Read. Adopted. (Page 2968.).
Existing law provides for the establishment and operation of veterans' homes at various sites and provides for an administrator of each home, as specified. Existing law establishes the duties of the Department of Veterans Affairs with regard to the establishment and regulation of veterans' homes. Under existing law, veterans' homes are for aged or disabled persons who served in the Armed Forces of the United States who were discharged or released from active duty under conditions other than dishonorable, who are eligible for health care benefits, hospitalization, or domiciliary care in a veterans facility, and who are bona fide residents of this state at the time of application, and for the spouses or domestic partners of those persons, if certain conditions are met. This bill would specify that dissolution of marriage or termination of domestic partnership does not necessitate the discharge of the spouse or domestic partner. The bill would provide that the discharge of a veteran member who intends to take an aid-in-dying drug, as specified, does not necessitate the discharge of the spouse or domestic partner.
The Field Act requires the Department of General Services under the police power of the state to supervise the design and construction of any school building or the reconstruction or alteration of or addition to any school building, if not exempted, to ensure that plans and specifications comply with adopted rules and regulations and building standards published in regulations, and to ensure that the work of construction is performed in accordance with the approved plans and specifications for the protection of life and property. This bill would require the State Department of Education and the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research, the Division of the State Architect, the Office of Public School Construction, and any other appropriate state entities, as determined by the department and the agency, to facilitate an interagency and stakeholder engagement process to prepare, on or before December 1, 2024, a master plan for green schoolyards that, among other things, recommends a statewide goal for the number of schools with green schoolyards to be achieved by a specified date, recommends strategies to overcome identified barriers to green schoolyards, and identifies recommendations and best practices to prevent or mitigate the impacts of extreme heat in schools. The bill would require the Natural Resources Agency, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the Department of Parks and Recreation to incorporate the recommendations and best practices from the master plan into the guidelines for specified state programs. The bill would provide that the master plan is advisory for local educational agencies, defined as school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools. The bill would require the department and the agency to submit the master plan for green schoolyards to the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature on or before December 1, 2024.
Read. Adopted. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 2938.).
Existing law establishes the Farm and Ranch Solid Waste Cleanup and Abatement Grant Program, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, to award grants to public entities, defined as cities, counties, or resource conservation districts, and Native American tribes for purposes of cleaning up and abating the effects of solid waste that is illegally disposed of on farm or ranch property. Existing law creates the Farm and Ranch Solid Waste Cleanup and Abatement Account in the General Fund to include money appropriated from specified revenue sources, including tire recycling and used oil recycling fees, and authorizes the department to expend the money in the account for the grant program upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act. This bill would rename the grant program the Farm, Ranch, and Public Lands Solid Waste Cleanup and Abatement Grant Program and extend its purposes to cleaning up and abating the effects of solid waste that is illegally disposed of on public lands owned by the state or federal government. The bill would create the Public Lands Solid Waste Cleanup and Abatement Account in the General Fund and would authorize the department to expend the moneys in the account for these extended grant program purposes upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act.
(1) Existing law requires candidates to submit specified filings to declare their intent to run for elective office. Existing law, the Political Reform Act of 1974, additionally requires candidates for elective office to make various disclosures relating to a campaign for elective office. This bill would require, beginning on the January 1 after the Secretary of State certifies a CAL-ACCESS Replacement, a candidate for elective office to file, when the candidate files a declaration of candidacy, a form to disclose the candidate's prior education and work history, and history of military service, if any. The filing would contain a statement, signed under penalty of perjury, that the information contained in the form is accurate to the best of the candidate's knowledge. The bill would require the Fair Political Practices Commission to create a form for this purpose. The bill would require the Secretary of State to post on its internet website a copy of completed forms submitted by candidates, making such forms available to the public for 4 years from the date of the election associated with the filing. The bill would establish penalties and enforcement procedures for these requirements, as specified. The bill would state that it is the intent of the Legislature that a violation of these provisions be considered grounds for disqualification from elective office, and that a governing body with the power to remove an elected officer from an office may consider violation of this chapter as grounds for such removal. (2) 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. (3) A violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 is punishable as a misdemeanor, and reports and statements filed under the act are required to be signed under the penalty of perjury. By expanding the scope of existing crimes, 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. (4) The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services to administer public social services and authorizes the department to adopt regulations to implement the law enforced by the department. Existing law requires a county board of supervisors to establish a county department, run by a director appointed by the board, for the administration of public social services and promotion of public understanding of the public social services provided by the county. Existing law authorizes the board to contract with other counties, the State Department of Public Health, or the State Department of Health Care Services for the operation, maintenance, and establishment of services a county board of supervisors deems desirable to provide to eligible individuals. This bill would require a local county entity that administers public benefits to develop and implement a program to ensure that, at a minimum, homeless residents of a county can pick up and receive government-related mail addressed to them at a place designated by the local county entity. The bill would make the program participation optional for homeless residents. The bill would also require the local county entity to provide program participants with specified information regarding the program, including hours of operation. The bill would clarify that program participation would not establish residency. The bill would define what qualifies as government-related mail. The bill would also require, on or before January 1, 2025, the State Department of Social Services to adopt specified regulations regarding the mail program, with input from stakeholders. The bill would require the department to implement and administer these provisions through all-county letters or similar instructions until regulations are adopted. By imposing new duties on counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would state that it is the intent of the Legislature that these provisions are meant to provide minimum standards for county mail programs, and that counties are encouraged to expand upon these standards by holding all types of mail for homeless residents, providing various mail pickup points, and informing homeless residents when they have mail. 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 establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the segments of postsecondary education in this state. Existing law requires the board of governors to appoint a chief executive officer, known as the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges. Existing law establishes the California Career Technical Education Incentive Grant Program, administered by the State Department of Education, with the purpose of encouraging, maintaining, and strengthening the delivery of high-quality career technical education programs. This bill would require of the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, in consultation with the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, to produce a report, on or before December 31, 2024, relating to the blockchain industry and the California Community Colleges that addresses specified topics, including, among others, recommendations on activities related to pipeline development between career technical education programs offered by local educational agencies and the California Community Colleges. The bill would require the chancellor's office to leverage its existing workforce programs structure and network to convene the necessary stakeholders in the blockchain industry or similar industries to identify workforce needs within regional economies, to include the contributions of faculty, workforce development, the K–12 sector, and other relevant stakeholders, and to provide a copy of the report to Legislature on or before December 31, 2024, as provided. This bill would repeal its provisions as of January 1, 2029.
