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. Existing law requires the department to contract with local contracting agencies for alternative payment programs for childcare services to be provided throughout the state. Existing law then requires alternative payment programs to reimburse childcare providers for providing childcare to eligible children. This bill would, beginning October 1, 2027, authorize alternative payment programs with clear contracts and that are in full compliance with certain requirements to submit written requests to the department for a voluntary temporary transfer of funds. The bill would require the department to acknowledge receipt of the request within 30 calendar days of receiving it. The bill would require the department to provide the contractor with a written decision within 90 calendar days of receiving the request and notify the local childcare planning council in writing if a voluntary temporary transfer request is approved. The bill would authorize the department to implement these provisions by means of all-county letters, childcare bulletins, or similar written instructions until regulations are adopted.
(1) Existing law establishes the Court Reporters Board of California for the licensure and regulation of shorthand reporters. Existing law generally requires an applicant for a license to, among other requirements, pass an examination consisting of 3 parts, one of which is labeled Dictation/Transcription (Machine/Skill) . Under existing law, successful completion of the Certified Verbatim Reporter (CVR) or Certified Verbatim Reporter-Stenotype (CVR-S) certification administered through the National Verbatim Reporters Association satisfies the requirement to pass the Dictation/Transcription portion of the examination. This bill would also allow successful completion of the Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) certification administered through the National Court Reporters Association to satisfy the requirement to pass the Dictation/Transcription portion of the examination. (2) Existing law authorizes the superior court of 13 specified counties to conduct pilot projects, beginning on July 1, 2025, to study the potential use of remote court reporting to make the verbatim record of certain court proceedings under specified requirements. Existing law requires all pilot projects to terminate no later than July 1, 2026, and further requires the Judicial Council to prepare a report for the Legislature with the results from each participating superior court. Existing law repeals these provisions on June 1, 2027. This bill would extend the duration of the pilot program and would require all pilot projects to terminate no later than July 1, 2028, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029. The bill would require the superior courts in the Counties of Los Angeles, Mendocino, San Bernardino, San Mateo, and Tulare to submit data and information to the Judicial Council, as specified, and would require the Judicial Council to present that information and its own report to the Legislature by January 1, 2027. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law prohibits an employer or any other person from engaging in, or directing another person to engage in, an unfair immigration-related practice against a person for the purpose of, or with the intent of, retaliating against any person for exercising a right protected under state labor and employment laws or under a local ordinance applicable to employees, as specified. Existing law authorizes a civil action for equitable relief and damages or penalties, as specified, by an employee or other person who is the subject of an unfair immigration-related practice. This bill would expand the above-described prohibition to include retaliating against any person for exercising any right under any local, state, or federal statute or regulation applicable to employees, as defined, and would prohibit preventing a person from exercising such a right. The bill would also prohibit an employer or any other person from engaging in any other conduct, related to any person's perceived immigration status, that would reasonably tend to dissuade a person from engaging in conduct that the person has a legal right to engage in under any local, state, or federal statute or regulation applicable to employees, or to induce a person to engage in conduct that the person has a legal right to abstain from under any local, state, or federal statute or regulation applicable to employees. The bill would make an employer or other person who violates these provisions liable for a civil penalty not exceeding $10,000 per employee or person for each violation, as specified. The bill would also make related and conforming changes to these provisions.
The State Bar Act provides for the licensure and regulation of attorneys by the State Bar of California (State Bar) , a public corporation governed by a board of trustees. Existing law authorizes the board of trustees, with the approval of the Supreme Court, to formulate and enforce rules of professional conduct for all licensees of the State Bar. Existing provisions of the Labor Code prohibit an employer from making, adopting, or enforcing any rule, regulation or policy preventing an employee from disclosing information to a government or law enforcement agency, to a person with authority over the employee, or to another employee who has authority to investigate, discover, or correct the violation or noncompliance, if the employee has reasonable cause to believe that the information discloses a violation of state or federal statute, or a violation of or noncompliance with a local, state, or federal rule or regulation. This bill would add provisions to the State Bar Act that would prohibit an employer, law firm, attorney, or any person acting on their behalf from retaliating against an individual for disclosing information in good faith, or because the employer, law firm, or attorney believes the individual disclosed or may disclose information in good faith, where the individual has reasonable cause to believe that the information reveals a violation of the State Bar Act, the California Rules of Professional Conduct, or any other state or federal statute, rule, or regulation governing the conduct of attorneys. Existing law requires certain contracts between an attorney and client to comply with specified requirements, including requiring contracts to represent a client on a contingency fee basis to be in writing and include the contingency fee rate and specified other information. This bill would require an attorney entering into a loan or financial assistance arrangement with a client to have a separate written contract that contains the total amount financed, repayment terms and contingencies, and all fees, costs, and charges. The bill would prohibit an attorney from charging the client interest on any loan or funds. The bill would make a violation of those requirements subject to a civil penalty of $15,000 per offense or injunctive relief, and subject to discipline by the State Bar. Existing law makes it unlawful for any person to act as a runner or capper for any attorneys or to solicit any business for attorneys, as specified. Existing law makes a violation of those provisions a misdemeanor or a felony, as specified, and also authorizes a person to bring a civil action for specified remedies for a violation of those provisions. Existing law authorizes the Supreme Court to disbar, including to summarily disbar, or suspend an attorney for specified acts, including conviction of a felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude. This bill would also make a violation of the provisions prohibiting capping or running subject to a civil penalty of $25,000 for each violation. The bill would require the State Bar to enact summarily disbarment procedures for any licensee for a felony conviction of the provisions prohibiting capping or running or a misdemeanor conviction under those provisions where the court finds, or the record establishes, that the licensee acted knowingly and for financial gain.
