The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA exempts from its requirements a residential project on an urbanized infill site that meets certain requirements, including that the site of the project is not more than 4 acres in total area. This bill would expand the exemption by increasing the size of a residential project that would qualify for the exemption to include a project of not more than 5 acres in total area. The bill would require a lead agency approving an exempt residential project on an urbanized infill site to file a notice of exemption with the Office of Planning and Research, as specified. Because the bill would increase the number of residential projects that would qualify for the exemption and would require lead agencies to file notices of exemption with the Office of Planning and Research, thereby increasing the duties of a local agency, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law requires peace officers in this state to meet specified minimum standards, including age and education requirements. Existing law requires the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to develop a modern policing degree program, with the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training and other stakeholders to serve as advisors, as specified, and to submit a report on recommendations to the Legislature outlining a plan to implement the program on or before June 1, 2023. Existing law requires the report to include, among other things, recommendations to include both the modern policing degree program and a bachelor's degree in the discipline of their choosing as minimum education requirements for employment as a peace officer. Existing law requires the commission to adopt the recommended criteria within 2 years of when the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges submits its report to the Legislature. This bill would specify that a bachelor's degree or an associate's degree required for employment as a peace officer under these provisions may be obtained after completion of the Peace Officer Standards and Training program and within 36 months of employment as a peace officer.
Existing law, the Mobilehome Residency Law Protection Act, until January 1, 2027, establishes the Mobilehome Residency Law Protection Program within the Department of Housing and Community Development to assist in taking and resolving complaints from homeowners relating to the Mobilehome Residency Law. Existing law requires the department, in administering the program, to contract with one or more qualified and experienced nonprofit legal services providers and refer complaints selected for evaluation, and which are not resolved, to these nonprofit legal service providers for possible enforcement action, as specified. This bill would require the department to conduct regular surveys of complainants referred to a nonprofit legal services provider, as specified. The bill would require the department to monitor updates from a nonprofit legal services provider to detect any inappropriate denial of services and would require the department to respond immediately to correct any denials.
This bill designates February 4th as Saka Nakodar Day to honor the Sikh students killed in 1986 during a peaceful protest in Punjab, India. The resolution formally condemns the extrajudicial killings and the subsequent failure of authorities to bring perpetrators to justice. By declaring this date an annual observance, the measure aims to acknowledge the historical injustice and support the ongoing efforts of victims' families for truth and accountability.
Existing law prohibits any person from distributing, selling, or offering for sale in the state any food packaging that contains regulated perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) , as defined, and requires a manufacturer to use the least toxic alternative when replacing regulated PFAS in food packaging to comply with this requirement. Existing law similarly prohibits, beginning January 1, 2025, a person from manufacturing, distributing, selling, or offering for sale in the state any new, not previously owned, textile articles that contain regulated PFAS, except as specified. This bill would enact the Reducing Toxics in Packaging Act, which would prohibit, beginning January 1, 2026, a person from manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, or distributing in the state plastic packaging that contains certain chemicals, as specified. The bill would exclude from that prohibition packaging used for certain medical, drug, and federally regulated products. The bill would authorize the imposition of a civil penalty for a violation of that prohibition, as specified.
This measure would designate the portion of Interstate Highway 405 from Bolsa Chica Road in the County of Orange to Magnolia Street in the County of Orange as the Little Saigon Freeway. The measure also would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing that special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Education under the administration of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Existing law assigns numerous duties and responsibilities to the department, including, among others, the management of the federally funded Migrant Education Program (MEP) , which includes the California Mini-Corps (CMC) program, a statewide program designed to provide direct instructional services for currently migratory children in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive, through a cadre of trained college tutors with the goals of increasing currently migratory children's academic achievement and developing future bilingual-bicultural, credentialed teachers. This bill would codify the CMC program and would require the department to annually select one county office of education to voluntarily administer the CMC program for the next fiscal year and would require the chosen county office of education to operate not less than 20 program sites at institutions of higher education and, on or before June 1 of each year, provide the identity of tutors from the 6 prior fiscal year's cohorts to the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, as provided. The bill would require the commission to, on or before July 31 of each year, report to the department which tutors from the 6 prior fiscal year's cohorts earned a preliminary teaching credential, as provided. The bill would require the department to, on or before December 1 of each year, provide an annual report to the Legislature and the Department of Finance that includes the number of currently migratory children served by the program statewide and includes the data reported by the commission, as provided. The bill would require the department to annually report on its internet website the total number of migrant children statewide, as provided.
