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 also provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law requires an individual or small group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy to include, at a minimum, coverage for essential health benefits, as specified. Commencing January 1, 2027, if the United States Department of Health and Human Services approves a new essential health benefits benchmark plan for the state, existing law requires essential health benefits to include an annual hearing exam and one hearing aid per ear every three years. This bill, the Let California Kids Hear Act, would require a large group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2028, to include coverage for hearing aids, as defined, and related services for enrollees and insureds under 21 years of age, if medically necessary. The bill would authorize a large group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy to limit the dollar coverage for each individual hearing aid device to $3,000, as specified. Because a willful violation of these requirements 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.
Existing law provides for the licensure and regulation of alcohol or other drug recovery or treatment facilities by the State Department of Health Care Services. Existing law prohibits operating an alcohol or other drug recovery or treatment facility to provide recovery, treatment, or detoxification services within this state without first obtaining a current valid license. If a facility is alleged to be providing those services without a license, existing law requires the department to conduct a site visit to investigate the allegation. Existing law also authorizes the department to conduct announced or unannounced site visits to licensed facilities for the purpose of reviewing them for compliance, as specified. Existing law requires alcohol or other drug programs to be certified by the department, except as specified. Existing law prohibits those programs from operating without a certification. If a program is alleged to be providing services without a certification, existing law requires the department to conduct a site visit to investigate the allegation. Existing law also authorizes the department to conduct announced or unannounced site visits to certified programs for the purpose of reviewing them for compliance, as specified. This bill would require the department to assign a complaint under its jurisdiction regarding a licensed alcohol or other drug recovery or treatment facility or a certified alcohol or other drug program to an analyst for investigation within 10 days of receiving the complaint. If the department receives a complaint that does not fall under its jurisdiction, the bill would require the department, to the extent feasible, to notify the complainant, in writing, that it does not investigate that type of complaint. The bill would require the department to complete an investigation into a complaint regarding a facility within 120 days of assigning the complaint unless the department requires additional resources, as specified, to complete the investigation. Commencing July 1, 2027, and each July 1 thereafter, the bill would require the department to post on its internet website an annual report of the investigations conducted by the department, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to impose a single fee increase for the licensure of facilities and certification of programs, as described above, commensurate with the reasonable cost of preparing and maintaining the report.
Existing law establishes the California Housing Finance Agency for the primary purpose of meeting the housing needs of persons and families of low or moderate income, and sets forth various programs administered by the agency to fulfill that purpose. This bill would require the agency to conduct a comprehensive assessment of potential credit enhancement mechanisms designed to reduce borrowing costs for housing projects receiving state financial assistance that includes specified evaluations. The bill would require the agency to submit an interim report by January 1, 2028, and a final report by July 1, 2028, as specified.
(1) The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of 1981 requires the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations relating to intrastate pipelines used for the transportation of hazardous liquid substances or highly volatile liquid substances. The act requires these regulations to comply with federal law, which defines hazardous liquid to include, among others, petroleum, petroleum products, and ethanol or other nonpetroleum fuel. Federal law also defines highly volatile liquid substances to mean a hazardous liquid that will form a vapor cloud when released, as provided. The act governs various issues related to intrastate pipelines, including, among others, pipeline design and construction, pipeline testing, land use restrictions within pipeline easements, reporting and document retention requirements on pipeline operators, pipeline inspections, emergency protocols, and enforcement. This bill would enact the Hydrogen Pipeline Safety Act, a regulatory program, similar to the Elder California Pipeline Safety Act, governing pipelines dedicated to transporting hydrogen, to be administered by the State Fire Marshal, as specified. