Last semester, senior Cicely Rhodin introduced a bill to her civics class. On February 21, district 15 assembly member Nancy Skinner introduced Rhodin’s bill, AB2528, to the California state house.

AB2528 would allow people in California to use diacritical marks in their names on official documents. Diacritical marks indicate the proper pronunciation of a word, such as Chloë or Pérez.

“It’s supposed to remove the restriction on naming babies with diacritical marks, which include accents, umlauts, and tildas,” Rhodin said.

Rhodin learned about the California restriction when she read an article in Reader’s Digest magazine about a controversy regarding a baby in Tennessee’s name.

“There was a story about a court case about a baby in Tennessee named Messiah,” Rhodin said. “Below the article there was a box with multiple laws from other states that had silly restrictions.”

Rhodin wrote the bill as an assignment for social studies teacher Dave Keller’s civics class. Keller submitted all the students’ the bills to Skinner, who chose to advocate for Rhodin’s bill. According to Keller, the bill aligned with Skinner’s priorities as representative.

“I wasn’t aware that people’s names were not being factually represented or spelled correctly on their birth certificates until I saw Cicely’s idea,” Skinner said.

“The fact that it even got picked was really cool,” Rhodin said.

Recently, AB2528 passed through the house health committee with 16 yes votes, 2 no votes, and 1 abstention. To become law, AB 2528 must pass through the entire assembly, then a Senate committee, then the entire Senate, and finally the governor may sign it.

“The fact that people like Cicely are getting the opportunity to have an impact on government policy is amazing,” Keller said. “It strengthens our democracy.”

Like Rhodin, Skinner was involved in civic affairs when she was a student. In college, the Berkeley city council adopted a policy that Skinner recommended.

“All the sudden, something I worked on became policy in the city,” Skinner said. “That’s very powerful.”

Skinner said that high school students should remember that they can create change.

“We all need to believe and understand that we can be a force for change,” Skinner said. “Every one of us can be a force for change.”

Rhodin said that students who write bills in the future should choose topics that they can fully understand.

“Pick something that’s not too complicated. Pick something that you can research, write about, and form an opinion,” Rhodin said.

Rhodin said that students should be aware of laws that need to change.

“If you hear about something in California that you think is kind of silly, then go for it,” Rhodin said.

Skinner said that any citizen can share their idea for a bill by writing a letter or scheduling an appointment with the assembly member or staff.