California Bills

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes the Governor to declare a state of emergency during conditions of disaster or extreme peril to persons or property. Existing law authorizes the Governor, during a state of emergency, to suspend any regulatory statute, or statute prescribing the procedure for conduct of state business, or the orders, rules, or regulations of any state agency, including provisions relating to eligibility to receive unemployment compensation benefits, if the Governor determines and declares that strict compliance with any statute, order, rule, or regulation would in any way prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of the emergency. Existing law requires each department, division, bureau, board, commission, officer, and employee of this state to render all possible assistance to the Governor and to the Director of Emergency Services in carrying out the act. This bill would authorize a nonprofit entity that provides services pursuant to a contract with a state agency, during a state of war emergency or a state of emergency, to request the state agency to allow that nonprofit to modify the method in which it provides those services so long as the purpose of the contract is served. The bill would prohibit the nonprofit entity from exceeding the contract budget unless the nonprofit entity and the state agency enter into an agreement for modification. The bill would require the state agency and the nonprofit entity, if the state agency agrees to that modification, to prepare and sign an addendum to the contract establishing the terms and conditions of the modification. The bill would require the nonprofit entity to notify each state agency from which it receives funding of a closure or of an impacted program, including whether a closure is location specific or due to executive order, and why the service level may be impacted. The bill would further require the nonprofit entity to identify and thoroughly document all expenditures associated with the closed program and retain documentation to justify expenses and to support claiming continued state funding, as specified. The bill would require a state agency that receives notification from a nonprofit entity pursuant to these provisions to ensure that funding is available to pay for canceled services, closed programs, or reduced service levels. The bill would also permit a nonprofit entity, when a disruption occurs that prohibits that entity from providing services pursuant to a contract but a state of emergency or state of war emergency is not declared, to submit a request to the applicable state agency for flexibility with respect to services and funding pursuant to the contract. The bill would authorize a state agency to approve the written request if it determines that doing so is reasonable under the circumstances described by the nonprofit agency.

Existing law, the Mobilehome Parks Act, generally regulates various classifications of mobilehome and related vehicle parks, and imposes enforcement duties on the Department of Housing and Community Development and local enforcement agencies. The act authorizes any person to file an application with the governing body of a city or county for a conditional use permit for a mobilehome park. The act requires a person, before operating a mobilehome park, and each year thereafter, to obtain a valid permit from the enforcement agency in order to operate the park. The act also requires the owner of a mobilehome park to obtain a permit to create, move, shift, or alter park lot lines. This bill would authorize an owner of an existing mobilehome park that is subject to, or intends to qualify for, a valid permit to operate the park, to apply to the enforcement agency to add additional specified spaces to the mobilehome park not to exceed 10% of the previously approved number of spaces in the mobilehome park, if the owner has not been served with a notice of violation that constitutes an imminent threat to health and safety. The bill would exempt the additional spaces from any business tax, local registration fee, use permit fee, or other fee, except those fees that apply to the existing spaces in the park. Existing law, 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 does not apply to the approval of ministerial projects. This bill would prohibit the enforcement agency, city, or county from requiring a conditional use permit, zoning variance, or other zoning approval in order to add the spaces. By requiring a city or county to ministerially approve a project to add the mobilehome park spaces described above, this bill would exempt those projects from CEQA.

