Existing law declares as legislative policy that all of the territory of the state shall be included within a community college district, except that territory located within a county where the county residents accounted for fewer than 350 units of average daily attendance in the state's community colleges during the preceding fiscal year, and that territory located within such a county may be included within a community college district pursuant to prescribed procedures. This bill instead would declare as legislative policy that all of the territory of the state shall be included within a community college district or otherwise provided with equivalent opportunities for residents to participate in both in-person and online postsecondary education programs and courses. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to conduct a study and prepare a report evaluating the provision of postsecondary education services and opportunities to residents of the underserved Counties of Amador, Alpine, Mariposa, Modoc, and Sierra that are not fully included within the territory of a community college district, and would require the report to include policy recommendations regarding how the state can ensure that residents of those 5 counties have opportunities to participate in both in-person and online postsecondary education programs and courses equivalent to those of similarly sized communities that are fully included within the territory of a community college district, as provided. To assist with and inform the development of the report and recommendations, the bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to convene and consult a working group that includes specified voluntary representatives, and would authorize the Legislative Analyst's Office to request and receive information from specified entities. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to provide the report and recommendations to the appropriate fiscal and policy committees of the Legislature and to the Governor on or before December 31, 2025. The bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2030. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Amador, Alpine, Mariposa, Modoc, and Sierra.
Existing law prohibits a school district from receiving a state apportionment based upon average daily attendance unless it has maintained the regular day schools of the district for at least 175 days during the next preceding fiscal year, except as provided. Existing law requires a school district or county office of education that is prevented from maintaining its schools during a fiscal year for at least 180 days, and a charter school is so prevented for 175 days for, and any local educational agency is required to operate sessions of shorter length than otherwise prescribed by law because of (1) certain specified extraordinary conditions, including fire, flood, earthquake, or epidemic, among others, or other extraordinary conditions, (2) inability to secure or hold a teacher, or (3) the illness of the teacher, to receive the same apportionment from the State School Fund as it would have received had it not been so prevented from maintaining school for the requisite number of full-length days. Existing law requires the Superintendent to find that the factual basis for being so prevented has been shown, to the Superintendent's satisfaction, by the affidavits of the members of the respective governing board or body of the local educational agency and the county superintendent of schools. Notwithstanding the inability to secure or hold a teacher, or because of the illness of the teacher, existing law prohibits a school district, county office of education, or charter school, from September 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022, inclusive, from receiving that same apportionment from the State School Fund as it would have otherwise received if the school closure was due to impacts from COVID-19, except as provided for specified categories of pupils. Notwithstanding that provision, existing law authorizes a school district, county office of education, or charter school to receive that same apportionment from the State School Fund for school closures related to impacts from COVID-19 due to COVID-19-related staffing shortages if specified conditions are established to the satisfaction of the Superintendent by affidavits of the members of the respective governing board or body of the local educational agency and the county superintendent of schools. This bill, notwithstanding any other law, including those above-described provisions, would require the Superintendent to exempt Culver City Unified School District from fiscal penalties for failing to maintain the requisite number of instructional days due to the emergency closure of its schools from January 19, 2022, to January 21, 2022, inclusive, due to the impacts of the COVID-19 emergency and the denial of a specified waiver. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Culver City Unified School District.
