Governor Newsom Signs AB2423 into Law, Securing Funding Increases for Early Start SLPs

CSHA is excited to announce that on Saturday, September 28, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2423, a law that requires the California legislature to review and update funding rates every 2 years for providers like SLPs and SLPAs who work in Early Start, the California state early intervention system funded through DDS.

Thank you to our CSHA lobbyists, Early Intervention Committee leaders, and CSHA members who spoke to legislators at the state capitol about the importance of AB2423 during CSHA Advocacy Day on May 7, 2024, in Sacramento. Your discussions helped bring this bill to the governor's desk for signature.

Additional special thanks to the 157 CSHA advocates who helped submit letters of support to the governor through CSHA's email campaign over the past few weeks. Your advocacy work helped the governor decide to sign the bill into law. 

The passage of AB2423 will help SLPs get rate increases, which will allow us to afford to recruit and retain more clinicians who can work with infants and toddlers from birth to age 3 years through the California Early Start system. This will increase access to crucial early intervention speech language pathology services to children across the state. 

CSHA members: you proved that raising our collective voice through strategic advocacy efforts results in massive legal wins for SLPs and SLPAs across the state, which ultimately also helps us support more individuals with communication and swallowing needs. Thank you all for your solidarity!