Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to establish minimum standard requirements and adopt rules and regulations to regulate the manufacture, sale, and application of flame-retardant chemicals. Existing law requires electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities to annually prepare wildfire mitigation plans, as specified. This bill would expressly authorize a wildfire mitigation plan to include the use of fire-retardant chemicals approved by the State Fire Marshal on a planned basis for wildfire mitigation and risk management.
Existing law, the California Disaster Assistance Act, which is administered by the Director of Emergency Services, provides for the allocation of funds to state and local agencies and to eligible private nonprofit organizations for specified purposes relating to disaster assistance and in accordance with specified requirements. Existing law establishes the Disaster Assistance Fund and continuously appropriates moneys in that fund for purposes of the California Disaster Assistance Act. This bill, no later than January 15, 2022, and annually thereafter, would require the Office of Emergency Services to submit a written report, containing specified information, to the Assembly Committee on Emergency Management, the Assembly Committee on Budget, the Senate Committee on Governmental Organization, and the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review that details the priority investments and expenditures of funds made available pursuant to the California Disaster Assistance Act, as provided. The bill would provide that moneys in the Disaster Assistance Fund would be available for expenditure for purposes of the report only upon appropriation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973, declares the policy of the state to encourage prudent and responsible forest management of nonindustrialized timberlands through the approval of working forest management plans. Existing law authorizes a person who intends to become a working forest landowner to file a working forest management plan with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, with the long-term objective of an uneven aged timber stand and sustained yield through the implementation of the plan. Existing law defines "working forest landowner" to mean an owner of timberland with less than 10,000 acres who has an approved working forest management plan and is not primarily engaged in the manufacture of forest products. Existing law also defines "working forest management plan," and allows multiple working forest landowners to submit a working forest management plan, but provides that the plan may cover no more than 10,000 acres of timberland. This bill would revise the definition of "working forest landowner" to mean an owner of timberland with less than 15,000 acres who has an approved working forest management plan and is not primarily engaged in the manufacture of forest products. The bill would revise the definition of "working forest management plan" to allow multiple working forest landowners to submit a working forest management plan, but provide that the plan may cover no more than 15,000 acres of timberland. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to other definitions applicable to working forest management plans.
The Emergency Medical Services System and the Prehospital Emergency Medical Care Personnel Act establishes the Emergency Medical Services Authority. The act generally requires the authority to assess existing emergency medical services for the purpose of determining the need for additional emergency medical services, coordination of emergency medical services, and the effectiveness of emergency medical services. The act further requires the authority to develop, using input from stakeholders, including hospitals, local emergency medical services (EMS) agencies, and public and private EMS providers, and, after specified approval, to adopt, a statewide standard methodology for the calculation and reporting by a local EMS agency of ambulance patient offload time, as defined. This bill would require the Director of the Emergency Medical Services Authority to appoint and convene an advisory task force, and would further require the director to recommend a project plan for the advisory task force that includes an evaluation relating to ambulance patient offload delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as specified, and an evaluation of adopting technologies to allow EMS systems to better manage resources and improve response times. The bill would require the director to transmit the evaluations conducted by the advisory task force to the authority, in a manner that allows for their timely inclusion in an existing reporting requirement from the authority to the Commission on Emergency Medical Services, and to specified legislative committees. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor to, by force or threat of force, willfully injure, intimidate, interfere with, oppress, or threaten another person in the free exercise or enjoyment of a right or privilege secured by the Constitution or laws of this state or by the Constitution or laws of the United States in whole or in part because of one or more of specified actual or perceived characteristics of the victim, including disability, gender, religion, race, or sexual orientation. Existing law also makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly deface, damage, or destroy the real or personal property of another person for the purpose of intimidating or interfering with the free exercise or enjoyment of a right or privilege secured by the Constitution or laws of this state or by the Constitution or laws of the United States, in whole or in part because of one or more of the same actual or perceived characteristics of the victim. This bill would make the above crimes punishable either as a misdemeanor or as a felony, to be served in county jail for 16 months, or 2 or 3 years. By increasing the punishment for a 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 California Tourism Marketing Act requires the Office of Tourism to establish the California Travel and Tourism Commission, as a separate, independent California nonprofit mutual benefit corporation, for the purpose of promoting tourism in California, as specified. Existing law requires the meetings of the commission to comply with specified requirements, including a requirement that the executive director of the commission keep the minutes and records of all commission meetings. This bill would require the minutes and records of all commission meetings to be posted on the internet website of the Office of Tourism for at least 2 years.
Existing law makes it a crime to maliciously, and with the intent to obstruct justice or the due administration of laws, or with the intent or threat to inflict imminent bodily harm in retaliation for the due administration of the laws, to publish, disseminate, or otherwise disclose the residence address or telephone number of any peace officer, nonsworn police dispatcher, employee of a city police department or county sheriff's office, or public safety official, including an elected or appointed official, or that of the spouse or children of those persons, as specified. This bill would broaden this crime to include taking those actions with the intent to cause intimidation, harassment, as defined, or a threat to inflict bodily harm in retaliation for the due administration of laws. The bill would also make this crime apply to those actions taken against the immediate family, as defined, of any of the officials listed above, and would make the crime apply to the release of a license plate or description of the vehicle of any of those individuals. By expanding the scope of a crime, 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 prohibits dumping waste matter in or upon a public or private highway or road, in or upon private property into or upon which the public is admitted by easement or license, upon private property without the consent of the owner, or in or upon a public park or other public property. A violation of these provisions is an infraction punishable by a fine between $250 and $1,000 for a first conviction, between $500 and $1,500 for a 2nd conviction, and between $750 and $3,000 for a 3rd or subsequent conviction. Existing law requires those fines to be doubled if the waste matter placed, deposited, or dumped was used tires. This bill would also require those fines to be doubled if the waste matter placed, deposited, or dumped was a livestock carcass.
