The Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. The Early Education Act requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to, among other things, provide an inclusive and cost-effective preschool program. Under both acts, the cost to a provider agency of providing an early childhood mental health consultation service is reimbursable if certain requirements are met, including that the consultation service uses a relationship-based model that includes specified components, including, among others, that, at least twice per program year, early care- and education setting-based mental health assessments are conducted and that there is, with the consent of parents or legal guardians, at least one screening of each enrolled child for adverse childhood experiences and screening for buffering factors. This bill would remove the requirement that the consultation service use a relationship-based model that includes those components in order to be reimbursable and would instead require that, in order to be reimbursable, the consultation service, among other things, uses a relationship-based model that incorporates, at least once per school or program year, an early care and education classroom observation tool that includes measures on the classroom environment, social-emotional learning climate, and teacher and child interactions to guide the specific activities and support the consultant will provide.
Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, restricts the employment of physicians and surgeons or doctors of podiatric medicine by a corporation or other artificial legal entity to entities that do not charge for professional services rendered to patients and are approved by the Medical Board of California, subject to specified exemptions. Existing law, the Local Health Care District Law, regulates the organization and management of health care districts. Existing law establishes the Department of Health Care Access and Information and charges it with various duties related to health planning and research development. This bill would, until January 1, 2037, establish an exemption to the general prohibition described above by authorizing health care districts and nonprofit corporations with a health care district as its sole corporate member that own or control a general acute care hospital to employ physicians and surgeons and charge for professional services, provided specified conditions are met, including prohibiting the health care district or nonprofit corporation, and any hospital under its ownership or control, from interfering with, controlling, or otherwise directing the professional judgment of a physician or surgeon. The bill would require a health care district or nonprofit corporation that employs licensees and charges for professional services under the bill to publish an annual report, as provided, on their internet website that includes data about the ability of general acute care hospitals under their ownership and control to recruit and retain physicians and surgeons, as specified.
Existing law generally prohibits an employer from employing an employee for a work period of more than 5 hours per day without providing the employee with a meal period of not less than 30 minutes. Existing law creates exceptions from this prohibition for employees in specified occupations, including employees of an electrical corporation, a gas corporation, a water corporation, or a local publicly owned electric utility covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement meeting certain conditions. Existing law charges the Labor Commissioner with enforcement of these provisions. This bill would also create an exception from the above-described prohibition for employees who perform building maintenance work as a stationary engineer, as defined, covered by a valid collective bargaining agreement meeting certain conditions.
Existing law, the Governor's Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 2025 (GRP) , which became effective on July 5, 2025, reorganized specified state agencies and departments, including eliminating the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency as of July 1, 2026, and instead establishing the Business and Consumer Services Agency and the California Housing and Homelessness Agency. The GRP, as of July 1, 2026, sets forth the general responsibilities and roles of the California Housing Homelessness Agency, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Housing Development and Finance Committee, and the California Housing Finance Agency in carrying out state housing policies and programs. Existing law establishes programs providing assistance for, among other things, multifamily housing, farmworker housing, and veteran housing. This bill would require the California Housing and Homelessness Agency, the California Housing Finance Agency, the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, and the Housing Development and Finance Committee, no later than July 1, 2027, when administering a multifamily affordable housing program, as specified, to, among other things, review, analyze, and make any changes necessary to their guidelines and regulations to facilitate the production and use of factory-built housing.
(1) Existing law requires the governing board of a school district to give diligent care to the health and physical development of pupils and authorizes the governing board of a school district to employ properly certified persons for this purpose. Existing law requires a school of a school district or county office of education and a charter school to notify pupils and parents or guardians of pupils no less than twice during the school year on how to initiate access to available pupil mental health services on campus or in the community, or both, as provided. Existing law requires the State Department of Education, on or before June 1, 2025, to develop model referral protocols for addressing pupil behavioral health concerns, as provided. This bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2027, in consultation with appropriate stakeholders, to review and, as necessary, update the model referral protocols to include guidance on providing equity-centered mental health supports in case of a local emergency related to immigration enforcement activities or deportations of pupils or their family members. (2) Existing law requires the governing board or body of a local educational agency that serves pupils in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, before January 31, 2026, to adopt a policy on referral protocols for addressing pupil behavioral health concerns in grades 7 to 12, inclusive, as provided. This bill would require those local educational agencies, on or before July 1, 2028, to review and, as necessary, update that policy to include guidance on providing equity-centered mental health supports in case of a local emergency related to immigration enforcement activities or deportations of pupils or their family members. The bill would authorize an updated policy to either be based on the updated model referral protocols developed by the department or developed in consultation with school and community stakeholders and school-linked behavioral health professionals, and would require the updated policy to, at a minimum, address procedures relating to referrals to behavioral health professionals and support services. By imposing additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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 Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which health care services are provided to qualified, low-income persons. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors to establish a commission to negotiate an exclusive contract with the department to provide, or arrange for the provision of, health care services under the Medi-Cal program. Pursuant to the authority described above, the County of Orange established a commission and existing law established the governance of that commission, known as the Orange County Health Authority or CalOptima, to provide health care services under the Medi-Cal program. Existing law prescribes who can serve on the 10-member governing body of the commission and requires each member to serve a 4-year term, except as described. This bill, for terms commencing after January 1, 2027, would impose one-, 2-, and 4-year terms of office, as specified. The bill would also prohibit specified voting members from serving more than two consecutive terms and from serving in that capacity for more than 10 consecutive years. The bill would require the governing body of the Orange County Health Authority to authorize and pay for an independent external audit of its governance procedures and practices, including the roles and responsibilities of the governing body, executive leadership, and staff, among others. The bill would require the audit to be completed by July 1, 2027, and would require that a copy of the report be provided to the Legislature and made public. Because this bill would impose a unique requirement on how services are provided on a local government and would require additional duties of county authorities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for County of Orange. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law prohibits false imprisonment, defined as the unlawful violation of the personal liberty of another. Existing law provides that the measure of damages for the breach of an obligation not arising from a contract is the amount that will compensate for all the detriment proximately caused thereby, whether it could have been anticipated or not, except as expressly provided otherwise. This bill would authorize a prevailing plaintiff in an action based on false imprisonment or false arrest to elect to receive, in lieu of actual damages, $10,000 for each of specified acts committed by the defendant in the perpetration of the false imprisonment or false arrest, as specified. The bill would make defendants liable for the amounts described above for an incident of false imprisonment or false arrest jointly and severally liable and would limit the aggregate award to a person under the above provisions to $250,000 per incident of false imprisonment or false arrest. The bill would exempt causes of action brought against specified parties from the above provisions. The bill would make related findings and declarations and would make its provisions severable.
