The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes various credits against the taxes imposed by that law, including the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) , the Young Child Tax Credit (YCTC) , and the Foster Youth Tax Credit (FYTC) . Beginning on or after January 1, 2020, CalEITC is available to any eligible individuals using an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) . Existing federal income tax law authorizes a refundable earned income tax credit (federal EITC) for certain low-income individuals who have earned income and meet certain other requirements. This bill would enact the Free Tax Prep and Community Engagement Act, which would establish the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) Outreach, Education, and Free Tax Assistance Grant Program. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to allocate grants to qualified nonprofit community-based organizations or local government agencies to increase the number of eligible households claiming the state and federal Earned Income Tax Credit, the federal Child Tax Credit, the Young Child Tax Credit, and the Foster Youth Tax Credit, and to increase awareness of ITIN tax status eligibility. The bill would authorize the Franchise Tax Board to administratively partner with the Department of Community Services and Development to administer the program. The bill would establish the California Earned Income Tax Credit (CalEITC) Outreach, Education, and Free Tax Assistance Grant Fund in the State Treasury for these purposes.
Existing law establishes the Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Natural Resources Agency and prescribes the functions and responsibilities of the department with regard to the implementation, administration, and enforcement of laws regulating fish and wildlife in the state. Existing law requires the department to prepare a draft management plan for public review for parcels wholly within its jurisdiction, as provided. This bill would enact the San Jacinto Wildlife Area Preservation Act. The bill would require the department, beginning January 1, 2025, and every 15 years thereafter, to prepare an update to the management plan for the San Jacinto Wildlife Area, as provided. The bill would require the department to develop partnerships with community-based organizations, including environmental organizations, for purposes of fundraising for, maintaining the habitat of, engaging in conservation projects for, and providing recreational programs in, the San Jacinto Wildlife Area. The bill would require the department, on or before December 31, 2025, and annually thereafter, to hold a public hearing relating to the San Jacinto Wildlife Area, as provided. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the San Jacinto Wildlife Area in the County of Riverside.
Existing law establishes the Department of Water Resources within the Natural Resources Agency and prescribes the powers and responsibilities of the department. The Water Conservation in Landscaping Act provides for a model water efficient landscape ordinance that is adopted and updated at least every 3 years by the department, unless the department makes a specified finding. This bill would prohibit the department, when it allocates funding for turf replacement programs, from excluding urban water suppliers' turfgrass conversion rebate programs if the rebate program requires the recipient of a rebate to achieve a net water savings and to use the most efficient turfgrass irrigation equipment, as provided. The bill would require an urban water supplier that offers a turfgrass conversion rebate program using funds awarded by the department after January 1, 2025, to report annually to the department on the number of turfgrass conversions that are funded through the program and the estimated water savings from the program until the funds are exhausted.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. Existing law creates the Air Quality Improvement Program, administered by the state board, for the purpose of funding, upon appropriation by the Legislature, air quality improvement projects relating to zero-emission fuel and vehicle technologies. Existing law limits the program to competitive grants, revolving loans, loan guarantees, loans, and other appropriate funding measures that further the purposes of the program, including for projects that provide mitigation for off-road gasoline exhaust and evaporative emissions. As part of the program, the state board administers the Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Project (CORE) to provide vouchers that offset the cost of zero-emission off-road equipment, including agricultural equipment. This bill would require the state board to include unmanned aerial systems, commonly known as drones, in the meaning of agricultural equipment for purposes of CORE, which the bill would define as the program established by the state board as part of the Air Quality Improvement Program, as provided.
Existing law authorizes a peace officer to use reasonable force to effect the arrest, to prevent escape, or to overcome resistance. Existing law requires law enforcement agencies to maintain a use of force policy, as specified. Existing law requires the Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to develop and disseminate guidelines and standardized training recommendations for Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams, as specified, that would be available for use by law enforcement agencies that conduct SWAT operations. This bill would require the commission to convene a panel of law enforcement experts to report to the Legislature and the commission, by January 1, 2027, specified topics related to active shooter incidents, including successful trainings and response protocols that have been demonstrated in active shooter incidents and the use of school resource officers on campus for threat prevention, detection, and assessment. The bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2031.
