Existing law requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue "Have a Heart, Be a Star, Help our Kids" special license plates and imposes additional fees, as specified, for their issuance, renewal, replacement, and transfer. Existing law requires that those additional fees be deposited in the Child Health and Safety Fund, less specified amounts. Existing law requires that 50% of the funds derived from "Have a Heart, Be a Star, Help Our Kids" license plates be available, upon appropriation, to the State Department of Social Services for administering various provisions related to childcare licensing, as specified. Existing law requires that, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the balance be available, as described, for programs that address other categories of potential childhood injury, as specified. Existing law requires counties to create local childcare resource and referral programs to identify childcare resources and establish a referral process for parents, among other things. Existing law also creates the California Children and Families Commission, to promote, support, and improve early childhood development. Existing law provides for funding to county commissions that develop, adopt, promote, and implement local early childhood development programs consistent with specified goals and objectives. This bill would, commencing July 1, 2027, increase the fees for the initial issuance and renewal of the "Have a Heart, Be a Star, Help Our Kids" license plates. The bill would, commencing July 1, 2027, allocate, upon an appropriation by the Legislature, 50% of the fees collected before July 1, 2027, to state and local childcare provider licensure, oversight, recruitment, training, and development, and the remainder to childcare safety and health, as specified. Of the fees collected on or after July 1, 2027, the bill would allocate 50% for programs that address specified child health and safety concerns and the remainder of the funding would be allocated for specified child abuse prevention purposes.
Existing law, the California Farmland Conservancy Program Act, establishes within the Department of Conservation the California Farmland Conservancy Program. Existing law authorizes the program to offer financial assistance, including grants or contracts, for projects and activities on agricultural lands, as defined, that support agricultural conservation and sustainable land management. This bill would require the department, in collaboration with the California Agricultural Land Equity Task Force, to establish the Farmland Access and Conservation for Thriving Communities Program in the department to provide financial and technical assistance to support agricultural land acquisition and protection. The bill would require the department, subject to specified requirements, to provide financial assistance under the program to qualified entities for the purpose of acquiring agricultural lands to transfer or provide long-term leases to qualified farmer participants, as specified. The bill would establish the Farmland Access Fund in the State Treasury and would make moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for program expenditures. The bill would authorize the department to contract with one or more nonprofit organizations to administer the program. The bill would make the operation of the program contingent upon the Legislature making an appropriation for purposes of the program.
Existing law establishes the Office of Small Business Advocate (OSBA) within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, also known as GO-Biz, to advocate for causes of small business and to provide small businesses with the information they need to survive in the marketplace. This bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require OSBA to allocate 90% of the moneys appropriated to the Small Business Recovery Fund, which would be created within the State Treasury, for purposes of a small business recovery grant program to provide competitive grants to small businesses, as defined, that are directly impacted by a state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor or other specified emergencies. The bill would require the funds to be used for, among other things, to support recovery and rebuilding efforts, and would require a grantee to match the amount of the grant awarded. The bill would require OSBA to award grants in amounts that range from $2,500 to $100,000, inclusive. This bill would require OSBA to allocate 5% of the moneys appropriated to the fund to the Small Business Technical Assistance Program administered by GO-Biz, for grants to small business technical assistance centers that provide direct service to disaster-affected areas, and 5% to the Capital Infusion Program administered by GO-Biz, to support increased demand for capital-related technical assistance in disaster areas. This bill would require the Director of the Office of Small Business Advocate to prepare and submit a report to the Legislature on the results of grant funds awarded for each state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor, as provided. This bill would repeal the Small Business Recovery Fund Act on January 1, 2032.
Existing law authorizes a local authority, by ordinance or resolution, to regulate the occupancy of a room or rooms, or other living space, in a hotel, inn, tourist home or house, motel, or other lodging for a period of less than 30 days. This bill would authorize a local agency, defined to mean a city, county, or city and county, to enact an ordinance to require a short-term rental facilitator, as defined, to report, in the form and manner prescribed by the local agency, the physical address, including 9-digit ZIP Code, of each short-term rental, as defined, during the reporting period. The bill would also authorize a local agency to request additional information, as provided, when the physical address is not sufficient for the local agency to identify a specific short-term rental. The bill would authorize the local agency to impose an administrative fine or penalty for failure to file the report, and would authorize the local agency to initiate an audit of a short-term rental facilitator, as described. The bill would require a short-term rental facilitator, in a jurisdiction that has adopted an ordinance, to include in the listing of a short-term rental any applicable local license number associated with the short-term rental and any transient occupancy tax certification issued by a local agency. The bill would state these provisions do not preempt a local agency from adopting an ordinance that regulates short-term rentals, short-term rental facilitators, or the payment and collection of transient occupancy taxes in a manner that differs from those described in the bill.