Existing law requires a social media platform to take certain actions with respect to child sexual abuse material on the social media platform, including requiring the platform to provide, in a mechanism that is reasonably accessible to users, a means for a user who is a California resident to report material to the platform that the user reasonably believes meets certain criteria, including that the reported material is child sexual abuse material and that the reporting user is depicted in the material. Existing law also requires the social media platform to collect information reasonably sufficient to enable the platform to contact, as specified, a reporting user. Existing law defines child sexual abuse material for these purposes to include obscene matter that depicts a minor personally engaging in, or personally simulating, sexual conduct. This bill would revise the definition of child sexual abuse material to instead include an intimate visual depiction, as defined, of an identifiable individual who is a minor. The bill would additionally require the above-described mechanism to be clear and conspicuous, as defined, and would delete the requirement that the reporting user be depicted in the material. The bill would require a social media platform to, among other things, ensure review by a natural person if there is not an established or known hash match to child sexual abuse material with respect to the reported material and the reported material is not otherwise blocked. The bill would require a social media platform to restore availability or functionality of the reporting mechanism if the reporting mechanism is unavailable or nonfunctional. Existing law makes a noncomplying social media company liable to a reporting user for actual damages and statutory damages, as specified. This bill would instead make a social media company liable to a depicted individual, as defined, for actual and statutory damages, as provided. The bill would also impose specified civil penalties on a noncomplying company to be collected in a civil action by certain public attorneys, including the Attorney General. Existing law establishes the Survivor Support Fund within the state treasury and makes moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for grants by the California Victim Compensation Board to community-based organizations that provide direct services to vulnerable individuals in areas with a high concentration of sex trafficking. This bill would require any penalty collected in a civil action by the Attorney General under these provisions to be deposited into the Survivor Support Fund. Existing law prohibits a social media platform from knowingly facilitating, aiding, or abetting commercial sexual exploitation, as defined. Existing law deems a social media platform to have knowledge for the purposes of this prohibition if material was reported to the social media platform using the reporting mechanism for 4 consecutive months, as provided. Existing law exempts a social media platform from being deemed in violation of this prohibition if it instituted a specified audit program and provided to each member of its board of directors a true and correct copy of each audit, as prescribed. This bill would remove the requirement that material was reported for 4 consecutive months to deem a social media platform to have knowledge for the purposes of the above-described prohibition. The bill would, in order to be exempt from that prohibition, require the social media platform to also submit the audit to the Attorney General, and if requested, to certain other public officials. The bill would provide that an audit submitted as described above is confidential and shall be exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act. This bill would declare its provisions severable. 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 local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
The Classroom Instructional Improvement and Accountability Act, an initiative approved by the voters as Proposition 98 at the November 8, 1988, statewide general election, amended the California Constitution to, among other things, require school districts maintaining an elementary or secondary school to adopt a school accountability report card for each school. The act also requires, by statute, the governing boards of school districts maintaining an elementary or secondary school to annually issue a school accountability report card that includes certain information for each school in the school district, publicize those reports, and notify parents and guardians of pupils that a hard copy of those reports is available upon request, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Education, in collaboration with, and subject to the approval of, the executive director of the State Board of Education, to develop and maintain the California School Dashboard, a web-based system for publicly reporting performance data on the state and local indicators included in evaluation rubrics. This bill would require the department, on or before August 31, 2027, to provide a report to the Legislature that identifies duplication between the data contained in the school accountability report card and other publicly available data sources, as provided. Existing law requires a local educational agency to develop annually a summary document known as the local control funding formula budget overview for parents. Existing law requires, before the governing board or body of a local educational agency considers the adoption of a local control and accountability plan (LCAP) or an annual update to the LCAP, certain things to occur, including that the superintendent of the school district, the county superintendent of schools, or the charter school present a report on the annual update to the LCAP and the local control funding formula budget overview for parents on or before February 28 of each year at a regularly scheduled meeting of the governing board or body of the local educational agency, as specified. This bill would eliminate the February 28 deadline for the presentation of the above-described report on the annual update to the LCAP and the local control funding formula budget overview. Under existing law, each school district and county office of education is responsible for the overall development of a comprehensive