Existing law creates and establishes a 9-member Scientific Review Panel on Toxic Air Contaminants to advise the State Air Resources Board and the Department of Pesticide Regulation in their evaluation of the health effects toxicity of toxic air contaminants and pesticides and prescribes the manner in which the members shall be appointed. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the California regional water quality control boards prescribe waste discharge requirements for the discharge of stormwater in accordance with the federal national pollutant discharge elimination system permit program. Existing law requires the state board or the regional boards to issue waste discharge requirements that ensure compliance with the federal Clean Water Act and apply any more stringent effluent standards or limitations necessary to implement water quality control plans, or for the protection of beneficial uses, or to prevent nuisance. This bill would require the state board, by July 1, 2022, to establish financial capability assessment guidelines for municipal separate storm sewer system permittees that are adequate and consistent when considering the costs to local jurisdictions. The bill would require the state board and the regional boards to continue using available regulatory tools and other approaches to foster collaboration with permittees to implement permit requirements in light of the costs of implementation.
Existing law authorizes any local agency to enact any ordinance that adopts a code by reference if the referenced code is specified in the title of the ordinance. Existing law requires that after the first reading of the title of the adopting ordinance, and of the title of the code to be adopted thereby, and of the title of the secondary codes therein adopted by reference, the legislative body shall make copies of the primary code and also copies of the secondary codes, if any, being considered for adoption, open to public inspection with the clerk of the legislative body. Existing law prohibits, however, the adoption by reference of any penalty clauses that may appear in any code that is adopted by reference; a penalty clause may be enacted only if set forth in full, and published, in the adopting ordinance. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to the latter provision.
Existing law sets forth various provisions relating to the governance of cities and defines the term "legislative body" for these purposes. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that definition.
Existing law, the Check Sellers, Bill Payers and Proraters Law, defines and regulates the activities of check sellers, bill payers, and proraters. Existing law defines a check seller as, among other things, a person who, for compensation, engages in the business of selling checks, drafts, money orders, or other commercial paper or for receiving money as agent of an obligor for the purpose of paying bills, invoices, or accounts of an obligor. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes in the title of the Check Sellers, Bill Payers and Proraters Law.
Existing constitutional law establishes the right of freedom of speech. Existing case law interpreting those provisions applies varying levels of scrutiny to state action that restricts protected speech, and classifies specific types of speech as unprotected speech, including, but not limited to, obscenity, incitement of imminent lawless action, and true threats, which are given lesser or no protection under the First Amendment. This bill would require a social media platform located in California, as defined, to develop a policy or mechanism to address content or communications that constitute unprotected speech, including obscenity, incitement of imminent lawless action, and true threats, or that purport to state factual information that is demonstrably false.
Existing law establishes in state government the Transportation Agency, which includes various departments and state entities, including the California Transportation Commission. The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, commonly known as SB 1, establishes a comprehensive transportation funding program by increasing fuel taxes and imposing certain vehicle fees. The act allocates revenues from those sources to various transportation programs, including, among others, to the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program, which the act created to address deferred maintenance on the state highway system and the local street and road system. This bill would require the Transportation Agency to improve the capability of the SB 1 internet website hosted by the agency to provide a comprehensive one-stop reporting interface available to the public. The bill would require the interface to provide timely fiscal information compiled from data provided by each administering agency regarding the development and implementation status of each transportation program or project funded, at least in part, by revenues from SB 1.
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 public postsecondary education in this state. The board of governors appoints the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to serve as the chief executive officer of the segment. This bill would establish the California Apprenticeship Grant Program, commencing with the 2022–23 academic year, under the administration of the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, to provide grants to encourage high school pupils, community college students, and employed and unemployed workers seeking to go into career technical education and vocational professions through participation in qualifying, state-approved apprenticeship programs. Under the bill, the chancellor's office would provide supplemental grants to apprentices who participate in qualified, state-approved apprenticeship and vocational programs through high schools, campuses of the California Community Colleges, and industry-driven and -funded state-approved apprenticeship and vocational programs. The bill would prohibit these grants from replacing any existing financial aid or compensation that an apprentice may receive during apprenticeship training. The bill would require that specified eligibility criteria to be met by students and apprenticeship employers and programs to participate in the program to be determined by the chancellor's office in accordance with regulations adopted by the chancellor's office. The bill would authorize the chancellor's office to adopt emergency regulations, as specified, to carry out the purposes of the bill. The bill would make the operation of the program in any fiscal year contingent upon the enactment of an appropriation, in the Budget Act or another statute, of an amount deemed sufficient by the chancellor's office to implement the program for that fiscal year.
