Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to determine the method of payment for construction contracts, including progress payments for completed portions of the work or for materials delivered on the ground or stored subject to the control of the board and unused. This bill would require the governing board or body of a local educational agency, as defined, to ensure that the contract or contracts for any construction project, as defined, taking place during school hours include security provisions that limit access to the construction site and keep unauthorized individuals off school property. To the extent the additional contract terms would impose additional duties on local educational agencies or other local entities or officials, 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, 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 obligations of tenants and landlords. Existing law prohibits a landlord who allows an animal on the premises from advertising or establishing rental policies in a manner that requires a tenant or a potential tenant with an animal to have that animal declawed or devocalized as a condition of occupancy, as provided. This bill would require a landlord or their agent to have a pet policy or pet addendum in writing and to provide access to the property's pet policy or addendum on the property's internet website, in digital advertisements, and in information provided to a residential rental search engine, as prescribed. The bill would require a landlord or their agent to provide a written copy of the property's established pet policy or pet addendum with any rental application form. The bill would require a pet policy or pet addendum to include specified information, including a description of the rights, responsibilities, and requirements for tenant pet owners at the property. The bill would establish conditions for a landlord or their agent to substantially comply with these provisions and would specify that a nonmaterial error or omission that is corrected upon notice does not constitute a violation of these provisions. The bill would specify that it does not affect obligations or rights under state or federal law relating to service and support animals. The bill would require any landlord or their agent who charges an application fee but fails to disclose the established pet policy or pet addendum before charging the fee, and due to the landlord's or their agent's failure to disclose that information, the applicant is no longer eligible to rent the unit or declines to proceed with the application, to refund the application fee to the applicant upon request, as specified. The bill would make its provisions operative on April 1, 2027.
The Equity in Higher Education Act establishes the policy of the state to afford all persons, regardless of specified characteristics, including gender, gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation, equal rights and opportunities in the postsecondary educational institutions of the state. The act requires the Trustees of the California State University and the governing board of a community colleges district, and requests the Regents of the University of California, to designate an employee at each of their respective campuses as a point of contact for the needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, transgender, gender-nonconforming, intersex, and two-spirit faculty, staff, and students. This bill would require the trustees and the governing board of a community college district, and would request the regents, to also designate an employee as a point of contact for the needs of the above-described faculty, staff, and students of a branch campus, satellite location, or site other than the main campus, as specified. The bill would define "branch campus," "satellite location," and "main campus" for this purpose. To the extent the bill would impose new duties on a community college district, 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, 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, including, but not limited to, property tax law, the Sales and Use Tax Law, the Personal Income Tax Law, the Corporation Tax Law, the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law, the law governing the taxation of insurers, the Use Fuel Tax Law, and the Diesel Fuel Tax Law, provides for tax expenditures, including exemptions, deductions, exclusions, and credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) to comprehensively assess the major tax expenditures, as defined, of the state, write and publish a report on each major tax expenditure, and make a recommendation to the Legislature based on each report. In this regard, the bill would require LAO, as part of the comprehensive assessments, to identify any savings that the Legislature can realize by reducing or limiting the major tax expenditures, and require them to consider certain criteria when finalizing each report, including the extent to which the major tax expenditure is a cost-effective use of resources compared to other options to address the same purpose, intent, or goal. The bill would require LAO to complete and publish on its internet website its first report on a major tax expenditure by January 1, 2028, and to complete and publish on its internet website each subsequent report on a major tax expenditure annually in a sequence determined by the office thereafter until the fifth and final report is submitted on January 1, 2032. The bill would require the Senate Committee on Revenue and Taxation and the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation, to hold a joint public hearing on these reports by each August 15 of the second year of the legislative session, as specified. To the extent that LAO needs access to taxpayer data and information, the bill would require the Franchise Tax Board, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, and the Employment Development Department to ensure that relevant anonymized taxpayer data is made available and ensure that appropriate levels of data security and privacy protections are in place for transferred or sensitive data. The bill would repeal its provisions on January 1, 2033. The bill would make findings and declarations relating to these provisions.
Existing law establishes the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and establishes various programs for the prevention and reduction of wildfires. This bill, which would be operative until January 1, 2033, and upon appropriation by the Legislature, would establish the Fire Innovation Unit within the department to serve as the department's innovation arm for wildfire technology research, coordination, procurement, and deployment for technologies that, among other things, improve ecosystem and landscape scale resilience. The bill would require the unit to consist of the Office of Wildfire Technology Research and Development, the Innovation, Outreach and Coordination Program, and the Rapid Acquisition and Deployment Program, as provided. The bill would authorize the unit to establish and administer a program to fund early-stage, mature, or dual-use technology projects that enhance wildfire prevention, preparedness, mitigation, and response through grants, contracts, or both. The bill would also authorize the unit to (1) administer or monitor pilot, prototype, or demonstration projects to evaluate, mature, and validate wildfire-related technologies, (2) collaborate with public and private educational and research institutions on wildfire technology and innovation, (3) establish testbeds to test or evaluate emerging technologies, (4) provide technical assistance to local, state, federal, and international fire agencies to facilitate deployment of wildfire-related technologies, (5) maintain a publicly accessible resource to provide visibility into these wildfire-related technologies, and (6) provide opportunities for participation in demonstrations, pilot programs, and field testing, as provided. This bill would require the department to submit an annual report to the Governor and the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature summarizing certain information related to the unit, including, among other things, the technologies and projects evaluated, tested, or deployed.