Existing law prohibits a pupil from being suspended from school or recommended for expulsion, unless the superintendent of the school district or the principal of the school in which the pupil is enrolled determines that the pupil has committed a specified act, including, among other acts, that the pupil possessed or used tobacco, or products containing tobacco or nicotine products, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, cigars, miniature cigars, clove cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, snuff, chew packets, vaping products, and betel. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2025, remove having possessed or used tobacco, or products containing tobacco or nicotine products, including, but not limited to, cigarettes, cigars, miniature cigars, clove cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, snuff, chew packets, vaping products, and betel from the list of acts for which a pupil, regardless of their grade of enrollment, may be suspended or recommended for expulsion for. The bill would, commencing July 1, 2025, prohibit a charter school pupil in kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, from being suspended or recommended for expulsion solely on the basis of those acts. Existing law requires the principal or superintendent of schools to recommend the expulsion of a pupil for certain acts committed at school or at a school activity off school grounds, including, among others, the unlawful possession of certain controlled substances, unless the principal or superintendent determines that expulsion should not be recommended under the circumstances or that an alternative means of correction would address the conduct. This bill, commencing July 1, 2025, would instead no longer require the principal or superintendent of schools to recommend the expulsion of a pupil for the unlawful possession of certain controlled substances under any circumstance. This bill would require the State Department of Education, on or before July 1, 2025, to develop and make available a model policy for a public health approach to addressing pupil possession and use of illicit drugs on school property, as specified. The bill would require the department to collaborate with stakeholders, including treatment providers, local educational agencies, and community-based organizations in the development of the model policy. The bill would require local educational agencies, as defined, to adopt, on or before July 1, 2025, a plan to address pupils who possess or use drugs on school property. The bill would require the plan to be youth-informed, reduce criminalization, and to include specific information on where on campus and in the community pupils can receive education, treatment, or support for substance abuse. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would also make Legislative findings and declarations relating to these provisions, make conforming changes, and delete obsolete provisions. 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, the State Civil Service Act, regulates employment with the state and vests in the Department of Human Resources all powers, duties, and authority necessary to operate the state civil service system. Existing law permits the use of personal services contracts for purposes of cost savings when specified conditions are met, including when the potential economic advantage of contracting is not outweighed by the public's interest in having a particular function performed directly by the state government. Existing law establishes the State Department of State Hospitals within the California Health and Human Services Agency, and provides the department with jurisdiction over specified facilities for the care and treatment of persons with mental health disorders, including the Patton State Hospital. This bill would require the State Department of State Hospitals to establish, by January 1, 2025, a physician registry for the Patton State Hospital to be composed of members of State Bargaining Unit 16, under a 3-year pilot program. The bill would require the department to conduct and post on its internet website a semiannual survey of managers and employees to determine the efficacy of the registry. By January 10, 2026, and each year thereafter for the duration of the pilot program, the bill would require the department to submit a report to the Legislature that includes a study of the effectiveness of the registry to determine if the registry compensation rates were successful in addressing the operational needs for flexible services at a lower cost than contract registries. The bill would make the implementation of its provisions contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or other statute, and would repeal its provisions on January 1, 2029.

Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to undertake various actions in furtherance of meeting the state's clean energy and pollution reduction objectives. Existing law requires the commission to gather or develop, and publish on the commission's internet website, guidance and best practices to help building owners, the construction industry, and local governments overcome barriers to electrification of buildings and installation of electric vehicle charging equipment, as specified. This bill would require the commission, on or before January 1, 2025, to submit to the Legislature an Industrial Heat Electrification Roadmap, which would, among other things, identify the industrial subsectors for various California facilities that use heat application equipment operating at or below 1,000 degrees Celsius and their locations and evaluate various issues related to industrial electrification, as specified. The bill would authorize the commission to consult with the State Air Resources Board to include in the roadmap an estimate of the reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases and criteria air pollutants, and commensurate health benefits, from electrifying the identified industrial subsectors.

Existing law provides for a system of public schools and requires the adopted course of study for grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to include instruction in specified areas of study. Existing law requires the State Department of Education, on or before July 1, 2019, to make available to school districts on its internet website a list of resources and instructional materials on media literacy, including media literacy professional development programs for teachers. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2025, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, in consultation with the state board, to survey teacher librarians, principals, and technology directors to understand how they are currently integrating digital citizenship and media literacy education into their curriculum, as provided. The bill would require the superintendent to convene and consult with an advisory committee consisting of specified representatives to develop best practices and recommendations for instruction in digital citizenship and media literacy. The bill would also require the superintendent to share the results of the survey with the advisory committee. The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2026, the superintendent, in consultation with the State Board of Education, to submit a report to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature on strategies to implement those best practices and recommendations statewide.

Existing law requires school districts, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to provide 2 school meals free of charge during each schoolday to any pupil who requests a meal without consideration of the pupil's eligibility for a federally funded free or reduced-price meal, with a maximum of one free meal for each meal service period, as provided. Existing law requires these meals to be nutritiously adequate meals that qualify for federal reimbursement. Existing law conditions these requirements upon an appropriation for these purposes by the Legislature, as specified. Notwithstanding any other law, existing law requires school districts, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools maintaining kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, to provide each needy pupil with one nutritionally adequate free or reduced-price meal during each schoolday. Existing law defines "schoolday" for these purposes to mean any day that pupils in kindergarten or grades 1 to 12, inclusive, are attending school for purposes of classroom instruction, including, but not limited to, pupil attendance on minimum days, state-funded preschool, transitional kindergarten, summer school including incoming kindergarten pupils, extended school year days, and Saturday school sessions. This bill would, contingent upon an appropriation for its purposes and to the extent authorized by federal law, require the State Department of Education to establish a process for state reimbursement, adjusted annually for inflation, for federal summer meal program operators, as defined, for meals served to guardians, as defined, of eligible pupils receiving a meal pursuant to a summer meal program, as defined. The bill would require the department to develop related guidance, as specified, and, if necessary, to apply for a waiver of federal law to secure federal reimbursement for these meals. The bill would require the department to distribute information about the federal Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children Program to guardians whose children are eligible for specified summer food programs. The bill would require a guardian of an eligible pupil to be present at the summer meal program site in order for the summer meal program operator to receive state-funded reimbursement for that meal, unless noncongregate rules are in place. The bill would require participating summer meal program operators to report to the department the number of meals served to guardians by meal site no later than 30 days after the end of summer meal site operations.

