HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif., Aug. 11 (Huntington Beach Times) — A California bill authored by state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, has passed the state Assembly and is awaiting action by Gov. Gavin Newsom. If signed, Senate Bill 1133 would shape future health-education guidance for California public schools without requiring schools to create a new class or use a specific curriculum.
The measure, called the Ready to Learn, Ready for Health Act, would require the state Instructional Quality Commission to consider adding evidence-based preventive-health instruction during the next regular revision of California’s Health Education Framework. The Senate Education Committee’s hearing materials describe that review as occurring on or after Jan. 1, 2027.
The proposal is statewide. The supplied records do not show a Huntington Beach Union High School District or other local district vote, funding decision or implementation plan.
What would students learn?
The bill identifies several areas for possible inclusion in health education:
- Nutrition and food literacy
- Sleep
- Physical activity and exercise
- Stress management
- Digital balance and screen use
- Environmental factors, including water and air quality
The goal is to help students connect everyday habits with health, learning and long-term well-being. Strickland said in a release from his Senate office, “This legislation will help students understand how nutrition, sleep, physical activity, stress, and technology impact health, learning, and long-term well-being.”
The legislation would work through the state’s existing framework process. The framework provides guidance for health instruction; it does not itself assign a particular lesson plan to every school.
What would change for schools?
The bill would not immediately add a required course, set a statewide schedule or direct teachers to use a specific textbook. Instead, it would tell the Instructional Quality Commission to consider the listed topics when the Health Education Framework is next revised.
That means any effect on classrooms would depend on the commission’s future review and on how the state’s guidance is ultimately written. Schools and districts would still need to determine how to deliver instruction within their existing programs.
The Senate Education Committee hearing packet describes the proposed instruction as “evidence-based preventive health instruction.” The supplied records do not establish the final content of a revised framework, the exact revision date or whether the proposal would create new costs for districts.
Where does the bill stand?
Strickland’s Senate office announced June 8 that the Assembly had passed SB 1133 and sent it to Newsom. The release described the Assembly vote as receiving strong bipartisan support. Other supplied coverage described the measure as passing unanimously in both chambers, but official roll-call records were not included in the supplied documents.
Newsom’s action has not been established in the supplied records. Until the governor signs the bill, it has not become law. If he does sign it, the Instructional Quality Commission would consider the health topics during the next regular framework revision, beginning no earlier than January 2027 under the committee materials.
Why Huntington Beach is part of the story
Strickland is an elected Republican state senator representing the 36th Senate District, which includes parts of Orange and Los Angeles counties. His district office is in Huntington Beach, making the legislation locally connected even though the proposed policy would apply across California’s public-school system.
End Chronic Disease is identified in the Senate release and committee materials as the bill’s sponsor. The supplied sources do not document a response from a Huntington Beach school board, local educators or families, and they do not identify a specific grade level or school where the proposed topics would first be taught.
The practical question for schools will come later: whether the governor approves the bill, what the Instructional Quality Commission recommends and how districts incorporate any new framework guidance into health education.