Existing law establishes the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation, under the direction of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, who is required to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells, as provided. Existing law requires the operator of any idle well to either (1) no later than May 1 of each year, for each idle well that was an idle well at any time in the last calendar year, file with the supervisor an annual fee according to a specified schedule of fees based on the length of time a well has been idle, or (2) file a plan with the supervisor to provide for the management and elimination of all long-term idle wells. Existing law also establishes the Hazardous and Idle-Deserted Well Abatement Fund in the State Treasury for the deposit of those idle well fees, and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the department for expenditure to mitigate a hazardous or potentially hazardous condition, by well plugging and abandonment, decommissioning the production facilities, or both, at a well of an operator, as provided. Existing law establishes requirements that apply when a public entity is required by statute or regulation to obtain an enforceable commitment that a bidder, contractor, or other entity will use a skilled and trained workforce to complete a contract or project, as provided. This bill would require the department to make available at least 25% of the funds to be expended each year from the Hazardous and Idle-Deserted Well Abatement Fund to a county in which there are at least 100 orphaned or deserted oil and gas wells and that attests to the department that it can plug and abandon those wells more quickly than the department can, as provided. The bill would also require the department, upon becoming aware of liquid or gas leaking from an orphaned or deserted oil and gas well, to immediately make available at least 10% of the funds to be expended each year from the fund to the county in which the well is located, if the county attests to the department that it can plug and abandon the well more quickly than the department can, as provided. The bill would require the department to distribute funds amongst eligible counties based on the number of wells that would be plugged and abandoned by the county and the cost estimate to plug and abandon the wells. The bill would require the expenditure of all money from the fund to comply with those skilled and trained workforce requirements, as provided.
Existing law establishes the Government Operations Agency, which consists of several state entities, including, but not limited to, the State Personnel Board, the Department of General Services, and the Office of Administrative Law. Under existing law, the Government Operations Agency is under the direction of an executive officer known as the Secretary of Government Operations, who is appointed by, and holds office at the pleasure of, the Governor, subject to confirmation by the Senate. This bill would establish, within the Government Operations Agency, the Commission on Cutting Red Tape, consisting of 5 members appointed by the Governor. The bill would state the goal of the commission is to identify administrative obstacles in governmental procedures that cost time and resources without adding protections, and would provide guidance for the commission to achieve this goal. The bill would also require the Secretary of Government Operations to submit an annual report to the Legislature and to other relevant state agencies detailing the recommendations of the commission.
Existing law requires the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the state's "Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan" issued by the task force in January 2021. Existing law requires the task force to submit, as part of the implementation strategy, a report to the appropriate policy and budget committees of the Legislature on progress made in achieving the goals and key actions identified in the state's action plan, on state expenditures made to implement these key actions, and on additional resources and policy changes needed to achieve these goals and key actions, as provided. This bill would require the task force, on or before July 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, to compile and post on its internet website specified information regarding identified state and federal grant programs relating to fire prevention and resilience, as provided.
