Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to license and regulate health facilities and clinics. Existing law generally makes a violation of those provisions a crime. Existing law also specifies the settings in which an ultrasound or similar medical imaging device procedure may be offered, which includes licensed health facilities and clinics, and certain providers and facilities that are not subject to licensure and regulation by the department. Existing law requires a licensed health facility that provides specified prenatal screening ultrasound to require that the ultrasound be performed by a sonographer that is nationally certified, as specified. This bill would, except as specified, require a provider, as defined, that offers a sensitive examination to provide notice to patients that a medical chaperone will be made available, upon their request, to assist or observe the sensitive examination. The bill would require the notice be provided as a hard copy, an electronic transmission, or verbally to the patient or their legal guardian, as specified. The bill would provide that the provider has the right to decline performing a sensitive examination in the absence of a medical chaperone if the provider determines that a medical chaperone must be present. The bill would require a provider to educate sonographers and clinical and nonclinical staff who may serve as a medical chaperone regarding specified topics, including, among others, appropriate observational and intervention techniques. The bill would require, if a patient requests a medical chaperone, a provider to document a medical chaperone's presence in the patient's health record. The bill would define various terms for purposes of these provisions, including that sensitive examination means an ultrasound examination performed by a sonographer of certain areas of the body, including genitalia. The bill would make these provisions operative on January 1, 2027. By creating new requirements for health facilities and clinics, the violation of which would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law regulates the formation and enforcement of contracts, including imposing certain restrictions on the terms of a contract for the sale or lease of consumer goods or services. In this regard, existing law prohibits a provision waiving the consumer's right to make any statement regarding the seller, lessor, or its employees or agents, or concerning the goods or services. Existing law also prohibits a consumer service contract from limiting a consumer's ability to file a complaint with a licensing board that regulates the consumer service provider or to participate in the board's investigation into the consumer service provider, as specified. This bill would, for a consumer use agreement, limit the dispute resolution terms and conditions to the use, payment, or provision of the good, service, money, or credit provided by the consumer use agreement. The bill would make a waiver of these provisions void and unenforceable, as provided, and would require that the provisions be liberally construed for the purpose of protecting consumers. The bill would provide that the duties and obligations it imposes are cumulative with, and do not limit or expand, duties and obligations imposed under any other law, and do not limit any rights or remedies under any other law. The bill would define terms for purposes of these provisions.
Existing law specifies the officers of a county, including, but not limited to, the coroner. Existing law authorizes the board of supervisors of a county to consolidate the duties of various county offices in various combinations, including combining the duties of the sheriff and the coroner. Existing law defines a "forensic autopsy" as an examination of a body of a decedent to generate medical evidence for which the cause of death is determined. In cases in which a forensic autopsy is performed, existing law requires the manner of death to be determined by the coroner or medical examiner of a county. This bill would enact the Forensic Accountability, Custodial Transparency, and Safety (FACTS) Act of 2025. The bill would, commencing January 1, 2027, in any county in which the offices of the sheriff and the coroner are combined, prohibit the sheriff-coroner from determining the circumstances, manner, and cause of death, as provided, for an in-custody death, as defined. The bill, instead, would require the sheriff-coroner to contract with one or more counties that have a coroner's office that operates independently from the office of the sheriff, or that have established an office of medical examiner, as specified, or with one or more private third-party medical examination providers that are separate and independent from the office of the sheriff-coroner and that meet certain physician qualification requirements, as specified, to determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of death. The bill would require the county board of supervisors to annually enter into a service agreement or service agreements with those medical examiners, independent coroner offices, or private third-party medical examination providers, or with any combination thereof. The bill would prohibit a private third-party medical examination provider that has entered into a service agreement from, during the term of the service agreement, being contracted by the county or the sheriff-coroner of that county to provide medical examination for any cases that do not involve in-custody deaths. The bill would define "in-custody death" for purposes of the bill to include, among other things, the death of a person who is detained, under arrest, or is in the process of being detained or arrested, is en route to be incarcerated, or is incarcerated at a municipal or county jail or state prison, or who is en route to be detained, or is detained, at a federal correctional facility or immigration detention facility, as provided. This bill would except an independent medical examination performed pursuant to those provisions from the provisions described above that require, in the case of a forensic autopsy, the manner of death to be determined by the coroner or medical examiner of a county. By imposing new duties on certain counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern and, therefore, apply to all counties, including charter counties. 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, the California Consumer Financial Protection Law (CCFPL) , requires the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, headed by the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation, to regulate consumer financial products or services under California consumer financial laws. The CCFPL makes it unlawful for a covered person or service provider, as defined, to engage in certain deceptive or abusive acts or practices with respect to consumer financial products or services. The CCFPL exempts from its provisions a person or employee of that person to the extent that person or employee is acting under the authority of certain licenses, certificates, or charters issued by the department, including licensed escrow agents and finance lenders. This bill would provide that nothing in the above-described exemption shall be deemed to prevent the commissioner from using the authority provided by the CCFPL to enforce the above-described provision on deceptive or abusive acts or practices.
