(1) Existing law establishes the Office of the State Fire Marshal in the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and establishes the Deputy Director of Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation within the office. Existing law makes the deputy director responsible for fire preparedness and mitigation missions of the department, as provided. Existing law requires the department to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention and home hardening education activities in California and specifies eligible activities under the local assistance grant program, as provided. Under existing law, funding for this local assistance grant program is contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature. This bill would require the deputy director, on or before January 1, 2027, and every 3 years thereafter, in consultation with the state hazard mitigation officer, as defined, to prepare a Wildfire Risk Mitigation Planning Framework sufficient to quantitatively evaluate wildfire risk mitigation actions, as provided. The bill would require the framework to allow for geospatial evaluation and comparison of wildfire risk mitigation actions, as described, sufficient to direct coordinated mitigation efforts and long-term collaborative mitigation planning. The bill would require the deputy director to, each year the framework is completed, submit a copy of the framework to the Legislature, the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, and the Public Utilities Commission for review and consideration. This bill would require the deputy director, on or before April 1, 2027, and every 3 years thereafter, in consultation with the state hazard mitigation officer, to prepare a Wildfire Risk Baseline and Forecast for the state delineated on a statewide level and by county, as provided. The bill would require the forecast to include geographic specificity as determined by the deputy director to be sufficient to evaluate targeted wildfire risk mitigation actions, and to accomplish specific things, including establishing key risk metrics for wildfire risk for the state as a whole, by county, and by geographic location. The bill would require the deputy director to, each year the forecast is completed, submit a copy of the forecast to the Legislature, the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, and the Public Utilities Commission for review and consideration. This bill would require the deputy director, on or before August 1, 2027, in consultation with the state hazard mitigation officer, to prepare a Wildfire Mitigation Scenarios Report, to be updated annually. The bill would require the report to contain specified information, including identification of a reasonable range of possible scenarios for overall wildfire risk mitigation spending, as provided. This bill would require the deputy director to contract with a private consultant with special expertise in quantitative evaluation of specified wildfire risk and risk mitigation topics, as provided, to conduct quantitative wildfire risk modeling and for preparation of reports to accomplish the purposes of this act. This bill would, contingent upon an annual appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, require the department, beginning in the 2029–30 fiscal year and extending to the 2044–45 fiscal year, inclusive, to make funds available through the local assistance grant program for programs to be implemented by local governments to achieve wildfire risk reduction in a cost-effective manner that is maximally consistent with the Wildfire Risk Mitigation Planning Framework. (2) Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to identify areas in the state as moderate, high, and very high fire hazard severity zones based on consistent statewide criteria and the severity of the fire hazard. Existing law requires a person who owns, leases, controls, operates, or maintains (A) an occupied dwelling or structure within a very high fire hazard severity zone as designated by a local agency, or (B) a building or structure in the state responsibility area, to comply with specified defensible space requirements, including a requirement to maintain a defensible space of 100 feet from each side and from the front and rear of the structure, and a requirement to create an ember-resistant zone within 5 feet of the structure, based on regulations promulgated by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, as provided. Executive Order No. N-18-25 directs the board to complete the formal rulemaking process applicable to these ember-resistant zone requirements no later than December 31, 2025. Under existing law, the requirement for an ember-resistant zone does not take effect for new structures until the board updates the applicable regulations and guidance document, as specified, and does not take effect for existing structures until 3 years after the effective date for the new structures. A violation of these requirements is a crime. This bill would move up the effective date of the ember-resistant zone requirement for certain existing structures in the state responsibility area, as provided. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would revise and recast the local assistance grant program, described above, by, among other things, authorizing funding from the program to be used for projects to plan and carry out risk-targeted wildfire prevention work within a local government's jurisdiction, including costs necessary to use the above-described Wildfire Risk Mitigation Planning Framework to select, plan, and implement projects, and to implement activities consistent with early implementation of the ember-resistant zone rules, as provided. This bill would, upon an annual appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, require the department, during the 2025–26 to 2028–29 fiscal years, inclusive, to make funds available through the local assistance grant program for programs to be implemented by local agencies to fund wildfire inspector positions sufficient to conduct inspections in very high fire hazard severity zones, in order to facilitate early implementation of the ember-resistant zone rules for existing commercial and residential structures, as provided. As a condition of receiving funds, the bill would require local agencies to adopt the ember-resistant zone regulations, applicable to very high fire hazard severity zones, as provided. (3) The California Building Standards Law requires any building standard adopted or proposed by state agencies to be submitted to, and approved or adopted by, the California Building Standards Commission before codification. Existing law requires the State Fire Marshal to propose, pursuant to that process, fire protection building standards applicable to buildings in fire hazard severity zones, as provided. Existing law also applies fire protection building standards adopted pursuant to this process to buildings located in urban wildland interface communities, defined as communities identified by the department pursuant to a specified process. From October 1, 2025, to June 1, 2031, inclusive, existing law prohibits proposed building standards affecting residential units from being considered, approved, or adopted by the California Building Standards Commission or any other adopting agency unless a specified condition is met, including that the building standards are amendments by the State Fire Marshal to building standards within the California Wildland-Urban Interface Code. This bill would, notwithstanding that prohibition, require the State Fire Marshal, on or before July 1, 2026, and pursuant to the California Building Standards Law process for state agencies proposing building standards, to propose to extend the applicability of the above-described fire protection building standards to all reconstruction of all buildings destroyed within the perimeters of wildfires that occur on or after July 1, 2026. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 4291 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 1455 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1455 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (5) 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 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 establishes, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services (OES) , under the direction of the Director of Emergency Services. Existing law charges the OES with coordinating various emergency activities within the state. The California Emergency Services Act, contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature, requires the OES to enter into a joint powers agreement pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop and administer a comprehensive wildfire mitigation program relating to structure hardening and retrofitting and prescribed fuel modification activities. Existing law authorizes the joint powers authority to establish financial assistance limits and matching funding or other recipient contribution requirements for the program, as provided. This bill, contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature, would establish the Rural Water Infrastructure for Wildfire Resilience Program within the OES for the distribution of state matching funds to urban wildland interface communities, as defined, in designated high fire hazard severity zones or very high fire hazard severity zones to improve water system infrastructure, as prescribed. The bill would require the OES to work in coordination with the Department of Water Resources, the State Water Resources Control Board, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, and other state entities as the OES determines to be appropriate, to achieve the purposes of the program. The bill would require the OES to develop criteria and a scoring methodology to prioritize the distribution of state matching funds provided under the program to rural communities based upon specified criteria.
Under existing law, if sufficient appropriations are not available for the payment of certain claims, settlements, or judgments, the Attorney General is required to report the claims, settlements, and judgments to the chairperson of either the Senate Committee on Appropriations or the Assembly Committee on Appropriations, who is then required to cause introduction of legislation appropriating the funds necessary for payment. This bill would appropriate $1,221,491.30 from the General Fund to the Attorney General for the payment of claims, settlements, or judgments against the state arising from 3 specified actions. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law establishes the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the direction of the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation. Existing law makes the department responsible for administering various laws relating to financial institutions, including the Banking Law, the California Credit Union Law (CCUL) , and the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act (CRMLA) , a willful violation of which is punishable as a misdemeanor. The CRMLA requires, as often as the commissioner deems necessary and appropriate, but at least once every 48 months, the commissioner to examine the affairs of each residential mortgage lender and servicer licensee for compliance with the CRMLA. The CRMLA authorizes the commissioner to examine the licensee's officers, directors, employees, or agents under oath regarding the licensee's operations. The CRMLA requires the commissioner to provide a written statement, the disclosure of which is subject to certain restrictions, of the findings of the examination, issue a copy of that statement to each licensee's principals, officers, or directors, and take appropriate steps to ensure correction of any violations