(1) Under existing law, the purpose of the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 is to create a comprehensive and innovative system for the reuse, recycling, and proper and legal disposal of covered electronic devices, as defined, and provide incentives to design electronic devices that are less toxic, more recyclable, and that use recycled materials. Under existing law, both the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) and the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) administer the act and may adopt regulations to implement and enforce the act. The act requires a retailer selling a covered electronic device in this state to collect from a consumer at the time of retail sale a covered electronic waste recycling fee or covered battery-embedded waste recycling fee, as specified. The act defines "covered electronic device" to mean certain video display devices and battery-embedded products. The act requires all funds collected pursuant to the act to be deposited into subaccounts of the Electronic Waste Recovery and Recycling Account. The act continuously appropriates the funds in the subaccounts for specified purposes, including, but not limited to, paying covered electronic waste recycling fee refunds and making electronic waste recovery and recycling payments. Existing law incorporates the act into the hazardous waste control laws, and a violation of the hazardous waste control laws is a crime. This bill, among other things, would add consumer-owned solar photovoltaic modules to the definition of covered electronic devices, thereby subjecting consumer-owned solar photovoltaic modules to the act, as specified. The bill, on and after January 1, 2030, would require a consumer or a service provider serving the consumer, including a developer or installer of a consumer-owned solar photovoltaic system, to pay a consumer-owned solar photovoltaic module recycling fee in an amount determined by CalRecycle, as provided, upon the purchase of new consumer-owned solar photovoltaic modules. The bill would require a retailer selling a consumer-owned solar photovoltaic module to collect a consumer-owned solar photovoltaic module recycling fee, as specified. The bill would require all funds collected from the consumer-owned solar photovoltaic module recycling fee to be deposited into the Consumer-Owned Solar Photovoltaic Module Recycling Fee Subaccount, which the bill would establish within the Electronic Waste Recovery and Recycling Account. The bill would continuously appropriate the funds in the subaccount for specified purposes, including, but not limited to, paying refunds of the consumer-owned solar photovoltaic module recycling fee. The bill would authorize CalRecycle to adjust the consumer-owned solar photovoltaic module recycling fee to, among other things, ensure sufficient funding for the collection, consolidation, and recycling of covered electronic waste resulting from solar photovoltaic modules and the resulting solar photovoltaic module e-waste that is projected to be recycled in the state. This bill would require CalRecycle, and would authorize DTSC, to adopt regulations to implement the provisions of the act related to consumer-owned solar photovoltaic modules. The bill would prohibit CalRecycle's regulations implementing the provisions of the act related to consumer-owned solar photovoltaic modules from having an effective date earlier than January 1, 2029. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law establishes stewardship programs for certain products, whereby a manufacturer, importer, distributer, or retailer is required, by itself or with others, to establish a stewardship organization that is required to develop and implement a plan for collecting and properly managing the disposal of covered products, as provided. This bill would establish a stewardship program for solar photovoltaic modules that are not included in the definition of consumer-owned solar photovoltaic module, and therefore, would not be regulated by the provisions above. The bill would require CalRecycle to adopt regulations to implement the stewardship program and would prohibit the regulations from having an effective date earlier than January 1, 2029. The bill would define "steward" to mean the person responsible for decommissioning of a solar photovoltaic module, as specified. The bill would require a steward, by itself or with other stewards in a stewardship organization, to submit a stewardship plan to CalRecycle within 12 months of the adoption of the regulations. The bill would specify requirements for the plan, including, but not limited to, describing how the solar photovoltaic modules will be collected, refurbished, reused, or recycled. The bill would require a steward, by itself or with other stewards in a stewardship organization, to pay for the implementation of its stewardship plan and to pay an administrative fee at an amount that is the actual and reasonable costs adequate to cover CalRecycle's and any other state agency's projected full costs of administering and enforcing the stewardship program. The bill would require the administrative fees to be deposited into the Nonconsumer-Owned Solar Photovoltaic Module Recycling Subaccount, which this bill would establish. The bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys in the subaccount to be expended by CalRecycle or any other agency that assists in administering the stewardship program, as specified. The bill would require a steward and a stewardship organization to retain certain documents, allow CalRecycle to inspect documents and facilities, and to perform audits, as specified. The bill would require all reports and records that a steward or stewardship organization submits to CalRecycle pursuant to the stewardship program to be submitted under the penalty of perjury. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would create a state-mandated local program. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.