Existing law provides for the appointment of a road commissioner in each county by the board of supervisors, with specified powers and duties relating to county roads. Existing law provides for exceptions to this requirement, including authorization for the boards of supervisors of the Counties of Colusa, Glenn, Merced, and Siskiyou to transfer the duties of the county road commissioner to the county director of the department of public works. This bill would also authorize the Board of Supervisors of the Counties of Madera and Tehama to transfer the duties of the county road commissioner to the county director of the department of public works, as provided. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Madera and Tehama.
(1) Existing law creates the Great Redwood Trail Agency with various powers and duties relating to rail service in the north coast area of the state, including the authority to acquire, own, lease, and operate railroad lines and equipment, and requires the agency, to the extent funding is available, to initiate or complete a railbanking process on its rail rights-of-way and to plan, design, construct, operate, and maintain a trail in, or parallel to, its rail rights-of-way. For purposes of these provisions, existing law grants the agency specified powers including, among others, the power to enter into and perform all necessary contracts in accordance with certain requirements. Under existing law, the authority is governed by a board of directors composed of nonvoting members appointed by the Governor and 9 voting members appointed by various local governments in the north coast area including a city representative selected by the cities served by the authority's rail line. This bill would expressly state that the agency is a subdivision of the state and would require the city representative to be selected by the cities through a process adopted by the board. The bill would require the board to adopt an annual budget and to provide for regular audits of the agency's accounts and records and to maintain accounting records and report accounting transactions in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, as specified. The bill would require a contract and prescribe competitive bidding procedures for any work, as defined, not performed by the personnel of the agency if the agency estimates the work to cost over a specified threshold, as prescribed. This bill would exempt the agency, except with respect to the development of any projects on properties that are not owned or directly controlled by the agency, from building ordinances and zoning ordinances of the counties and cities in the jurisdiction of the agency. The bill would exempt certain uses of agency real property by third parties from laws governing the disposition of surplus property. The bill would exempt railroad tracks and ties owned by the agency from laws governing the control of hazardous waste if they remain in place within the agency's right-of-way, as specified. (2) Existing law authorizes the agency to contract with the State Coastal Conservancy, a state agency, or another organization to staff the agency. This bill would also authorize the agency to receive funds from the conservancy or any other state agency as may be appropriated by the Legislature. (3) Existing law authorizes the agency to adopt ordinances and to adopt and enforce rules and regulations for the administration, operation, use, and maintenance of trails, excursion rail service, and other recreational facilities and programs, as specified. The bill would authorize the agency to contract with state law enforcement agencies, or local law enforcement agencies of jurisdictions within the service area of the agency, to enforce the adopted rules, regulations, and ordinances of the agency. (4) Existing law requires the ancillary bicycle and pedestrian pathways that provide connections between and access to Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District station sites and the district's other pathways to be known as "The Great Redwood Trail, Southern Segment." This bill would require the planned bike and pedestrian pathway running from the district's station in the City of Larkspur to the northern terminus of the Golden Gate Bridge in the County of Marin to be known as the Great Redwood Trail. (5) By imposing additional duties on the Great Redwood Trail Agency, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, 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 generally regulates the licensing and operation of health facilities and other facilities providing health care in this state. Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, creates the Medical Board of California to license and regulate physicians and surgeons. Under existing law, the Dental Practice Act, the Dental Board of California licenses and regulates dentists. Existing law, the Nonprofit Public Benefit Corporation Law, generally requires a nonprofit public benefit corporation to give written notice to the Attorney General before it sells, leases, conveys, exchanges, transfers, or disposes of its assets, except as specified. Existing law provides specific procedures for health facilities and additionally requires these facilities to obtain the consent of the Attorney General prior to entering into a specified agreement or transaction. This bill would prohibit a private equity group or hedge fund, as defined, involved in any manner with a physician or dental practice doing business in this state from interfering with the professional judgment of physicians or dentists in making health care decisions and exercising power over specified actions, including, among other things, making decisions regarding coding and billing procedures for patient care services. The bill would prohibit a private equity group or hedge fund from entering into a contract or other agreement or arrangement with a physician or dental practice if the contract or other agreement or arrangement would enable the person or entity to engage in the prohibited actions described above and would make provisions of those contracts or other agreements that violate that prohibition void and unenforceable. The bill would prohibit and render void and unenforceable specified types of contracts between a physician or dental practice and a private equity group or hedge fund that include any clause barring any provider in that practice from competing with that practice in the event of a termination or resignation, or from disparaging, opining, or commenting on that practice in any manner as to any issues involving quality of care, utilization of care, ethical or professional challenges in the practice of medicine or dentistry, or revenue-increasing strategies employed by the private equity group or hedge fund, as specified. This bill would entitle the Attorney General to injunctive relief and attorney's fees and costs incurred in remedying violations of these provisions, as specified. The bill would make its provisions severable.