Existing federal law provides for the Medicare Program, which is a public health insurance program for persons 65 years of age and older and specified persons with disabilities who are under 65 years of age. Existing federal law specifies different parts of Medicare that cover specific services, such as Medicare Part B, which generally covers medically necessary services and supplies and preventive services. 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 federal law additionally provides for the issuance of Medicare supplement policies or certificates, also known as Medigap coverage, which are advertised, marketed, or designed primarily as a supplement to reimbursements under the Medicare Program for the hospital, medical, or surgical expenses of persons eligible for the Medicare Program, including coverage of Medicare deductible, copayment, or coinsurance amounts, as specified. Existing law, among other provisions, requires supplement benefit plans to be uniform in structure, language, designation, and format with the standard benefit plans, as prescribed. Existing law prohibits an issuer from denying or conditioning the offering or effectiveness of any Medicare supplement contract, policy, or certificate available for sale in this state, or discriminating in the pricing of a contract, policy, or certificate because of the health status, claims experience, receipt of health care, or medical condition of an applicant in the case of an application that is submitted prior to or during the 6-month period beginning with the first day of the first month in which an individual is both 65 years of age or older and is enrolled for benefits under Medicare Part B. Existing law requires an issuer to make available specified Medicare supplement benefit plans to a qualifying applicant under those circumstances who is 64 years of age or younger who does not have end stage renal disease. This bill would delete the exclusion of otherwise qualified applicants who have end stage renal disease, thereby making the specified Medicare supplement benefit plans available to those individuals. The bill, on and after January 1, 2025, would prohibit an issuer of Medicare supplement coverage in this state from denying or conditioning the issuance or effectiveness of any Medicare supplement coverage available for sale in the state, or discriminate in the pricing of that coverage because of the health status, claims experience, receipt of health care, medical condition, or age of an applicant, if an application for coverage is submitted during an open enrollment period, as specified in the bill. The bill would entitle an individual enrolled in Medicare Part B to a 90-day annual open enrollment period beginning on January 1 of each year, as specified, during which period the bill would require applications to be accepted for any Medicare supplement coverage available from an issuer, as specified. The bill would require the open enrollment period to be a guaranteed issue period. Because a violation of the bill's 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 establishes the Office of Planning and Research in the Governor's office for the purpose of serving the Governor and the Governor's cabinet as staff for long-range planning and research and constituting the comprehensive state planning agency. Existing law authorizes a local agency to finance infrastructure projects through various means, including by establishing an enhanced infrastructure financing district to finance public capital facilities or other specified projects of communitywide significance that provide significant benefits to the district or the surrounding community. This bill would require the office, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to establish the Infrastructure Gap-Fund Program to provide grants to local agencies to develop and construct infrastructure projects, as defined. The bill would authorize the office to provide funding for up to 20% of a project's total cost, subject to specified requirements, including, among other things, that the office is prohibited from awarding a grant to a local agency unless the local agency provides funding that has been raised through local taxes for at least 10% of the infrastructure project's total cost. The bill would require the office to develop guidelines to implement the program that establish the criteria by which grant applications will be evaluated and funded. The bill would make these provisions operative January 1, 2027.
Existing law requires the court to order records sealed if a person is found to be factually innocent, including records of arrest and detention, upon written or oral motion of any party. Under existing law, if a writ of habeas corpus or motion to vacate a judgment is granted for specified reasons, the petitioner may move for a finding of factual innocence by a preponderance of the evidence for the purpose of obtaining compensation for the pecuniary injury sustained through the erroneous conviction and incarceration. This bill would require the Department of Justice in those circumstances to issue to the person a certificate of innocence and annotate the person's state summary criminal history information. The bill would require courts to order that relief be granted when a person is found to be factually innocent, and would require the court to report those proceedings to the Department of Justice. The bill would additionally require the Department of Justice to send notice of findings of innocence to all agencies and officers that it had previously notified of the arrest or other proceedings against the person.
Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, requires the department to administer childcare and development programs that offer a full range of services to eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, inclusive. The act requires that families meet specified requirements to be eligible for federal and state subsidized childcare and development services, including that a family's adjusted monthly income is at or below 85% of the state median income, adjusted for family size, as specified. Existing law requires the department to establish a fee schedule for families using preschool, childcare, and development services. Existing law provides for calculations to determine income eligibility and family fees. This bill would require earned and unearned income received by a family member who has verified employment of at least 20 hours or more per week at a childcare center or family childcare home to be excluded when determining income eligibility or family fees pursuant to the above-described provisions. Existing law establishes priority for federal and state subsidized child development services with first priority given to neglected or abused children who are recipients of child protective services and 2nd priority given to income eligible families, as specified. This bill would give 3rd priority to families that are eligible due to a family member's employment at a childcare center or family childcare home.
Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to supply a form to designated county agencies in order to enable persons to request and receive notification from the department of the release, escape, scheduled execution, or death of the violent offender. Existing law requires the agency to give the form to the victim, witness, or next of kin of the victim for completion, explain to that person or persons the right to be notified, and forward the completed form to the department. This bill would require that form to additionally enable the person to request and receive notification of changes to the defendant's minimum eligible parole date that changes it by more than 6 months, as specified. By increasing duties on county agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would also require these notices to be given by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to victims, witnesses, and their next of kin for changes of status for defendants convicted of a sexually violent offense, specified sex offense involving a minor, or homicide offense, among others, 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, as one of the segments of public postsecondary education in the state. The California State University currently comprises 23 institutions of higher education. This bill would authorize the Chancellor of the California State University to conduct and submit to the trustees a study about the feasibility of a California State University satellite program, and ultimately, an independent California State University campus, in the Antelope Valley or the Victor Valley, as defined, within 18 months after the date that the trustees certify that sufficient funds are available to conduct the study. The bill would require funding for the study to be derived solely from nonstate sources. If the trustees decide that a new campus or off-campus center is needed in the Antelope Valley or the Victor Valley, the bill would authorize the trustees to conduct a formal study of the proposal, as provided.
Existing law generally authorizes a county tax collector to sell tax-defaulted property 5 years or more, or 3 years or more, as applicable, after that property has become tax defaulted, to any person, regardless of any prior or existing lien on, claim to, or interest in, the property, as specified. Existing law also generally authorizes the sale to certain entities of a property that has been tax defaulted for 5 years or more, or 3 years or more, as applicable, in an applicable county, including by authorizing the state, county, any revenue district the taxes of which on the property are collected by county officers, or a redevelopment agency created pursuant to the California Community Redevelopment Law, to purchase the property or any part thereof, as prescribed. Existing law also authorizes a nonprofit organization to purchase, with the approval of the board of supervisors of the county in which it is located, a residential or vacant property that has been tax defaulted for 5 years or more, or 3 years or more if the property is subject to a nuisance abatement lien, as prescribed. Existing law requires the sales price of a property sold pursuant to the provisions described or referenced above to include certain amounts, including all defaulted taxes and assessments and all associated penalties and costs. This bill would authorize a property or property interest to be offered for sale under the provisions described above authorizing a sale to certain entities that has not been offered for sale under the provisions described above authorizing a sale to any person if the State Board of Equalization conducts a property valuation that shows that the property or property interest is worth less than the amount of the defaulted debt, as specified.
Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission with various responsibilities with respect to developing and implementing the state's energy policies. This bill would require the commission, in consultation with other appropriate state agencies, including the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development and the California Workforce Development Board, to establish a Lithium Battery Production Council to conduct an economic analysis on workforce development needs, infrastructure needs, housing needs, and sewage and wastewater treatment for lithium battery production. The bill would require the council to develop a strategic plan to address the needs identified by the economic analysis. The bill would require the council to submit a report to the Legislature, on or before March 1, 2025, with the results of the economic analysis and the strategic plan.
Existing law generally regulates online platforms, including by requiring a social media company, as defined, to post terms of service for each social media platform owned or operated by the social media company in a manner reasonably designed to inform all users of the social media platform of the existence and contents of the terms of service. This bill would require a social media platform, as defined, to seek to verify the name, telephone number, and email address of an influential user, as defined, by a means chosen by the social media platform and would require the social media platform to seek to verify the identity of a highly influential user, as defined, by asking to review the highly influential user's government-issued identification. This bill would require a social media platform to note on the profile page of an influential or highly influential user, in type at least as large and as visible as the user's name, whether the user has been authenticated pursuant to those provisions, as prescribed, and would require the platform to attach to any post of an influential or highly influential user a notation that would be understood by a reasonable person as indicating that the user is authenticated or unauthenticated, as prescribed. This bill would authorize the Attorney General or any district attorney or city attorney to seek injunctive or other equitable relief against a social media platform to compel compliance with the bill.
Exiting law establishes in the Department of Conservation the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program (program) to support regional leadership to build local and regional capacity and develop, prioritize, and implement strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes, as provided. Existing law authorizes the department to, upon appropriation, provide block grants to specified entities for purposes of the program, as provided. This bill would require the department, on or before December 31, 2028, and every 5 years thereafter, to submit a report to the Legislature that evaluates the program's impact and effectiveness, as provided. The bill would require the department to contract with an independent third party to prepare the report.
