Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires every electric utility, defined to include electrical corporations, local publicly owned electric utilities, and electrical cooperatives, to develop a standard contract or tariff for net energy metering, as defined, for generation by a renewable electrical generation facility, as defined, and to make this contract or tariff available to eligible customer-generators, as defined, upon request on a first-come-first-served basis until the time that the total rated generating capacity used by eligible customer generators exceeds 5% of the electric utility's aggregate customer peak demand. Existing law requires the commission to have developed a 2nd standard contract or tariff for each large electrical corporation, as defined, to provide net energy metering to additional eligible customer-generators in the electrical corporation's service territory and imposes no limitation on the number of new eligible customer-generators entitled to receive service pursuant to this 2nd standard contract or tariff. Existing law requires the commission, in developing the 2nd standard contract or tariff, to ensure that customer-sited renewable distributed generation continues to grow sustainably and to include specific alternatives designed for growth among residential customers in disadvantaged communities. Existing law authorizes the commission to revise the 2nd standard contract or tariff as appropriate. Pursuant to that authorization, the commission has instituted rulemakings and issued decisions relating to the 2nd standard contract or tariff. This bill would require all eligible customer-generators of large electrical corporations receiving service under the 2nd standard contract or tariff to be subject to a specified version of the tariff developed by the commission in a specified rulemaking. The bill would require the commission to develop a new standard contract or tariff providing for net energy metering for eligible customer-generators of large electrical corporations, and would require every other electric utility to revise its standard contract or tariff providing for net energy metering. The bill would require every electric utility to make the standard contract or tariff available to all new eligible customer-generators beginning on January 1, 2027. By adding new duties on local publicly owned electric utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the commission to design the standard contract or tariff for large electrical corporations to achieve an annual rate of installation of solar renewable electrical generation facilities that is sufficient to meet the state's anticipated need for customer-side solar generation resources, as provided. The bill would require the commission to adjust the standard contract or tariff for large electrical corporations to ensure that the annual rate of installation of renewable electrical generation facilities in disadvantaged communities is reasonably comparable to the statewide annual rate. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain provisions of the bill would require an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission to implement, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes. 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 specified reasons.
Existing law, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, which is administered by the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, regulates the application for, and the issuance and suspension of, alcoholic beverage licenses. Existing law requires moneys collected as fees pursuant to the act to be deposited in the Alcohol Beverage Control Fund, with those moneys generally allocated to the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control upon appropriation by the Legislature. Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for any on- or off-sale licensee, or agent or employee of the licensee, to sell, give, or deliver to any person any alcoholic beverage between the hours of 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. of the same day, and for any person who knowingly purchases any alcoholic beverages between those hours. This bill, beginning January 1, 2025, would allow an on-sale licensee, or their agent or employee, to sell or give alcoholic beverages until 4 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, and certain holidays if the licensee holds an additional serving hours license that the bill would create, as specified. The bill, beginning January 1, 2025, would authorize the department to issue an additional serving hours license if the local governing body of the city in which the licensed premises is located adopts an ordinance that meets certain requirements, as specified. Among those requirements are that the ordinance identify the additional serving hours area in which an on-sale licensed premises would be eligible for an additional serving hours license, include assessments of the impact of an additional hours service area, and show that the local law enforcement budget will be increased by at least 5% to mitigate public safety and transportation impacts. This bill would require an applicant for an additional hours license to pay a $2,500 fee at the time of application and specify that the fee for an original and annual additional hours license is $2,500; these fees would be deposited into the Alcohol Beverage Control Fund. The bill would prohibit an on-sale licensee from exercising off-sale privileges during the additional serving hours permitted pursuant to an additional serving hours license and specify that an additional serving hours license is not transferrable between on-sale licensed premises. The bill would authorize a local governing body to charge an additional serving hours licensee a fee to fund local law enforcement. This bill would require the department, upon receipt of an application by an on-sale licensee for an additional serving hours license, to make a thorough investigation. The bill would require the applicant to notify law enforcement and residents, who may then file with the department protests and requests for a hearing, as specified. The bill would make it a misdemeanor for any person under 21 years of age to enter and remain in licensed premises during the additional service hours period without lawful business therein punishable by a fine of not less than $200. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department to adopt rules and regulations to enforce these provisions. The bill would require a city that by ordinance creates an additional serving hours area to provide the Legislature an annual report on its impact, 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.
