Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the commission, if it determines that the rules, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, or service of a public utility, or the methods of manufacture, distribution, transmission, storage, or supply used by the public utility, are unjust, unreasonable, unsafe, improper, inadequate, or insufficient, to determine and fix the rules, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, service, or methods to be observed, furnished, constructed, enforced, or employed. This bill would, within one year following the adoption of a transmission plan by the Independent System Operator through the transmission planning process, or a successor process, or within one year following the execution of a generator interconnection agreement, except as specified, require each large electrical corporation, as defined, or transmission owner, as defined, that is assigned or obligated to construct a project that requires approval by the commission to submit to the below-described transmission development monitor a project-specific schedule for the project, as provided. This bill would require the commission, on or before October 1, 2027, to establish a transmission development monitor within the commission. The bill would require the transmission development monitor to monitor and review certain information regarding transmission- and interconnection-related facilities submitted by the large electrical corporation or transmission owner, the large electrical corporation's or transmission owner's progress on completing network upgrades following approval in a generator interconnection agreement or transmission plan approved by the Independent System Operator, the large electrical corporation's or transmission owner's compliance with the above-described schedule submitted to the transmission development monitor, and the large electrical corporation's or transmission owner's compliance with any remedial actions ordered by the commission, as specified. The bill would require the transmission development monitor, among other things, to prepare and submit an annual report, as provided, and to notify the commission within 15 days of identifying a material deficiency, as defined. The bill would require the commission, within 90 days of receiving an annual report or notification of a material deficiency, to issue a resolution directing the large electrical corporation or transmission owner to take remedial actions to address material deficiencies identified by the transmission development monitor, as specified. 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. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the above-described provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing the above-described provisions would be 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 makes it a crime to knowingly or willfully cause another person to engage in the unlawful manufacture of firearms or knowingly or willfully aiding, abetting, prompting, or facilitating the unlawful manufacture of firearms, including the manufacture of assault weapons or .50 BMG rifles or the manufacture of any firearm using a 3-dimensional printer, as specified. Existing law authorizes a civil action against a person who knowingly distributes or causes to be distributed any digital firearm manufacturing code to any person, except as specified. Existing law authorizes the Attorney General, county counsel, or city attorney to bring an action against this person and seek a civil penalty, as specified, for each violation, as well as injunctive relief. This bill would require the Department of Justice to check on a quarterly basis beginning no later than July 1, 2027, whether ASTM International has published industry standards for equipping 3-dimensional printers with firearm blocking technology. The bill would require, if the department determines that ASTM International has published or adopted industry standards for firearm blocking technology for 3-dimensional printers, that the department publish written guidance or regulations within 24 months after making that determination. The bill would require, among other things, the written guidance or regulations to describe minimum performance standards for 3-dimensional printer firearm blocking technology before a printer can lawfully be sold or offered for sale in the state. If, as of July 1, 2029, the department determines that ASTM International has not published industry standards for firearm blocking technology for 3-dimensional printers, the bill would relieve the department of any further responsibility to ascertain whether ASTM International has published or adopted industry standards. The bill would make it unlawful to sell, offer for sale, or transfer for consideration, a 3-dimensional printer in the State of California that is not equipped with firearm blocking technology that also meets the above-described industry standards. The bill would exempt printers used exclusively for the manufacturing of properties (props) in the entertainment industry, and would authorize the department to adopt regulations that provide for additional exceptions to these provisions. This bill would also exempt a person who distributes, or causes the distribution of, digital firearm manufacturing code, solely for the bona fide purpose of, among other things, developing, refining, and testing the functionality of a firearm blocking technology from civil liability. This bill would make these provisions severable.
