Existing law requires the Secretary of State to adopt regulations to facilitate the availability of death statistics from the State Department of Health Services for use by the Secretary of State and county elections officials to cancel affidavits of registration of deceased persons. This bill would authorize the Secretary of State to also seek an agreement with the federal Social Security Administration to facilitate the availability of death statistics from that agency. The bill would require the Secretary of State, upon obtaining such an agreement, to adopt regulations as specified. Beginning on January 1, 2026, this bill would also require the Secretary of State and county elections officials to use information obtained pursuant to these provisions to cancel affidavits of registration of deceased persons. By imposing new duties on county elections officials, 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, 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 governs the jurisdiction of various criminal actions and criminal proceedings. Existing law also provides various diversion programs, including programs for defendants with cognitive disabilities and programs for defendants who were, or currently are, members of the United States military. This bill, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, would create the Homeless Courts Pilot Program, which would remain in effect until January 1, 2029, to be administered by the Judicial Council for the purpose of providing comprehensive community-based services to achieve stabilization for, and address the specific legal needs of, homeless individuals who are involved with the criminal justice system. The bill would require applicant cities or counties seeking grant funds to provide a number of specified services or program components, including, but not limited to, a diversion program enabling participating defendants to have specified charges dismissed upon completion of a program, provision of temporary, time-limited, or permanent housing during the duration of the program, and a dedicated representative to assist defendants with housing needs. The bill would require an applicant for grant funding under the program to submit a plan for a new homeless court program or expansion of an existing homeless court program, and would require any funding awarded to an applicant to be used in accordance with that plan. The bill would also require the Judicial Council, on or before July 1, 2027, to submit a report to the Legislature evaluating the programs funded and the success and challenges of those programs, along with recommendations for improving the programs. The bill would require the Judicial Council, in collaboration with subject matter experts, to establish performance-based outcome measures for each participating homeless court, including, among other things, information relating to the demographics of program participants, housing placements for all participants, and successful substance use disorder treatment rates.
Existing law establishes within the Department of Industrial Relations the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, headed by the Labor Commissioner, for the purposes of enforcing labor laws. This bill would establish within the division the Labor Trafficking Unit, which would be required to coordinate with the Labor Enforcement Task Force, the Criminal Investigation Unit, the Department of Justice, and the Civil Rights Department to combat labor trafficking. The bill would require the unit to receive and investigate complaints alleging labor trafficking and take steps to prevent labor trafficking. The bill would require the unit to coordinate with or refer cases to the Labor Enforcement Task Force or the Civil Rights Department for potential civil actions, and to coordinate with or refer cases to the Department of Justice for potential criminal actions. The bill would require the unit to follow protocols to ensure survivors of labor trafficking are not victimized by the process of prosecuting traffickers and are informed of the services available to them. The bill would authorize the unit to coordinate with state and local agencies for specified purposes relating to the investigation and prosecution of labor trafficking. The bill would require the Division of Occupational Safety and Health to notify the unit when, upon investigating businesses under their purview, there is evidence of labor trafficking. The bill would require the unit, beginning January 1, 2026, until January 1, 2036, to annually submit a report to the Legislature with specified information relating to labor trafficking complaints, including the number, types, and outcomes of complaints.
Existing law, the Government Claims Act, generally requires the presentation of all claims for money or damages against local public entities and the state. Existing law provides for the presentation of a claim for which appropriations have been made, or for which state funds are available, under that act to the Controller, in the form and manner prescribed by the general rules and regulations adopted by the Department of General Services. Existing law, with specified exceptions, prohibits the Controller from drawing a warrant for any claim until it has been audited in conformity with law and the general rules and regulations adopted by the Department of General Services governing the presentation and audit of claims. This bill would authorize the Controller to conduct, unless prohibited by the provisions of a state ballot proposition passed by the electorate, financial and compliance audits as the Controller's office deems as necessary for purposes of ensuring that any expenditures, regardless of the source or fund from which the warrants for claims are drawn, are expended in a manner consistent with the law and the voters' intent. The bill would also authorize the Controller to conduct any audits necessary to carry out their constitutional and statutory duties and responsibilities under the law. The bill would require, if an audit is conducted as specified, the Controller to provide a report with specified information from these audits to the Legislature by June 30 following the completion of the audit and would require the Controller to allow all auditees in the report a reasonable period of time to review and comment on the section of the report relating to the auditee, as described. The bill would make related legislative findings and declarations.