Existing law requires certain transportation planning agencies to prepare and adopt regional transportation plans directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system. Existing law requires that each regional transportation plan include a sustainable communities strategy prepared by each metropolitan planning organization in order to, among other things, achieve certain regional targets established by the State Air Resources Board for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and light trucks in the region for 2020 and 2035, respectively. Existing law requires the state board to update the regional targets every 8 years until 2050. Existing law requires a metropolitan planning organization, before adopting a sustainable communities strategy, to quantify the reduction in the emissions of greenhouse gases projected to be achieved by the sustainable communities strategy and set forth the difference, if any, between the amount of that reduction and the regional targets. This bill would require the state board to update the regional targets indefinitely, rather than only until 2050, and authorize the state board to update the years to which those targets apply, as specified. The bill would additionally require a metropolitan planning organization, before adopting amendments to a regional transportation plan that could impact a sustainable communities strategy, to quantify the reduction in the emissions of greenhouse gases projected to be achieved by those amendments and set forth the difference, if any, between the amount of that reduction and the regional targets established by the state board. Existing law requires that each sustainable communities strategy, among other things, set forth a forecasted development pattern for the region that will reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from automobiles and light trucks to achieve the regional targets established by the state board. This bill would additionally require the forecasted development pattern to maintain those emission reductions through the 20-year or longer life of the regional transportation plan, including any amendments to the regional transportation plan. The bill would require each sustainable communities strategy to identify and analyze connectivity areas, permeability, and natural landscape areas within the region, to consider wildlife passage features, and to avoid, minimize, and mitigate impacts and barriers to wildlife movement to the maximum extent feasible. Existing law requires a metropolitan planning organization to prepare an alternative planning strategy if the sustainable communities strategy is unable to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases to achieve the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets established by the state board, as specified. This bill would instead require a metropolitan planning organization to prepare an alternative planning strategy if the sustainable communities strategy is unable to meet the above-described requirement and unable to maintain those emission reductions through the 20-year or longer life of the regional transportation plan, as specified. This bill would prohibit any environmental review of a project conducted for purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act from relying on a certified environmental impact report prepared for a regional transportation plan if the regional transportation plan does not include a sustainable communities strategy determined by the state board to achieve the region's greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. Existing law requires a metropolitan planning organization, after adopting a sustainable communities strategy or alternative planning strategy, as applicable, to submit the strategy to the state board for review, and limits that review to acceptance or rejection of the metropolitan planning organization's determination that the strategy would, if implemented, achieve the region's greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. This bill would expand the state board's authority to review a sustainable communities strategy or alternative planning strategy, as applicable, by eliminating the restriction that limits the review to acceptance or rejection of the above-described determination. The bill would authorize the state board to reject that determination if it determines that the strategy is unlikely to be implemented. Existing law requires each transportation planning agency to adopt and submit, every 4 years, an updated regional transportation plan to the California Transportation Commission and the Department of Transportation. This bill would require amendments to a regional transportation plan to be submitted to the state board, and require that those amendments quantify the reductions of emissions of greenhouse gases the regional transportation plan would achieve as a result of those amendments and describe the technical methodology used to obtain that result. The bill would authorize the state board to review those amendments. To the extent this bill would impose new requirements on a transportation planning agency or metropolitan planning organization, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
The California Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly Act generally requires the State Department of Social Services to license, inspect, and regulate residential care facilities for the elderly and imposes criminal penalties on a person who violates the act or who willfully or repeatedly violates any rule or regulation adopted under the act. The act prohibits a placement agency, as defined, from placing an individual in a licensed residential care facility for the elderly if the individual, because of a health condition, cannot be cared for within the limits of the license or requires inpatient care in a health facility. The act requires an employee of a placement agency who knows, or reasonably suspects, that a facility is improperly operating without a license to report the facility to the department, and requires the department to investigate those reports. The act further requires a placement agency to