Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to update every 5 years the plan for the orderly and coordinated control, protection, conservation, development, and use of the water resources of the state. This plan is known as The California Water Plan. This bill would require the department to amend The California Water Plan to state that water storage is the preferred method to be used by the state to meet increased water demands by urban, agricultural, and environmental interests.
Existing law, the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act, generally establishes the conditions under which a transfer made or obligation incurred by a debtor is voidable as to a creditor, and sets forth the remedies of a creditor with respect to a voidable transfer or obligation. Existing law specifies that a covered claim is governed by the local law of the jurisdiction in which the debtor is located when the transfer is made or the obligation is incurred. Existing law specifies, for purposes of these provisions, that a debtor's location, if the debtor is an individual, is the individual's principal residence. This bill would instead provide that a debtor's location, if the debtor is an individual, is the debtor's principal residence or domicile.
Existing law, the Pharmacy Law, provides for the licensure and regulation of pharmacists and pharmacies by the California State Board of Pharmacy. Existing law authorizes a physician or pharmacist to, without a prescription or permit, furnish hypodermic needles and syringes for human use to a person 18 years of age or older, and authorizes a person 18 years of age or older to, without a prescription or license, obtain hypodermic needles and syringes solely for personal use from a physician or pharmacist, as a public health measure, as specified. Existing law, when no other penalty is provided, makes a knowing violation of the Pharmacy Law a misdemeanor and, in all other instances, makes a violation punishable as an infraction. This bill would expand the above-described provisions to authorize a delegee of a physician or pharmacist to furnish hypodermic needles and syringes for human use to a person 18 years of age or older. 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.
Existing law prohibits discrimination on the basis of various specified personal characteristics, including disability. Existing law imposes minimum statutory damages for construction-related accessibility claims if the violation of a construction-related accessibility standard denied the plaintiff full and equal access to the place of public accommodation on a particular occasion, as specified. Existing law imposes various limits on a defendant's liability for statutory damages under specified sets of conditions, including if the defendant, among other things, corrects the construction-related violations within a specified time. This bill would prohibit a construction-related accessibility claim for statutory damages from being initiated in a legal proceeding against a defendant who employs 50 or fewer individuals, as specified, unless the defendant has been served with a letter specifying each alleged violation, and the alleged violations have not been corrected within 120 days of service of the letter. The bill would provide that a defendant is not liable for statutory damages, plaintiff's attorney's fees, or costs for an alleged violation that is corrected within 120 days of service of a letter alleging the violation. The bill would also prohibit a plaintiff from avoiding the notice and opportunity to correct provisions and the liability limitations by claiming they are seeking general discrimination damages based on a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 if the underlying claim is based on a defendant's failure to comply with physical accessibility standards under California law.
Existing law defines homicide as the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with or without malice aforethought, as specified. Existing law establishes certain circumstances in which homicide is justifiable, as specified. Existing law makes homicide justifiable when attempting to lawfully suppress a riot or to keep the peace, as specified. This bill would eliminate that provision. The bill would also specify certain circumstances in which homicide is not justifiable, including when a person was outside their habitation or property and did not retreat when they could have safely done so, when a person used more force than a reasonable person would to defend against a danger, and when the person was the initial aggressor. However, the bill would specify that homicide is justifiable if the initial aggressor actually and in good faith tried to stop fighting and indicated they wanted to and tried to stop fighting, as specified, or, in cases of mutual combat, the initial aggressor gave the opponent an opportunity to stop fighting. By expanding the scope of the crime of homicide, this bill would create 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 makes a farm labor contractor successor to any predecessor farm labor contractor that owed wages or penalties to a former employee of the predecessor, whether or not the predecessor was licensed by the Labor Commissioner to carry on the business, activities, or operations of a farm labor contractor, liable for those wages and penalties, if the successor farm labor contractor meets one or more specified criteria including using substantially the same facilities or workforce to offer substantially the same services as the predecessor. Existing law provides an exception and an affirmative defense to the liability for wages and penalties owed to a former employee of the predecessor farm labor contractor if the farm labor contractor has operated for at least the preceding 3 years, and certain conditions apply. Existing law makes a person who violates farm labor contractor requirements guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by specified fines, or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 6 months, or both. This bill would decrease the amount of time that a farm labor contractor would be required to have operated with a valid license in order to have an affirmative defense to liability for wages and penalties owed to a former employee of the predecessor farm labor contractor to a least the preceding year and would make other related changes. Existing law also makes a farm labor contractor successor liable for wages and penalties owed to a former employee, as described above, if the successor farm labor contractor is an immediate family member, as defined, of any owner, partner, officer, licensee, or director of the predecessor farm labor contractor or of any person who had a financial interest in the predecessor farm labor contractor. This bill would expand the definition of "immediate family member" for purposes of the provision described above that makes a farm labor contractor successor liable for wages and penalties owed to a former employee of the predecessor farm labor contractor to include a step-parent, adoptive parent, foster parent, half-sibling, and step-grandparent. By expanding the requirements placed upon farm labor contractor successors, the violation of which 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 a specified reason.
