Existing law imposes specified requirements on all hearings conducted by the Board of Parole Hearings for the purpose of reviewing a prisoner's parole suitability, or the setting, postponing, or rescinding of parole dates, including, among other things, that the incarcerated person be permitted to be present, to ask and answer questions, and to speak on their own behalf. This bill would require the board to translate specified blank templates of notices and forms into the 5 most common languages spoken by incarcerated persons who are eligible for a parole hearing. The bill would require the board, at least once every 5 years, to determine the applicable languages and, if there is a material change to one of those templates, to update the translated version within a reasonable time.
Existing case law holds that execution of a "mentally retarded" person constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the United States Constitution, rendering an individual with mental retardation ineligible for the death penalty. Existing law authorizes a defendant to apply, prior to the commencement of trial, for an order directing that a hearing to determine intellectual disability be conducted when the prosecution in a criminal case seeks the death penalty. Existing law defines "intellectual disability" for these purposes as the condition of significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested before the end of the developmental period, as defined by clinical standards. Existing law requires the court to order a hearing to determine whether the defendant has an intellectual disability upon the submission of a declaration by a qualified expert stating the expert's opinion that the defendant is a person with an intellectual disability. Existing law requires a court to impanel a new jury to try the issue of intellectual disability if a jury panel was unable to reach a unanimous verdict that the defendant is a person with an intellectual disability. This bill would define "manifested before the end of the developmental period" to mean that the deficits were present during the development period, and does not require a formal diagnosis, or tests of intellectual functioning in the intellectual disability range, before the end of the developmental period. The bill would codify case law by specifying that individuals with an intellectual disability are ineligible for the death penalty. The bill would specify that the question of intellectual disability is a question of fact that may be stipulated to by the parties, and would require the court to accept the stipulation, unless the court finds that the stipulation is not supported by documentary evidence that provides a factual basis for concluding by a preponderance of the evidence that the person has an intellectual disability. The bill would require the court to state its factual and legal rationale for declining to accept a stipulation of the parties. This bill would authorize the court to order a defendant or petitioner to submit to testing by a qualified prosecution expert only if the prosecution presents a reasonable factual basis that the intellectual functioning testing presented by the defendant or petitioner is unreliable. If the court enters an order for the defendant or petitioner to submit to testing, the bill would require the prosecution to submit a proposed list of the tests its expert wishes to administer so that the defendant or petitioner may raise any objections before testing is ordered. The bill would require the court, in the event that a jury in unable to reach a unanimous verdict as to whether the defendant is a person with an intellectual disability, to enter a finding that the defendant is ineligible for the death penalty.
Existing law provides for the regulation and licensing of pilots for Monterey Bay and the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. Existing law also establishes, in the Transportation Agency, the Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun. Existing law prescribes the rates of bar pilotage fees required to be charged by pilots and paid by vessels inward and outward bound through those bays. Existing law also imposes an additional pilot boat surcharge to recover the pilots' costs of obtaining new pilot boats, including preliminary design and engineering, and of funding design and engineering modifications for the purpose of extending the service life of existing pilot boats, excluding costs for repair or maintenance, and authorizes the board to adjust the amount of the surcharge, as specified. Existing law requires the moneys charged and collected each month from the surcharge to be paid to the Board of Pilot Commissioners' Special Fund and credited to the Pilot Boat Surcharge Account, the moneys in which are continuously appropriated to the board to fund the pilot boat costs of obtaining new pilot boats and of funding design and engineering modifications for the purposes of extending the service life of existing pilot boats, excluding costs for repair or maintenance, and to cover the administrative costs of the board with respect to administration of the account. Existing law prohibits the amounts expended from the account for specified fiscal years from exceeding specified limits. This bill would remove the prohibitions on expenditures above those specified limits, thereby making an appropriation.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health to implement and administer various programs relating to public health. The department administers the California Overdose Surveillance Dashboard that provides data on state- and local-level drug-related overdose outcomes for California, including, among other data, the number of deaths related to fentanyl overdoses. Existing law requires the department to update the dashboard to reflect additional information, as specified. This bill would require the department to use best efforts to utilize all of its relevant data regarding overdoses in the state to monitor and identify current trends of fentanyl-related deaths of children 0 to 5 years of age, inclusive. The bill would require the department to develop guidance and spread awareness of the trends to protect and prevent children from fentanyl exposure. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2026, to annually distribute its findings and guidance to local health departments, county boards of supervisors, and the Legislature. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029.
