Committee approves bill to increase state advertising spend with ethnic and community media

Senator Rubio introduced SB 1358, the Ethnic and Community Media Equity Act, saying state advertising should reach diverse Californians through trusted, local messengers. "Ethnic and community media outlets serve the information needs of these populations," Rubio said, and the bill would create a centralized database to make those outlets available to agencies and contractors.

Witnesses from Morello Media, Laser Media and the Latino Media Collaborative described how ethnic media can reach audiences mass channels miss and argued the proposal is about effectiveness as well as fairness. Eduardo Martinez of Laser Media said ethnic media often produces higher engagement among target groups for public‑safety and health messaging and that allocating state advertising dollars more strategically would improve outcomes.

No key opposition witnesses appeared. Committee members praised the measure's intent and urged the author to continue work through appropriations. The committee passed SB 1358 to appropriations (recorded as a favorable report in the transcript).