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations governing various issues related to the operation and safety of hydrogen pipelines, including those listed above. The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act authorizes the State Fire Marshal to assess and collect an annual fee from each operator of a pipeline regulated by the act for the purposes of carrying out the act, as provided, and requires those annual fees to be deposited into the Pipeline Operations Account within the California Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Fund. The act requires specified civil penalties provided for by the act to be deposited into the Local Training Account in the fund. Moneys in the accounts are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Fire Marshal for specified purposes. This bill would similarly authorize the State Fire Marshal to assess and collect an annual fee from each hydrogen pipeline operator for the purposes of carrying out the bill. The bill would require those annual fees to be deposited into the Pipeline Operations Account and specified civil penalties provided for by the bill into the Local Training Account. The bill would make the moneys in the accounts available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Fire Marshal for specified purposes relating to these pipeline regulatory programs. The bill would rename the California Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Fund the California Pipeline Safety Fund. The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act requires that a person who willfully and knowingly violates the act or a regulation issued pursuant to the act be subject to a fine of not more than $25,000, imprisonment, or both, as provided. The act requires a person who willfully and knowingly defaces, damages, removes, or destroys any hazardous liquid pipeline sign or right-of-way marker required by law to be subject to a fine of not more than $5,000, imprisonment, or both, as provided. This bill would require the same penalties described above to be imposed on a person who willfully and knowingly violates a provision of the bill or a regulation issued pursuant to the bill or defaces, damages, removes, or destroys any hydrogen pipeline sign or right-of-way marker required by law. By creating new crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to submit to the Legislature a report with recommendations for the appropriate regulatory framework and division of jurisdictional responsibility applicable to certain pipelines carrying blends of hydrogen, as specified. (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.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the Independent System Operator, to take specified actions by December 1, 2020, to facilitate the commercialization of microgrids for distribution customers of large electrical corporations, including, among other actions, by, without shifting costs between ratepayers, developing methods to reduce barriers for microgrid deployment. Under existing law, the PUC requires certain large electrical corporations to jointly develop a Microgrid Incentive Program to fund clean energy microgrids to support the critical needs of vulnerable populations impacted by a grid outage. This bill would require the PUC to require each electrical corporation to provide to the commission, on or before January 15, 2026, the status of any awarded or unallocated funds collected for the Microgrid Incentive Program. The bill would require the commission, after reviewing that information, if it determines additional actions, using funds collected on or before January 1, 2026, are needed, to consider the use of a third-party administrator and to ensure that unallocated funds are allocated to areas that have experienced 2 or more deenergization events, prioritizing vulnerable communities, including access and functional needs populations, and prioritizing customers that operate critical community infrastructure that supports resiliency during a deenergization event. The bill would require, if there are remaining unallocated funds on January 1, 2027, that those funds to be returned to ratepayers. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because a violation of a PUC action implementing the bill's 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.
Existing law requires an annual audit of the financial books and records of the horsemen's organizations, with respect to pension funds received by the organizations pursuant to specified laws, to be conducted by a nationally recognized accounting firm within 90 days of the close of the fund's business year. This bill would eliminate the 90-day time limit on conducting the annual audit and would authorize the California Horse Racing Board to permit exceptions to the audit requirement. The Horse Racing Law requires each application for a license to conduct a horse racing meeting to be accompanied by a deposit to secure the payment of any license fee imposed pursuant to specified provisions of that law, in the form of a certified check payable to the Treasurer of the State of California, in the amount of $10,000. Under the Horse Racing Law, a person engaged in the conduct of a recognized horse race meeting is required to pay a separate license fee imposed under other provisions of the Horse Racing Law in lieu of the license fee subject to that deposit requirement. This bill would eliminate this deposit requirement and would make other conforming changes. Existing law authorizes the board to approve minisatellite wagering sites, as defined, under specified conditions. Existing law requires an organization formed by associations or fairs to operate the audiovisual signal system to execute a specified agreement with the association conducting a racing meeting and the minisatellite wagering facility that specifies, among other things, the components of its racing program, including live, out-of-zone, out-of-state, and out-of-country races, that an association or fair will make available to the site. This bill would explicitly require the agreement to specify which live in-state races would be provided by the association or fair to the site. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes, including deleting obsolete language.
