Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development: California Civic Media Program.

Header changed from enrolled bill format (with Senate/Assembly passage dates) to chaptered law format with 'STATE OF CALIFORNIA AUTHENTICATED ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL' and Chapter 649 designation.

Governor approval date filled in: October 11, 2025, and filing date with Secretary of State recorded as October 11, 2025.

Page numbering changed from 'SB 155' format to 'Ch. 649' format throughout the document.

Section 1, which declared 'It is the intent of the Legislature to enact statutory changes relating to the Budget Act of 2025,' was removed from the enrolled version. This was a non-operative declaratory provision; its removal does not affect the program's funding or operations.

The appropriation notation in the digest changed from 'Appropriation: no yes' (indicating a change from no to yes) to simply 'Appropriation: yes,' reflecting that the bill now carries an appropriation as final.

Minor wording change in the legislative counsel's digest: 'comprising designated membership' was changed to 'consisting of designated membership.'

Standard enrolled bill formatting elements were added, including passage dates (Senate September 13, Assembly September 11), a line for the Governor's approval date, and removal of the 'as amended' designation from the digest.

Establishes the California Civic Media Program under GO-Biz (Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development) with goals including supporting a robust press corps, empowering Californians with access to information, ensuring sustainability of online publications, supporting state and local news organizations serving underserved communities, and strengthening journalism that promotes civic engagement.

The bill's title and scope expanded from a generic expression of legislative intent regarding the Budget Act of 2025 to a specific act adding Article 15 to the Government Code relating to economic development, with an appropriation, taking effect immediately as a budget-related bill.

Creates the California Civic Media Fund in the State Treasury as a continuously appropriated fund and appropriates $10,000,000 from the General Fund to seed it. The fund may also accept private contributions from for-profit and nonprofit organizations.

Requires that in any fiscal year, total expenditure of public money from the fund shall not exceed the total aggregate expenditure of funds from private sources (whether contributed directly to the fund or held by a third-party administrator). This effectively requires matching or exceeding private contributions before public funds can be spent.

Limits administrative costs to no more than 7.5 percent of the fund and requires that public moneys be prioritized for allocations supporting local and community news organizations.

Establishes a nine-person advisory board with specific membership: two at-large members, two from California News Publishers Association, one each from American Community Media, Local Independent Online News Publishers, Latino Media Collaborative, California Black Media, and Media Guild of the West. The board recommends on private fund allocations but GO-Biz retains sole discretion over public money.

Vote and fiscal committee designations changed from 'no' to 'yes' for both Appropriation and Fiscal committee, reflecting the new $10 million appropriation.