school safety plan for each of its schools operating kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, in consultation with certain local entities. Existing law requires each school to annually review and update its comprehensive school safety plan, and to report each July on the status of its school safety plan, including a description of its key elements in the annual school accountability report card, as provided. This bill would repeal the requirement that each school annually report on the status of its school safety plan. Existing law requires the department to exercise general supervision over the courses of physical education in the elementary and secondary schools of the state, advise officials, school boards, and teachers in the development and improvement of their physical education and activity programs, and investigate the work in physical education in the public schools. Existing law requires the department to ensure that the data collected through the categorical program monitoring indicates the extent to which each school within the jurisdiction of a school district or county office of education provides, among other things, for inclusion of the results of physical testing of pupils in the school accountability report card, as provided. This bill would repeal the above-described requirement that the results of physical testing of pupils be included in the school accountability report card. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district maintaining any of grades 5, 7, or 9, during the month of February, March, April, or May, to administer to each pupil in those grades the physical performance test designated by the state board and report the aggregate results of this physical performance testing in its annual school accountability report card. This bill would repeal this reporting requirement.
Existing law includes various provisions limiting how state and local entities may use their resources for immigration enforcement purposes. This bill would prohibit the use of state-owned property for purposes of immigration enforcement, as specified. In this regard, the bill would prohibit, among other uses, staging, assembling, mobilizing, or deploying vehicles, equipment, or personnel for immigration enforcement purposes. The bill would require the Department of General Services and state agencies to work together to identify state-owned property previously or likely to be used for immigration enforcement purposes. The bill would require state agencies to post signage at those properties regarding the prohibition and to use physical barriers limiting access, as provided. The bill would require state agencies to develop procedures to ensure that an attempted or actual use of state-owned property for immigration enforcement purposes is documented in writing, that the documentation includes any photographic or video evidence, and that the Attorney General's office or the Attorney General's designee is notified. The bill would direct state agencies to make educational materials available regarding the rights of employees, tenants, and security staff if federal agents enter state-owned property. The bill would further require the Attorney General's office to design standardized signage and to make the signage available to download free of charge on the Attorney General's internet website.
Existing law authorizes courts that have jurisdiction in misdemeanor cases to suspend the sentence and make and enforce terms of probation in those cases, for a period not to exceed one year, except as specified. Existing law authorizes the court, in an order granting probation, to suspend the imposition or execution of the sentence and direct the suspension to continue for a period of time not exceeding 2 years, except for specified offenses, including, among others, violent felonies and embezzlement. This bill would, for an offender required to register as a sex offender, if the probation department files a petition to the court and the court makes a finding the defendant has not successfully completed probation and additional time is necessary for programming, as specified, authorize the court to order the term of probation to continue for a period not exceeding one additional year. 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 unemployment compensation disability law requires workers to pay contribution rates based on, among other things, wages received in employment and benefit disbursement, for payment into the Unemployment Compensation Disability Fund, a special fund in the State Treasury. That fund is continuously appropriated for the purpose of providing disability benefits and making payment of expenses in administering those provisions. Existing law, the family temporary disability insurance program, provides up to 8 weeks of wage replacement benefits to workers who take time off work to care for a seriously ill child, spouse, parent, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, or domestic partner, or to bond with a minor child within one year of birth or placement in connection with foster care or adoption, or to participate in a qualifying exigency related to the covered active duty or call to covered active duty of the individual's spouse, domestic partner, child, or parent in the Armed Forces of the United States. Existing law defines "covered active duty" to mean, with respect to a member of the regular Armed Forces of the United States, duty during the deployment of the member with the regular armed forces to a foreign country and, with respect to a member of the reserve components of the Armed Forces of the United States, duty during the deployment of the member of those reserve components to a foreign country under a federal call or order to active duty. This bill would, starting upon specified changes to the Employment Development Department's integrated claims management system or on July 1, 2028, whichever occurs sooner, expand the definition of "covered active duty" to additionally include duty during training, deployment other than deployment to a foreign country, and, with respect to a member of the reserve components of the Armed Forces of the United States, a call or order to state active duty. By authorizing expenditures from the continuously appropriated fund for these expanded purposes, this bill would make an appropriation.