(1) Existing law establishes the Farm to Community Food Hub Program, which is administered by the Office of Farm to Fork in the Department of Food and Agriculture, which is under the control of the Secretary of Food and Agriculture. Existing law requires the secretary to establish the Farm to Community Food Hub Advisory Committee for the purpose of advising the secretary with respect to their responsibilities regarding the program. Existing law requires the advisory committee to comprise 10 members from specified regions, including 4 members who are executives or managers of a food supply chain business headquartered in California, 4 members who are executives or directors of a civil society organization or representatives of academic institution with certain expertise, and one member who is a farmer or rancher meets specified qualifications. Existing law requires the program to be administered in 2 phases, and requires the office, for the first phase, to solicit and select proposals throughout the state to create farm to community food hubs and award planning grants to selected proposals and, for the second phase, to select at least 3 of the proposals that were awarded planning grants during the first phase and award to those proposals development grants for capital and operating expenses of the farm to community food hub for a 5-year period. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2028. This bill would eliminate the advisory committee and instead require the office to develop and consult with a working group comprising at least 7 individuals who possess expertise in the operation of food hubs and other specified areas, as provided. The bill would exempt the working group from the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act. The bill would require that the program prioritize the creation of new farm to community food hubs and would authorize, instead of require, the program to be administered in the 2 above-described phases. The bill would extend the operation of the program until January 1, 2034. (2) Existing law appropriated $1,000,000 to the Strategic Growth Council to establish the California Agricultural Land Equity Task Force to develop recommendations on how to equitably increase access to agricultural land for food production and traditional tribal agricultural uses. Existing law requires the task force, on or before January 1, 2026, to submit a report to the Legislature and Governor that includes a set of policy recommendations on how to address the agricultural land equity crisis. This bill would authorize the council, using existing or private funds, to provide public task force members a reasonable per diem allowance, as specified, or at a higher rate authorized by the task force, for each day's attendance at a noticed meeting of the task force. The bill would require the report to be posted on the council's internet website. (3) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law, commonly known as the Cyberbullying Protection Act, requires a social media platform, as defined, to disclose all cyberbullying reporting procedures in the social media platform's terms of service and to establish a mechanism within its internet-based service that allows an individual, whether or not that individual has a profile on the internet-based service, to report cyberbullying or content that violates the existing terms of service. The act defines "cyberbullying" to mean any severe or pervasive conduct made by an electronic act, as specified, committed by a pupil or group of pupils directed toward one or more pupils that has, or can reasonably be predicted to have, certain effects, including placing a reasonable pupil in fear of harm to that pupil's person or property. The act makes a social media platform that violates its provisions liable for a civil penalty of not more than $7,500 for each intentional violation to be assessed and recovered in a civil action brought in the name of the people of the State of California by the Attorney General. The act also authorizes a court to order injunctive relief to obtain compliance with these provisions. This bill would generally apply the act's provisions to minors rather than pupils. The bill would define the phrase "severe or pervasive conduct" to include only content that has, or can be reasonably predicted to have, specified harmful, detrimental, or substantially interfering effects. The bill would provide that "severe conduct" may also include conduct that, among other things, calls for self-injury or suicide of a minor or a specific person or of a group of individuals related to a minor. The bill would additionally require the mechanism required by the act to meet additional criteria, including that the mechanism provides, within 36 hours of receipt of a report, written confirmation to the reporting individual that the social media platform received that individual's report. The bill would authorize civil actions for relief only by a parent, legal guardian, or administrator who submits a report of cyberbullying to the social media platform, a city attorney, a district attorney, a county counsel, or the Attorney General. The bill would increase the civil liability for violating the act to $10,000 and would make a social media platform that violates the act's provisions liable for compensatory and punitive damages, as provided. The bill would authorize a court to award reasonable attorney's fees and costs to the prevailing plaintiff, as specified. This bill would state that its provisions are severable. The bill would also make a nonsubstantive change.