Existing law generally prohibits an employment contract from requiring a worker to pay certain penalties, fees, costs, or debts related to employment or education if the worker's employment or work relationship terminates, as provided. Existing law provides that a contract that is unlawful under that prohibition is void and contrary to public policy as a restraint of engaging in a lawful profession, trade, or business. Existing law authorizes a worker, among other persons, to bring a civil action for specified civil penalties and relief for a violation of these provisions. Existing law applies these provisions to contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2026. This bill would instead apply those provisions to contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2027. The bill would establish exceptions to the above-described prohibition for contracts. Among these exceptions, the bill would except contracts for bonuses relating to specified recruitment and retention programs, and repayment obligations arising from advanced paid time off upon voluntary separation, as prescribed. The bill would further except certain affiliation contracts between a securities broker-dealer, insurance producer, or investment adviser and its agents or representatives that are registered and licensed, as specified, and their affiliates if the contract satisfies certain conditions. The bill would make related findings and declarations. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. This bill would require the commission, in any proceeding in which the commission considers and determines the authorized return on equity for an electrical corporation or gas corporation, to be known as a cost of capital proceeding, that results in a decision issued on or after December 31, 2030, to include its own assessment of the proposals submitted by the parties and specified information, including, among other things, an identification of each financial model the commission relied upon in determining the authorized return on equity and an analysis of the relationship between the credit quality of the electrical corporation or gas corporation and the authorized return on equity. If, in any cost of capital proceeding, the commission adopts a methodology for determining the authorized return on equity that differs in any material respect from the methodology disclosed in the most recent prior decision in which the commission determined an authorized return on equity for the same electrical corporation or gas corporation, the bill would require the commission to identify each material departure from the prior methodology and provide a reasoned explanation for each material departure. Existing law requires the commission to develop, publish, and annually update a report containing specified information, including the commission's annual work plan and a summary of deenergization event trends, as specified. Existing law requires the commission to post the report in a conspicuous area of its internet website. This bill would require the commission to include the analysis of the trends in the California corporation credit ratings described above in that annual report to the Legislature, as provided. Under existing law, a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing this 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.
The Civil Discovery Act authorizes a party to obtain discovery by taking the oral deposition of any person. Oral depositions must be conducted under the supervision of a deposition officer, as specified, and, unless otherwise agreed or ordered, the testimony must be taken stenographically and then transcribed. The act provides procedures for the deponent to read, correct, approve, and sign the original deposition transcript and requires the deposition officer to certify and promptly transmit the transcript to the attorney of the party who noticed the deposition in a securely sealed envelope or package. This bill would permit the deposition officer or entity retained to perform deposition reporting or transcription services to instead securely encrypt and transmit a certified deposition transcript to the attorney of the party who noticed the deposition via electronic means, when requested by that attorney. The bill would require an electronically transmitted transcript to be in a format that ensures it is authentic and has not been altered. The bill would authorize the court to accept a transcript that has been formatted, stored, and transmitted in compliance with these provisions as an original certified transcript where the attorney presenting it certifies that it is a true and correct copy of the transcript that they received electronically.
Existing law establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (council) , which has various goals, including, among other things, to serve as a statewide facilitator, coordinator, and policy development resource on ending homelessness in California. This bill would require the council to, by July 1, 2028, complete a comprehensive statewide study of the coordinated entry system and its role in connecting individuals and families experiencing homelessness to affordable housing, as specified. The bill would require the council, in conducting the study, to meaningfully consult with a geographically representative group of stakeholders, as described, and would require the council, by July 1, 2028, to post the report on its internet website and submit the report to the Legislature and any relevant policy committees.
Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, and independent institutions of higher education, as defined, as 4 segments of postsecondary education in the state. This bill would establish the Designation of California Asian American- and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions to recognize campuses of those segments of postsecondary education that excel at providing academic resources to Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students. The bill would establish a California Asian American- and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions governing board to designate colleges and universities as California Asian American- and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions and would require the office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges to, among other duties, develop the application processes and to process and present initial and renewal applications to receive this designation to the governing board, as specified. The bill would make an initial and renewal designation valid for 5 years.