Existing law establishes the Motor Vehicle Account in the State Transportation Fund and requires moneys in the account, upon appropriation by the Legislature, be expended by the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of the California Highway Patrol for the purposes of enforcing laws related to vehicles or the use of highways. Existing law requires a lienholder to comply with specified procedures to conduct a vehicle lien sale. With regards to those procedures, existing law requires that the proceeds of a vehicle lien sale be paid to the lienholder in the amount necessary to discharge the lien and to cover the cost of processing the vehicle, among other requirements. Existing law requires that the balance be forwarded to the Department of Motor Vehicles and requires the balance to be deposited in the Motor Vehicle Account in the State Transportation Fund, as provided. Existing law authorizes any person claiming an interest in the vehicle to file a claim with the Department of Motor Vehicles for any portion of the funds from the lien sale that was forwarded to the department, as provided. Existing law prohibits the Department of Motor Vehicles from honoring any claim unless the claim has been filed within 3 years of the date the funds were deposited in the Motor Vehicle Account. This bill would delete the above-described prohibition against the Department of Motor Vehicles from honoring any claim. The bill would, instead, 3 years after the date the funds were deposited in the Motor Vehicle Account, require the Department of Motor Vehicles to transfer any funds deposited in the Motor Vehicle Account to the Controller and would require the funds to be treated as escheated property. The bill would make the bill's provisions operative on January 1, 2030. Because this bill would require the balance to be treated as escheated property to the state, and thereby deposited in the Unclaimed Property Fund, which is a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law generally regulates artificial intelligence, including companion chatbots, as defined. Existing law requires an operator, as defined, to prevent a companion chatbot on its companion chatbot platform from engaging with users unless the operator maintains a protocol for preventing the production of suicidal ideation, suicide, or self-harm content to the user. Existing law requires an operator, for a user the operator knows is a minor, to take certain prescribed action, including disclosing to the user that the user is interacting with artificial intelligence. This bill would delete those provisions imposing requirements on an operator if the operator knows the user is a minor. The Digital Age Assurance Act requires a person who owns, maintains, or controls a software application, as defined, to request age bracket data sent by a real-time secure application programming interface or operating system with respect to a particular user from an operating system provider or a covered application store when the application is downloaded and launched. This bill would require an operator, as defined, of a companion chatbot to, beginning July 1, 2027, before making a new or substantially modified companion chatbot available to users in the state, do various things with respect to child safety, including perform and document a comprehensive risk assessment related to the design, configuration, and operation of the companion chatbot with respect to minor users that contains, among other things, a summary of the results of any evaluation of each covered harm, as defined, pertaining to the companion chatbot. The bill would require an operator to submit to independent child safety audits of its compliance with the bill, as specified. The bill would require an auditor to produce a report that describes whether the operator has established and adhered to policies and practices to comply with the bill that includes, among other things, the signature of the lead auditor certifying the results of the audit under penalty of perjury. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the Attorney General to, for cause, request and obtain a copy of an AI child safety audit report from the operator and would make a child safety audit report submitted to the Attorney General confidential. This bill would authorize certain public prosecutors to bring a civil action to enforce the bill's provisions, as specified, and would authorize a child who suffers an actual harm as a result of a violation of this chapter, or a parent or guardian acting on behalf of that child, to bring a civil action against the operator, as specified. 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. 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 establishes the Employment Training Panel within the Employment Development Department and sets forth its powers and duties with respect to certain employment training programs. Existing law declares the intent of the Legislature that the purpose of provisions relating to the panel is to establish an employment training program to promote a healthy labor market in a growing, competitive economy and to fund only projects that meet specified criteria, including, among other things, fostering retention of high-wage, high-skilled jobs in manufacturing, and other industries, as provided. Existing law also establishes the Employment Training Fund in the State Treasury, and requires that moneys in the fund be expended only for the purposes of the Employment Training Panel, except as provided. Existing law authorizes the panel to allocate moneys in the fund for reimbursement of reasonable training costs, administrative costs incurred by contractors, costs of program administration, and related services. This bill would require the panel to authorize and encourage the use of electronic systems for recordkeeping. The bill would authorize contractors and subcontractors under an agreement with the panel to satisfy recordkeeping and documentation requirements through electronic records, provided that those records are complete, accurate, and meet other specified criteria. The bill would require the panel to adopt recordkeeping and training administration standards, as specified, and to update regulations, guidance, and program materials to implement the bill's provisions.
Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to supervise and regulate every public utility in the state, including telephone corporations, and to fix just and reasonable rates and charges for public utilities. Existing law establishes the state's 6 universal service funds in the State Treasury, including the California High-Cost Fund-A Administrative Committee Fund (CHCF-A) and the California High-Cost Fund-B Administrative Committee Fund (CHCF-B) , and provides that moneys in each of the state's universal service funds are the proceeds of rates and are held in trust for the benefit of ratepayers and to compensate telephone corporations for their costs of providing universal service. Moneys in the funds may only be expended to accomplish specified telecommunications universal service programs, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act or upon supplemental appropriation. Existing law, the CHCF-A program, until January 1, 2028, requires the commission to develop, implement, and maintain a suitable program to establish a fair and equitable local rate structure aided by universal service rate support to small independent telephone corporations that serve rural areas and are subject to rate-of-return regulation by the commission. Existing law, the CHCF-B program, until January 1, 2028, requires the commission to develop, implement, and maintain a suitable, competitively neutral, and broad-based program to establish a fair and equitable local rate support structure aided by universal service rate support to telephone corporations serving areas where the cost of providing services exceeds rates charged by providers, as determined by the commission. This bill would extend the CHCF-A program and CHCF-B program requirements to January 1, 2033. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the CHCF-A program and CHCF-B program, which would be extended under the provisions of this bill, are part of the act, and a violation of a commission action implementing the programs' requirements 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the State Registrar to establish a new birth certificate upon receipt of a report of adoption or a readoption order, as specified. This bill would require the State Registrar to establish a new birth certificate pursuant to the provisions above within 11 weeks upon receipt of a report of adoption or a readoption order. If the State Registrar determines that the report of adoption or readoption order is incomplete, the bill would require the State Registrar to notify the court that issued the report of adoption or readoption order, or the applicant as the State Registrar deems necessary, within 14 weeks requesting the required documentation, and would require the State Registrar to establish a new birth certificate within 11 weeks of receipt of the required documentation. If the required documentation is not received within 90 calendar days after the court or applicant is notified, the bill would authorize the State Registrar to return the incomplete report of adoption or readoption order to the applicant for resubmission.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is in part governed by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law sets forth a schedule of benefits covered under the Medi-Cal program, including acupuncture, but only to the extent that federal matching funds are provided for acupuncture. Under this bill, acupuncture would instead be a covered Medi-Cal benefit subject to utilization controls and the availability of federal financial participation. The bill would, if federal financial participation is not available for coverage of acupuncture services, make acupuncture a covered benefit subject to an appropriation and utilization controls. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 14132 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 1949 and AB 350 to be operative only if this bill and either or both AB 1949 and AB 350 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law requires a prosecuting attorney to disclose to the defendant or their attorney all relevant real evidence seized or obtained as a part of the investigation of the offenses charged that is in the possession of the prosecuting attorney or known to be in the possession of the investigating agencies. Existing law requires the disclosures to be made at least 30 days prior to the trial, unless good cause is shown why a disclosure should be denied, restricted, or deferred. Existing law prohibits an attorney from disclosing or permitting to be disclosed to a defendant, members of the defendant's family, or anyone else copies of child pornography evidence, unless specifically permitted to do so by the court after a hearing and a showing of good cause. Existing law authorizes an attorney to disclose or permit to be disclosed copies of child pornography evidence to persons employed by the attorney or to persons appointed by the court to assist in the preparation of a defendant's case if that disclosure is required for that preparation. This bill would require the court, in specified criminal cases involving sexually explicit material depicting an adult victim, to issue a protective order governing the disclosure of that material, with conditions sufficient to safeguard the victim's privacy, prevent unnecessary copying, transmission, or dissemination of the material, and ensure the defendant's right to a fair trial and a meaningful opportunity to participate in their own defense. This bill would, if the court issues that protective order, prohibit the parties from disclosing to any person copies of sexually explicit material depicting an adult victim, unless specifically permitted to do so by the protective order. The bill would authorize an attorney for any party to disclose or permit to be disclosed copies of sexually explicit material depicting an adult victim subject to the protective order, to a person necessary for the preparation of the case, including the defendant. The bill would, if a party receives any other sexually explicit material of the adult victim, require the party to notify the court for inclusion of the material in any existing protective order, or inclusion in a new or separate protective order. By increasing duties on local prosecutors, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would clarify that these provisions do not relieve the prosecution from the duty to disclose the existence of any relevant or exculpatory evidence nor affect the admissibility of any relevant evidence in court. 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.