(1) Existing federal law, the Stephen Beck, Jr., Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014 (ABLE Act) , encourages and assists individuals and families to save private funds for the purpose of supporting eligible individuals with disabilities to maintain their health, independence, and quality of life by excluding from gross income distributions used for qualified disability expenses by a beneficiary of a Qualified ABLE Program established and maintained by a state, as specified. Existing law establishes the Qualified ABLE Program for purposes of implementing the federal ABLE Act in this state, and creates the California ABLE Program Trust with the purposes, powers, and duties of the trust to be vested in and exercised by the California ABLE Act Board. Existing law requires the board to segregate the moneys coming into the ABLE program trust into 2 funds: the program fund, which is continuously appropriated, for specified purposes of the act, and the administrative fund, which is available upon appropriation by the Legislature for administration of the act. Existing law requires all moneys paid by designated beneficiaries or eligible individuals in connection with ABLE accounts to be deposited, as received, into the program fund, promptly invested, and accounted for separately. Existing law grants the board the power to accept grants, gifts, appropriations, and other moneys from any unit of federal, state, or local government, among other specified entities, for deposit to specified funds. This bill would authorize the California ABLE Act Board to additionally accept grants, gifts, legislative appropriations, and other moneys from a philanthropic entity, and would specify that the program can receive legislative appropriations. The bill would authorize the board to target specific subgroups of eligible individuals, as specified, and would authorize the board to use those moneys received to encourage eligible individuals to create an ABLE account or maximize account participation by engaging public awareness about the program. By authorizing new uses of moneys in a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. (2) Existing law requires the Franchise Tax Board to include, on a taxpayer's form instructions for filing a return, information about the ability of a taxpayer to directly deposit a portion of their refund into the Golden State Scholarshare College Savings Trust, as specified. This bill would additionally require the Franchise Tax Board to include, on a taxpayer's form instructions for filing a return, information about the ability of a taxpayer to directly deposit a portion of their refund into the California ABLE Program Trust.
Existing law creates the Monterey-Salinas Transit District to include all of the County of Monterey, with specified powers and duties related to public transit service. Existing law prohibits the district from imposing sales or special taxes, but authorizes the district, with the concurrence of a majority of the member jurisdictions represented on the board of directors, to submit a ballot measure for the imposition of those taxes to voters of the district. This bill would prohibit the submission of a measure for the imposition of a sales or special tax to the voters of the district under this authority on or after January 1, 2026. Existing law authorizes various local governmental entities, subject to certain limitations and approval requirements, to levy a transactions and use tax, 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 the Monterey-Salinas Transit District, upon the affirmative vote of at least 23 of the board of directors, to submit to the voters of the district a measure proposing a retail transactions and use tax ordinance in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law. The bill would also separately authorize the district to impose a transactions and use tax for the support of its transportation services at a rate of no more than 0.25% that would, in combination with other transactions and use taxes, exceed the above-described combined rate limit of 2%, if the ordinance proposing the tax is approved by the voters before January 1, 2035, subject to applicable voter approval requirements, as specified. The bill would prohibit a transactions and use tax rate imposed pursuant to this authority from being considered for purposes of that combined rate limit described above.
Existing law creates the Vocational Nurse Education Program within the Department of Health Care Access and Information for persons agreeing to serve in an eligible county health facility, state-operated health facility, or a health workforce shortage area, before completing vocational nursing school. Existing law authorizes a person who qualifies for admission to a vocational nursing program to apply for funding under the program, as specified. Existing law establishes the Vocational Nurse Education Fund for the purpose of promoting the education of vocational nurses and related administrative costs. This bill would create the California Nurse-Midwifery Education Fund within the department for the purpose of establishing California-based, master's level, nurse-midwifery education programs within the California State University, the University of California, or both. The bill would require the department to administer the fund, and receive moneys from the General Fund for these purposes upon appropriation by the Legislature. The bill would require the department to establish a competitive application criteria to ensure the optimal sites selection for the education programs within the California State University system or the University of California, would require the department to ensure that a master's degree is an option for students as the culminating degree of the education programs receiving funds, and would require the education programs to meet specified requirements. The bill would also require the fund to support the annual operating costs for the development, operation, and maintenance of the education programs through the graduation of the first cohort of matriculated students, or 5 years, whichever is shorter.
