{"id":7965,"date":"2026-08-28T21:18:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T21:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7965"},"modified":"2026-08-28T21:18:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T21:18:50","slug":"thats-not-the-way-it-is-anymore-newsom-signs-law-to-prevent-pregnant-elected-officials-from-losing-their-seats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7965","title":{"rendered":"‘That’s not the way it is anymore’: Newsom signs law to prevent pregnant elected officials from losing their seats"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gov. Gavin Newsom this week signed a bill into law that rewrites parental leave rules for local elected officials, ensuring that city councilmembers won\u2019t lose their seats when they become new parents.<\/p>\n

Read more Bay Area schools are locking up students\u2019 phones. One district is betting there\u2019s a better way<\/a><\/p>\n

The Family Friendly City Councils Act, authored by state Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-San Luis Obispo), was inspired by a 2024 article from this news organization about Sunnyvale Councilmember Alysa Cisneros, who, at a public meeting when she was seven months pregnant, had to seek approval to take parental leave from her fellow council members.<\/p>\n

Cisneros was among the many local elected officials in California who wasn\u2019t covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act, putting her at risk of losing her seat since cities like Sunnyvale have rules in place to declare a seat vacant if a councilmember is absent for a certain number of meetings.<\/p>\n

The new law will prevent the kind of public process that Cisneros had to go through by requiring cities to set out a private procedure for councilmembers to notify city officials that they will be taking up to 12 weeks of leave. The law also prohibits parental leave from counting toward the number of allowed absences allotted to each council member.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen who are already doing extraordinarily difficult and important things with their time and in their lives will need to make one less painful, difficult decision,\u201d Cisneros said about not having to make a public declaration about a private medical matter. \u201cI know that this decision can mean the difference between somebody deciding to enter public service and represent people like themselves or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cisneros said that when Addis called her to give her the news she was \u201ccompletely shocked\u201d at how quickly the bill was signed into law. After a moment, she said it hit her how important it was for her to tell her story.<\/p>\n

AB 2134 received bipartisan support in both the state Assembly and state Senate, passing unanimously through both chambers. Addis said in a statement that the law is \u201cvital because it ensures local elected officials now have the family leave protections that millions of other Californians currently receive.\u201d It was Addis first bill of the legislative session, which ends Monday, to be signed into law. Newsom\u2019s office did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Read more San Jose apartment hub adds to deals tied to real estate mega-merger<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cLocal communities and our democracy as whole thrives when parents serve in elected office,\u201d she said. \u201cBut for far too long, barriers have made it harder for expectant and new parents to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In a statement, Liuba Grechen Shirley, the founder and CEO of Vote Mama Lobby, called the new law a \u201cgame changer for building a political system that listens to families and delivers on policies that solve their biggest challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group, which supports mothers running for office, found that as of Feb. 2026, only 8% of state legislators in the United States were moms with children under 18. California is the state with the highest proportion of mothers with young children in the legislature at nearly 22%.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is commonsense policy to treat city council service the same as any other city job when it comes to benefits such as paid leave \u2014 this will open the door for more working class parents to serve California communities in elected office,\u201d Grechen Shirley said. \u201cWhen government service is only sustainable for people without caregiving responsibilities, we get representation that doesn\u2019t understand the day-to-day struggles working families face, and policies that fail women and children.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Cisneros said she received nothing but support from the community when she decided to have her second child, that isn\u2019t always the case. Former Sunnyvale Mayor Melinda Hamilton faced scrutiny for years because of her decision to have her first child shortly after she was elected in 2003. She previously told this news organization that when campaigning for re-election, a voter asked her if she was \u201cthe one who got pregnant\u201d before saying he wouldn\u2019t vote for her and slamming the door in her face.<\/p>\n

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Cisneros said she got to break the news of the bill becoming law to Hamilton.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got to be the one to tell her, \u2018No one\u2019s going to go through that ever again in this state,\u201d\u2018 Cisneros recounted. \u201cShe really went through\u2026but to tell her \u2018yeah, that\u2019s not the way it is anymore,\u2019 oh that was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Opinion: California\u2019s top earners are thriving. Prop. 3 asks them to keep paying their share.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Family Friendly City Councils Act would require cities to establish a private process for councilmembers who want to take parental leave.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n‘That’s not the way it is anymore’: Newsom signs law to prevent pregnant elected officials from losing their seats - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=7965\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"‘That’s not the way it is anymore’: Newsom signs law to prevent pregnant elected officials from losing their seats - 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