Existing law establishes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) within the Governor's office and requires GO-Biz to serve 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 creates within GO-Biz the Energy Unit to accelerate the planning, financing, and execution of critical energy infrastructure projects, as specified. This bill would require the Energy Unit, in coordination with other specified state entities, to establish the California Grid Manufacturing Initiative. The bill would require the Energy Unit to determine and provide appropriate forms of state assistance to address identified delays with critical electricity grid components, as defined, to incentivize new or existing in-state manufacturing of critical electricity grid components, and to provide support to joint procurement initiatives. This bill would require the Public Utilities Commission, as soon as practicable, and in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the Independent System Operator, to develop a process to identify critical electricity grid components and to assess the statewide need for critical electricity grid components for the next 10-year period. The bill would require the assessment to include identification of specific strategies to reduce delays and ratepayer costs associated with the procurement of critical electricity grid components. The bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to determine, for each critical electricity grid component, whether requiring electrical corporations to engage in the joint procurement of the critical electricity grid component would further the purposes of the bill, and if the commission makes that determination, and also determines that electrical corporations would benefit from the joint procurement, the bill would authorize the Public Utilities Commission to require electrical corporations to engage in a joint procurement to fulfill the projected purchasing needs of each participating electrical corporation for the critical electricity grid component, as provided. This bill would require electrical corporations that are required to engaged in a joint procurement pursuant to the bill to, not more than 12 months following the imposition of the requirement, take certain actions, including engaging in a joint cooperative process for the sourcing and negotiation of joint purchase agreements for the purchase of critical electricity grid components. This bill would authorize the Energy Unit to provide assistance to projects that establish or expand manufacturing capacity in California for critical electricity grid components, as specified. The bill would also authorize the Energy Unit to enter into production joint ventures with qualified private suppliers, as provided, and to provide bond financing and other assistance. The bill would authorize the Public Utilities Commission to authorize the recovery of costs incurred under the initiative only to the extent it determines those costs are just and reasonable, cost-effective, and aligned with state energy policy, as provided. To the extent the joint procurement results in costs below prevailing market prices for critical electricity grid components, the bill would require the commission to ensure that the difference is credited to ratepayers, as provided. 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 certain requirements of the bill would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, the Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act, establishes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) within GO-Biz and, among other things, authorizes the I-Bank to make loans, issue bonds, and provide financial assistance for various types of projects that qualify as economic development or public development facilities, as provided. This bill would create the California Grid Manufacturing Initiative Revolving Fund in the State Treasury for the purpose of providing financial assistance pursuant to the initiative. The bill would make the moneys in the revolving fund continuously appropriated for expenditure in accordance with the initiative. The bill would authorize the I-Bank, on behalf of the Energy Unit, to issue revenue bonds to finance procurement and manufacturing of critical electricity grid components, and would authorize the I-Bank to provide financial assistance, including financial assistance from the proceeds of the revenue bonds, to a participating party, as defined, in connection with the financing or refinancing of a project to establish or expand manufacturing capacity for critical electricity grid components. The bill would require the I-Bank to meet and confer with the Energy Unit for eligible projects and would provide that final authority to provide financial support to an eligible project resides with the Energy Unit. The bill would require the proceeds of any bonds to be deposited into the revolving fund and used exclusively for the purposes of the initiative. By establishing a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. 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, the Governor's Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 2025, beginning July 1, 2026, eliminates the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency and instead establishes the Business and Consumer Services Agency and the California Housing and Homelessness Agency. The plan also, among other things, establishes the California Interagency Council on Homelessness as an independent entity within the California Housing and Homelessness Agency and renames the existing council as the California Interagency Executive Council on Homelessness, which it establishes within the California Interagency Council on Homelessness. Existing law requires the Interagency Council on Homelessness to set and measure progress toward goals to prevent and end homelessness among youth in California by setting specific, measurable goals aimed at preventing and ending homelessness among youth in the state, as provided. This bill would establish within the California Interagency Council on Homelessness the Office of Youth Homelessness Prevention (office) , with the mission of reducing youth homelessness in the state to functional zero, defined as the condition in which the number of youth experiencing homelessness does not exceed the capacity to provide youth with permanent housing. The bill would impose prescribed responsibilities on the office, including, by September 15, 2027, developing and overseeing the implementation of a comprehensive framework to reduce youth homelessness to functional zero containing specific and measurable goals, as provided. This bill would require the office, on or before December 15, 2027, to create and post on its internet website a publicly accessible dashboard tracking the office's progress toward these goals. The bill would require the office to consult with an advisory committee, as provided, and would require the Secretary of California Housing and Homelessness to appoint the members of the advisory committee by March 1, 2027. The bill would establish the Office of Youth Homelessness Prevention Fund and require that, upon appropriation, moneys deposited into the fund be made available to the council, as provided. The bill would require the office to submit a report on its progress toward achieving its goals to the Legislature and the council on or before December 15, 2027, and annually thereafter, as provided. This bill would make related findings and declarations.