Existing law authorizes cities and counties, subject to certain limitations and approval requirements, to levy a transactions and use tax for general or specific purposes, in accordance with the procedures and requirements set forth in the Transactions and Use Tax Law, including a requirement that the combined rate of all taxes that may be imposed in accordance with that law in the county not exceed 2%. This bill would authorize a city, county, or city and county to impose a transactions and use tax at a rate of no more than an unspecified percentage that, in combination with other transactions and use taxes, would exceed the above-described combined rate limit of 2%, if certain conditions are met, including that the city, county, or city and county has reached the 2% rate limitation. The bill would specify that a transactions and use tax established pursuant to its provisions would not be considered for purposes of the 2% combined rate limitation.
Existing law establishes the Attorney General as the head of the Department of Justice, with charge of all legal matters in which the state is interested, except as specified. Existing law imposes various requirements on the Attorney General related to consumer protection, including, among others, the supervision of charitable trusts and the enforcement of antitrust laws. Existing law, commonly known as the Cartwright Act, identifies certain acts that are unlawful restraints of trade and unlawful trusts and prescribes provisions for its enforcement through civil actions. This bill, the California Preventing Algorithmic Collusion Act of 2024 (the act) , would require a person, as defined, upon request of the Attorney General, to provide to the Attorney General a written report, as specified, on each pricing algorithm, as defined, identified in the request. The act would require that all information submitted in a report under these provisions be treated as confidential and be considered privileged and confidential trade secrets exempt from disclosure under the California Public Records Act. The act would authorize the Attorney General to share the report with the National Institute of Standards and Technology for technical assistance in understanding the report, as specified. This act would prohibit a person from using or distributing any pricing algorithm that uses, incorporates, or was trained with nonpublic competitor data, as defined. If the Attorney General has reason to believe that a person has violated these provisions, the act would authorize the Attorney General to bring a civil action against the person in any court of competent jurisdiction in this state, as specified. The act would provide that certain presumptions are established as applicable, including that the defendant entered into a contract in restraint of trade, as specified, if the Attorney General establishes any of specified requirements, including that the defendant distributed the pricing algorithm to 2 or more persons with the intent that the pricing algorithm be used to set or recommend a price, as defined, or commercial term, as defined, of a product or service in the same market or a related market and 2 or more persons used the pricing algorithm to set or recommend a price or commercial term of a product or service. This act would require a person that has $5,000,000 or more in annual revenue that uses a pricing algorithm to recommend or set a price or commercial term to make certain disclosures, as specified, including to a customer, before the customer purchases the relevant product or service, that the price or a commercial term is set or recommended by a pricing algorithm. The act would provide that failure to comply with these disclosure provisions constitutes an unfair trade practice, as specified. If the Attorney General has reason to believe that a person has violated these disclosure provisions, the act authorizes the Attorney General to bring a civil action against the person in any court of competent jurisdiction in this state, as specified. Existing law establishes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) , which serves the Governor as the lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth. Existing law establishes the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation in the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, headed by the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation. Under existing law, the department has charge of the execution of specified laws relating to various financial institutions and financial services. Existing law requires the commissioner to publish on the department's internet website an annual report detailing actions taken during the prior year, including, among others, recommendations intended to result in improved oversight, greater transparency, or increased availability of beneficial financial products and services in the marketplace. This act would require, on or before January 1, 2027, the office of the Attorney General to publish on its internet website, and notify the Legislature of the publication of, the results of a study conducted in collaboration with GO-Biz and the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation on the use of pricing algorithms using, incorporating, or trained with either or both public and nonpublic data, as specified, including, among other information, the prevalence of pricing algorithms. 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.
