Existing law provides that a person commits a sexual battery who, among other things, acts with the intent to cause a harmful or offensive contact with an intimate part, as defined, of another that directly or indirectly results in a sexually offensive contact with that person. The law makes a person who commits a sexual battery pursuant to those provisions liable for damages and equitable relief. Existing law establishes the defense of consent in civil actions. This bill would prohibit the defense that the adult congregant consented to sexual contact in a civil action involving sexual contact between a member of the clergy and an adult congregant. Existing law prohibits the touching of an intimate part, as defined, of another person if the touching is against the will of the person touched and is for the specific purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse. Existing law makes a physician and surgeon, psychotherapist, or alcohol and drug abuse counselor who engages in specified sexual acts or sexual contact with a patient or client guilty of sexual exploitation and makes a violation of those provisions a crime, except as specified. A violation of this prohibition is punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. This bill would make a member of the clergy, as defined, who engages in specified sexual acts or contact with an adult congregant, as specified, guilty of sexual exploitation by a member of the clergy. The bill would specify that consent is not a defense to a violation of that provision and would make the crime punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony. The bill would also specify that it does not apply to sexual contact between a member of the clergy and their spouse or person in an equivalent domestic relationship. By creating a new 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 makes it a crime for a person who has the care or custody of any child to willfully cause or permit the person or health of that child to be injured, or willfully cause or permit that child to be placed in a situation where the child's health may be endangered. This bill would additionally make it a crime for a person to willfully cause or permit the child to be exposed to the unlawful use of force or violence against any person having care or custody of that child. 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.
(1) Existing law establishes the Department of Fish and Wildlife in the Natural Resources Agency. Existing law generally regulates commercial fishing. Under existing law, any violation of the Fish and Game Code, or of any rule, regulation, or order made or adopted under the code, is a crime. This bill would authorize the department to adopt and enforce regulations to require any commercial fishing vessel operating with a validly issued permit from the state to carry an independent third-party observer onboard the vessel while operating within state fisheries. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law prohibits the taking of giant seabass (Stereolepis gigas) for any purpose, except as provided, including that not more than one fish per vessel may be possessed or sold if taken incidentally in commercial fishing operations by gill or trammel net. This bill would delete the incidental take exception to the prohibition on the taking of giant seabass. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law prohibits the taking of white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) for commercial purposes, except as specified. Existing law authorizes the incidental take of white sharks by commercial fishing operations using set gill nets, drift gill nets, or roundhaul nets. This bill would delete the above-described authorization and thereby prohibit the incidental take of white sharks by commercial fishing operations using set gill nets, drift gill nets, or roundhaul nets. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law prohibits the use of gill nets or trammel nets used for commercial purposes except under a revocable, nontransferable permit issued by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Existing law prohibits the department from issuing any new gill net or trammel net permit. Existing law authorizes the department to renew an existing gill net or trammel permit. Existing law authorizes a person who has a valid, existing permit to transfer the permit to any existing person, as specified. This bill would prohibit the department from renewing an existing, valid gill net or trammel net permit for anyone other than the person whose name appears on the permit. The bill would prohibit any transfer of an existing, valid gill net or trammel net permit. (5) Existing law establishes the Marine Resources Protection Zone, as specified, and prohibits, on and after January 1, 1994, gill nets and trammel nets from being used in the zone. This bill, on and after January 1, 2025, would apply that prohibition to all ocean waters of the state. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (6) 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 measure would require the Senate to direct its policy committees to incorporate more effective equity considerations in their analyses of future energy and climate legislation and would resolve the Senate into exploring methods to integrate equity more formally into its daily activities.
Under existing law, a law enforcement official has limited discretion to cooperate with immigration authorities, and may only provide information regarding a person's release date or transfer an individual to immigration authorities without a judicial warrant or probable cause determination if the individual has been convicted of specified crimes, including, but not limited to, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, or crimes endangering children, as specified, and only if doing so would not violate any federal, state, or local law, or local policy. Notwithstanding those provisions, this bill would instead require law enforcement officials to cooperate with immigration authorities by detaining and transferring an individual and providing release information if a person has been convicted of a crime of sexual abuse or sexual exploitation of minors, or crimes committed against minors, as specified, or crimes committed against a minor that require registration under the Sex Offender Registration Act. By requiring local law enforcement to comply with requests from immigration authorities, 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, 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 Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Act, imposes various functions and duties on the State Department of Public Health and local health officers with respect to the prevention and control of communicable diseases. This bill would require the department to aggregate data related to overall vaccine coverage rates in skilled nursing facilities serving veterans and seniors and the preparedness of those facilities to respond to viral illnesses, as defined, and related post-viral illnesses. The bill would require the department to use existing data, reports, and studies in meeting these data aggregation requirements. The bill would require the department to submit a report to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Health that outlines the preparedness of skilled nursing facilities that serve veterans and seniors to respond to viral illnesses and related post-viral illnesses, the financial impact of these conditions on individuals and the state, and health data trends of demographic groups and geographic areas of the state experiencing the highest levels of viral illness. The bill would require the department to disseminate best practices related to increasing coverage rates of recommended vaccines at skilled nursing facilities that serve veterans and seniors, improving the preparedness of those facilities to prevent and treat viral illnesses, and implementing specified treatment protocols. The bill would require the department identify and pursue any available federal funding to incentivize and reward skilled nursing facilities for the improvement of overall coverage rates of recommended vaccines for the prevention and treatment of viral illnesses.