Existing law, the Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A Entitlement Awards, the Cal Grant B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Expanded Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement Awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards, the Cal Grant C Awards, and the Cal Grant T Awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission. Existing law, the Cal Grant Reform Act, revises and recasts the provisions establishing and governing the existing Cal Grant Program into a new Cal Grant Program. Existing law specifies that the act becomes operative only if General Fund moneys over the multiyear forecasts beginning in the 2024–25 fiscal year are available to support ongoing augmentations and actions, and if funding is provided in the annual Budget Act to implement the act. Under either Cal Grant Program that is operative, existing law establishes eligibility requirements for awards under the program for participating students attending qualifying institutions, including, among others, California residency requirements, as provided. Existing law establishes the Middle Class Scholarship Program (MCSP) under the administration of the commission. Existing law makes an undergraduate student eligible for a scholarship award under the MCSP if the student is enrolled at the University of California or the California State University, or enrolled in upper division coursework in a community college baccalaureate program, and meets certain eligibility requirements, including, among others, that the applicant meets the eligibility requirements for a Cal Grant. This bill would extend Cal Grant and MCSP eligibility to a student who was not a resident of California at the time of high school graduation or its equivalent but meets all other applicable eligibility requirements and is a dependent natural or adopted child, stepchild, or spouse of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States stationed outside of California on active duty, if the member of the Armed Forces of the United States otherwise maintains California as their state of legal residence. The bill also would make conforming changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 70022 of the Education Code proposed by AB 148 and SB 148 to be operative only if this bill and either SB 148 or AB 148 are enacted, and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law, the Cal Grant Program, establishes the Cal Grant A Entitlement Awards, the Cal Grant B Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Expanded Entitlement Awards, the California Community College Transfer Entitlement Awards, the Competitive Cal Grant A and B Awards, the Cal Grant C Awards, and the Cal Grant T Awards under the administration of the Student Aid Commission. Existing law, the Cal Grant Reform Act, revises and recasts the provisions establishing and governing the existing Cal Grant Program into a new Cal Grant Program. Existing law specifies that the act becomes operative only if General Fund moneys over the multiyear forecasts beginning in the 2024–25 fiscal year are available to support ongoing augmentations and actions, and if funding is provided in the annual Budget Act to implement the act. Under either Cal Grant Program that is operative, existing law establishes eligibility requirements for awards under the program for participating students attending qualifying institutions, including, among others, California residency requirements, as provided. Existing law establishes the Middle Class Scholarship Program (MCSP) under the administration of the commission. Existing law makes an undergraduate student eligible for a scholarship award under the MCSP if the student is enrolled at the University of California or the California State University, or enrolled in upper division coursework in a community college baccalaureate program, and meets certain eligibility requirements, including, among others, that the applicant meets the eligibility requirements for a Cal Grant. This bill would extend Cal Grant and MCSP eligibility to a student who was not a resident of California at the time of high school graduation or its equivalent but meets all other applicable eligibility requirements and is a dependent natural or adopted child, stepchild, or spouse of a member of the Armed Forces of the United States stationed outside of California on active duty, if the member of the Armed Forces of the United States otherwise maintains California as their state of legal residence. The bill also would make conforming changes.
Existing law requires the Department of Health Care Access and Information, formerly known as the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development, to establish a program to contract with programs that train certified nurse-midwives and programs that train licensed midwives in accordance with the global standards for midwifery education and the international definition of "midwife" as established by the International Confederation of Midwives in order to increase the number of students receiving quality education and training as a certified nurse-midwife or as a licensed midwife. Existing law requires these provisions to be implemented only upon an appropriation by the Legislature for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or another act. This bill would require the Department of Health Care Access and Information, upon appropriation from the Legislature for this purpose, to administer funding for a statewide study on midwifery education. The bill would require the study to be conducted by an outside consultant familiar with the health care and midwifery landscapes and workforce in California that would, among other things, identify viable education programs that can serve both rural and urban geographic areas. The bill would require the department to submit a report from the study's findings to the Legislature, to post the report on the department's internet website, and to notify all persons in the department's reproductive health and maternity care electronic mailing list, as specified. The bill would define "reproductive health care professionals" as, among others, medical doctors and licensed midwives.
