efforts to monitor, prevent, and respond to hate activity and support those targeted by hate. It operates under the umbrella of the California Civil Rights Department, which focuses heavily on hate, operating the CA vs. Hate hotline for reporting hate incidents and crimes, connecting victims with support, tracking hate activity, and working to prevent violence through its Community Conflict Resolution Unit.
The Civil Rights Department enforces laws against discrimination and bias-motivated violence, aiming to protect Californians from various forms of hate.
The commission is tasked with a variety of duties to address hate in California, including research and fact-finding on the nature and prevalence of hate activity and related crimes across the state.
It publishes annual reports that share a comprehensive accounting of hate activity and recommends policies to the governor and the Legislature. The commission also hosts community forums to raise awareness of the state of hate and to gather input from the public and community leaders.
In 2024, there were 494 reported anti-Black hate crime events in California, a 4.6% decrease from 518 in 2023, according to the California Department of Justice.
In Los Angeles County, there were 345 anti-Black crimes recorded in 2024, the highest number ever recorded for the county since reporting began in 1980.
“AB 822 ensures California continues to respond with care, urgency, and long-term solutions, not just reactive headlines,” Elhawary said. “The fight against hate doesn’t start somewhere else. It starts with us.”
Days before Newsom signed AB 822, the Civil Rights Department — in partnership with the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s California Health Interview Survey — released the results of a new representative survey on the experiences of Californians aged 12 and older with hate across the state.
The findings revealed an estimated 3.1 million Californians directly experienced at least one act of hate over the course of a year between 2023 and 2024.
“Official hate crime reports only capture a fraction of the picture,” Civil Rights Department Director Kevin Kish said. “This survey makes it absolutely clear that programs like California vs Hate are vital to help fill the gap. Whether it’s bullying in schools or verbal harassment on the street, we’re stronger when we come together in the face of hate.”
AB 822 was supported by more than 20 organizations, including the California Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology, which argued that it was “alarmed by findings in the commission’s latest report” and the increases in hate “targeting communities already experiencing marginalization and discrimination, such as Black, LGBT, Latino and transgender populations.”
“These realities emphasize the continued necessity of the commission’s work in preventing and responding effectively to hate-based incidents,” the academy stated the state Senate Judiciary Committee’s executive summary in July.
The state operates the CA vs. Hate hotline at 1-833-8NO-HATE. It is a multilingual, anonymous opportunity to report hate incidents and crimes, connecting people with resources.
Antonio Ray Harvey is a reporter for California Black Media.
