Explainer: California’s Community NEWS Act (AB 2222)

The Community Newsroom Employment and Workforce Sustainability Act (the Community NEWS Act, AB 2222), introduced by Assemblymember Christopher M. Ward on Feb. 19, 2026 with support from Rebuild Local News, would create refundable tax credits for California local news organizations based on the number of journalists they employ, with enhanced benefits for the smallest community newsrooms and outlets creating new journalist jobs.

We designed this policy so that local print, digital, and broadcast outlets alike benefit regardless of whether they are for-profit businesses, 501(c)3 nonprofits or sole proprietorships. Similar versions of this approach have had a strong political track record in recent years, winning approval from lawmakers in Illinois, New York and New Mexico with broad support from local news stakeholders.

The Community NEWS Act creates two types of refundable tax credits for employing journalists. (“Refundable” means that credits in excess of an organization’s tax liability are paid in cash, like a grant.) The first credit, a job retention credit, is worth $20,000 per journalist for up to five positions, plus $15,000 per every additional journalist. The second credit, a $15,000 “new hire” credit for news organizations that expand journalist headcount, can be stacked on top of the retention credits.

For example: A nonprofit community news website with three full-time news staffers covering the Central Valley would be eligible for $60,000 a year under this program. If the publication hired one more reporter – or converted a freelancer or part-time staffer into a full-time editorial employee – the publication would earn $95,000 in benefits.

Use this credit calculator to estimate the dollar benefit to your news organization from the Community NEWS Act (Note: The template is view‑only. If you’re signed into a Google account, you can make a copy to edit. If not, you can download it as an Excel file and fill it in there).

The program includes objective safeguards, outlined in the eligibility section below, to prevent abuse by partisan “pink slime” news operations and other bad actors, while not giving the government any discretion over editorial content.

Inclusive Benefits

We worked with legislative staff to create a structure designed to allow commercial, 501(c)3 and sole proprietor news organizations to benefit equally from the program. A refundable credit against “net tax” reduces what is owed after all other deductions and exemptions are applied. If the net tax goes to zero, a news organization can get the rest as a check. For qualified sole proprietors with pass-through income rather than wages, credits can be applied against personal income tax.

For non-profits to receive a credit, they will file paperwork with the Franchise Tax Board (FTB). Non-profits are already required to file annual information returns. The FTB may create a new form specific to these credits, similar to the process for the California Motion Picture and Television Production Credit.

Transparent & Objective Eligibility

The program provides objective qualifications for a local news organization to be eligible for credits. Outlets can apply as any one of the following types:

• Digital News Outlet: Must have a primary mission of publishing news about California or a local community, publish at least monthly, and prove that at least 33% of its audience is located within the state. (Print or broadcast outlets with digital presences can also qualify.)
• Broadcast Station: Must have an FCC license and a broadcasting area that is at least 33% located within California.
• Print Publication: Must have a USPS periodicals mailing privilege, publish at least monthly, and either be based in-state or prove 33% of its distribution is within California.

Additional standards apply to all organizations, regardless of media type:

• Established Presence: The outlet must be either organized in California or legally registered to do business in the state for at least 12 months before the tax year begins.
• Ownership Disclosure: The outlet must publicly list all beneficial owners, or its board of directors if it is a nonprofit, on its website or in its publication.
• Corrections Policy: The outlet must maintain and publicly display an editorial policy for error correction and provide an accessible way for the public to report complaints.
• Insurance: The outlet must carry active media liability insurance throughout the tax year.
• Independence from Political Influence: The organization cannot be controlled by a Political Action Committee (PAC) or a 501(c)(4). It cannot receive more than 15% of its gross revenue from these types of political organizations.
  • Standard broadcast political advertising revenue in the FCC regulated windows do not count towards this 15 percent limit.

Eligible Employees (Qualifying Journalists)

To claim the credit, the journalists employed must meet these standards:

• Full-time position: Must work at least 30 hours/week and earn at least $35,000 annually.
• Residency: Must live within 50 miles of the news organization’s coverage area.
• Job Duties: Must involve gathering, preparing, directing the recording of, producing, collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing, reporting, presenting, or publishing state or local community news for dissemination to the local community, including roles such as reporter, correspondent, photographer, videographer, editor, and digital producer.

Questions, comments, feedback? Contact mattpearce@rebuildlocalnews.org and geneperry@rebuildlocalnews.org.