Existing law, with various exceptions, generally establishes 8 hours as a day's work and a 40-hour workweek and requires the payment of prescribed overtime compensation for additional hours worked. This bill would permit an individual nonexempt employee to request an employee-selected remote work flexible work schedule providing for workdays up to 10 hours per day within a 40-hour workweek and would allow an employer to implement this schedule without the obligation to pay overtime compensation for those additional hours in a workday, except as specified. The authorization would apply only if an employee is working remotely and not under the physical control of the employer. The bill would require that the flexible work schedule contain specified information and the employer's and the employee's original signatures. The bill would except split shift premiums from application to the work of employees who are working an employee-selected remote work flexible work schedule. The bill would require the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement in the Department of Industrial Relations to enforce this provision and adopt regulations. Existing law regulates the wages, hours, and working conditions of any worker employed in any occupation, trade, or industry, whether compensation is measured by time, piece, or otherwise, except as specified. This bill would authorize any nonexempt employee working from home who is not under the physical control of the employer to choose when to take any meal or rest period during the workday, if the employer has not already scheduled a meal or rest period within the requirements of the law. The bill would require an employer to notify the employee of this right one time, when the employee begins working from home and if the employer fails to provide this notification, to pay only one additional hour of pay for each day that the employer fails to provide this notice. The Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 authorizes an aggrieved employee on behalf of the employee and other current or former employees to bring a civil action to recover specified civil penalties that would otherwise be assessed and collected by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency for the violation of certain provisions affecting employees. This bill would prohibit an employee from recovering civil penalties from an employer under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 for violations of provisions requiring the employer to provide meal and rest breaks if the employee engaged in remote work, as specified. Among other things, the bill would require that the alleged violations occurred in a period beginning with March 19, 2020, and lasting until January 1, 2022, or until the declared end of the COVID-19 state of emergency issued by the Governor, whichever is earlier.
Existing law, the Buy Clean California Act, requires the Department of General Services to establish and publish a maximum acceptable global warming potential for categories of eligible materials, in accordance with specified requirements. Existing law further requires the department to review the maximum acceptable global warming potential for each category of eligible materials and adjust that number based on specified criteria. Existing law requires an awarding authority, as defined, to require a successful bidder for a contract for an eligible product, to submit a current Environmental Product Declaration, developed in accordance with specified standards, for that type of product. Existing law further requires an awarding authority to include in a specification for a bid for an eligible project, as defined, that the facility-specific global warming potential for any eligible materials does not exceed the maximum global warming potential for that material determined by the department. Existing law also prohibits a successful bidder from installing any eligible materials on an eligible project until that bidder submits an Environmental Product Declaration to the awarding authority for that project. Existing law defines "awarding authority" for purposes of the act to include state departments and entities subject to the State Contract Act, the Regents of the University of California, and the Trustees of the California State University. Existing law also defines "eligible materials" for purposes of the act to mean carbon steel rebar, flat glass, mineral wood board insulation, and structural steel. This bill, entitled the California Lithium Economy Act, would revise the definition of "eligible materials" to include lithium, commencing January 1, 2023. The bill would require an awarding authority, by January 1, 2025, to require the successful bidder for a contract that includes electric vehicles to be provided as part of that contract, to disclose the sources of lithium used in the manufacture of the electric vehicles' batteries. The bill would also require, by January 1, 2035, that at least 35% of the lithium used in electric vehicle batteries pursuant to a contract under the act be produced in California. The bill would include related findings and declarations.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has jurisdiction over electrical corporations. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the Wildfire Safety Division of the commission for review and approval. This bill would require each electrical corporation to also submit its wildfire mitigation plan to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature.
Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which may adjudge children to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances, including when the child suffered or there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer serious physical harm, or a parent fails to provide the child with adequate food, clothing, shelter, or medical treatment. Existing law establishes the grounds for removal of a dependent child from the custody of their parents or guardian, and establishes procedures to determine temporary placement of a dependent child. Existing law generally governs the provision of child welfare services, which is defined to mean public social services that are directed toward the accomplishment of specified purposes, including protecting and promoting the welfare of all children and preventing the unnecessary separation of children from their families. This bill would, subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act, require the State Department of Social Services to establish a 3-year pilot program for the purpose of addressing racial disparities in the child welfare system in at least 5 counties, which shall be selected to participate on a voluntary basis in the pilot program according to criteria developed by the department. The bill would require a program that receives funding pursuant to these provisions to utilize a blind removal strategy when deciding whether a child should be removed from their parents' home, as specified. The bill would require the department to submit to the Legislature an evaluation of the pilot programs and their impact and effectiveness, including, but not be limited to, monitoring the program's effect on the rate of Black, Native American, and Latinx children who were removed.
