The Digital Financial Assets Law (DFAL) generally regulates digital financial asset business activity, including by prohibiting a covered person from taking certain actions with digital financial assets if that asset is a stablecoin, as defined and prescribed. The DFAL requires, among other charges, an applicant for a license to include a nonrefundable fee with an application, as specified. This bill would authorize the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation to adopt regulations to allow specified payments required under the DFAL to be made with stablecoins, as specified. This bill would become operative on July 1, 2027, and sunset its provisions on January 1, 2032.
The California Endangered Species Act prohibits the take of an endangered, threatened, or candidate species, except as specified. Under the act, the Department of Fish and Wildlife may authorize the take of listed species by certain entities through permits or memorandums of understanding for specified purposes. The act allows take of an endangered, threatened, or candidate species by permit if, among other things, the impact of the authorized take is minimized and fully mitigated. This bill would also allow the department to authorize by permit the take of a species proposed for listing, as defined, if specified conditions are met. The bill would provide that if a species proposed for listing becomes listed as an endangered, threatened, or candidate species, further authorization or approval shall not be required for a take of that species, if specified conditions are met, including that the species proposed for listing was included as a covered species in a permit previously issued by the department for incidental take and that the incidental take is caused by a renewable electrical generation facility. The bill would require the department to, on or before January 31, 2033, compile and post a summary table on its internet website with specified information for calendar years 2027 to 2032, inclusive.
Existing law establishes the California State University, under the administration of the Trustees of the California State University, and the University of California, under the administration of the Regents of the University of California, as 2 of the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in the state. This bill, commencing with the 2027–28 academic year, would require the California State University, and would request the University of California, to adopt a plan to increase the number of students participating in exchange programs with Mexican public universities, as provided. The bill would require these provisions to become operative only upon an appropriation of funds for its purposes.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to appoint a chief internal auditor who holds office at the pleasure of the commission. Existing law makes the chief internal auditor responsible for the oversight of the internal audit unit. Existing law requires the chief internal auditor to plan, initiate, and perform audits of key financial, management, operational, and information technology functions within the commission to improve accountability and transparency to executive and state management, and to report their findings and recommendations directly to an audit subcommittee of the commission. This bill would instead require the Governor to appoint an Inspector General, subject to Senate confirmation, to be responsible for the oversight of the internal audit unit and would instead require the Inspector General to plan, initiate, and perform audits of key financial, management, operational, and information technology functions within the commission to improve accountability and transparency to executive and state management. The bill would also require the Inspector General to ensure, among other things, that the commission administers funds and programs in a prescribed manner, fulfills mandated requirements, develops an annual audit plan, administers an effective enterprise risk management program, and monitors reporting compliance. The bill would provide for the appointment and removal of the Inspector General, as specified. The bill would authorize the Inspector General to access and examine all records, files, documents, accounts, reports, correspondence, or other property of the commission and public utilities, and would require other entities that are regulated by the commission and participate in programs administered by the commission, upon request of the Inspector General, to provide or make available to the Inspector General for examination all relevant records, files, documents, accounts, reports, correspondence, or other property pertaining to participation in those programs, as specified. The bill would require the Inspector General to report specified information to the Governor and the Legislature, as provided.
Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of all state highways and all property and rights on property acquired for state highway purposes. Various provisions of existing law specifically provide for the acquisition, transfer, and use of property owned by the department. This bill would, with respect to a parcel that the department transferred to the City of Lynwood, require the department, upon request from the city, to develop and enter into an agreement with the city to release and remove a deed restriction imposed on that parcel if the city agrees to transfer the deed restriction to another specified parcel and other certain other requirements are met. If the city and department enter into this agreement, the bill would require the city to submit reports to the Legislature, and specified committees of the Legislature, at prescribed intervals on the use of this authority to develop those parcels. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Lynwood.