Existing law establishes various programs relating to energy efficiency and conservation and clean energy, including a hydrogen program to provide financial incentives to eligible in-state hydrogen projects, as provided. This bill would require, on and after an unspecified date, all hydrogen produced or used in California to be green hydrogen that excludes the use of any fossil fuel as a feedstock or as an energy source in the production process and that complies with any applicable requirements to show the use of new and incremental renewable generation resources, temporal matching of renewable generation resources, and geographic deliverability of renewable energy resources.
Existing law authorizes an unmarried person who is under 18 years of age to marry upon obtaining a court order granting permission and the written consent of at least one of the parents or the guardian of each underage party to the marriage, as specified. Existing law requires the court, if it considers it necessary, as part of the court order granting permission to marry, to require the parties to the prospective marriage of a minor to participate in premarital counseling, as specified. Existing law provides that 2 unmarried, unrelated adults who have chosen to share one another's lives in an intimate and committed relationship of mutual caring may establish a domestic partnership by filing a declaration with the Secretary of State, if certain requirements are met. Existing law provides that a person under 18 years of age who, together with the person with whom the person proposes to establish a domestic partnership, meets the requirements for a domestic partnership other than the requirement of being at least 18 years of age, is capable of consenting to and establishing a domestic partnership upon obtaining a court order granting permission to the underage person or persons to establish a domestic partnership. Under existing law, registered domestic partners have the same rights, protections, and benefits as spouses. This bill would repeal the authorization for a person under 18 years of age to be issued a marriage license or to establish a domestic partnership, thereby prohibiting a person under 18 years of age from being issued a marriage license or from establishing a domestic partnership. The bill would make conforming changes. Existing law required the State Registrar to create a document, no later than March 1, 2020, concerning marriage certificates in which one or both of the parties were minors at the time of solemnization of the marriage. Existing law requires the State Registrar to update that document annually, as specified. Existing law requires the local registrar to submit specified information for the purposes of that report. This bill would repeal those provisions.
Existing law prescribes the time after the commission of a crime in which a criminal action is required to be commenced, referred to as a statute of limitation. Existing law also prescribes situations in which a statute of limitation is tolled or extended, including tolling the time to prosecute until the discovery or reasonable discovery of an offense involving the construction or maintenance of a fire protection system in any structure with specified intent so as to threaten the safety of any occupant or user of the structure in the event of a fire. This bill would toll the statute of limitation for specified offenses, including the willful or negligent cutting, destroying, mutilating, or removing of plant material growing upon state or county highway rights-of-way or the unlawful importation, transportation, possession, or release into this state of specified wild animals, until the offenses have been discovered or could have reasonably been discovered.
Existing law imposes an additional term, and authorizes a trial court to impose a specified fine, upon a person who is convicted of a violation of, or of a conspiracy to violate, specified provisions of law with respect to a substance containing heroin, fentanyl, cocaine base, and cocaine, if the substance exceeds a specified weight. The bill would lower the weight requirements of that crime with regard to fentanyl. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law regulates natural gas in various contexts, including for purposes of manufacturing, transportation, energy generation, utility service, and storage, and establishes various programs, funds, and charges related to natural gas, including the Natural Gas Services Program and the natural gas surcharge. Existing law defines "natural gas," for specified purposes, as all gas produced in this state, natural or manufactured, except propane, for light, heat, or electricity. Existing law requires the Director of General Services to operate the Natural Gas Services Program to consolidate and address the needs of multiple state agencies for the procurement of natural gas and related services. Existing law creates the Department of General Services Natural Gas Services Program Account, which is continuously appropriated to the department for purposes of operating that program. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to impose a surcharge on all natural gas consumed in this state to fund low-income assistance programs, cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation activities, and public interest research and development that are not adequately provided by the competitive and regulated markets. Existing law establishes the Gas Consumption Surcharge Fund, which is continuously appropriated to that commission for specified purposes, as prescribed. This bill would generally replace the term "natural gas" with the term "methane" throughout all of the state's codes. Because some natural gas is not methane and some methane is not natural gas, the bill would authorize the expenditure of continuously appropriated moneys for new purposes, thereby making an appropriation, and would also change the applicability of various charges, and the purposes for which revenues from those charges may be used. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the Public Utilities Commission is a crime. Because certain of the above provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a Public Utilities Commission action implementing this bill's requirements would be a crime, and to the extent this bill would mandate that a local entity provide a new program or higher level of service, 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law defines specified behavior as disorderly conduct and prohibits that behavior. Under existing law, disorderly conduct includes, among other things, the intentional distribution of certain images of another person taken under circumstances in which the person understands that the image shall remain private, the distribution of which causes serious emotional distress. Under existing law, disorderly conduct is punishable as a misdemeanor. This bill would make a person guilty of sexual harassment if the person intentionally posts, distributes, or creates, or threatens to post, distribute, or create, an intimate digital depiction of another individual without consent of that individual. The bill would define "intimate digital depiction" as an image or video of an individual that has been created or altered using digital manipulation and that depicts, among other things, an identifiable individual engaging in sexually explicit conduct. The bill would require this crime to be punished as a misdemeanor by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one year or as a felony for 16 months or for 2 or 3 years. By creating a new 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.
