Weiner and Arreguin are introducing a bill to place a sales tax ballot measure in San Francisco, Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The funds would raise millions of dollars to prevent service reductions on BART and Muni.

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Senate Bill 502 was introduced by Senator Jesse Arreguín (D- Berkeley) to help school districts and other local educational agencies, known as LEAs, support the development of housing for educators and school staff. Salinas Union High School District has been offering below-rate housing since 2023 and Monterey Peninsula Unified School District is preparing to construct housing to help increase teacher retention.

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California state Sen. Jesse Arreguín may be taking on the most work of any freshman lawmaker.

The former Berkeley mayor is chairing not one, but two committees — Senate Public Safety and Human Services — a rare feat for a legislative newbie. And Arreguín has big shoes to fill: He took over a seat previously held by longtime progressive state Sen. Nancy Skinner. She served as the powerful chair of the Senate Budget Committee and was widely respected for her deep knowledge on everything from the criminal justice system to how to wield her authority to help the poor and neediest Californians.

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Jesse Arreguín became Berkeley’s mayor just as Donald Trump first took the White House.

Now, as the Democrat enters the California Senate representing District 7, he’s preparing to face similar challenges on a bigger stage after defeating Democratic Socialist Jovanka Beckles for the seat formerly held by termed-out Nancy Skinner.

His mayoral tenure was a crucible of crisis management.

“It was a very difficult, chaotic, unpredictable time and our city, our state, were under attack, our residents were under attack,” Arreguín said, recalling how he had to contend with white supremacist provocateurs fighting in Berkeley’s streets, responded to Donald Trump’s “Muslim ban,” and joined other San Francisco Bay Area leaders in issuing the nation’s first Covid-19 stay-at-home orders.

As a freshman senator and chair of both the Public Safety and Human Resources committees, Arreguín has proposed three bills so far: SB 9, which would eliminate owner-occupancy requirements for accessory dwelling units; SB 91 a proposal that would bar health care workers or hospitals from sharing information about their patients with immigration authorities; and SB 63, co-authored with Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), which would authorize a transportation bond to support struggling Bay Area transit agencies.

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“Come after us.”

— California state Sen. Jesse Arreguin, a Berkeley Democrat, responding to a Trump administration order shortly after his inauguration last week to investigate and prosecute officials in the “sanctuary state” who defy his promised illegal immigration crackdown.

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With President Donald Trump continuing to call for mass deportations and his administration threatening recalcitrant state and local leaders with federal prosecution, officials in sanctuary cities like Oakland and San Francisco are preparing for the worst.

“Whatever Trump says or threatens, we are a sanctuary city, and we are a sanctuary state,” state Sen. Jesse Arreguín (D–Berkeley) said Wednesday in Oakland, where officials discussed new initiatives and protections for immigrant families. “We are ready to protect our immigrant families. That’s what Oakland does as a proud sanctuary city and a place of refuge for decades, and the state of California is a committed partner in this work.”

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President Trump's new administration is ramping up immigration enforcement, with planned raids.

These projected operations led local and state leaders to join forces and reassure Bay Area immigrants that they will be protected.

"Come at me. We are here to protect the safety of our residents. California is a sanctuary state and it's critical that we remain a sanctuary state. He will not intimidate us; he will not scare us to do the work we need to do to stand for our values," said Jesse Arreguin, CA State Senator.

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California Senate Bill 9, or SB 9, would amend Government Code Sections 66315 and 66322 to remove the requirement of property occupancy and amend parking standards for accessory dwelling units, or ADUs. 

Stefan Elgstrand, Arreguín’s press secretary, noted that SB 9 will ease the process of building ADUs. 

“As someone who experienced housing displacement growing up and as a renter myself, I am proud that my first bill addresses this very issue that has impacted far too many Californians,” Arreguín said in the press release. “SB 9 will unlock thousands of properties to create new homes and will make it easier for people to find stable housing.” 

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Alameda County recently released results on homeless rates, and Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín says they are on the right path to success. 

“What these numbers indicate is that our approach is working, and I want the Berkeley community to know that I have no intention of taking my foot off the gas,” Arreguín said.  

Mayor Arreguín credits much of the recent success to the city’s efforts to build more housing.

In 2017, Arreguin and city officials created the Pathways Project, a project aimed to tackle Berkeley homelessness by first building temporary shelters and later finding more permanent solutions. Despite homelessness only majorly improving in the past two years, Arreguín and other city leaders believe the Pathways project laid the “groundwork” for future regional efforts. 

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