(1) Existing law, the Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, establishes a system of childcare and development services for children up to 13 years of age. Under the act, families that meet specified requirements are eligible for federal and state subsidized childcare and development services, and a family that establishes initial eligibility or ongoing eligibility for these services is considered to meet all eligibility and need requirements for those services for not less than 24 months, except as specified. Existing federal regulations require a minimum of 12 months of eligibility for these services before a redetermination of eligibility is made. This bill would, if a family already receiving childcare services adds an additional child and requests services for that child during the current eligibility period, extend the family's eligibility period, as necessary, to ensure that the additional child receives at least 12 months of eligibility for services before a redetermination of eligibility, as specified. (2) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to annually report to the Department of Finance and the Legislature a statewide summary identifying the estimated funding used in general childcare and development programs for infants and toddlers, and the number of preschool age children receiving part-day preschool and wraparound childcare services. This bill would delete the requirement for that report to identify the number of preschool age children receiving part-day preschool and wraparound childcare services. (3) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to contract with local contracting agencies for alternative payment programs for childcare services to be provided throughout the state. Existing law requires an alternative payment program to reimburse a licensed childcare provider in accordance with a biennial market rate survey, as specified, at a rate not to exceed the regional market rate ceiling, as prescribed. Under existing law, reimbursements to childcare providers based upon a daily rate may only be allowed under certain circumstances, including that a family has an unscheduled but documented need of 6 hours or more per occurrence that exceeds the certified need for childcare or a family has a documented need of 6 hours or more per day that exceeds no more than 14 days per month. This bill would reduce the documented need for reimbursements to childcare providers based upon a daily rate from 6 hours or more to 5 hours or more, as described. (4) Existing law allocates certain appropriated funds to the State Department of Social Services and State Department of Education to provide specified family childcare providers and childcare centers with a monthly cost of care plus rate commencing January 1, 2024, and through June 30, 2026. The monthly cost of care plus rate is a supplemental monthly payment to those providers and centers. This bill would extend the payment of the monthly cost of care plus rate to June 30, 2026, and would allocate additional funds to the State Department of Social Services and State Department of Education from the Budget Act of 2025 to provide a once-per-month cost of care plus rate for each child served who is enrolled in subsidized childcare, therefore making an appropriation. From July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026, inclusive, the bill would require that monthly rate to be equal to the existing rate increased by a percentage calculated by the Department of Finance based on a specified formula. (5) Existing law provides for a specified annual funding increase for special education and childcare and development programs if an inflation or cost-of-living adjustment is not otherwise provided for those programs. Existing law suspends the annual cost-of-living adjustment for childcare and development programs for the 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, and 2020–21 fiscal years. This bill would additionally suspend the annual cost-of-living adjustment for childcare and development programs for the 2025–26 fiscal year. (6) Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates for state-subsidized childcare and development services. Existing law also requires the department, in collaboration with the State Department of Education, to develop and conduct an alternative methodology, as specified, to set reimbursement rates for state-subsidized childcare and development services. Existing law requires the department, from October 1, 2024, to January 1, 2026, inclusive, to provide the Assembly Committee on Budget, the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, and the Legislative Analyst's Office with quarterly updates on the implementation of the new reimbursement rates set under the alternative methodology. If a market rate survey is used to set reimbursement rates, existing law requires the department to contract to conduct a regional market rate survey no more than once every 2 years, as specified. This bill would extend the timeframe during which the above-described quarterly update is required to July 1, 2027, and require the department to include additional specified information commencing with the quarterly update due October 1, 2025. The bill would, commencing July 1, 2026, increase rates for specified programs by the cost-of-living adjustment granted by the Legislature annually, as specified. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to cease using a regional market rate survey and to instead use an alternative methodology to inform the setting of future childcare rates, and to set reimbursement rates that are informed by the alternative methodology by statute. The bill would further express the intent of the Legislature that specified programs be reimbursed under a unified structure that takes into account a common set of rate elements, that base rates be administered as a per-child amount, and that rate levels be informed by, and rates vary based on, specified criteria. (7) Existing law also requires, for California state preschool programs and childcare and development programs, the State Department of Education and the State Department of Social Services to collaborate to implement a reimbursement system plan that establishes reasonable standards and assigned reimbursement rates. Existing law requires the reimbursement rate to be increased by the above-described cost-of-living adjustment, except for specified fiscal years, including the 2024–25 fiscal year. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2026, require the cost-of-living adjustment for state preschool programs to be consistent with the adjustment granted by the Legislature annually, as specified. The bill would additionally suspend the annual cost-of-living adjustment for the 2025–26 fiscal year. (8) Existing law requires, commencing January 1, 2022, those California state preschool program contractors and childcare and development program contractors who, as of December 31, 2021, received the established standard reimbursement rate to be reimbursed at the greater of the 75th percentile of the 2018 regional market rate survey or the contract per-child reimbursement amount as of December 31, 2021, as increased by a specified cost-of-living adjustment. This bill would instead require, commencing July 1, 2025, and through June 30, 2026, if the program is open and operating in accordance with its approved program calendar and remains open and providing services to certified children throughout the program year, the contract reimbursement to be based on the lesser of the maximum reimbursable amount stated in the contract and the net reimbursable program costs. The bill would also require, commencing July 1, 2026, the contract reimbursement to be based on the lesser of the maximum reimbursable amount stated in the contract, the net reimbursable program costs, or the product of the adjusted child days of enrollment for certified children times the contract rate set forth in the above-described provisions. (9) Existing law also requires the State Department of Social Services, in the administration of childcare and development programs, to contract with local contracting agencies for a variety of alternative payment programs for childcare services to be provided throughout the state. Existing law requires alternative payment programs to reimburse childcare providers based upon actual days and hours of attendance. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2025, and through June 30, 2026, instead require those programs to reimburse childcare providers based on families' certified need, as specified, and would appropriate $88,550,000 from the General Fund for this purpose. (10) Existing law authorizes family childcare providers to form, join, and participate in the activities of provider organizations and to seek the certification of a provider organization to act as the representative for family childcare providers on matters related to childcare subsidy programs pursuant to a petition and election process overseen by the Public Employment Relations Board or a neutral third party designated by the board. Existing law requires the Governor and a certified provider organization to jointly prepare a memorandum of understanding if an agreement is reached, which is required to be presented to the Legislature for determination, and which would be binding on all state departments and agencies, and their contractors and subcontractors, and any political subdivision of the state, that are involved in the administration of state-funded early care and education programs. If the above-described reimbursement rate provisions are in conflict with a memorandum of understanding between the Governor and a certified provider organization, the bill would require the memorandum of understanding to be controlling without further legislative action, except as specified. (11) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) under the direction of a chairperson. Existing law provides an annual salary for members and for the chairperson and prescribes a method by which those salaries may be increased. Existing law grants an additional salary increase of 5% in each of the 2023–24, 2024–25, and 2025–26 fiscal years for members of the Energy Commission. This bill would, similarly, grant the chairperson of the Energy Commission an additional salary increase of 5% for the 2025–26, 2026–27, and 2027–28 fiscal years. Existing law requires the Energy Commission to develop and implement the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program to award moneys for projects that will benefit electricity ratepayers, lead to technological advancement and breakthroughs, and result in a portfolio of projects that is strategically focused and sufficiently narrow to make advancement on the most significant technological challenges, as specified. Existing law, until July 1, 2025, authorizes the Energy Commission to award, through a noncompetitive method, follow-on funding for projects that meet specified criteria, including the EPIC program's eligibility requirements and that the projects have been funded, at least in part, through the EPIC program. This bill would extend the authorization to award follow-on funding for those projects until January 1, 2028. Existing law vests the Energy Commission with the exclusive jurisdiction to certify the construction of stationary or floating electrical generating facilities using a source of thermal energy with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more and prohibits a person from constructing those facilities unless that person obtains a certificate from the commission, as provided. Existing law establishes an opt-in certification process, as provided, for solar photovoltaic, terrestrial wind electrical generation powerplants, and thermal powerplants that do not use fossil or nuclear fuels, with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more, an