Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical and gas corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law, until January 1, 2021, required the commission, no later than July 1, 2017, to open a proceeding to determine the feasibility of minimizing or eliminating use of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility located in the County of Los Angeles while still maintaining energy and electric reliability for the region. This bill would require the commission, as part of that proceeding, to continue to consider minimizing or closing the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility while maintaining reliability and affordability for customers, and to annually submit a report on its findings and any efforts to reduce customer energy demand in the Los Angeles Basin through investments in clean hydrogen projects to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the commission to undertake an analysis of potential alternatives to the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility that includes using multiple planning horizons and determining if each potential alternative would satisfy specified objectives, as provided. Existing law requires a local publicly owned electric utility providing electric service to 250,000 or more customers within the Los Angeles Basin to maximize the use of demand response, renewable energy resources, and energy efficiency to reduce demand in the area where electrical reliability has been impacted as a result of reductions in gas storage capacity and gas deliverability resulting from the well failure at the Aliso Canyon facility. Existing law requires each local publicly owned electric utility serving end-use customers to prudently plan for and procure resources that are adequate to meet its planning reserve margin and peak demand and operating reserves, sufficient to provide reliable electric service to its customers. This bill would require the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a local publicly owned electric utility, to establish a local reliability plan, taking into consideration 2- to 3-day extreme weather events, to provide modeling, scenarios, and analysis to evaluate the local reliability needs to maintain electrical service to the customers it serves. The bill would authorize the department, working with the Independent System Operator, to use resource sharing, building electrification programs, and firm zero-carbon energy resources in the Los Angeles Basin to achieve local reliability. To the extent this bill would mandate that the department provide a new program or higher level of service, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain of the above provisions would be a part of the act and because a violation of a commission action implementing its requirements would be a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons.
Existing state law, Proposition 7, an initiative measure approved by the voters at the November 6, 2018, general election, sets the standard time for California and sets daylight saving time to begin each March and end each November. Proposition 7 allows the state to set the standard time to year-round daylight saving time if federal law authorizes the state to do so. Existing federal law does not currently allow a state to set its standard time to year-round daylight saving time. This bill would set California's standard time to year-round daylight saving time after the federal government authorizes the state to do so, as specified.
Existing law defines the crime of human trafficking and imposes a penalty of at least 5, 8, or 12 years in state prison and a fine of not more than $500,000. This bill would prohibit plea bargaining in a case in which the indictment or information charges the crime of human trafficking and it is alleged that the victim is a minor, unless there is insufficient evidence to prove the people's case, or testimony of a material witness cannot be obtained, or a reduction or dismissal would not result in a substantial change in sentence. By increasing the penalty for a crime, 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.
Existing law, the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law and Diesel Fuel Tax Law, impose a tax upon each gallon of motor vehicle fuel or diesel fuel removed from a refinery or terminal rack in this state, entered into this state, or sold in this state, at a specified rate per gallon. Existing law annually adjusts the rates of the taxes imposed by those laws based on inflation. This bill would remove the requirement for future inflation adjustments of those taxes. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law establishes procedures for voting by mail. Existing law permits a vote by mail voter to vote in person at the voter's home precinct or at another voter location, as specified, under certain conditions. This bill would require an elections official to inspect a vote by mail ballot envelope for signs of damage and, if any are found, mail notice to the voter on or before the next business day, but not later than 8 days before certification of the election. The bill would allow a voter whose vote by mail ballot envelope shows signs of damage to elect to receive a new vote by mail ballot or to vote in person at the voter's home precinct or at another voter location, as specified. The bill would prohibit an elections official from processing a vote by mail ballot that arrives in an envelope that shows signs of damage. By increasing the duties of local elections officials, 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.
Existing law prescribes requirements for the disposal of surplus land by a local agency. Existing law defines "surplus land" for these purposed to mean land owned in fee simple by any local agency for which the local agency's governing body takes formal action declaring that the land is surplus and is not necessary for the agency's use. Existing law provides that an agency is not required to follow the requirements for disposal of surplus land for "exempt surplus land," except as provided. Existing law categorizes as "exempt surplus land," surplus land that a local agency is transferring to another local, state, or federal agency for the agency's use. The Planning and Zoning Law requires that the housing element of a city's or county's general plan consist of an identification and analysis of existing and projected housing needs and a statement of goals, policies, quantified objectives, financial resources, and scheduled programs for the preservation, improvement, and development of housing. Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to determine the existing and projected need for housing for each region, as specified. Existing law requires a planning agency to provide an annual report to the Department of Housing and Community Development that includes, among other things, its progress in meeting its share of regional housing needs. Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to designate jurisdictions that have enacted prohousing local policies, as defined, as prohousing. Existing law grants prohousing jurisdictions that have been found to have a substantially compliant housing element additional points or preferences in the scoring of programs and applications for specified state housing programs. This bill would add to the definition of "exempt surplus land," surplus land that is zoned for a density of up to 30 residential units, if residential properties within a radius of 500 feet of the site are zoned to have an allowable density of fewer than 30 dwelling units per acre and the most recent annual progress report, as described, submitted by the city or county that owns the surplus land shows that the total number of low-income and very low income housing units built within the city or county meets or exceeds proportionate annual progress toward the number of those housing units needed to meet the city's or county's share of regional housing need for the 6th cycle of its housing element, as described.