(1) Existing law, until January 1, 2025, authorizes the Los Angeles Unified School District's Inspector General of the Office of the Inspector General to conduct audits and investigations, as specified, including administering oaths or affirmations. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor, punishable as specified, for a person, after the administration of an oath or affirmation by the inspector general, to state or affirm as true any material matter that they know to be false. Existing law requires the inspector general to submit to the Legislature annual interim reports and a final cumulative report. This bill would extend the authority of the inspector general of the Los Angeles Unified School District indefinitely. By extending the operation of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the inspector general to instead submit an annual report to the Legislature on or before July 1 of each year. The bill would expressly require the inspector general to be appointed by the Board of Education of the Los Angeles Unified School District for a term of 3 years, subject to the terms of the inspector general's employment contract, and would require the Office of the Inspector General to conform to the Principles and Standards for Offices of Inspector General and would require audits performed by the Office of the Inspector General to be conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards, as provided. (2) 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. (3) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Existing unemployment compensation disability law requires workers to pay contribution rates based on, among other things, wages received in employment and benefit disbursement, for payment into the Unemployment Compensation Disability Fund, for purposes of compensating in part for the wage loss sustained by any individual who is unable to work due to the employee's own sickness or injury, among other reasons. Existing law sets forth standards for eligibility to receive unemployment compensation disability benefits. Existing law establishes, within the above state disability insurance program, a family temporary disability insurance program, also known as the paid family leave program, for the provision of wage replacement benefits for up to 8 weeks to workers who take time off work for prescribed purposes, including to care for a seriously ill family member. Existing law requires, for purposes of unemployment compensation disability benefits, the Employment Development Department to issue the initial payment for unemployment compensation disability benefits to a monetarily eligible claimant who is otherwise determined eligible by the department within 14 days of receipt of the claimant's properly completed first disability claim. Existing law provides for purposes of the paid family leave program that eligible workers shall receive benefits generally in accordance with unemployment and disability compensation law. This bill would instead require, for purposes of unemployment compensation disability benefits, the issuance of the initial payment for those benefits within 14 days of receipt of the claimant's properly completed first disability claim or as soon as eligibility begins, whichever is later. The bill would apply the same initial payment issuance schedule applicable to unemployment compensation disability benefits to the paid family leave program and repeal the requirement that eligible workers receive benefits generally in accordance with unemployment and disability compensation law. The bill would make these changes operative when these changes are incorporated in the Employment Development Department's integrated claims management system as part of the EDDNext project. Under the state disability insurance and paid family leave programs, a first claim is required to be filed not later than the 41st consecutive day following the first compensable day with respect to which the claim is made for benefits, as specified. This bill would authorize an individual to initiate the claims process up to 30 days in advance of the anticipated first compensable day. The bill would make these changes operative when the changes are incorporated in the Employment Development Department's integrated claims management system as part of the EDDNext project.