energy storage system capable of storing 200 megawatthours or more of electricity, or projects associated with the manufacture, production, or assembly of energy storage systems, wind systems, solar photovoltaic energy systems, or specialized products, components, or systems integral to renewable energy or energy storage technologies, that authorizes a person proposing to construct those facilities to file an application for certification with the Energy Commission. Existing law requires a person submitting an application for certification to submit a fee of $250,000 plus $500 per megawatt of gross generating capacity or per megawatthour of gross energy storage capacity, or $0.70 per square foot of those manufacturing, production, or assembly facilities. Existing law prohibits the application fee from exceeding $750,000. Existing law requires a person receiving a certification from the Energy Commission to pay an annual fee of $25,000 for each year the facility retains its certification. Existing law requires a person submitting a petition to amend an existing project that previously received certification to submit with the petition a fee of $5,000. Existing law requires that those fees be adjusted annually, as provided. This bill would instead require a person submitting an application for certification to submit with the application a nonrefundable deposit of $750,000 and would require the applicant to pay all costs incurred by the Energy Commission in processing the application. The bill would require the Energy Commission to provide invoices for additional fees, at least annually, for the actual costs incurred by the Energy Commission in excess of the deposit. The bill would increase the annual fee to $70,000 for each year the facility retains its certification. The bill would specify that the petition fee is nonrefundable. Existing law requires the Energy Commission to implement and administer the Distributed Electricity Backup Assets Program to incentivize the construction of cleaner and more efficient distributed energy assets that would serve as on-call emergency supply or load reduction for the state's electrical grid during extreme events, and the Demand Side Grid Support Program to incentivize dispatchable customer load reduction and backup generation operation as on-call emergency supply and load reduction for the state's electrical grid during extreme events, as provided. Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources, in consultation with the Energy Commission, to implement those projects, purchases, and contracts to carry out the above-described purposes. Existing law requires facilities constructed by the department, or under a contract with the department, that use any form of fossil fuel to be operated as necessary to respond to extreme events and prohibits those facilities from being operated any other time, except as provided. This bill would instead require facilities constructed and owned by the department, rather than constructed by the department, or under a contract with the department, that use any form of fossil fuel to be operated as necessary to respond to extreme events and prohibit those facilities from being operated any other time, except as provided. Existing law, for the 2021–22 fiscal year, appropriates $200,000,000 to the Energy Commission to be used for a program to provide incentives for demand side grid support and associated mitigation costs and authorizes the expenditure of those moneys for the adoption of regulations, guidelines, or other standards for the program, third-party block grants or contracts with incentive program implementers for purposes of implementing the program, or advancing up to 25% of the awarded funds at a time to parties that are eligible for funding for purposes of the program. This bill would authorize the use of any additional funding appropriated by the Legislature to the Energy Commission for demand side grid support and associated mitigation costs for the above-specified uses. Existing law establishes the Clean Transportation Program, administered by the Energy Commission, to provide funding to certain entities to develop and deploy innovative technologies that transform California's fuel and vehicle types to help attain the state's climate change policies. Existing law limits funding under the program to specified categories of programs and projects, including, among others, block grants or incentive programs administered by public entities or not-for-profit technology entities for multiple projects, education and program promotion within California, and development of zero-emission fuel and vehicle technology centers. This bill would revise that category of programs and projects eligible for this funding by eliminating the restriction that the block grants or incentive programs be administered by public entities or not-for-profit technology entities and by expanding the category to authorize this funding for block grants or incentive programs for zero-emission vehicle infrastructure. Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board (state board) to adopt and implement motor vehicle emission standards. Existing law provides that a person who violates specified vehicular air pollution statutes or specified orders, rules, or regulations of the state board is subject to a civil penalty, and requires those penalties to be deposited in the Air Pollution Control Fund. Existing law authorizes the state board to adopt a schedule of annual fees for the certification, audit, and compliance of motor vehicles and engines sold in the state to cover the state board's reasonable costs in implementing the certification, audit, and compliance programs, and requires those fees be deposited in the Certification and Compliance Fund. Existing law authorizes the state board to adopt a schedule of fees to cover all or a portion of the state board's reasonable costs for the certification, audit, and