Gov. Gavin Newsom has ended a controversial California anti-truancy law originally championed by former Vice President Kamala Harris, whose support for the measure sparked outrage after reports surfaced of police handcuffing mothers of truant schoolchildren.
Critics at the time said the policy criminalized parents, an outcome Harris later regretted.
Behind the bill: The repeal bill, AB 461, was authored by Asm. Patrick Ahrens (D-Sunnyvale) , who said in June that his motivation stemmed from personal experience during childhood and that the repeal “has nothing to do with our former VP.”
- The move to repeal Harris’ legislation comes shortly after the former vice president released a memoir about her presidential campaign, in which she described Newsom as unreachable in the hours after Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race.
- Harris and Newsom, both potential contenders for the 2028 presidential election, have long been part of the same San Francisco political circles before rising to statewide office. Harris moved to Washington following her successful 2016 Senate bid for Barbara Boxer’s seat.
- In notes from that pivotal day, Harris wrote: “Hiking. Will call back,” referring to calls made after Biden’s exit.
Harris’ backtrack: “I regret that that has happened,” Harris said in 2019, referring to the criminalization of parents. “And the thought that anything I did could have led to that, because that certainly was not the intention.”
