<!-- Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ --></p> <p>from <a href=""https://calmatters.org/author/marisa-kendall/"" title=""Posts" by="" marisa="" kendall="" class=""author" url="" fn="" rel=""author"">Marissa Kendall</a>CalMatters</p> <figure> <img decoding="async" width=""1200"" height=""800"" src=""https://i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/070523-Street-Medicine-Project-LV-CM_36.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1"" class=""attachment-post-thumbnail" size-post-thumbnail="" wp-post-image="" alt=""doctor" assistant="" brett="" feldman="" checks="" his="" patient="" carla="" bolen="" blood="" pressure="" while="" in="" her="" encampment="" at="" the="" figueroa="" st.="" viaduct="" above="" highway="" elysian="" valley="" park="" los="" angeles="" on="" nov.="" photo="" by="" larry="" valenzuela="" calmatters="" local="" decoding=""async"" srcset=""https://i0.wp.com/calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/070523-Street-Medicine-Project-LV-CM_36.jpg?w=2000&ssl=1" https:="" sizes=""(max-width:"/><figcaption>Physician assistant Brett Feldman checks the blood pressure of Carla Bolen at her camp on the Figueroa Street Viaduct over the 110 Freeway in Elysian Valley Park in Los Angeles on November 18, 2022. Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local</figcaption></figure> <p>This story was originally published by <a href=""https://calmatters.org/"">CalMatters</a>. <a href=""https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/"">Sign up</a> for their newsletters.</p> <p><a href=""https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/bills/ca_202520260sb634"">Senate Bill 634</a> would have made a big splash if it had survived in the form of the Pasadena Democrat <a href=""https://calmatters.digitaldemocracy.org/legislators/sasha-renee-perez-187431"">Sasha Rene Perez</a> originally intended. She wanted to <a href=""https://calmatters.org/newsletter/deportation-fears-central-valley-newsletter/#wm-story-3"">make it illegal</a> cities to cite or arrest homeless Californians for sleeping outside. But, faced with intense backlash from cities and law enforcement, the Legislature <a href=""https://calmatters.org/newsletter/rent-cap-ab-1157-newsletter/#wm-story-2"">watered down</a> her account.</p> <p>Now signed into law and taking effect on January 1, it targets a problem that is far less prevalent on California’s streets. <a href=""https://calmatters.org/newsletter/senate-bill-634-homelessness-aid-workers/"">It says cities</a> cannot penalize outreach workers for assisting homeless clients, even if those clients are sleeping in an illegal camp. </p> <p>Specifically, the law says cities can’t prohibit people or organizations from providing homeless residents with legal services, medical care or things necessary for survival, such as food, water, blankets, pillows and materials to protect themselves from the elements. </p> <p>“The legislation provides common sense protections for service providers, especially the nonprofit and faith-based organizations that do the work every day to help homeless Californians,” Perez said in an October statement. </p> <p>San Bernardino County, on the other hand, said the law “would overrule local governments and limit the law enforcement tools that cities and counties use to promote public safety.”</p> <p>It’s not unheard of for aid workers to be targeted in the city’s crackdown on homeless encampments. The Bay Area city of Fremont earlier this year briefly made “<a href=""https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/02/fremont-camping-ban-ordinance-folo/"">aiding, abetting or concealing</a>” illegal homeless encampment a crime The City Council later <a href=""https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/03/fremont-camping-ordinance-clause-removal/"">went back</a> that language — after CalMatters first reported it — but made a lasting impression on state lawmakers. </p> <p>The legislation follows a statewide push for increased police surveillance of homeless Californians. In 2024, the US Supreme Court <a href=""https://calmatters.org/housing/2024/06/california-homeless-camps-grants-pass-ruling/"">gave cities more power</a> to cite and arrest people for sleeping outside even if they have no shelter available. Since then, arrests and citations for crimes related to homelessness <a href=""https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/06/homelessness-enforcement-data/"">have jumped</a> in cities across the state.</p> <p>This article was <a href=""https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/12/sb-634-new-law/"">originally published on CalMatters</a> and is republished under <a href=""https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/"">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives</a> license.</p> <p> Copy the HTML