(1) Existing law declares that it is the policy of the state that no adoptable animal should be euthanized if it can be adopted into a suitable home. Existing law also declares that it is the policy of the state that no treatable animal should be euthanized. This bill, Bowie's Law, would require an animal shelter, as defined, to provide public notice in a conspicuous location on its internet website or a third-party internet website that contains a list of all animals that are available for adoption or that are being held pursuant to specified laws, except as provided. The bill would also require the Department of Food and Agriculture to conduct a study on certain topics, including, among other topics, the overcrowding of California's animal shelters, and, on or before January 1, 2027, to submit a report on that study to the Legislature, as provided. The bill would repeal these study and reporting requirements on January 1, 2031. To the extent that this bill would impose a new program or higher level of service on local public animal control agencies or shelters, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) The existing Polanco-Lockyer Pet Breeder Warranty Act requires every breeder of dogs to meet certain requirements relating to housing and maintaining dogs and to disclose specified information. The act defines "dog breeder" and "breeder" to mean a person, firm, partnership, corporation, or other association that has sold, transferred, or given away all or part of 3 or more litters or 20 or more dogs during the preceding 12 months that were bred and reared on the premises of the person, firm, partnership, corporation, or other association. This bill would change that definition to a person, firm, partnership, corporation, or other association that has sold, transferred, or given away all or part of 2 or more litters or 10 or more dogs during the preceding 12 months, as specified. The bill would additionally require a breeder, before a dog reaches eight weeks of age, to have a microchip device implanted in the dog that identifies the breeder, except as provided. The bill would require the breeder, upon the sale or transfer of the dog, to register the identity of the new owner with the microchip registry company as the primary owner on the microchip device and would require the breeder to provide certain information to the new owner regarding the microchip. The bill would prohibit a dog from being sold or otherwise transferred by a breeder, whether for compensation or otherwise, until it has been immunized against common diseases and has a documented health check from a licensed veterinarian. (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, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, prohibits various forms of employment discrimination and empowers the Civil Rights Department to investigate and prosecute complaints alleging unlawful practices. Existing law makes it unlawful for an employer with five or more employees to, among other things, include on any application for employment, before the employer makes a conditional offer of employment to the applicant, any question that seeks the disclosure of an applicant's conviction history, except as provided. This bill would make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to take an adverse action against an applicant based solely or in part on criminal history information, unless the employer can demonstrate that the applicant's criminal history has a direct and adverse relationship with one or more specific duties of the job and the employer's business necessity requires the adverse action. The bill would also make it an unlawful employment practice for an employer to require, as a condition of employment, that an applicant waive the applicant's right to privacy in criminal history information or otherwise provide an authorization for the employer to obtain the applicant's criminal history information under specified law, unless the employer can demonstrate a business necessity. The bill would require an employer to provide to an applicant a written notice when requesting an applicant's authorization to obtain the applicant's criminal history information, as specified. The bill would define various terms for these purposes.
