A number of election security bills progressed this week as the California Legislature approaches the end of its 2026 session.

Assembly Bill 1664, authored by Assemblymember Corey Jackson, D-Moreno Valley, requires election officials to report federal election interference to the California Department of Justice and the secretary of state. That can include the use of warrants, subpoenas or law enforcement investigations where election materials are searched and seized, according to a legislative analysis of the bill.

Jackson was unavailable to talk to The Center Square about his legislation.

Assembly Bill 1853, authored by Assemblymembers Gail Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz, and Marc Berman, D-Palo Alto, would require uniform rules about the kind of language included in candidate statements that are published in voter information guides. Among other things, reference to a candidate’s opponents in the race, URLS and QR codes, profane or vulgar language, violent language, false statements and misleading claims would be barred in candidate statements.

“It’s just going to set standards for what can be printed in the state voter guide,” Pellerin, chair of the Assembly Elections Committee, told The Center Square on Thursday morning about her bill. “This last election, there were some horrific links and comments that were made that were based on hate and division, and we want to put that to an end.”

Another one of Pellerin’s bills, Assembly Bill 282, would make it a felony for anyone to seize ballots, election records and voting technology from elections officials before an election is certified. The bill also would make it a felony for anyone who works in a supervisory role in elections to direct workers to seize any of those materials.

“We’re trying to make sure voters have access,” Pellerin said. “We’re trying to make sure the ballots mailed to them actually get to them and we don’t have any interference. We’re also trying to make sure our ballots and our voting equipment is secure prior to certification, and imposing still penalties for anyone who tries to interfere.”

As of Thursday afternoon, AB 1664 was the only one of the three bills that had passed a final vote on the Assembly floor. The other two had not yet been voted on on Thursday.

Despite the measures taken this year to fight back against what Democrats said was election interference, at least one Republican lawmaker didn’t think some of these bills were necessary.

“What these bills actually reflect is the state of California basically creating so many additional barriers, when, in our election system, we should have more transparency,” Assemblymember David Tangipa, R-Fresno, told The Center Square on Thursday. “There should be nothing wrong with working with the federal administration, opening up the books, not creating barriers that actually prevent the federal government and others working together to have maximum transparency.”

The bills progressed this week amid a lawsuit filed on Wednesday by California Department of Justice and attorneys general in other states against the U.S. Postal Service. Plaintiffs are fighting a rule that requires states to enroll eligible mail-in voters onto lists managed by the U.S. Postal Service. The USPS has said that it would refuse to deliver mail-in ballots to voters not on those lists or that were sent in envelopes that did not meet new design standards, according to previous reporting by The Center Square.

The rule was prompted by a March 31 executive order from President Donald Trump.

Despite the lawsuit, Pellerin said that the election bills introduced in California’s Legislature this year are needed.

“It gives them more confidence that elections are secure and we’re protecting democracy,” Pellerin said.