Existing law generally provides for the placement of foster youth in various placement settings. Existing law requires the status of every dependent child in foster care to be reviewed periodically, and requires the county welfare department social worker to prepare a supplemental report with supplemental information regarding the child for purposes of the status review hearing. Existing law also requires a probation officer to prepare a social study for purposes of the status review hearing of a ward who is placed in foster care or recommended for placement in foster care. This bill would require the social worker and probation officer to include in the supplemental report or social study, respectively, information regarding voluntary mentoring services for the foster youth, as specified. By increasing the duties on county staff, 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 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 and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law requires that Medi-Cal provider payments and payments for specified non-Medi-Cal programs be reduced by 10% for dates of service on and after June 1, 2011, and conditions implementation of those payment reductions on receipt of any necessary federal approvals. Existing law, for dates of service on and after July 1, 2022, authorizes the maintenance of the reimbursement rates or payments for specified services, including, among others, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) trauma screenings and specified providers, using General Fund or other state funds appropriated to the State Department of Health Care Services as the state share, at the payment levels in effect on December 31, 2021, as specified, under the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016 that were implemented with funds from the Healthcare Treatment Fund, as specified. Existing law requires the department to develop the eligibility criteria, methodologies, and parameters for the payments and rate increases maintained, and would authorize revisions, as specified. This bill would require the department, as part of its above-described duties, to include (1) community-based organizations and local health jurisdictions that provide health services through community health workers and (2) doulas, that are enrolled Medi-Cal providers, as providers qualified to provide, and eligible to receive payments for, ACEs trauma screenings pursuant to the provisions described above. The bill would require the department to file a state plan amendment and seek any federal approvals it deems necessary to implement these provisions and condition implementation on receipt of any necessary federal approvals and the availability of federal financial participation. The bill would also require the department to update its internet website and the ACEs Aware internet website to reflect the addition of the Medi-Cal providers described above as authorized to provide ACEs screenings.
Existing law, the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, prohibits a health care provider, a contractor, or a health care service plan from disclosing medical information, as defined, regarding a patient of the provider or an enrollee or subscriber of the health care service plan without first obtaining an authorization, except as specified. Existing law authorizes, among other things, mental health records to be disclosed by a county correctional facility, county medical facility, state correctional facility, or state hospital, as specified. Existing law requires, when jurisdiction of an inmate is transferred from or between the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the State Department of State Hospitals, and county agencies caring for inmates, those agencies to disclose, by electronic transmission when possible, mental health records, as defined, regarding each transferred inmate who received mental health services while in custody of the transferring facility, as specified. Existing law requires mental health records to be disclosed to ensure sufficient mental health history is available for the purpose of satisfying specified requirements relating to parole and to ensure the continuity of mental health treatment of an inmate being transferred between those facilities. Existing law requires all transmissions made pursuant to those provisions to comply with specified provisions of state and federal law, including the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act. This bill would require, when jurisdiction of an inmate is transferred from or between a county correctional facility, a county medical facility, the State Department of State Hospitals, and a county agency caring for inmates, those agencies to disclose, by electronic transmission if possible, mental health records, as defined, regarding each transferred inmate who received mental health services while in custody of the transferring facility, as specified. The bill would require mental health records to be disclosed to ensure sufficient mental health history is available to ensure the continuity of mental health treatment of an inmate being transferred between those facilities. This bill would require all county behavioral health departments and contractors to establish and maintain a secure and standardized system for sharing inmate mental health records, as specified. The bill would require each county to prepare a report containing information about the effectiveness of the data sharing, the continuity of care measures, and an evaluation on the impact of inmate well-being, safety, and recidivism rates. The bill would require the report to be submitted to the Legislature on or before June 30, 2028. By imposing additional duties on local entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require all transmissions made pursuant to these provisions to comply with specified provisions of state and federal law, including the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act. 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 regulates terms and conditions for the hiring of real property and provides certain protections for tenants, including by prescribing statewide limits on the application of local rent control with regard to certain properties and by prohibiting an owner of residential real property from terminating a tenancy without just cause, as provided. Existing law makes it unlawful for the owner of any housing accommodation to discriminate against or harass any person based on certain personal characteristics. Existing law provides that there is in state government, in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, the Civil Rights Department under the direction of an executive officer known as the Director of Civil Rights, who is appointed by the Governor. Among other responsibilities, the department is required to issue publications that in its judgment will tend to promote goodwill and minimize or eliminate discrimination in housing, as specified. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, establish the Office of Tenants' Rights and Protections in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, administered by a director appointed by the Governor, and would require that office to create and maintain an up-to-date, digestible, and language-inclusive list of statewide tenants' rights and protections.
