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California SB 328 campaign for later school start times

State Senator Anthony Portantino, with Start School Later California and medical groups such as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, campaigned from 2017 for a law that middle and high schools may not start before 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the first version in 2018; Governor Gavin Newsom signed it in October 2019, making California the first US state to set later start times by law, with schools to comply by July 2022.

Years
2017–2019
Country
United States
Topic
Child healthSleep
Asks people to
Support a policy
Strategy
Policy pairedTrusted messenger
Channel
EventsWebsite
Audience
General publicParents
California legislators and governors; parents; school boards

Evidence

NoneUnknown

Policy won (signed 2019). No evaluation of the advocacy found; no statewide sleep outcome study found in this pass. Opposed by the California School Boards Association and California Teachers Association; the California Federation of Teachers backed it.

Sponsor (who paid)

  • Start School Later California NGO, advocacy
  • Senator Anthony Portantino (California State Senate) State local government, bill author
  • American Academy of Sleep Medicine NGO, support letters

Credits (who made it)

Not recorded yet.

Related campaigns

Sources

  1. New law makes CA first state to push back school start times (FOX LA, 13 Oct 2019) news
  2. No more school daze? California weighs making middle, high schools start later (The 74, 2017) news
  3. AASM letter to Governor Newsom urging signature of SB 328 (Sept 2019) sponsor
  4. School Start Times (AASM advocacy page) sponsor

Research notes

Created 2026-10-24 by an AI research pass for #103 (G1); not reviewed by a person. Veto details (Brown, Sept 2018; Lisa Lewis of Start School Later California) come from search snippets of EdSource and KPBS; EdSource returned 403. AASM letter PDF listed on AASM page, not opened. Rural districts were exempt in the final law (not confirmed here). To verify: 2017, 2018, 2019, 8 a.m., 8:30 a.m., July 2022.

Record cases/ca-sb-328-later-school-start.json, updated 2026-10-24· Link to this campaign