Existing law, known as the Cartwright Act, generally regulates trusts, which the act defines as a combination of capital, skill, or acts by 2 or more persons for certain purposes, including to create or carry out restrictions in trade or commerce. If a violator of the act is a corporation, the act punishes the violator by a fine of the greater of an amount not more than $1,000,000 and an amount related to the pecuniary gain from the violation or the pecuniary loss to another by the violation, as prescribed. If a violator of the act is an individual, the act punishes the violator by imprisonment of one, 2, or 3 years in a state prison or county jail, as specified, imprisonment of not more than one year in a county jail, by a fine of not more than the greater of $250,000 and an amount related to the pecuniary gain from the violation or the pecuniary loss to another by the violation, or by both a fine and imprisonment. This bill would increase the fine described above with respect to corporate violators to $6,000,000. The bill would also increase the fine described above with respect to an individual violator to $1,000,000. The bill would impose an additional civil penalty of $1,000,000 on a person, corporation, or business entity for violating the act, as prescribed. The bill would also make a technical change.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, the California State University, the University of California, independent institutions of higher education, and private postsecondary educational institutions as the segments of postsecondary education in the state. Existing law requires certain postsecondary educational institutions to be accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education to qualify as an independent institution of higher education to be eligible for certain programs and to receive an approval to operate. Existing laws applicable to, among other things, the licensure and regulation of various professions and vocations by the Department of Consumer Affairs require applicants for licensure or licensees to satisfy educational requirements by completing programs or degrees from institutions or universities accredited by a regional or national accrediting agency or association recognized by the United States Department of Education, or otherwise impose a requirement that a school or program be accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education. This bill would require, for purposes of any code or statute, a national or regional accrediting agency recognized by the United States Department of Education as of January 1, 2025, to retain that recognition until July 1, 2029, provided that the accrediting agency continues to operate in substantially the same manner as it did on January 1, 2025. The bill would repeal those provisions on January 1, 2030.
(1) Existing law, the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA) , an initiative measure, authorizes a person who obtains a state license under AUMA and any applicable local ordinances to engage in commercial adult-use cannabis activity pursuant to that license, if conducted as prescribed. 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. Existing law, until January 1, 2028, requires a social media platform to create and post a policy statement regarding the use of the social media platform to illegally distribute controlled substances, including a link to the social media platform's reporting mechanism for illegal or harmful content or behavior on the social media platform, if one exists, and a general description of its policies and procedures for responding to law enforcement inquiries. This bill, beginning on July 1, 2026, would require an online cannabis marketplace, as defined, to address in its terms of service whether it permits Californians to view the advertisements and business information of unlicensed sellers of cannabis or cannabis products on its marketplace and whether the marketplace verifies the licenses of sellers of cannabis or cannabis products whose advertisements and business information are viewable on its marketplace, as specified. The bill would require an online cannabis marketplace that does not verify those licenses to display a clear and conspicuous graphic that warns the consumer that the marketplace may be displaying, storing, or hosting unlicensed sellers of cannabis or cannabis products. This bill would require an online cannabis marketplace to establish a clear and conspicuous mechanism within its internet-based service that allows an individual to report to the online cannabis marketplace the display, storing, or hosting on the marketplace of advertisements from, or business information about, an unlicensed seller of cannabis or cannabis products. The bill would require the mechanism to provide the individual who submits a report with written confirmation of receipt of the report, periodic updates, and final written determination, as specified. This bill would impose certain penalties and relief depending on the violation of these provisions, as specified. (2) The Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law regulates the packaging, labeling, and advertising of food, beverages, and cosmetics and authorizes the State Department of Public Health to adopt regulations for the enforcement of that law, as specified. That law imposes various requirements specific to the manufacture and sale of industrial hemp products that