Existing law, the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act of 1975, provides for the licensure and regulation of health care service plans by the Department of Managed Health Care and makes a willful violation of the act's requirements a crime. Existing law provides for the regulation of health insurers by the Department of Insurance. Existing law sets forth specified coverage requirements for health care service plan contracts and health insurance policies. Existing law requires an individual or small group health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2017, to include, at a minimum, coverage for essential health benefits pursuant to the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Existing law requires an essential health benefit to be provided only to the extent that federal law does not require the state to defray the costs of the benefit. This bill would require a health care service plan contract or health insurance policy issued, amended, or renewed on or after January 1, 2027, that provides coverage for the application of fluoride varnish as a pediatric oral care benefit to provide coverage without cost sharing for the application of fluoride varnish as medically necessary regardless of whether the service is billed as a dental benefit or as a medical benefit, except as specified. If this coverage requirement creates an obligation for the state to defray costs for an individual, the bill would not require coverage unless there is an appropriation for this purpose, as specified. Because a willful violation of this provision by a health care service plan would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law provides for the Medi-Cal program, administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which health care services are provided to low-income individuals. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law establishes a schedule of benefits under the Medi-Cal program and provides for various services, including certain dental services, that are rendered by Medi-Cal enrolled providers. Under existing law, silver diamine fluoride treatments are a covered benefit for eligible children 0 to 6 years of age, inclusive, as specified, and application of fluoride or other appropriate fluoride treatment is covered for children 17 years of age and under. This bill would make the application of fluoride or other appropriate fluoride treatment, as defined by the department, a covered benefit under the Medi-Cal program for children under 21 years of age. The bill would require the State Department of Health Care Services, no later than July 1, 2027, to issue billing guidance and make any necessary updates to ensure the coverage policy for Medi-Cal beneficiaries under 21 years of age is consistent with certain federal benefits and would require that policy to allow the application of fluoride varnish, as specified. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 14132 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 1949 and SB 944 to be operative only if this bill and either or both AB 1949 and SB 944 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law establishes the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the direction of the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation. Existing law makes the department responsible for administering various laws relating to financial institutions, including the Banking Law, the California Credit Union Law (CCUL) , and the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act (CRMLA) , a willful violation of which is punishable as a misdemeanor. The CRMLA requires, as often as the commissioner deems necessary and appropriate, but at least once every 48 months, the commissioner to examine the affairs of each residential mortgage lender and servicer licensee for compliance with the CRMLA. The CRMLA authorizes the commissioner to examine the licensee's officers, directors, employees, or agents under oath regarding the licensee's operations. The CRMLA requires the commissioner to provide a written statement, the disclosure of which is subject to certain restrictions, of the findings of the examination, issue a copy of that statement to each licensee's principals, officers, or directors, and take appropriate steps to ensure correction of any violations of the CRMLA. This bill, the California Fair Lending Examination Act, would require, under the Banking Law and the CCUL, the commissioner to, at least once every 4 years, examine, as prescribed, the books and records of certain entities subject to the commissioner's examination authority under those laws for compliance with any nondiscrimination law applicable to mortgage lending, as specified, and would require the commissioner to provide a written statement of the findings of that examination, issue a copy of that statement to the subject's principals, officers, or directors, and take appropriate steps to ensure correction of any violations of applicable nondiscrimination laws. The bill would prohibit disclosure of that statement to anyone other than the subject entity, law enforcement officials, or other state or federal regulatory agencies for further investigation and enforcement. This bill would, as part of the above-described examination required by the CRMLA, require the commissioner to additionally examine the licensee for compliance with any nondiscrimination law applicable to mortgage lending, as prescribed. This bill would make a violation of an applicable nondiscrimination law a violation of the Banking Law, the CCUL, or the CRMLA, as applicable, and would authorize, under the Banking Law and the CCUL, the commissioner to examine the applicable entity's officers, directors, employees, or agents under oath regarding the entity's operations. By expanding the scope of the crimes of perjury and of violating the CRMLA, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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 the Department of Corrections Rehabilitation from allowing any lack of care that would injure or impair the health of an incarcerated person. Existing law prohibits the department from modifying or canceling the medical treatment of an incarcerated person if a physician certifies that the medical treatment is required to prevent certain violations of law or to prevent serious and imminent harm to the health of an incarcerated person, as specified. This bill would prohibit a supervisor, administrator, or employee of the department from interfering with or refusing to implement prescribed health care, as specified, that results in substantial emotional distress or serious bodily injury, as defined.