Existing law governs the bidding and awarding of public contracts by public entities, as defined. Existing law requires state agencies to secure at least three competitive bids or proposals for each contract, except as specified. The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the comprehensive regulation of campaign financing, including imposing reporting requirements on elected officials and campaign committees. In this regard, the act requires elected officials and members of the Public Utilities Commission to report behested payments from the same source in the same calendar year in which they are made, that equal or exceed $5,000, in the aggregate. The act defines a behested payment as a payment that is made at the behest of a committee, an elected officer, a member of the Public Utilities Commission, or an agent thereof, under specified circumstances, including a payment that is made principally for personal, charitable, legislative, or governmental purposes. This bill would prohibit a state agency, as defined, from awarding a contract for which the state agency has not secured at least 3 competitive bids or proposals to a company that has made a behested payment at the behest of the Governor in the preceding 12 months. .
Existing law requires all primary supplemental instructional materials and assessments, including textbooks, teacher's manuals, films, audio and video recordings, and software, to be compiled and stored by the classroom instructor and made available promptly for inspection by a parent or guardian, as provided. This bill would require a classroom instructor to also provide a parent or a guardian with a copy of the classroom instructor's lesson plan, as defined, upon request, in hard copy or electronic word processor document format, at the parent or guardian's choosing, as provided. By imposing additional duties on classroom instructors, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize school officials to charge for the lesson plan an amount not to exceed the cost of duplication. Existing law requires the curriculum, including titles, descriptions, and instructional aims of every course offered by a public school, to be compiled at least once annually in a prospectus, and requires each schoolsite to make its prospectus available for review upon request, as provided. This bill would require each schoolsite to also publish the prospectus on its internet website, if it maintains an internet website, at least 3 calendar days before the start of the academic year, and would require any changes to the school's prospectus to be reflected on the school's internet website no later than 7 calendar days after the change has been made. To the extent these provisions impose additional requirements on local educational agencies, 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing state and federal law sets limits on the total gross weight imposed on the highway by a vehicle or vehicle combination with any group of 2 or more consecutive axles, not to exceed 80,000 pounds, as specified. Existing law authorizes vehicles or vehicle combinations in certain circumstances to carry a gross vehicle weight in excess of 80,000 pounds, such as vehicles transporting logs. Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation or local authorities to issue a special permit authorizing an applicant to operate or move a vehicle or combination of vehicles on a highway of a weight exceeding that maximum. This bill would increase the maximum gross weight for a vehicle or combination of vehicles transporting a load composed solely of a petroleum-based fuel to 88,000 pounds.
(1) 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. Existing law, until January 1, 2025, exempts from CEQA projects related to the conversion of a structure with a certificate of occupancy as a motel, hotel, residential hotel, or hostel to supportive or transitional housing, as defined, that meet certain conditions. This bill would delete the above-described January 1, 2025, repeal date, thereby extending operation of that exemption indefinitely. Because the lead agency must determine the applicability of this exemption, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires agencies and departments administering state programs to adopt guidelines and regulations to incorporate core components of Housing First, as defined. Existing law defines "state programs" for this purpose as any program a California state agency or department funds, implements, or administers for the purpose of providing housing or housing-based services to people experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, except as provided. This bill would delete the above-described requirements for state agencies to adopt guidelines and regulations to incorporate core components of Housing First. The bill, notwithstanding any guidelines or regulations adopted pursuant to that requirement as it read on January 1, 2022, would authorize an agency or department that administers a state program that has incorporated core components of Housing First to provide funding in accordance with the state program to housing that does not comply with Housing First. The bill would also make a conforming change. (3) 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, the Public Employees' Retirement Law (PERL) , creates the Public Employees' Retirement System (PERS) and authorizes local entities to join PERS as contracting agencies for the provision of benefits to their employees. Existing law authorizes retirement systems to enter into agreements to provide certain reciprocal benefits to employees that are employed by other agencies that are parties to the agreement if the employees meet specified requirements, a practice commonly referred to as reciprocity. Under existing law, reciprocity provides for the application of the final compensation paid by a subsequent employer to service provided to a prior employer. PERL provides that a public agency that has agreed to reciprocity with PERS also has reciprocity with all other agencies that have entered into those agreements with PERS, among others. PERL requires the Board of Administration of PERS to ensure that a contracting agency that creates a significant increase in actuarial liability as a result of increased compensation paid to a nonrepresented employee bears the associated liability, except as specified, including a portion that would otherwise be borne by another contracting agency. PERL requires the system actuary to assess an increase in liability, in this regard, to the employer that created it at the time the increase is determined and to make adjustments to that employer's contribution rates to account for the increased liability. This bill would require that an agency participating in PERS that increases the compensation of a member who was previously employed by a different agency to bear all actuarial liability for the action, if it results in an increased actuarial liability beyond what would have been reasonably expected for the member. The bill would require, in this context, that the increased actuarial liability be in addition to reasonable compensation growth that is anticipated for a member who works for an employer or multiple employers over an extended time. The bill would require, if multiple employers cause increased liability, that the liability be apportioned equitably among them. The bill would apply to an increase in actuarial liability, as specified, due to increased compensation paid to an employee on and after January 1, 2023.
Existing law, the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, grants agricultural employees the right to form and join labor organizations and engage in collective bargaining with respect to wages, terms of employment, and other employment conditions, and authorizes employees to elect exclusive bargaining representatives for these purposes. Existing law creates the Agricultural Labor Relations Board in the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and provides the board specified powers and responsibilities with regard to agricultural labor disputes and representation elections. This bill would repeal the provisions of the Alatorre-Zenovich-Dunlap-Berman Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975 on January 1, 2025. The bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation in the year 2023 that would, among other objectives, abolish the board, encourage and protect the associational rights of agricultural employees, and appropriate specified funds for the development, improvement, and maintenance of farmworker housing. By July 1, 2023, the bill would require the board to submit to the Legislature a report detailing a process for its abolishment that includes recommendations for subsequent legislation to achieve the objectives of the legislation in the year 2023 described above.