Existing law, the Permit Streamlining Act, establishes requirements for the review and approval of applications for development projects, as defined, by public agencies, including requiring that a public agency that is the lead agency for the development project approve or disapprove the project within certain time periods, as specified. This bill would prohibit a city, county, or city and county from approving a building permit for cold storage facilities, as defined, unless the owner of the cold storage facility, or the lessee or operator of the cold storage facility, as specified, establishes a contingency fund, as defined, to be used upon declared national, state, or local emergencies in certain circumstances. Until July 1, 2028, the bill would limit the definition of cold storage facilities for purposes of these provisions to facilities located within the geographic boundaries of the Boyle Heights Community Plan. The bill would require an owner of a cold storage facility to provide evidence of the contingency fund at the discretion of the city, county, or city and county, as specified, and authorize an owner to require the lessee or operator of the cold storage facility to establish and maintain the contingency fund. The bill would require a cold storage facility to use the contingency fund for, among other things, providing support during the declared state of emergency or local emergency for affected communities, as specified. By imposing additional requirements on cities and counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal income tax law, generally define "gross income" for purposes of the taxes imposed by those laws as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provide various exclusions from gross income. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, and before January 1, 2032, exclude from gross income any amount received by a qualified taxpayer, as defined, in settlement for claims relating to the 2026 Boyle Heights fire incident, as defined. Existing law requires that any bill introduced on or after January 1, 2020, that would authorize certain tax expenditures, as defined, contain, among other things, specific goals that the tax expenditure or exemption will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. The bill would include findings that specified changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Boyle Heights community. 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 establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and requires the Energy Commission to nominate, and the Governor to appoint, an attorney admitted to the practice of law to serve as a public advisor to the Energy Commission, as specified. This bill would eliminate the requirement that the public advisor be an attorney. (2) Existing law provides for the establishment of an Independent System Operator, referred to as the ISO, as an incorporated nonprofit public benefit corporation. The ISO is required to ensure efficient use and reliable operation of the transmission grid consistent with achieving certain planning and operating criteria. Existing law establishes the Electricity Oversight Board to, among other duties, oversee the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange. This bill would abolish the Electricity Oversight Board and would make various conforming changes. (3) Existing law establishes a Power Exchange as a nonprofit public benefit corporation to provide an efficient competitive auction, open on a nondiscriminatory basis to all suppliers of electricity, that meets the loads of all of its customers at efficient prices. This bill would abolish the Power Exchange and would make various conforming changes. (4) Existing law, the Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979, requires the Energy Commission to provide grants and loans to local governments and public institutions to maximize energy use savings, expand installation of energy storage systems, and expand the availability of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Existing law creates various continuously appropriated accounts for purposes of the act. Existing law repeals the act on January 1, 2028. This bill would, instead, repeal the Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979 on January 1, 2038. By extending the operation of those continuously appropriated accounts, the bill would make an appropriation. (5) Existing law requires the Energy Commission, on or before March 1, to annually publish on its internet website and report to the budget and relevant policy committees of the Legislature specific information about specified clean energy programs, including the Equitable Building Decarbonization Program. This bill would expand that reporting requirement to also include additional information about the Equitable Building Decarbonization Program, including its progress, status, budget, and impacts, as provided. (6) Existing law requires the PUC to continue the Family Electric Rate Assistance program (FERA) to provide a discount to residential customers of the state's 3 largest electrical corporations consisting of households with total household annual gross income levels between 200% and 250% of the federal poverty guideline level. Existing law requires the PUC, on or before March 1 of each year, to require the state's 3 largest electrical corporations to report on their efforts to enroll customers in the FERA program and requires the PUC to review those reports on or before June 1 of each year. This bill would, instead, require the PUC, on or before May 1 of each year, to require the state's 3 largest electrical corporations to report on their efforts to enroll customers in the FERA program and require the PUC to review those reports on or before December 1 of each year. (7) Existing law defines an "electrical cooperative" to mean any private corporation or association organized for the purposes of transmitting or distributing electricity exclusively to its stockholders or members at cost. Existing law specifies that every electrical cooperative is subject to the Public Utilities Act, except as specified. This bill would exempt an electrical cooperative from any provision of the Public Utilities Act that becomes effective after January 1, 2027, that does not expressly provide that it applies to an electrical cooperative. (8) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act, or of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC, is a crime. Because certain provisions of this bill would be part of the act, and a violation of a PUC action implementing its 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.