Existing law, the Physical Therapy Practice Act, establishes the Physical Therapy Board of California within the Department of Consumer Affairs for the licensure, approval, and regulation of physical therapists and physical therapist assistants. Existing law prescribes specified fees for licenses issued by the board. Existing law authorizes the board to decrease or increase the fee amounts, and establishes specified maximum amounts of license fees. Existing law repeals the board and its authority to employ an executive officer on January 1, 2027. This bill would extend the board's authority to enforce and administer the act and to appoint an executive officer until January 1, 2031. The bill would increase specified fees for licenses issued by the board and would increase the maximum amount to which the board may increase the fees, as specified. The bill would also make nonsubstantive changes to those fee provisions. Existing law authorizes a person whose license has been revoked or suspended, or who has been placed on probation, to petition the board for reinstatement or modification of a penalty after a specified period of time has elapsed. Existing law prohibits the board from considering a petition while the petitioner is under sentence for any criminal offense, including any period of court-imposed probation or parole, or while there is an accusation or petition to revoke probation pending against the petitioner. This bill would further prohibit the board from considering a petition if the applicant is required to register as a sex offender, as specified. The bill would except from this prohibition an applicant whose requirement to register as a sex offender is based solely on a misdemeanor conviction. The bill would also prohibit the board from considering a petition if the conduct underlying the petitioner's conviction involved certain sexual misconduct.
Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State to appoint and commission notaries public. Existing law requires a notary public who holds a California notary public commission, when applying for reappointment, to have completed a 3-hour refresher course of study prior to reappointment. This bill would also require the applicant to have satisfactorily completed a written examination prescribed by the Secretary of State, as specified. Existing law establishes the duties of a notary public, which include taking the acknowledgment or proof of specified legal documents, taking depositions and affidavits, administering oaths, and certifying copies of powers of attorney. Existing law requires a notary, in performing these duties, to give a certificate of proof or acknowledgment, endorsed or attached to the instrument, signed by the notary in their own handwriting. This bill would authorize a notary to instead sign with their electronic signature when performing these duties. The bill would require the electronic signature to include an image of the notary public's handwritten signature and would allow that electronic signature to be kept on a storage device or online media that is accessed by the notary public with a secure means of multifactor authentication and protection, as prescribed. Existing law requires the Secretary of State to issue a permit with a sequential identification number to each manufacturer or vendor authorized to issue notary seals, and authorizes the Secretary of State to establish a fee for issuing the permit. This bill would instead require the fee to be $100. Existing law, the Online Notarization Act, establishes a framework for authorizing and regulating online notarizations that become operative after the Secretary of State completes a technology project necessary to implement those provisions no later than January 1, 2030, unless further delayed, as specified. After completion of the technology project, the Online Notarization Act authorizes an applicant for a commission as a notary public to apply for registration with the Secretary of State to perform online notarizations and establishes requirements for application and qualification and for performing online notarizations. The act requires a notary public to record each online notarial act performed by the notary public in one tangible sequential journal and one or more secure electronic journals. The act authorizes a person or entity to apply for registration with the Secretary of State to be an online notarization platform or depository, and establishes requirements for application and for conducting business as an online notarization platform or depository. The Online Notarization Act requires an applicant for registration to perform online notarizations to have satisfactorily completed a specified 2-hour course of study approved by the Secretary of State concerning the functions and duties of a notary public authorized to perform online notarizations. This bill would require the Secretary of State to review the course of study proposed by any vendor to be offered pursuant to those provisions. The Online Notarization Act requires a notary public's electronic signature to include an image of the notary public's handwritten signature. This bill would require the signature to match the notary public's handwritten signature on their official oath, as specified. The Online Notarization Act limits the fee amounts that a notary public may charge for taking the acknowledgment of a deed or other instrument and for administering an oath or affirmation to one person and executing the jurat, as specified. This bill would prohibit a notary public from charging a fee for these services unless the online notarial act is completed. The bill would authorize a notary public to charge a technology fee for a terminated online notarial act session if the termination is due to one of