Existing law prohibits a person from being tried or adjudged to punishment while that person is mentally incompetent. Existing law establishes a process by which, if the mental competency of a defendant is in doubt, the defendant's mental competency is evaluated and the defendant receives treatment with the goal of returning the defendant to competency, as specified. Existing law requires a court to appoint 2 mental health professionals to examine a defendant if the defendant is seeking a finding of mental incompetence. This bill would only require the appointment of a 2nd mental health professional if requested by the defendant. The bill would require the evaluating mental health professional to submit a report to the court within 30 days and would specify the required contents of the report. The bill would also clarify that any statements made by the defendant as part of the evaluation are inadmissible in subsequent proceedings. This bill would authorize the court, if no objection is made to the report, to make a finding of the defendant's competence based on the report. The bill would, if any party objects to the report, require the court to hold a hearing to determine competence, as specified. Existing law, in the case of a defendant charged with a felony, requires that, upon a finding of mental incompetence, the proceedings be suspended until the defendant regains competence. Existing law prescribes a program of pretrial diversion for defendants with a diagnosed mental disorder whose disorder was a significant factor in the commission of their offense. Under existing law, persons charged with certain offenses, including murder, rape, sexual abuse of a child, and possession of a weapon of mass destruction, are ineligible for diversion. This bill would require the court, upon a finding of mental incompetence of a defendant charged with a felony that is not ineligible for diversion, to determine if it is in the interests of justice to restore the defendant to competence. The bill would require the court, if the restoration of the defendant's mental competence is not in the interests of justice, to either grant mental health diversion to the defendant or dismiss the charges against the defendant, as specified. If a defendant is returned to court having not been restored to mental competence, this bill would require the defendant to be presumed incompetent and, if the charges are not dismissed, be returned to treatment, as specified. The bill would make other conforming changes.
The California Urban Forestry Act of 1978 has a purpose of, among other things, promoting the use of urban forest resources for purposes of increasing integrated projects with multiple benefits in urban communities. The act requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to implement a program in urban forestry to encourage better tree management and planting in urban areas to increase integrated, multiple-benefit projects by assisting urban areas with innovative solutions to problems, as provided. The act authorizes the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to make grants to provide assistance of 25% to 90% of costs for projects, as provided. This bill would require funds appropriated or allocated to the department for the bill's purposes to be administered to support school greening, as defined, by providing grants to eligible local educational agencies, as defined, nonprofit organizations, cities, counties, and districts, including special districts, through a competitive grant process that the bill would require the department to develop, including guidelines and selection criteria, as specified, on or before July 1, 2024. The bill would require the department, before developing the grant process, to hold at least 2 public hearings to gather public input on the grant process development. The bill would, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, require funding for these purposes to be transferred to the School Greening and Resiliency Fund, which the bill would establish in the State Treasury.
Existing law requires the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the state's "Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan" issued by the task force in January 2021. Existing law requires the task force to submit, as part of the implementation strategy, a report to the appropriate policy and budget committees of the Legislature on progress made in achieving the goals and key actions identified in the state's action plan, on state expenditures made to implement these key actions, and on additional resources and policy changes needed to achieve these goals and key actions, as provided. This bill would require the task force, on or before July 1, 2024, and annually thereafter, to compile and post on its internet website specified information relating to specified state and federal grant programs relating to fire prevention, as provided.
Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, establishes, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) , under the direction of the Director of Emergency Services for the purpose of mitigating the effects of natural, manmade, or war-caused emergencies. Existing law establishes the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and establishes various programs for the prevention and reduction of wildfires. Existing law requires Cal OES and CAL FIRE to jointly establish and lead the Wildfire Forecast and Threat Intelligence Integration Center, and sets forth the functions and duties of the center, including serving as the state's integrated central organizing hub for wildfire forecasting. Existing law, until January 1, 2029, also establishes the Office of Wildfire Technology Research and Development within CAL FIRE under the direct control of the director of CAL FIRE. Under existing law, the office is responsible for studying, testing, and advising regarding procurement of emerging technologies and tools in order to more effectively prevent and suppress wildfires throughout the state, as provided. This bill would require the office to submit a report, as specified, to the Legislature, on or before July 1, 2025, that assesses the feasibility of CAL FIRE and Cal OES, working with the National Interagency Aviation Committee and the International Airtanker Board, to conduct an evaluation of innovative new aerial firefighting technologies and whether any new technologies exist that might meet CAL FIRE standards of water and retardant delivery systems, as specified. The bill would also require the office to consider whether updates are appropriate to CAL FIRE and Cal OES procedures and deployment protocols to include innovative wildfire technologies currently available in California.
Existing law establishes the California State University and its various campuses under the administration of the Board of Trustees of the California State University. Existing law requires the California State University to provide for courses in ethnic studies at each of its campuses. Existing law, commencing with students graduating in the 2024–25 academic year, requires the California State University to require, as an undergraduate graduation requirement, the completion of, at minimum, one 3-unit course in ethnic studies. This bill would require the California State University to collaborate with the Academic Senate of the California State University, the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges, the California Community Colleges Ethnic Studies Faculty Council, and the California State University Council on Ethnic Studies to ensure the development of a process, on or before December 31, 2024, for eligible community college ethnic studies courses to meet the requirements of a California State University ethnic studies course provided pursuant to these provisions for students who transfer to the California State University from California Community Colleges. The bill would require the California State University Council on Ethnic Studies to make the final decision on whether a community college course satisfies the California State University requirements for ethnic studies. The bill would provide that a community college course that has been approved for the California State University ethnic studies requirements as of December 1, 2023, no longer satisfies those requirements on and after August 1, 2025, unless the course is approved under the process developed pursuant to this bill, except that the bill, notwithstanding that provision, would prohibit requiring students who have successfully completed an approved community college ethnic studies course before August 1, 2025, from taking another course to meet the California State University requirements for ethnic studies.
Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , an initiative measure, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license and applicable local ordinances. The Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) , among other things, consolidates the licensure and regulation of commercial medicinal and adult-use cannabis activities. MAUCRSA establishes the Department of Cannabis Control within the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to administer the act. Under existing law, the California Cannabis Equity Act, a local equity program is a program adopted or operated by a local jurisdiction that focuses on inclusion and support of individuals and communities in California's cannabis industry who are linked to populations or neighborhoods that were negatively or disproportionately impacted by cannabis criminalization, as specified. The act authorizes the department to provide technical assistance to a local equity program that helps local equity applicants or local equity licensees, as defined. Under that act, the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development is required to administer a grant program to assist a local jurisdiction with the development of a local equity program or to assist local equity applicants and local equity licensees through a local equity program, as specified. Existing law establishes the California Cannabis Tax Fund as a continuously appropriated special fund consisting of specified taxes, interest, penalties, and other amounts related to commercial cannabis activity. Each fiscal year, AUMA requires the Controller to make disbursements from the fund pursuant to a specified schedule. Existing law authorizes the Legislature to amend, on and after July 1, 2028, the provisions relating to the disbursement and allocation of moneys in the fund by majority vote to further the purposes of AUMA, as specified. This bill would require, effective July 1, 2028, the Controller to disburse up to $15,000,000, as specified, to the department for the 2028–29 fiscal year and every fiscal year thereafter. The bill would require the department to use the disbursements to support local equity programs in eligible local jurisdictions to assist local equity applicants and licensees gaining entry into, and to successfully operate in, the state's regulated cannabis marketplace, as specified. By expanding the purposes for which continuously appropriated moneys may be used, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of AUMA.
Existing law, the Early Education Act, among other things, requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to administer all California state preschool programs, including, but not limited to, part-day and full-day age and developmentally appropriate programs for 3- and 4-year-old children. Existing law requires each state preschool program applicant or contracting agency to give priority for part-day and full-day programs according to a specified priority ranking. Existing law requires the 3rd priority for services to be given to eligible 4-year-old children who are not enrolled in a state-funded transitional kindergarten program and requires the 4th priority to be given to eligible 3-year-old children. This bill would instead require the 3rd priority for services to be given to eligible 3- and 4-year old children who are not enrolled in a state-funded transitional kindergarten program, and would revise the remaining priorities accordingly. Existing law requires the State Department of Education, in collaboration with the State Department of Social Services, to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates, which vary with the length of the program year and the hours of service, for purposes of the act. Existing law requires those contractors who, as of December 31, 2021, received the established standard reimbursement rate to be reimbursed at the greater of the 75th percentile of the 2018 regional market rate survey or the contract per-child reimbursement amount as of December 31, 2021, as increased by a specified cost-of-living adjustment. This bill would instead require, for a contract whose period of performance begins on and after July 1, 2023, the contract reimbursement to be based on the lesser of the maximum reimbursable amount stated in the contract, the net reimbursable program costs, or the product of the adjusted child days of enrollment for certified children times the contract rate set forth in the above-described provisions. Existing law establishes adjustment factors to reflect the additional expense of serving full-day and part-day preschool children who have exceptional needs, are being provided with early childhood mental health consultation services, or are 47 months or younger, as provided. Existing law additionally establishes adjustment factors to reflect the additional expense of serving full-day preschool children who are at risk of neglect, abuse, or exploitation or who are dual language learners. Existing law prohibits days of enrollment for children who meet more than one of the criteria eligible for adjustment from being reported under more than one of those categories. This bill would, on and after July 1, 2024, additionally apply those adjustment factors for children who are at risk of neglect, abuse, or exploitation or who are dual language learners to part-day preschool children. The bill would also eliminate the prohibition on reporting children under more than one of the above-specified categories eligible for adjustment and make conforming changes.
Existing law requires the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges to exercise general supervision over the California Community Colleges including the authority to adopt rules and regulations necessary and proper to execute the functions expressly authorized by statute. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a community college district to authorize the students of a college to organize a student body association. If a student body association has been established at a community college, existing law requires the officials of the community college to collect a $2 student representation fee to be used to provide support for governmental affairs representatives of local or statewide student body organizations. Existing law requires $1 of every $2 fee to be expended to establish and support the operations of a statewide community college student organization, as specified. Existing law requires a community college to provide a student a means to refuse to pay the $2 student representation fee. This bill, commencing with the 2024–25 academic year, would require the other $1 of the $2 student representation fee to be used to establish and support the operations of local student body organizations. The bill, commencing with the 2024–25 academic year, would also require a community college to provide a student a means to refuse to pay either $1 portion of the $2 student representation fee. Existing regulations of the Board of Governors require the governing board of a community college district to give to each student at registration information pertaining to the student representation fee and specify requirements for the form used for the purpose of collecting the fee. Existing law requires the form used by a community college to provide the student a means to refuse to pay the fee to be as nearly as practical in the same form as a model form prescribed by the Board of Governors. This bill would, instead, require the form to be as nearly as practical in the same form as a model form prescribed by the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges.