Under existing law, the residence address, telephone number, and email address of a registered voter is confidential, except that under certain circumstances a county elections official must disclose that information to any candidate for federal, state, or local office, to any committee for or against any initiative or referendum measure, and to any person for election, scholarly, journalistic, political, or governmental purposes. Existing law exempts from that disclosure requirement the residence address, telephone number, and email address of a federal, state, or local elected official or candidate, unless the official or candidate opts out or the information is sought for bona fide journalistic or governmental purposes. Voters in life-threatening circumstances and voters who participate in specified confidentiality programs may also have their residence address, telephone number, and email address exempted from the disclosure requirement. This bill would expand those exemptions to apply to the voter's entire voter registration record, except as specified. The bill would recast the provisions creating the exemption for the voter registration record of an elected official or candidate. The bill would permit the information of an elected official's immediate family member who lives at the same residence to be made confidential. For an elected official or candidate's voter registration record to be confidential, the elected official or candidate would be required to make a written request to the county elections official, and a candidate would also need to qualify to appear on the ballot. The Secretary of State would be required to notify county elections officials when a state or federal candidate qualifies to appear on the ballot, and it would require county elections officials to notify the Secretary of State under certain circumstances if the confidential designation is added to, or removed from, a federal or state elected official or candidate's voter registration record. The Secretary of State and county elections officials would be required to implement the provisions creating the exemption immediately once the statewide voter registration database and county election management systems have made conforming changes, but the bill states that it does not authorize any reduction in current, ongoing implementation efforts. The bill would require the Secretary of State to develop and implement a process by no later than September 30, 2027, for a person with confidential voter status to vote at a polling place or vote center and retain confidential voter status. To the extent the bill imposes additional requirements on local elections officials, the bill imposes 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 Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act, prohibits an operator of an addictive internet-based service or application from providing an addictive feed, as defined, to a user unless the operator does not have actual knowledge that the user is a minor, as specified, or the operator has obtained verifiable parental consent to provide an addictive feed to the user who is a minor. Existing law, the Digital Age Assurance Act, beginning January 1, 2027, requires a person who owns, maintains, or controls a software application, as defined, to request age bracket data sent by a real-time secure application programming interface or operating system with respect to a particular user from an operating system provider or a covered application store when the application is downloaded and launched. This bill would prohibit a covered platform, as defined, from providing an addictive feature, as defined, to a user who is under 16 years of age and would require a covered platform to implement reasonable measures to ensure that users under 16 years of age are not offered or provided any addictive feature on the covered platform. The bill would also authorize the Attorney General to adopt regulations to implement and enforce the bill in order to further the purpose of protecting minors online, including by altering the scope of "covered platform" if the Attorney General determines that doing so is necessary to ensure that "covered platform" applies to internet websites, online services, online applications, or mobile applications that make addictive features, as defined, available to users under 16 years of age. This bill would impose a civil penalty upon a noncompliant platform and would require its provisions to be enforced by a civil action brought only by the Attorney General or a local public prosecutor, as specified. This bill would also establish the e-Safety Advisory Commission within the Department of Justice as an independent advisory body that is only for administrative purposes to advise state government on certain matters related to online safety and would require the commission to, on or before January 1 of each year, report to the Legislature and the Governor on, among other things, its activities under the bill.
The Outdoor Advertising Act provides for the regulation by the Department of Transportation of advertising displays, as defined, within view of public highways. The act exempts from most of its provisions an advertising display used exclusively to advertise products, goods, or services that are either sold on the premises of an arena or marketed or promoted on the premises of an arena if, among other conditions, the advertising display has been authorized, as of January 1, 2021, by, or in accordance with, a local ordinance, including, but not limited to, a specific plan or sign district adopted in connection with the approval of the arena, as provided. The act requires an advertising display that is located on the premises of an arena and that was erected pursuant to the exemption also to be authorized by, or in accordance with, an ordinance, including, but not limited to, a specific plan or sign district, as provided. This bill would, on and after January 1, 2028, similarly exempt from most provisions of the act an advertising display used exclusively to advertise products, goods, or services that are either sold on the premises of an arena or marketed or promoted on the premises of the arena if, among other conditions, the advertising display has been authorized, as of January 1, 2032, by, or in accordance with a local ordinance or other discretionary approval, including, but not limited to, a specific plan or sign district that benefits the arena, as specified. The bill would require, before one of these advertising displays may be placed, a determination from the department or the Federal Highway Administration that the display will not cause a reduction in federal aid funds or otherwise be inconsistent with federal law, federal regulations, or an agreement between the state and a federal agency or department, as specified. This bill would limit both of these exemptions to an arena that is fully constructed or under construction on or before January 1, 2027. The bill would instead require an advertising display that is located on the premises of an arena and that was erected pursuant to either of these exemptions to be authorized by an ordinance or other discretionary approval, including, but not limited to, a specific plan, sign district, or conditional use permit, as specified. The bill would prohibit an arena from having more than a total of 2 advertising displays pursuant to these exemptions. Except for advertising displays authorized by the existing exemption, the bill would require certain advertising displays placed pursuant to the new exemption for one arena to be located at least 5,000 feet from an advertising display authorized pursuant to an exemption for another arena. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 5272 of the Business and Professions Code proposed by SB 1228 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1228 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
