SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a pair of bills Tuesday to address antisemitism and other forms of discrimination on public school campuses in California.

AB 715 would establish a state-level Office of Civil Rights with a dedicated antisemitism prevention coordinator. The accompanying SB 48, introduced toward the end of session as a companion measure, would instate four other discrimination prevention coordinators, to prevent other forms of bias, including religious, race, gender and LGBTQ discrimination.

“At a time when antisemitism and bigotry are rising nationwide and globally, these laws make clear: our schools must be places of learning, not hate,” Newsom said in his signing message.

However, Newsom also noted the wide array of educators and school administrators who expressed “urgent concerns about unintended consequences” of the bill, and encouraged AB 715’s authors, Dawn Addis, D-Morro Bay, and Rick Chavez Zbur, D-Los Angeles to “work quickly on a follow-up measure next year to continue addressing these issues.”

The bill faced opposition from groups at all levels of the education system, including teachers, administrators and school boards, who raised concerns the legislation would contribute to a chilling effect with regard to teaching about Israel and Palestine.

A letter written for legislators’ consideration by the California School Boards association said teachers may “hesitate to engage students in thoughtful, academically sound discussions of complex historical or political topics out of fear that their context could be misinterpreted as noncompliant.”

In their letter to Newsom recommending a veto, the organization California Coalition to Defend Public Education (CCDPE) wrote that AB 715 “relies on a distorted definition of antisemitism that conflates virtually all criticism of the state of Israel with antisemitism.”

The bill itself does not define antisemitism, but points to The United States National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, written by the Biden administration in 2023, which points to a controversial “working definition” from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). That definition includes examples related to Israel that could be considered antisemitic, including “claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor;” or “applying double standards by requiring of (Israel) a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”

Seth Morrison, one of the leaders of the CCDPE, said the definition could be weaponized by people who want to protect Israel from criticism.

“Basically, they backdoored it,” Morrison said, of the IHRA definition.

A steady watering down

The signing puts a stamp on the bill’s long journey.

Addis and Zbur first introduced a different bill, AB 1468, which would have created an ethnic studies curriculum for public schools, something mandated by a 2021 law.

However, their first effort wasn’t even scheduled for a committee hearing. In May, the authors started fresh with AB 715, providing a first draft of a bill that would be changed extensively over time in the face of persistent opposition. The last iteration of the bill was introduced on September 9, the last day possible for lawmakers to approve it.

Legislators did approve it, late on the last night of session, after emotional testimony from Addis and other assembly members.

“I refuse to sit here and let you talk about this not being a crisis and asking us to wait a third year to do something to protect our children,” said Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda, who spoke about her grandmother fleeing Nazi-occupied Austria and her daughter recently being advised someone had drawn swastikas in her school bathroom.

Seven members of the state’s Legislative Progressive Caucus, as well as Education Committee Chair Al Muratsuchi voted against the bill, citing the broad opposition.

While Muratsuchi said he supported the intent to fight anti-semitism in schools, he said he wouldn’t vote in favor because he didn’t trust that lawmakers would change the bill to address the concerns of education organizations.

“I can tell all of you that it is extremely rare when all of the ... statewide education advocacy organizations in the State of California rise together in opposition to a bill,” he said.

The signing of the bill signals Newsom is sympathetic to the concerns of Jewish Californians who support Israel, as the war in Gaza enters its third year. Tuesday marked two years since Hamas killed 1,200 Israeli civilians, setting off the ongoing war.

In a recent interview with video game streamer “ConnorEatsPants,” Newsom called the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas “sick.”

“This things needs to come to an end, man, and don’t get me started on Bibi,” Newsom said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The governor said he had not spoken to Netanyahu since the days after the war began, and that he abhorred the country’s leadership, even as he continued to support the state of Israel, comparing his feelings to loving America but abhorring President Donald Trump.

Newsom said he supported a two-state solution, a long-held Democratic Party position that has now come under scrutiny as younger Americans have continued to protest the ongoing conflict as a genocide on Palestinians. He called it the “appropriate and preferable path” as Israel and Hamas negotiate an end to the conflict.

“I believe in sovereignty. I believe in the ability for people to have their own representation,” he said.

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