Existing law, the State General Obligation Bond Law, generally sets forth the procedures for the issuance and sale of bonds governed by its provisions and for the disbursal of the proceeds of the sale of those bonds. Existing law specifies various provisions required for inclusion in a bond act. Existing law requires any state bond measure approved on or after January 1, 2004, to be subject to an annual reporting process, with the head of the lead state agency administering the bond proceeds reporting certain information about the projects being funded to the Legislature and the Department of Finance. Existing law permits this information to be provided on the agency's internet website or the state's open data portal under certain circumstances. Existing law authorizes the costs of the report to be included in the cost of administering the bond act unless prohibited by the bond act. Existing law defines various terms for these purposes, including "board." Existing law defines "board" to mean the state board, department, or agency authorized by a bond act to request the committee to cause bonds to be issued for the purpose of creating a fund that is to be expended by the board for the purposes specified in the bond act. Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. For any state general obligation bond measure that is approved by voters on and after January 1, 2027, this bill would require a bond act to include specified information about the objectives of the bond expenditure and related data. The bill would also require the board to post on its internet website a notification that contains, among other information, details about the programs and projects authorized to be funded by the bond. The bill would require the board to provide a short, one page, executive summary style written report to the Department of Finance, the Legislative Analyst, and specified legislative committees that contains certain information regarding the general obligation bond, in accordance with the above-described provision permitting this information to be provided on the board's internet website or the state's online data portal. The bill would require the report to include, among other information, whether the project, grant, or other expenditure of bond proceeds has been done in a timely manner. The bill would require a bond act to include a provision requiring the cost of the report to be included in the cost of administering the bond act and would require the cost of compliance with the above-described report requirements be included in the cost of administering the bond act. The bill would exempt from the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act the development and adoption of program guidelines, recommendations, or criteria pursuant to the bill. The bill would also make nonsubstantive and conforming changes.
Existing law requires each state agency, each year, to make a review of all proprietary state lands, except, among other categories of land, land held for highway purposes, over which it has jurisdiction to determine what land is in excess of its foreseeable needs and report thereon to the Department of General Services, including, among other things, land that is not currently being utilized, or is currently being underutilized, by the state agency for any ongoing state program. This bill would remove the exception for land held for highway purposes and specifically require the Department of Transportation to submit the report described above. The bill would require the report to include the market value of the properties reviewed by the agency. The bill would require the report to include land that is not currently being utilized, is currently being underutilized, or is not being used by a state agency, regardless of whether the agency is currently prepared to dispose of the land by sale or otherwise. The bill would require the department to submit a report to the Legislature containing information regarding the land reported to it by a state agency as described in these provisions, on or before January 1, 2031.