Existing law establishes the California Environmental Protection Agency, under the supervision of the Secretary for Environmental Protection, consisting of various departments, boards, and offices, and vests the agency with authority over various environmental matters. This bill would establish, until January 1, 2027, the Southern Los Angeles Ocean Chemical Waste Community Oversight Council as a state agency within the California Environmental Protection Agency to oversee the study and mitigation of the negative impacts of anthropogenic chemical waste deposits at or from the waters of the San Pedro Basin, off the coast of Los Angeles, where chemical waste, including, but not limited to, DDT, as defined, has been detected, defined as "Dumpsite-2." The bill would prescribe requirements relating to the composition and administration of the council and would require that the council consist of 11 voting members and no more than 9 nonvoting members. The bill would require the voting members of the council to establish and elect officers, as provided, and would require the Secretary for Environmental Protection to select an executive director of the council, as provided. This bill would require the council to hold at least one public meeting every 6 months, with the first meeting occurring on or before September 1, 2023, to review and provide feedback on proposed scientific studies and mitigation strategies related to Dumpsite-2, review completed scientific studies related to Dumpsite-2 to assess the implications of the studies on current and future mitigation efforts, and review and assess the implications of existing laws, regulations, and policies related to DDT on current and future mitigation efforts. The bill would require the council, on or before June 20, 2024, and on or before June 30 of each year thereafter, to report to the Governor and the Legislature with recommendations on how to further mitigate the negative impacts of anthropogenic chemical waste deposits at or from Dumpsite-2, considering the impacts of proposed mitigation efforts on the environment, local communities, Indigenous cultures, and public health, and the impacts of no action, as provided.
Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) , protects the right to seek, obtain, and hold employment without discrimination because of prescribed characteristics. FEHA makes various employment practices unlawful and empowers the Department of Fair Employment and Housing to investigate and prosecute complaints alleging unlawful practices. This bill would expand the protected characteristics to include family responsibilities, defined to mean the obligations of an employee to provide direct and ongoing care for a minor child or a care recipient. The bill would define additional terms for this purpose. FEHA makes it an unlawful practice for an employer or other entity to fail to make reasonable accommodation for the known physical or mental disability of an applicant or employee. FEHA further makes it an unlawful practice for an employer or other entity to fail to engage in a timely, good faith, interactive process with the employee or applicant to determine effective reasonable accommodations, if any, in response to a request for reasonable accommodation by an employee or applicant with a known physical or mental disability or known medical condition. This bill would additionally make it an unlawful practice for an employer or other entity to fail to make reasonable accommodation, and to fail to engage in a timely, good faith, interactive process to determine effective reasonable accommodations, the known family responsibilities of an applicant or employee related to obligations arising from an unforeseen need to care for a minor child or care recipient whose school or place of care is closed or otherwise unavailable. The bill would also make it an unlawful practice for an employer or other entity to retaliate or otherwise discriminate against a person for requesting accommodation under the bill's provisions, regardless of whether the request was granted.
The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law allow various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. This bill, for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2021, and before January 1, 2028, would allow a credit against the taxes imposed by those laws to an employer for an amount equal to 40% of the qualified wages paid to a qualified employee, subject to a specified limitation. The bill would define "qualified wages" to mean wages paid for work completed as part of a Work Experience Education Program or a registered apprenticeship or preapprenticeship program. The bill would define "qualified employee" to mean a current or former foster youth that has not yet attained the age of 25 at the end of the taxable year. The bill would allow this credit for the first 12 months' worth of qualified wages in the case of a qualified employee hired on or after January 1, 2021, and for wages paid during the 2021 calendar year for a qualified employee hired before January 1, 2021. Existing law requires a bill that would authorize a new tax expenditure under the Personal Income Tax Law or the Corporation Tax Law to identify specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, and detailed performance indicators and data collection requirements for determining whether the tax expenditure achieves these goals, purposes, and objectives. This bill would provide findings and declarations relating to the goals, purposes, and objectives of, and the performance indicator for, the credit created by the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law makes failure of a licensee of the Medical Board of California, the Podiatric Medical Board of California, the Board of Psychology, the Dental Board of California, the Dental Hygiene Board of California, the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, the State Board of Chiropractic Examiners, the Board of Registered Nursing, the Board of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians of the State of California, the State Board of Optometry, the Veterinary Medical Board, the Board of Behavioral Sciences, the Physical Therapy Board of California, the California State Board of Pharmacy, the Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers Board, the California Board of Occupational Therapy, the Acupuncture Board, or the Physician Assistant Board, a claimant, or their counsel to report a settlement, judgment, or arbitration award over $3,000 of a claim or action for damages for death or personal injury caused by negligence, error or omission in practice, or by the unauthorized rendering of professional services, by a person who holds a license, certificate, or other similar authority from one of those boards, who does not possess professional liability insurance as to the claim, within 30 days to the agency that issued the license, certificate, or similar authority, punishable by a fine of not less than $50 or more than $500, as specified. This bill would increase the minimum fine for a violation of that provision to $100. Existing law makes failure of a marriage and family therapist, clinical social worker, professional clinical counselor, a claimant, or their counsel to report a settlement, judgment, or arbitration award over $10,000 of a claim or action for damages for death or personal injury caused by negligence, error or omission in practice, or by the unauthorized rendering of professional services, by a marriage and family therapist, a clinical social worker, or a professional clinical counselor who does not possess professional liability insurance as to that claim, within 30 days to the agency that issued the license, certificate, or similar authority, punishable by a fine of not less than $50 nor more than $500, as specified. This bill would increase the minimum fine for a violation of that provision to $100.