Existing law, except as provided, authorizes a development proponent to submit an application for a development that is subject to a certain streamlined, ministerial approval process and is not subject to a conditional use permit or any other nonlegislative discretionary approval if the development complies with certain procedures and objective planning standards, including that the development is not located on a site that, among other things, is in a parcel in the coastal zone and located on prime agricultural land, as defined, or is either prime farmland or farmland of statewide importance, as defined and specified. Existing law defines various terms for these purposes. This bill would, until January 1, 2033, authorize a development proponent to submit an application pursuant to the above-described streamlined, ministerial approval process for a development of agricultural employee housing on prime agricultural land, prime farmland, or farmland of statewide importance within specified counties if the development otherwise complies with the provisions described above, as specified. The bill would require each of those counties to submit a specified report to the Legislature by January 1, 2032. The bill would define various terms for these purposes. The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA does not apply to the approval of ministerial projects. By expanding the scope of projects eligible for streamlined, ministerial approval as described above, this bill would expand the scope of the exemption from CEQA for ministerial projects. By establishing a streamlined, ministerial approval process for certain housing developments, this bill would expand the exemption for the ministerial approval of projects under CEQA. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the specified counties described above. 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 provides for the licensure and regulation of various types of health facilities, including hospitals, by the State Department of Public Health. Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services and under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Existing law sets forth various provisions relating to disproportionate share hospitals (DSH) , which are hospitals providing acute inpatient services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries that meet the criteria for disproportionate share status, as specified; small and rural hospitals; and critical access hospitals, as certified by the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services under the federal Medicare rural hospital flexibility program. Existing law sets forth other provisions relating to safety net hospitals in different contexts, including among others, special health authorities and Medi-Cal reimbursement. This bill would establish a definition for "safety net hospital" and would state the intent of the Legislature that this definition serve as a recommended definition for policymakers to elect to utilize when crafting policy aimed at focusing on or supporting those hospitals. Under the bill, the definition would not be construed as affecting existing or new references to safety net hospitals, unless future legislation or other action expressly makes reference to this definition, as specified. Under the bill, "safety net hospital" would mean a Medicaid DSH-eligible hospital; a rural hospital, including a small and rural hospital and a critical access hospital, as specified; or a sole community hospital, as classified by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and in accordance with certain federal provisions.
Existing law requires the State Board of Education to adopt a template for a local control and accountability plan (LCAP) and an annual update to the LCAP for use by school districts, county superintendents of schools, and charter schools. Existing law requires the template adopted by the state board to require the inclusion of certain information, including, among other information, a description of the annual goals to be achieved for certain state priorities, as specified, a description of the specific actions that the local educational agency will take during each year of the LCAP to achieve these goals, and an assessment of the effectiveness of the specific actions described in the existing LCAP toward achieving the goals, as provided. This bill would require the state board, on or before June 30, 2025, to establish a workgroup, composed of members of the K–12 education community, for purposes of developing recommendations for, and models of, alternative local control accountability plan templates for different types of local educational agencies, including, but not limited to, one for county offices of education, one for small school districts, as defined, and one for single-school districts. The bill would require the workgroup to report its recommendations and proposed models to the state board, the State Department of Education, and the Legislature on or before January 1, 2027, for consideration for adoption and potential implementation, as specified. The bill would repeal these provisions as of January 1, 2029.
This measure would recognize May 9, 2024, as the 33rd Annual State Scientist Day and would declare that this day shall be a tribute to the dedication and professionalism of the state scientists who work on behalf of all the residents of California.
Existing law, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA) , approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, grants a consumer various rights with respect to personal information, as defined, that is collected or sold by a business, as defined, including the right to require the business to delete personal information about the consumer, as specified. The CPRA permits its provisions to be approved by a statute passed by a majority of each house of the Legislature and signed by the Governor, if those amendments are consistent with and further the purpose and intent of the act. Existing law authorizes the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, the head of which is the Labor Commissioner, to enforce the Labor Code and all labor laws of the state, the enforcement of which is not specifically vested in any other officer, board, or commission. This bill would require an employer with 250 or more employees in California that controls the collection of employee personal information to notify an employee if employee personal information will be collected through electronic monitoring, as defined. The bill would require the notice to include, among other information, a description of the types of activities, locations, communications, and job roles that will be electronically monitored. The bill would require an employer to provide required notifications pursuant to these provisions to new employees and existing employees within specific timeframes and to provide updated notice if there is a material change in the employer's practice that would render the prior notice inaccurate or incomplete. The bill would specify that an employer does not need to provide notice if certain conditions are met, including if the employer reasonably believes that notice would compromise the integrity of an investigation. The bill would authorize the division to enforce these provisions. This bill would state that its provisions are consistent with, and further the purpose and intent of, the CPRA.
Existing law requires a driver and a passenger to wear a safety helmet meeting certain requirements when riding on a motorcycle, motor-driven cycle, or motorized bicycle. This bill would exempt from this requirement a person who wears a turban or patka as an expression of the person's religious belief and practice when riding on a motorcycle, motor-driven cycle, or motorized bicycle.