Existing law establishes the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which, through a combination of federal, state, and county funds, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Existing law requires the county, at the time of application, to determine whether the applicant needs immediate assistance because the applicant does not have sufficient resources to meet their emergency needs, and to determine whether the applicant is apparently eligible for CalWORKs aid. Existing law requires the county to determine that the applicant needs immediate assistance if the family's total available liquid resources are less than $100 and there is an emergency situation. Under existing law, apparent eligibility exists when evidence presented by the applicant or which is otherwise available to the county welfare department and the information provided on the application documents indicate that there would be eligibility for CalWORKs aid if the evidence and information were verified. If an applicant needs immediate assistance, and is apparently eligible for CalWORKs aid, existing law requires the county to pay the applicant $200 or the maximum amount for which that applicant is eligible, whichever is less. Under the CalWORKs program, there is also an allowance for nonrecurring special needs for homeless assistance available to a family that is homeless and seeking shelter when the family is either eligible for or apparently eligible for CalWORKs aid. This bill would require the county to make a determination of apparent eligibility for immediate assistance and for homeless assistance without requiring, as a prerequisite to making that determination, that the applicant apply for any unconditionally available income the applicant does not currently receive. To the extent that the bill would expand counties' duties relating to apparent eligibility determinations, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law continuously appropriates moneys from the General Fund to defray a portion of county costs under the CalWORKs program. This bill would instead provide that the continuous appropriation would not be made for purposes of the bill. 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 requires the Public Utilities Commission to establish the Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia Grant Account in the California Advanced Services Fund and makes the moneys in the account available for grants to eligible consortia to facilitate the deployment of broadband services by assisting infrastructure applicants in the project development or grant application process. Existing law requires each consortium to conduct an annual audit of its expenditures for programs funded pursuant to those provisions and to submit to the commission an annual report that includes specified information. This bill would instead require moneys in the Rural and Urban Regional Broadband Consortia Account to be available for grants to eligible consortia primarily to facilitate the deployment of broadband services by assisting infrastructure applicants in the project development or grant application process. In facilitating the deployment of broadband services, the bill would authorize the consortia to undertake activities that promote broadband adoption within specified areas, including all infrastructure project areas that received California Advanced Services Fund grants on or after January 1, 2020, as specified, neighborhoods and communities identified by jurisdictions receiving local agency technical assistance grants, or areas where construction of infrastructure deployment and upgrade investments are made pursuant to public benefit agreements by parties to corporate consolidations approved by the commission. The bill would require the commission to allocate sufficient funds to the account to provide multi-year grants to eligible consortia to engage and regularly convene specified representatives and to implement an approved regional work plan consistent with a standardized scope of work determined by the commission, which would be required to include specified strategies and infrastructure-related activities, as provided. The bill would require the annual base funding grant per consortium to be no less than $200,000, plus an increased amount based on the number of unserved and underserved locations, unconnected households, and the number of low-income households in the region, as provided. The bill would delete the requirement for each consortium to conduct an annual audit and would revise the information required to be included in the annual report to the commission, as specified. The bill would authorize the commission to engage experienced nonprofit organizations through an open, competitive process to assist the commission and support the consortia, as provided. 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 provisions would be part of the act and 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.
Existing law, the Mello-Granlund Older Californians Act, establishes the California Department of Aging in the California Health and Human Services Agency and sets forth its mission to provide leadership to the area agencies on aging in developing systems of home- and community-based services that maintain individuals in their own homes or the least restrictive homelike environments. This bill would establish the Wildfire Mitigation Aging and Disability Grant Pilot Program to be administered by the California Department of Aging through specified area agencies on aging, including Planning and Service Areas 4, 29, and 33. Upon appropriation by the Legislature for these purposes, the bill would award grants, based on specified criteria, to seniors and individuals with disabilities to mitigate against wildfires on properties they own that they would not otherwise be able to protect with existing resources. The bill would require the area agencies on aging to award grants on a competitive basis and would require applications to contain specified information, including proof of need. The bill would also authorize the grant funding to be used towards the costs associated with hiring contractors or other qualified service providers to perform wildfire mitigation activities. The bill would also require the area agencies on aging to retain specified information and report that information to the department upon the completion of the pilot program, including the number of applicants and the amount of money distributed. This bill would make these provisions inoperative on January 1, 2030, and would repeal these provisions on that date.