Existing law, the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983, establishes a program of seismic safety building standards for certain hospitals. Existing law requires, by January 1, 2030, owners of all acute care inpatient hospitals to either seismically retrofit all acute care inpatient hospitals, or demolish, replace, or change to nonacute care use all hospital buildings not in substantial compliance with regulations and standards developed by the department in accordance with the act, as specified. This bill would authorize the Children's Hospital Los Angeles to seek approval from the Department of Health Care Access and Information for an extension to the January 1, 2030, compliance deadline described above by up to 3 years. The bill would authorize the hospital to submit a seismic compliance plan, as specified, and, if necessary, a Nonstructural Performance Category-5 evaluation report in order to seek an extension. The bill would also require the hospital and department to identify least 2 major milestones relating to the seismic compliance plan that will be used as the basis for determining whether a hospital is making adequate progress towards meeting the hospital's seismic compliance deadline. The bill would subject the submitted seismic compliance plan to departmental review for reasonableness and require the hospital seeking the extension to submit any documentation requested by the department to assist its review. The bill would require the department to approve or deny a seismic compliance plan and any extension to the seismic compliance deadline within 120 days. The bill would also authorize the department to adjust the approved extension of time, the milestones agreed upon, or both, as necessary to deal with contractor, labor, or material delays, acts of God, governmental entitlements, or other circumstances beyond the hospital's control. The bill would impose a fine of $5,000 per calendar day for the hospital's failure to comply with a revised construction schedule or to meet any major milestone established by the department until the requirements or milestones, respectively, are met. The bill would also generally prohibit these hospitals from being issued a building permit for any building in the facility except those required for seismic compliance, maintenance, and emergency repairs until the milestone is met and the hospital is adequately progressing toward meeting the hospital's seismic compliance, as determined by the department. The bill would require the department to implement the above-described provisions by regulation, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Los Angeles.
Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act of 2016 (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. Existing law, 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 and requires the Department of Cannabis Control to administer its provisions. Under MAUCRSA, the Department of Cannabis Control has sole authority to license and regulate commercial cannabis activity, which MAUCRSA defines to include, among other activities, the sale of cannabis and cannabis products. Existing law requires all civil penalties imposed and collected by a court in actions brought for violations of MAUCRSA to be deposited into the General Fund, except as provided. Existing law places various advertising and marketing restrictions on licensees, including prohibiting a licensee from publishing or disseminating advertising or marketing that is attractive to children, and from advertising or marketing cannabis or cannabis products in a manner intended to encourage consumption by persons under 21 years of age or on an advertising sign within 1,000 feet of a daycare center, school, or youth center. Existing law also prohibits a licensee from advertising or marketing on a billboard or similar advertising device located on an interstate highway or on a state highway that crosses the California border. This bill would expand the above-described restrictions to a person engaged in commercial cannabis activity, whether licensed or unlicensed. Existing law governs the cultivation of industrial hemp in this state and establishes a registration program administered by county agricultural commissioners and the Department of Food and Agriculture for growers of industrial hemp, hemp breeders, and established agricultural research institutions, as defined. The Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, among other things, regulates the labeling of food, beverages, and cosmetics and makes it a crime to distribute in commerce any food, drug, device, or cosmetic if its packaging or labeling does not conform to these provisions. Violation of the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law is a misdemeanor. Existing law imposes various advertising requirements on hemp manufacturers, as defined, including, among other things, prohibiting directly targeting advertising or marketing to children or to persons who are pregnant or breastfeeding. This bill would instead require a manufacturer, distributor, or seller of industrial hemp to comply with advertising and marketing restrictions similar to those under MAUCRSA as described above. By expanding the scope of a misdemeanor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would authorize the Attorney General, a city attorney, or a county counsel to bring and maintain an action to redress a violation of the above-described advertising and marketing restrictions. The bill would require the Attorney General, a city attorney, or a county counsel who prevails in an action to be awarded injunctive relief and would authorize them to be awarded reasonable attorney's fees and costs and civil penalties of not more than $5,000 per violation for a licensed cannabis business or an industrial hemp registrant and not more than $30,000 for an unlicensed cannabis business or an unregistered business engaged in the sale of products that contain industrial hemp, as specified. The bill would require civil penalties awarded in an action to be distributed pursuant to existing law provisions referenced above. The bill would prohibit a defendant from being subject to more than one action in connection with the same, or substantially similar, advertising or marketing, except as provided. The bill would prohibit these provisions from being construed to limit or otherwise alter, in any way, any other authority conferred by law upon the Attorney General, the department, or any other state or local officer or agency, as specified. 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.