Existing law establishes the Office of Emergency Services, which is required to, among other things, allocate and award funds to communities developing and providing ongoing citizen involvement and crime resistance programs. This bill would require the office, to the extent funds are available for this purpose and until January 1, 2029, to allocate and award funds to up to 11 district attorney offices that employ a vertical prosecution methodology for the prosecution of human trafficking crimes and that meet other specified criteria, including minimum staffing levels for the program. The bill would require the office, on or before January 1, 2026, to submit to the Legislature and the Governor's office a report that describes the counties that received funding pursuant to this program, the number of prosecutions for human trafficking cases filed by the counties receiving funding, the number of human trafficking convictions obtained by those counties, and the sentences imposed for human trafficking crimes in those counties.
Existing law establishes the California Workforce Development Board as the body responsible for assisting the Governor in the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California's workforce investment system and the alignment of the education and workforce investment systems to the needs of the 21st century economy and workforce. Existing law establishes the Office of Planning and Research within the Governor's office to provide long-range planning and research and to serve as the comprehensive state planning agency. This bill would establish the Equitable Access to Job Opportunity Pilot Program, to be operative from January 1, 2025, to January 1, 2026, inclusive, to provide individuals without postsecondary education degrees from rural or low-income communities with financial aid for workforce development training and education to gain employment in key industries. The bill would require the board and the office to administer the pilot program, including identifying key industries and developing partnerships, pathways, and opportunities to ensure local development of those industries, as specified. The bill would require the board and the office to work with local stakeholders, including local workforce development boards, in securing job opportunities and building pathways and partnerships, as specified. The bill would require the board and the office, on or before January 1, 2027, to report to the Legislature on the effectiveness of the program, as specified. The bill would make the bill's provisions operative only upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would repeal the bill's provisions on January 1, 2028.
The Political Reform Act of 1974 requires the Franchise Tax Board to conduct audits and field investigations regarding the reports filed by lobbyists. Existing law requires 25% of lobbyist employers and lobbying firms to be subject to a random audit and investigation every 2 years. This bill would transfer the responsibility for conducting audits and field investigations of lobbying reports to the Fair Political Practices Commission. The bill would also exclude lobbying firms and lobbyist employers with less than one dollar in payments or contributions from being selected for audit. Additionally, this bill would require the Fair Political Practices Commission to adopt regulations or policies that would ensure the operational independence of the commission's audit personnel from the Fair Political Practices Commission's enforcement operations. Audits conducted by the commission would be required to be posted on the commission's internet website for 10 years following the conclusion of the audit and the commission would be required to annually report to the Legislature on the number and types of audits completed by the commission. This bill would delay the operation of these provisions until the January 1 of the next odd numbered year following an appropriation made to support the commission's exercise of these responsibilities. Existing law makes a knowing or willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. By expanding the scope of an existing 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. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Existing law establishes the California Promise, which requires at least 20 campuses of the California State University to establish a California Promise program by which the campus enters into a pledge with a qualifying transfer student to support the student in earning a baccalaureate degree within 2 academic years of the student's first year of enrollment to the campus, as provided. This bill would rename the California Promise program the Finish in Four and Through in Two program, as provided. The bill would require, commencing with the 2024–25 academic year, that at least 5% of each incoming class at each participating campus of the California State University be a participant in the Finish in Four and Through in Two program, and that at least 70% of those participating students be either low-income students, first-generation students, or students from communities that are underrepresented in postsecondary education. The bill would also require, commencing with the 2024–25 academic year, incoming first-time students at each participating campus of the California State University to opt out of, rather than self-select into, the Finish in Four and Through in Two program.