Existing law, the State Aeronautics Act, governs various matters relative to aviation in the state, and authorizes the Department of Transportation to adopt, administer, and enforce rules and regulations for the administration of the act. This bill, the Advanced Air Mobility Infrastructure Act, would require the department, in coordination with specified agencies, to include advanced air mobility, as defined, in the next update to the California Transportation Plan prepared after January 1, 2027, and to establish a statewide working group to facilitate ongoing collaboration to explore California's role as a leader in the development and implementation of advanced air mobility, as specified. The bill would prohibit its provisions from being construed to (1) interfere with or suspend the authority of the Federal Aviation Administration or any other federal department or agency, or state zoning laws or regulations, as specified, or (2) limit or interfere with the jurisdiction, authority, rights, or responsibilities of any airport sponsor or operator, as specified.
Existing law, the Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District Act, establishes the Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District governed by, and under the control of, 8 trustees. The act requires that 7 of the trustees are the 7 members of the City Council of the City of Vallejo and the 8th member-at-large trustee is appointed by the Board of Supervisors of the County of Solano, as specified. The act prescribes the compensation for each trustee or alternate, including that each trustee of the district who is a member of the City Council of the City of Vallejo receives $100 per month for their services as a trustee of the board and may receive their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties as trustee, as provided. Under existing law, the member-at-large trustee or alternate receives $100 for each district meeting attended, as provided, and the trustee or alternate is prohibited from being compensated for more than 3 meetings, or $300, in any calendar month. Existing law requires certain legislative bodies to prepare annually a list of, among other things, all appointive terms that will expire during the next calendar year, known as the Local Appointments List, and prescribes rules for filling unscheduled vacancies of boards, commissions, or committees for which the legislative body has the appointing power. This bill would revise the membership and size of the governing board of the district, as specified. The bill would repeal the payment for trustees who are members of the city council described above and would instead apply the above-described at-large trustee or alternate payment and prohibition to all trustees, among other changes. To the extent that the bill would impose new duties on the City Council of the City of Vallejo, the Board of Supervisors of the County of Solano, and the remaining members of the Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District regarding the appointment of trustees and alternates, this bill would constitute a state-mandated local program. This bill would apply the provisions regarding the Local Appointments List and prescribed rules described above to the public members of the governing board of the district. 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 provides that everyone is responsible not only for the result of their willful acts but also for an injury occasioned to another by their want of ordinary care or skill in the management of their property or person. This bill would, until January 1, 2035, make a social media platform, as defined, liable for specified damages if the social media platform fails to exercise ordinary care or skill by causing injury to a child.
(1) Existing law requires a certificated employee of a school district of any type or class or of a county superintendent of schools, with an average daily attendance of 250 or more, who completes 2 consecutive years and is reelected for the next succeeding school year to a position requiring certification, to become and be classified as a permanent employee of the school district or county superintendent. Existing law authorizes the governing board of a school district of any type or class having an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils to classify as a permanent employee of the district any employee who, after having been employed by the school district for 3 complete consecutive school years in a position or positions requiring certification qualifications, is reelected for the next succeeding school year to a position requiring certification qualifications. If that classification is not made, existing law prohibits the employee from attaining permanent status and instead authorizes the employee to be reelected from year to year thereafter without becoming a permanent employee until a change in classification is made. Existing law further provides for the calculation of permanent status upon the unionization, unification, uniting, or consolidation of one or more school districts having different average daily attendances, as specified. This bill instead would require that a certificated employee of a school district of any type or class or of a county superintendent of schools, regardless of the average daily attendance of the school district or county superintendent of schools, who completes 2 consecutive years and is reelected to become and be classified as a permanent employee. The bill would delete the provisions specifying the calculation of permanent status upon the unionization, unification, uniting, or consolidation of one or more school districts having different average daily attendances. (2) Existing law requires a certificated employee who has served in 2 or more school districts, each having an average daily attendance of 250 or more pupils and governed by identical personnel, as specified, for a total of 2 complete