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 by, and funded pursuant to, federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing federal law generally requires, commencing in 2027, Medicaid beneficiaries between 19 and 64 years of age, inclusive, with income up to 138% of the federal poverty level, commonly known as Medicaid expansion adults, to demonstrate community engagement as a condition of Medicaid eligibility. Existing state law sets forth various provisions to conform to that federal requirement. Existing law requires, no sooner than January 1, 2027, as specified, an applicable individual to demonstrate work or community engagement. Existing law sets forth the mechanisms for an applicable individual to comply with that requirement on a monthly basis, including, among others, a minimum of 80 hours of work, community service, or participation in a work program, or a minimum of half-time enrollment in an educational program. This bill would make changes to the definitions of "applicable individual," "work program," and "educational program," and to some of the compliance mechanisms regarding monthly income, for purposes of the above-described provisions. When there is a conflict in reliable data sources that adversely impacts the eligibility of an applicant or beneficiary, the bill would require the county to request the applicant or beneficiary to confirm information before taking any adverse action on the application or renewal. Existing law requires a county, if it is unable to verify that an applicable individual either has met the requirement to demonstrate work or community engagement or was deemed to have demonstrated work or community engagement, to provide the individual with a notice of noncompliance, as specified, and to continue to provide the individual with Medi-Cal services during a 30-calendar-day period if the individual is enrolled in the Medi-Cal program. This bill would require the county to notify applicable individuals enrolled in the Medi-Cal program of the requirement to demonstrate work or community engagement based on certain delivery formats. For an applicable individual renewing their Medi-Cal enrollment during a 6-month redetermination period and who otherwise meets all other eligibility criteria, the bill would require the county to maintain active eligibility pending verification of work or community engagement until at least the last day of the month of the 30-calendar-day period. Under the bill, an applicable individual would be deemed to have received the notice of noncompliance 5 days after the date on the notice. Under the bill, self-attestation that the individual did not receive a timely notice would constitute good cause for not providing a satisfactory showing within the 30-calendar-day period. If no satisfactory showing is made after the 30-calendar-day period, the bill would require the department to consider all other bases of eligibility for medical assistance under the Medi-Cal state plan prior to denying coverage at application or determining that an individual is ineligible. The bill would authorize the department to defer implementation of any of the above-described changes if the change would result in a fiscal impact that would require an additional appropriation and that additional appropriation has not been made, as specified. By creating new duties for counties relating to Medi-Cal eligibility determinations with regard to work or community engagement, 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, 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.
The California Fair Employment and Housing Act makes specified employment practices unlawful, including the harassment of an employee directly by the employer or indirectly by agents of the employer with the employer's knowledge. Under existing law, the Civil Rights Department administers these provisions. Existing law requires a specified employer with 5 or more employees to, by January 1, 2021, provide at least 2 hours of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding sexual harassment to all supervisory employees and at least one hour of classroom or other effective interactive training and education regarding sexual harassment to all nonsupervisory employees in California and, after that date, once every 2 years. Existing law requires an employer to include prevention of abusive conduct as a component of that training and education. This bill would additionally require that, beginning January 1, 2028, the above-described training and education include, as a component of the training and education, anti-hate speech training, as specified.
Existing law establishes the California Children's Services (CCS) program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and counties, to provide medically necessary services, based on financial eligibility, for persons under 21 years of age who have certain medical conditions, including, among others, cystic fibrosis or hemophilia. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the department, 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 authorizes the department to establish a Whole Child Model program, under which managed care plans served by a county organized health system or Regional Health Authority in designated counties provide CCS treatment services to Medi-Cal eligible CCS children and youth. In implementing the program, existing law requires the department to, among other things, establish a statewide Whole Child Model program stakeholder advisory group and to consult with that advisory group on the implementation of the Whole Child Model program, as specified. Existing law terminates the advisory group on December 31, 2026. This bill would rename the statewide Whole Child Model program stakeholder advisory group to the California Children's Services (CCS) advisory group. The bill would require the advisory group to have specified membership, including no more than 6 representatives of CCS clients not enrolled in a managed care plan or enrolled in a managed care plan, but not on a family advisory committee, former CCS clients, and caregivers of former CCS clients, among others. The bill would also require the department to consult with the advisory group on the implementation of the CCS Classic program and to consider the recommendations of the advisory group in developing monitoring processes and outcome measures for the CCS program. The bill would require the department to publish two summary reports on its internet website by specified dates that describe the department's progress and actions on specified matters relating to the CCS program. The bill would delete the December 31, 2026, sunset date, and would instead make the provisions relating to the stakeholder advisory group and the related reporting requirement inoperative on January 1, 2037. This bill would make conforming changes to reflect the renaming of the advisory group.