(1) Existing law, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Disparities Reduction Act, requires the State Department of Public Health, among other specified state entities, in the course of collecting demographic data directly or by contract as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians, to collect voluntary self-identification information pertaining to sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersexuality. This bill would replace the term "intersexuality" with the term "variations in sex characteristics/intersex status" and would make conforming changes to related provisions. Existing law, as an exception to the provision above, authorizes those state entities, instead of requiring them, to collect the demographic data under either of the following circumstances: (a) pursuant to federal programs or surveys, whereby the guidelines for demographic data collection categories are defined by the federal program or survey; or (b) demographic data are collected by other entities, including other state agencies, surveys administered by third-party entities and the state department is not the sole funder, or third-party entities that provide aggregated data to a state department. This bill, notwithstanding the exception above, would require the State Department of Public Health to collect the demographic data from third parties, including, but not limited to, local health jurisdictions, on any forms or electronic data systems, unless prohibited by federal or state law. To the extent that the bill would create new duties for local officials in facilitating the department's data collection, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would specify that the provisions above do not require (1) the State Department of Public Health to collect demographic data from an individual under 18 years of age, as specified, or (2) health care providers or other third parties to collect, disclose, or report information that is not voluntarily provided self-identification information pertaining to sexual orientation, gender identity, and variations in sex characteristics/intersex status (SOGISC) . Existing law requires the above-described state entities to report to the Legislature the data collected and the method used to collect the data, and to make the data available to the public, except for personally identifiable information. Existing law deems that personally identifiable information confidential and prohibits its disclosure. Existing law sets forth different deadlines, depending on the specified state entity, for complying with those requirements. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health, for purposes of the data collected by the department on SOGISC, to comply with the above-described requirements as early as possible but no later than March 28, 2029. (2) Existing law authorizes local health officers and the State Department of Public Health to operate immunization information systems. Existing law requires health care providers and other certain agencies, including schools and county human services agencies, to disclose specified immunization and other information about the patient or client to local health departments and the State Department of Public Health. Existing law authorizes local health departments and the State Department of Public Health to disclose most of that same information, as specified, to each other and to other entities. Existing law authorizes a patient or a patient's parent or guardian to refuse to permit recordsharing, as specified. Under existing law, the information that is subject to disclosure under those provisions includes, among other things, certain data on immunizations received, the patient's or client's date of birth, race and ethnicity, and gender. This bill would add the adult patient's or client's SOGISC and sex assigned at birth to the list of information subject to disclosure. Under the bill, a health care provider would only be required to disclose SOGISC information that is voluntarily provided by the patient or client. The bill would prohibit a health care provider from disclosing that information as it relates to any patient or client who is under 18 years of age. The bill would make conforming changes to the above-described provisions on data sharing. By expanding the duties of local officials with regard to disclosing demographic information to certain entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The bill would require the State Department of Public Health to prepare an annual report concerning SOGISC data collected by the department. The bill would require the department to annually post and make available the report on the department's internet website and to annually submit the report to the Legislature, excluding any personally identifiable information. The bill would require the annual report to include, among other certain information, the department's efforts to collect, analyze, and report SOGISC data and, until fully implemented, the progress that the department has made in implementing recommendations set forth in a related 2023 report by the California State Auditor's Office. (4) 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. (5) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
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 provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law sets forth specified coverage requirements for health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies, and limits the copayment, coinsurance, deductible, and other cost sharing that may be imposed for specified health care services. This bill would require a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, to provide coverage for the prophylaxis, diagnosis, and treatment of Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorder Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS) and Pediatric Acute-onset Neuropsychiatric Syndrome (PANS) that is prescribed or ordered by the treating physician and surgeon and is medically necessary, as specified. The bill would prohibit coverage for PANDAS and PANS from being subject to a copayment, coinsurance, deductible, or other cost sharing that is greater than that applied to other benefits. The bill would prohibit a plan or insurer from denying or delaying coverage for PANDAS or PANS therapies because the enrollee or insured previously received treatment for PANDAS or PANS or was diagnosed with or received treatment for the condition under a different diagnostic name. Because a willful violation of these provisions by a health care service plan 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.