consecutive school years, or who has served upon being elected for the 3rd consecutive school year in either district, to, at the commencement of that year, be classified as a permanent employee of the last district in which they were employed prior to election for the 3rd year. Existing law also requires that a certificated employee who has served in a school district having an average daily attendance of 250 or more pupils for 2 complete consecutive school years, upon being elected for a 3rd consecutive school year in a school district having an average daily attendance of 250 or more pupils and governed by a board of identical personnel as the first district, as specified, to, at the commencement of that 3rd year, be classified as a permanent employee of the last district in which they were employed before election for the 3rd year. This bill would delete the requirement that both school districts have an average daily attendance of 250 or more pupils, thereby applying these provisions to the certificated employees of all school districts, regardless of their average daily attendance. (3) Existing law requires that a person employed in an administrative or supervisory position requiring certification qualifications in a school district having an average daily attendance of 250 or more pupils, who completes the probationary period, including any time served as a classroom teacher, in the same district to be classified as and become a permanent employee as a classroom teacher. In a school district having an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils, existing law authorizes that classification. This bill would require a person employed in an administrative or supervisory position requiring certification qualifications who completes the probationary period, including any time served as a classroom teacher, in the same district, regardless of the average daily attendance of the school district, to be classified as and become a permanent employee as a classroom teacher. (4) Existing law authorizes a certificated employee of a school district of any type or class having an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils to be offered a continuing contract to cover a period longer than one year but not to exceed 4 years. This bill would repeal this provision. (5) Existing law authorizes the establishment of regional occupational centers or programs to provide career technical education and technical training to students. Existing law requires instruction in those centers or programs to only be given by a qualified teacher holding a certificate, as provided, but prohibits service by a person as an instructor in classes conducted at regional occupational centers or programs from being included in computing the service required as a prerequisite to attainment of, or eligibility to, classification as a permanent employee of a school district, except, commencing July 1, 2025, service by a person as an instructor in classes conducted at a regional occupational center or program operated by a single school district, as provided. This bill, commencing July 1, 2027, would instead require service by a person as an instructor in classes conducted at any regional occupational centers or programs to be included in computing the service required as a prerequisite to attainment of, or eligibility to, classification as a permanent employee of the employing school district or county office of education. (6) Existing law authorizes a first- or 2nd-year probationary employee of a school district to be dismissed during the school year for unsatisfactory performance or for cause, pursuant to specified procedures. Existing law specifies that those provisions do not apply to a probationary employee in a school district having an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils and instead authorizes their suspension or dismissal for cause, including for egregious misconduct, pursuant to separate procedures that are applicable to permanent employees of a school district and prohibits their dismissal during the school year for unsatisfactory performance, except as alternatively provided. This bill would revise and recast the suspension and dismissal provisions for probationary employees to eliminate distinctions between the procedures for the suspension or dismissal of a probationary employee based upon the average daily attendance of the school district. The bill would instead apply the existing procedures specific to the dismissal of a probationary employee of a school district with an average daily attendance of 250 or more to all probationary employees of all school districts, regardless of the average daily attendance of the school district. (7) Existing law establishes the California Peer Assistance and Review Program for Teachers, which authorizes the governing board of a school district and the exclusive representative of the certificated employees in the school district to develop and implement a review program that meets local conditions and conforms to specified principles, including, among others, that a teacher participant is required to be a permanent employee in a school district with 250 or greater units of average daily attendance, or a permanent or probationary employee in a school district with fewer than 250 units of average daily attendance. Existing law requires that the consulting teacher be a permanent employee, or in a school district with an average daily attendance of less than 250 pupils, a credentialed classroom teacher who has completed at least 3 consecutive school years as an employee of the school district in a position requiring certification qualifications. This bill would instead require participant teachers and consulting teachers to be permanent employees only, regardless of the average daily attendance of the school district. (8) This bill also would delete obsolete provisions, update references, and make conforming and nonsubstantive changes.