specified reasons, and would limit that fee to the actual and reasonable cost incurred by the notary public for the use of the online notarization platform. The Online Notarization Act requires a person or entity to apply for registration with the Secretary of State to be an online notarization platform or depository on an application for registration that includes specified information. The act authorizes the Secretary of State to charge a fee for an application for registration. This bill would require the person or entity to apply annually thereafter for renewal of registration during the applicable time period, as specified. The bill would authorize an online notarization platform or depository, if there has been no change in the information in the last filed application for registration, to advise the Secretary of State that no changes in the required information have occurred during the applicable filing period. The bill would require an online notarization platform or depository to file an updated application for registration whenever any of the information required in the application is changed, and would require the Secretary of State to charge a fee of $50 to file an updated application. The bill would require the Secretary of State to charge a fee of $5,000 for an initial application for registration and a $1,000 fee for a renewal of registration. The Online Notarization Act requires an online notarization platform or depository, if certain events occur, to notify each notary public that used the online notarization platform or depository at least 30 days before the event, including if the online notarization platform ceases to provide an online notarization system or depository for use within California. This bill would require the online notarization platform or depository to also notify the Secretary of State at least 30 days before those events by submitting the notice electronically through the Secretary of State's web portal. The bill would require the Secretary of State to post information on its internet website demonstrating that a notarization platform or depository is registered with the Secretary of State to perform online notarization, as specified. The bill would make other technical, conforming, and nonsubstantive changes to the provisions regulating notaries public.
Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which is administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the application for, and issuance and suspension of, alcoholic beverage licenses. The Alcoholic Beverage Control Act prohibits a licensee from giving a premium, gift, or free goods in connection with the sale and distribution of any alcoholic beverage, except as provided. This bill would authorize a licensed winegrower, licensed beer manufacturer, licensed distilled spirits manufacturer, licensed craft distiller, licensed brandy manufacturer, licensed rectifier, or licensed wine rectifier to furnish tastes of alcoholic beverages as part of a bona fide market research study undertaken by or for the licensee for the sole purpose of measuring consumer perceptions with respect to the sensory characteristics of the alcoholic beverages. The bill would authorize the taste testing to be conducted in the state, subject to specified conditions, including, among other things, prohibiting a taste testing participant from being provided more taste samples than is reasonably necessary to formulate an opinion related to the sensory characteristics of an alcoholic beverage. This bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2032.
The Outdoor Advertising Act regulates placement of advertising displays adjacent to and within specified distances of highways that are part of the national system of interstate and defense highways and federal-aid highways. The act prohibits a person, as defined, from placing an advertising display within the areas affected by the act without a permit. The act prohibits the Department of Transportation from denying or delaying the acceptance of a permit application for a new advertising display along a portion of a new alignment of an interstate or primary highway on the basis that the highway project has not been accepted as complete if the section of highway is open to the use of the public for vehicular travel within 1,000 feet of the location specified in the permit application. This bill would also prohibit the department from denying or delaying the review, processing, or determination of a permit application described above. The act prohibits, except as provided, placing or maintaining an advertising display on property adjacent to a portion of a freeway that has a specified coverage area of landscaping or trees at the same or elevated grade of the main-traveled way, as provided. The act authorizes removal of an advertising display that violates that prohibition, as provided. This bill would instead authorize the removal with payment of compensation, or relocation without payment of compensation, of an advertising display that violates that prohibition, as specified. The act does not prohibit a local governmental entity from entering into an agreement to relocate an advertising display for any purpose. The act requires the department to issue a permit without any additional consideration for a display that is being placed pursuant to a relocation agreement with another governmental entity, as provided. This bill would instead not prohibit any governmental entity from entering into a relocation agreement and would require the department to issue a permit, without any additional consideration and without requiring a local entity or state agency to pay compensation, for a display that is being placed pursuant to a relocation agreement with another governmental entity, as specified.