Existing law requires a 3-part test, commonly known as the "ABC" test, to determine if workers are employees or independent contractors for purposes of the Labor Code, the Unemployment Insurance Code, and the wage orders of the Industrial Welfare Commission. Under the ABC test, a person providing labor or services for remuneration is considered an employee rather than an independent contractor unless the hiring entity demonstrates that the person is free from the control and direction of the hiring entity in connection with the performance of the work, the person performs work that is outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business, and the person is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, or business. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with the enforcement of labor laws, including worker classification Existing law exempts certain occupations and business relationships from the application of the ABC test described above. Existing law, instead, provides that these exempt relationships are governed by the multifactor test previously adopted in the case of S. G. Borello & Sons, Inc. v. Department of Industrial Relations (1989) 48 Cal.3d 341. These exemptions include professional services provided by graphic designers, fine artists, content contributors, and various others, subject to meeting specified conditions. This bill would create an exemption for a merchandiser contracting with a bona fide business or hiring entity to provide stand-alone in-store inventory and product placement labor or services on behalf of retailers and brands in the consumer-packaged goods industry, as specified.
The Safe Place to Learn Act declares that it is the policy of the State of California to improve pupil safety at schools and the connections between pupils and supportive adults, schools, and communities. Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to post, and annually update, on the State Department of Education's internet website, and notify school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools of the availability of, a list of statewide resources that provide support to youth, and their families, who have been subjected to school-based discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or bullying. This bill would require the Superintendent, by July 1, 2026, to develop and post on the department's internet website guidance and a list of statewide resources for the purpose of preventing teen dating violence. The bill would also require, by January 1, 2027, each county office of education, school district, and charter school maintaining any of grades 7 to 12, inclusive, to post the guidance and list of statewide resources developed by the Superintendent on their respective internet website. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would create 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 establishes a system of public elementary and secondary schools in this state, and authorizes local educational agencies throughout the state to operate schools and provide instruction to pupils in kindergarten and grades 1 to 12, inclusive. This bill would appropriate $21,500,000 from the General Fund to the Paradise Unified School District for the purpose of completing construction of schools damaged by the Camp Fire of 2018. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Paradise Unified School District. Funds appropriated by this bill would be applied toward the minimum funding requirements for school districts and community college districts imposed by Section 8 of Article XVI of the California Constitution.
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. This bill would exempt from the requirements of CEQA a project to remove sediment from the Five-Mile Basin in the City of Chico. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Chico.
Existing law, the California Library Services Act, states the intent of the Legislature to provide all residents with the opportunity to obtain from their public libraries needed materials and informational services by facilitating access to the resources of all libraries in this state. The act establishes the California Library Services Board consisting of 13 members, appointed as provided, with the State Librarian as the chief executive officer of the state board. Under the act, the powers and duties of the state board include, among other things, the adoption of rules, regulations, and general policies for the implementation of the act, as provided. This bill would rename the California Library Services Act as the California Library Services, Equity in Opportunity Act, and would revise and recast the act to, among other things, state the intent of the Legislature to create access to opportunity for all Californians at public libraries, as provided. The bill would rename the California Library Services Board as the California Library Services, Equity in Opportunity Board and would reduce the size of the board to 11 members, appointed as provided. The bill would prescribe the duties of the state board to instead be to, among other things, advise the State Librarian on the adoption of rules, regulations, and general policies for the implementation of the act, as provided. The bill would require the State Librarian to ensure staff support for the state board.
Existing law regulates the use of pesticides and authorizes the Director of Pesticide Regulation to adopt regulations to govern the possession, sale, or use of specified pesticides, as prescribed. Existing law provides that the regulation of pesticides is of statewide concern and that the state occupies the whole field of regulation regarding the registration, sale, transportation, or use of pesticides to the exclusion of all local regulation. This bill would prohibit, on and after January 1, 2028, the sale of a product that contains glyphosate in this state, except to a person or business that holds a valid license or certificate issued by the Department of Pesticide Regulation. The bill would require the department to levy a civil penalty of $100 for each violation of this prohibition.
