Senate Bill 634 would have made a big splash if it survived in the form Pasadena Democrat Sasha Renée Pérez originally intended. She wanted to make it illegal for cities to cite or arrest homeless Californians for sleeping outside. But, faced with intense backlash from cities and law enforcement agencies, the legislator watered down her bill.
Now signed into law and taking effect Jan. 1, it takes aim at an issue that is much less prevalent on the streets of California. It says cities cannot punish outreach workers for helping homeless clients, even if those clients are sleeping in an illegal encampment.
More precisely, the law says cities cannot bar people or organizations from providing homeless residents with legal services, medical care or things needed for survival, such as food, water, blankets, pillows and materials to protect themselves from the elements.
“The legislation provides commonsense protections for service providers, especially non-profits and faith-based ones, who are doing the work every day to assist unhoused Californians,” Pérez said in an October statement.
San Bernardino County, on the other hand, said the law will “override local authority and restrict enforcement tools that cities and counties use to promote public safety.”
It’s not unheard of for aid workers to find themselves caught in the crosshairs of a city’s crackdown on homeless encampments. The Bay Area city of Fremont earlier this year briefly made “aiding, abetting or concealing” an illegal homeless encampment a misdemeanor. Its city council later walked back that language — after CalMatters first reported it — but it made a lasting impression on state legislators.
The legislation follows a statewide push toward the increased policing of homeless Californians. In 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court gave cities more power to cite and arrest people for sleeping outside, even if they have no shelter available. Since then, arrests and citations for homelessness-related offenses have soared in cities across the state.