Existing federal law establishes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , known in California as CalFresh, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. Existing federal law limits a participant who is an able-bodied adult without dependents (ABAWD) to 3 months of CalFresh benefits in a 3-year period unless that participant has met work participation requirements or is otherwise exempt. Existing federal law authorizes a waiver of that time limit upon the request of a state if it is determined that the area in which the individuals reside has an unemployment rate of over 10% or does not have a sufficient number of jobs to provide employment for the individuals. Existing state law requires the State Department of Social Services, to the extent permitted by federal law, to annually seek a federal waiver of the time limit. Existing federal law also authorizes a state to provide, in each fiscal year, an exemption from the 3-month time limit for covered individuals, to the extent that the average monthly number of exemptions in effect during a fiscal year does not exceed 8% of the number of covered individuals in the state. Existing law requires the department to also establish the California Food Assistance Program (CFAP) to provide nutrition benefits to households that are ineligible for CalFresh benefits solely due to their immigration status, as specified. Existing law requires CFAP benefits to be equivalent to SNAP benefits. Under existing law, operative on the date the department notifies the Legislature that the Statewide Automated Welfare System can perform the necessary automation for this purpose, an individual 55 years of age or older is eligible for CFAP benefits, subject to an appropriation. Existing law requires these provisions only be implemented during any period that specified federal benefits are provided. This bill, the California Antihunger Response and Employment Training Act of 2026, would expand CFAP eligibility to include individuals ineligible for CalFresh benefits due to the federal time limits placed on ABAWDs regardless of if they are a citizen or noncitizen and individuals ineligible solely due to their humanitarian immigration status. The bill would also repeal the provisions requiring certain federal benefits be provided in order for CFAP to be implemented. The bill would make related findings and declarations. To the extent the bill would expand eligibility for county-administered benefits through expansion of the CFAP program, 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, 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 Child Care and Development Services Act, administered by the State Department of Social Services, requires the department to administer childcare and development programs, including, among others, general childcare and development, migrant childcare and development, and alternative payment programs, that offer a full range of services to eligible children from infancy to 13 years of age, inclusive. Existing law requires the department to contract with local contracting agencies for alternative payment programs for childcare services to be provided throughout the state. Existing law then requires alternative payment programs to reimburse childcare providers for providing childcare to eligible children. Existing federal law provides for allocation of federal funds through the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program to eligible states. Existing law provides for the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which, through a combination of state and county funds and federal funds received through the TANF program, each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families. Existing law provides for state-subsidized childcare programs and childcare for recipients of benefits under the CalWORKs program and establishes 3 stages of childcare services managed by county welfare departments and agencies contracting with the State Department of Social Services. This bill would require the department to, no less than quarterly, identify unspent or projected unexpended moneys from subsidized childcare and development programs, as specified. The bill would require the department, to the maximum extent permitted by federal and state law, to redirect and deposit the unspent or unexpended moneys identified to the Alternative Payment Program Enrollment Fund, as established by the bill. The bill would continuously appropriate all moneys in the fund to the department for the purpose of enrolling additional eligible families in alternative payment programs. The bill would require the department to notify each local childcare and development planning council whenever moneys are identified as unspent, or projected to remain unexpended, and are subject to transfer or redirection pursuant to these provisions. By authorizing existing appropriated moneys to be used for a new purpose, and by creating a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development and requires it to administer various programs intended to promote the development of housing, as specified, pursuant to which the department provides financial assistance in the form of deferred payment loans to pay for the eligible costs of development of specified types of housing projects. Existing law sets forth various general powers of the department in implementing these programs, including authorizing the department to enter into long-term contracts or agreements of up to 30 years for the purpose of servicing loans or grants or enforcing regulatory agreements or other security documents. This bill would permit the department to waive payment of residual receipts or minimum annual loan payments used to cover the cost of project monitoring required under a department regulatory agreement, based on the assessment by the department's actual cost in combination with a project's ability to pay.