notify the appropriate licensing agency of any known or suspected incidents that would jeopardize the health or safety of residents in a facility. The act specifically makes a violation of these requirements a crime. Existing law requires a referral agency to obtain a license from the State Department of Public Health in order to refer a person to any extended care facility, skilled nursing home, or intermediate care facility. Existing law exempts a local public agency performing referral services without cost from these provisions. Under existing law, a violation of these provisions is subject to a civil penalty and suspension or revocation of the license. This bill would additionally require a referral agency to obtain a license from the State Department of Social Services in order to refer a person to a residential care facility for the elderly. The bill would prohibit an extended care facility, skilled nursing home, intermediate care facility, or residential care facility for the elderly from paying a commission or fee to a referral agency that is not licensed, as specified. The bill would prohibit a referral agency from holding any power of attorney or any other property of a person receiving referral services, or to receive or hold a client's property in any capacity. With respect to a residential care facility for the elderly, the bill would require a referral agency to disclose specified information to each person receiving its services, and to maintain records of those disclosures for a period of 3 years, as specified. The bill would specify that a referral agency licensee would be subject to specified provisions relating to placement agencies for residential care facilities for the elderly. By expanding the definition of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require referral agencies to maintain liability insurance in specified amounts. The bill would also make it unlawful for an employee, independent contractor, or other person who is acting on behalf of a governmental agency, hospital, or other health care institution to offer, provide, or accept a payment, rebate, refund, commission, preference, or discount as payment, compensation, or inducement for referring patients, clients, or customers to a facility or licensee. Existing law makes specified persons mandated reporters of elder or dependent adult abuse, including administrators, supervisors, and licensed staff of a facility that provide care or services for elder or dependent adults. Under existing law, failure to report physical abuse, abandonment, abduction, isolation, financial abuse, or neglect of an elder or dependent adult is a misdemeanor. The bill would include owners, operators, and employees of a referral agency as mandated reporters. By expanding the crime of failure to report elder or dependent adult abuse, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
The California FAIR Plan Association is a joint reinsurance association in which all insurers licensed to write basic property insurance participate to administer a program for the equitable apportionment of basic property insurance for persons who are unable to obtain that coverage through normal channels. Existing law establishes a governing committee for the association and prescribes its membership. This bill would require the Speaker of the Assembly and the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Rules to serve as nonvoting, ex officio members of the governing committee, and would authorize each to name a designee to serve in their place.
(1) Existing law establishes the requirements for executing a written advance health care directive that is legally sufficient to direct health care decisions. Existing law provides a form that an individual may use or modify to create an advance health care directive. Under existing law, a written advance health care directive is legally sufficient if specified requirements are satisfied, may be revoked by a patient having capacity at any time, and is revoked to the extent of a conflict with a later executed directive. Existing law requires a supervising health care provider who knows of the existence of an advance health care directive or its revocation to record that fact in the patient's health record. Existing law sets forth requirements of witnesses to a written advance health care directive. A written advance health care directive or similar instrument executed in another jurisdiction is valid and enforceable in this state under existing law. A person who intentionally falsifies, forges, conceals, defaces, or obliterates an individual's advance health care directive or its revocation without the individual's consent is subject to liability of up to $10,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney's fees. Existing law authorizes an appeal of specified orders relating to an advance health care directive. Existing law generally prohibits involuntary civil placement of a ward, conservatee, or person with capacity in a mental health treatment facility, subject to a valid and effective advance health care directive. Existing law prohibits specified entities, including a provider, health care service plan, or insurer, from requiring or prohibiting the execution or revocation of an advance health care directive as a condition for providing health care, admission to a facility, or furnishing insurance. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to establish a registry system for written advance health care directives, but failure to register does not affect the directive's validity and registration does not affect a registrant's ability to revoke the directive. Under existing law, an advance psychiatric directive is a legal document, executed on a voluntary basis by a person who has the capacity to make medical decisions and in accordance with the requirements for an advance health care directive, that allows a person with mental illness to protect their autonomy and ability to direct their own care by documenting their preferences for treatment in advance of a mental health crisis. An individual may execute both an advance health care directive and a voluntary standalone psychiatric advance directive. This bill would extend the above-described advance health care directive provisions to psychiatric advance directives and would make conforming changes. The bill would specify that a psychiatric advance directive is a legal written or digital document, executed as specified, that allows a person with behavioral health illness to document their preferences for treatment and identify a health care advocate in advance of a behavioral health crisis. Under the bill, a written or digital psychiatric advance directive may include the individual's nomination of a health care advocate who is in agreement to uphold the person's preferences for treatment in the case of a behavioral health crisis. If the health care advocate is informed of the directive's revocation, the bill would require them to promptly communicate that fact to the supervising health care provider and any health care institution where the patient is receiving care. The bill would specify that a psychiatric advance directive is legally sufficient if it contains the date of its execution and is signed by the individual, their health care advocate or another adult in the individual's presence and at the individual's direction, and one additional, unrelated witness. (2) Existing law requires a court determining whether to grant or deny a conservatorship petition to consider the person's abilities and capacities with current and possible supports. Existing law requires the Judicial Council's conservatorship alternatives program to provide information relating to less restrictive alternatives to conservatorship. This bill would specify that a person's current and possible supports to be considered by a court in a conservatorship determination include psychiatric advance directives and health care advocates. The bill would specify that less restrictive alternatives to conservatorship include psychiatric advance directives for purposes of the conservatorship alternatives program. (3) Existing law sets forth various requirements and procedures for mental health treatment, community mental health services, and for a person with a psychiatric advance directive that allows a person with mental illness to protect their autonomy and ability to direct their own care by documenting their preferences for treatment in advance of a mental health crisis. Existing law requires directions in an advance health care directive to be considered in formulating a written treatment plan for a person who is the subject of a petition for involuntary treatment. This bill would require a designated facility evaluating if a patient is in need of involuntary mental health services to keep a record that includes if the person detained has an advance health care directive or a psychiatric advance directive. If a person who is the subject of a petition for involuntary treatment has a psychiatric advance directive, the bill would require directions in that directive to be considered in formulating their written treatment plan. Existing law authorizes a person experiencing a serious mental disorder who meets specified criteria to be a respondent in a CARE plan to provide an individualized, appropriate range of community-based services and supports. Existing law authorizes the respondent to designate a supporter to assist them to understand, make, communicate, implement, or act on their own life decisions during the CARE process, and sets forth the duties of a supporter. This bill would authorize a health care advocate to be a supporter in the CARE process. The bill would authorize a supporter to provide information to the respondent about advance health care directives or psychiatric advance directives and would authorize the supporter to be present in a meeting, proceeding, or communication relating to interacting or communicating with the chosen health care advocate. The bill would prohibit a supporter from creating a psychiatric advance directive without explicit authorization by the respondent with capacity. (4) Existing law establishes the Behavioral Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, also known as the Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission, to promote transformational change in California's behavioral health system through research, evaluation and tracking outcomes, and other strategies to assess and report progress. This bill would require the commission, at least annually from 2025 to 2030, inclusive, to assess the extent to which digital psychiatric advance directives have been implemented and submit recommendations on ways to improve the adoption and effectiveness of digital psychiatric advance directives to specified committees of the Legislature. (5) Existing law establishes a statewide system of child welfare services and foster care. Existing law requires a caseworker or probation officer and representatives of a participant in the foster care system to provide the youth or nonminor dependent with assistance and support to develop a written plan with options in the 90-day period before the participant transitions out of the system. Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which is permitted to adjudge children who have suffered abuse or neglect to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances, and prescribes various hearings and other procedures for these purposes. Existing law requires a county welfare department to submit a report verifying that certain information, documents, and services, including an advance health care directive form, have been provided to a dependent child. This bill would specify that the 90-day transition plan may include options for creating a psychiatric advance directive and choosing a health care advocate, as well as information regarding the psychiatric advance directive written or digital form. The bill would require a county welfare department to provide a dependent child with an advance health care directive or psychiatric advance directive written or digital form. By increasing the duties of county welfare departments, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (6) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