compliance of off-road or nonvehicular engines and equipment, aftermarket parts, and emissions control components sold in the state, and requires all moneys collected by the state board as part of that schedule of fees to be deposited in the Certification and Compliance Fund. This bill would also authorize the state board to adopt a schedule of annual fees for deficiencies of motor vehicles and engines sold in the state and a schedule of fees to cover all or a portion of the state board's reasonable costs for the deficiencies of off-road or nonvehicular engines and equipment, aftermarket parts, and emissions control components sold in the state. The bill would require the fees collected under both of those schedules to be deposited in the Certification and Compliance Fund. Existing law establishes the Charge Ahead California Initiative, administered by the state board, and with the goals of, among other things, placing in service at least 1,000,000 zero-emission and near-zero-emission vehicles by January 1, 2023, and increasing access for disadvantaged, low-income, and moderate-income communities and consumers to zero-emission and near-zero-emission vehicles. Existing law also establishes the Clean Cars 4 All Program, which is administered by the state board, to focus on achieving reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases, improvements in air quality, and benefits to low-income state residents through the replacement of high-polluter motor vehicles with cleaner and more efficient motor vehicles or a mobility option. Under existing law, the distribution of incentives under the program is implemented in air pollution control and air quality management districts that choose to participate in the program and through a statewide program. Existing law requires the state board, with respect to specified funds made available to the state board and that the state board allocated to the program, to maintain funding for each local air district participating in the program by requiring the state board to reallocate funds to local air districts under certain circumstances. This bill would expand the requirement to maintain funding to local air districts in that manner using other specified funds made available to the state board for the suite of equity transportation programs established under the Charge Ahead California Initiative, including the Clean Cars 4 All Program. This bill would appropriate the sum of $132,175,000 from the Air Pollution Control Fund to the State Air Resources Board for the 2025–26 fiscal year, when funds are available from a specified consent decree, to be administered through the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project, as specified. The bill would make the funds available for encumbrance or expenditure until June 30, 2027, and available for liquidation until June 30, 2029. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
Existing law establishes the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program and required the Public Utilities Commission to administer a surcharge to collect revenues of up to $100,000,000 per year until January 1, 2025, subject to an annual appropriation of moneys by the Legislature, to allow providers of equipment and service pursuant to the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program to recover their costs as they are incurred. Existing law establishes the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program Administrative Committee Fund for the program described above. This bill would extend the requirement on the commission to collect the surcharge described above until December 31, 2034, subject to annual appropriation of moneys by the Legislature, and would require the commission to transfer moneys it collects from the surcharge to the Controller for deposit into the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program Administrative Committee Fund. Existing law requires the commission to annually review the surcharge level and the balances in the fund identified above. Existing law authorized, until January 1, 2025, the commission to make necessary adjustments to the surcharge to ensure that the programs supported by the surcharge are adequately funded and that the fund balances are not excessive, as defined. This bill would repeal that requirement and, instead, would authorize the commission to make recommendations to the Legislature regarding appropriations under the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program. Under existing law, a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements would be a 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
This bill would make appropriations for the support of state government for the 2025–26 fiscal year. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.
Existing statutory law, enacted by Proposition 62, as approved by the voters at the November 4, 1986, statewide general election, prohibits a local government or district from imposing any transaction tax or sales tax on the sale of real property within the city, county, or district, except as provided. The California Constitution authorizes cities organized under a charter to make and enforce all ordinances and regulations in respect to municipal affairs, which supersede inconsistent general laws. Existing law, the Documentary Transfer Tax Act, authorizes the imposition of a tax by a county or city, as provided, with respect to specified instruments that transfer specified interests in real property. This bill would require a legislative body of a city, as specified, before it adopts any transfer tax on the sale of real property, to develop and post on its internet website an analysis that examines, at a minimum, the effect of the proposed transfer tax on, among other things, the production of affordable housing, including affordable housing produced by market-rate housing projects. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.