are food or beverages, including a requirement for a certificate of analysis from an independent testing laboratory that confirms that the THC concentration does not exceed a specified amount. Existing emergency regulations require that industrial hemp food, food additives, beverages, and dietary supplements intended for human consumption have no detectable THC per serving. This bill, beginning July 1, 2026, would require an online hemp marketplace, as defined, to establish a clear and conspicuous mechanism within its internet-based service that allows an individual to report to the online hemp marketplace an advertisement for an intoxicating hemp product on the marketplace, as specified. The bill would define "intoxicating hemp product" to include an inhalable hemp product, as further defined, with a detectable THC concentration. The bill would require the mechanism to provide the individual who submits a report with written confirmation of receipt of the report, periodic updates, and final written determination, as specified. The bill would impose specified penalties and relief for violations of these provisions. (3) Existing law imposes strict liability upon persons who place a defective product on the market, including retailers engaged in the business of distributing goods to the public, for injuries caused by the product. Existing law also provides that each person is responsible for an injury occasioned to another by that person's want of ordinary care or skill, commonly known as negligence, in the management of their property or person, unless the injured person has, willfully or by want of ordinary care, brought the injury upon themselves. This bill, beginning July 1, 2026, would prohibit an online marketplace from engaging in unlawful paid online advertising related to unlicensed sellers of cannabis or cannabis products or intoxicating hemp products, as specified. The bill would impose joint and several liability on an online marketplace that violates that prohibition, and is a substantial factor in an unlawful transaction between a consumer and an unlicensed seller of cannabis or a cannabis product, or between a consumer and a seller of an intoxicating hemp product, for damages caused to the consumer by the cannabis, cannabis product, or intoxicating hemp product, unless specified conditions are met. The bill would increase the amount that a prevailing plaintiff may recover depending on what the online marketplace had actual knowledge at the time of the unlawful transaction and whether the harm was suffered by a child, as described. The bill would provide various affirmative defenses to an action brought under these provisions, and would authorize an online marketplace to seek indemnification against an advertiser of cannabis, cannabis products, or intoxicating hemp products that misrepresented to the online marketplace that they were licensed or registered to sell that product, as specified. (4) This bill would state that its provisions are severable.
Existing law prescribes specified methods for the service of a summons in a civil action. Under existing law, if no provision is made in statute for the service of summons, a court may direct a summons to be served in a manner that is reasonably calculated to give actual notice to the party to be served. This bill would also authorize a court to direct a summons to be served in a manner that is reasonably calculated to give actual notice to the party to be served if a plaintiff, exercising reasonable diligence, has been unable to serve the summons using methods prescribed by statute. The bill would authorize a court, upon motion, to direct service of the summons by electronic means, if such service is reasonably calculated to give actual notice. The bill would require a plaintiff seeking to establish reasonable diligence under this section to set forth facts that detail, as specified, the attempts to effect service pursuant to the methods prescribed by statute. The bill would also except actions against public entities or agents or employees of public entities from these provisions.
Existing law, the California Self-Storage Facility Act, authorizes a self-storage facility owner to terminate the right of an occupant to the use of a storage space if rent or other charges due remain unpaid for 14 consecutive days by sending a lien notice and the total sum due has not been paid by the termination date specified in the preliminary lien notice, in accordance with specified procedures. Existing law authorizes an owner to send lien notices to the occupant by email if the rental agreement states that lien notices may be sent by email and the occupant provides a written signature on the rental agreement consenting to receive lien notices by email. Existing law specifies the ways an owner may demonstrate actual delivery and receipt of the lien notices sent by email, including by posting the document on the owner's secure internet website and there is evidence demonstrating that the occupant logged onto the licensee's secure internet website and downloaded, printed, viewed, or otherwise acknowledged receipt of the document. This bill, instead, would provide that an owner may demonstrate actual delivery and receipt of a lien notice by delivering the document to the occupant's email address and there is evidence demonstrating that the occupant downloaded, printed, viewed, opened, or otherwise acknowledged receipt of the document.