Existing law requires the Board of Parole Hearings, among other responsibilities, to conduct parole suitability hearings and determine whether an inmate is suitable for parole. Existing law authorizes the victim, the victim's next of kin, the victim's family members, or 2 representatives designated by the victim or next of kin, to appear, personally or by counsel, at parole suitability hearings and to express their views concerning the inmate and the case. This bill would require the district attorney's office or the Attorney General's office that prosecuted the case to provide no less than 45 days' notice to the board and to the crime victim, victim's next of kin, or members of the victim's family if they will not be sending a representative to a parole hearing, thereby creating 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.

(1) Existing law, the Manufactured Home Property Tax Law, establishes a process governing the taxation of manufactured homes, including mobilehomes, as defined. Existing law requires the county tax collector, upon application, to issue a tax clearance certificate or a conditional tax clearance certificate if specified requirements are met. Existing law requires a tax clearance certificate issued to be used to permit registration of used manufactured homes and for other purposes prescribed by the Controller. The tax clearance certificate may indicate that the county tax collector finds that no local property tax is due or is likely to become due or that any applicable local property taxes have been paid or are to be paid in a manner not requiring the withholding of registration or the transfer of registration. Existing law requires a conditional tax clearance certificate issued to indicate that the county tax collector finds that a tax liability exists, the amount due, and the final date that amount may be paid before a further tax liability is incurred. This bill would revise the above-described procedures for issuing a tax clearance certificate or a conditional tax clearance certificate and for the collection of unpaid, estimated taxes. With respect to the collection of taxes that are not yet payable, the bill would require those taxes to be computed by a certificate or statement prepared by the tax collector, upon request by an escrow officer, as provided, giving their estimate of those taxes or assessments for the current fiscal year and one succeeding fiscal year. The bill would require the tax collector to issue a tax clearance certificate or a conditional tax clearance certificate upon payment of the estimate of taxes or assessments, as provided. The bill would make conforming changes with respect to the provision governing conditional tax clearance certificates issued, requiring the certificate to indicate the final date for payment of a tax liability. The bill would also make conforming changes with respect to the procedure for an escrow agent to receive and satisfy an estimate of those taxes or assessments for the current fiscal year and the first succeeding fiscal year. By placing new duties on local government officials with respect to these property tax collection procedures, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law authorizes the conditional tax clearance to be in any form as prescribed by the Controller. Existing law also makes the issuance, alteration, forgery, or use of any tax clearance certificate or conditional certificate in a manner contrary to the requirements of the Controller a misdemeanor. By changing the procedures for issuing tax clearance certificates, the bill would expand the scope of an existing crime, thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. (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 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 law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care, and makes a willful violation of the act a crime. Existing law requires a health care service plan that intends to merge with, consolidate with, or enter into an agreement resulting in its purchase, acquisition, or control by, an entity, to give notice to, and secure prior approval from, the Director of the Department of Managed Health Care. Existing law authorizes the director to disapprove the transaction or agreement if the director finds it would substantially lessen competition in health care service plan products or create a monopoly in this state. Existing law authorizes the director to conditionally approve the transaction or agreement, contingent upon the health care service plan's agreement to fulfill one or more conditions to benefit subscribers and enrollees of the health care service plan, provide for a stable health care delivery system, and impose other conditions specific to the transaction or agreement, as specified. This bill would additionally require a health care service plan that intends to acquire or obtain control of an entity, as specified, to give notice to, and secure prior approval from, the director. Because a willful violation of this provision would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also authorize the director to disapprove a transaction or agreement if it would substantially lessen competition in the health system or among a particular category of health care providers, and would require the director to provide information related to competition to the Attorney General. The bill would revise the director's authority to conditionally approve a transaction or agreement, including authorizing the director to review information from federal agencies and other state agencies, including agencies in other states, that is relevant to any of the parties to the transaction, as specified. With respect to a conditional approval, the bill would also authorize the director to contract with an independent entity to monitor compliance with the established conditions and report to the department. The bill would prohibit the director from waiving, or delaying implementation of, certain requirements imposed under existing law and the bill, notwithstanding a specified provision. 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.