of the CRMLA. This bill, the California Fair Lending Examination Act, would require, under the Banking Law and the CCUL, the commissioner to, at least once every 4 years, examine, as prescribed, the books and records of certain entities subject to the commissioner's examination authority under those laws for compliance with any nondiscrimination law applicable to mortgage lending, as specified, and would require the commissioner to provide a written statement of the findings of that examination, issue a copy of that statement to the subject's principals, officers, or directors, and take appropriate steps to ensure correction of any violations of applicable nondiscrimination laws. The bill would prohibit disclosure of that statement to anyone other than the subject entity, law enforcement officials, or other state or federal regulatory agencies for further investigation and enforcement. This bill would, as part of the above-described examination required by the CRMLA, require the commissioner to additionally examine the licensee for compliance with any nondiscrimination law applicable to mortgage lending, as prescribed. This bill would make a violation of an applicable nondiscrimination law a violation of the Banking Law, the CCUL, or the CRMLA, as applicable, and would authorize, under the Banking Law and the CCUL, the commissioner to examine the applicable entity's officers, directors, employees, or agents under oath regarding the entity's operations. By expanding the scope of the crimes of perjury and of violating the CRMLA, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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. 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 regulation and supervision of dams and reservoirs by the state, and requires the Department of Water Resources, under the police power of the state, to supervise the construction, enlargement, alteration, repair, maintenance, operation, and removal of dams and reservoirs for the protection of life and property, as prescribed. Existing law requires the department to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, develop and administer the Dam Safety and Climate Resilience Local Assistance Program to provide state funding for repairs, rehabilitation, enhancements, and other dam safety projects at existing state jurisdictional dams and associated facilities that were in service prior to January 1, 2023, subject to prescribed criteria. This bill would include the removal of project facilities as additional projects eligible to receive funding under the program.
Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board to develop a plan for the funding and implementation of the Low-Income Water Rate Assistance Program. Existing law requires the plan to include, among other things, a description of the method for collecting moneys to support and implement the program and a description of the method for determining the amount of moneys that may need to be collected from water ratepayers to fund the program. This bill would establish the Water Rate Assistance Program. As part of the program, the bill would establish the Water Rate Assistance Fund in the State Treasury, available upon appropriation by the Legislature, to provide water affordability assistance, for both residential water and wastewater services, to low-income residential ratepayers, as specified. The bill would require the state board to take various actions in administering the fund, including, among other things, tracking and managing revenue in the fund separately from all other revenue. The bill would require the state board, in consultation with relevant agencies and after a public hearing, to adopt guidelines for implementation of the program and to adopt an annual report to be posted on the state board's internet website identifying how the fund has performed, as specified. The bill would require the guidelines to include minimum requirements for eligible systems, including the ability to confirm eligibility for enrollment through a request for self-certification of eligibility under penalty of perjury. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the state board to take various actions in administering the program, including, but not limited to, providing guidance, oversight, and funding for low-income rate assistance for residential ratepayers of eligible systems. The bill would authorize the Attorney General, at the request of the state board, to bring an action in state court to restrain the use of any method, act, or practice in violation of these provisions, except as provided. The bill would make the implementation of all of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature. 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 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. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services to ensure that the level of CalFresh benefits remain at least at the level that was in effect on January 20, 2025, under the Thrifty Food Plan, which is a food plan designed by the United States Department of Agriculture to determine SNAP benefit amounts. Under the bill, the above-described benefit maintenance requirement would be triggered if the federal government makes reductions to SNAP benefits that would result in the level of CalFresh benefits being lower than the threshold. If federal funding is insufficient, when combined with the nonfederal share, to maintain that level, the bill would require the department to implement these provisions using state funds subject to an appropriation. The bill would also require the department to conduct a feasibility study on increasing the eligibility and benefits of the CalFresh program, and to prepare a one-time report containing findings from the study. The bill would require the department to submit the report by January 1, 2027, to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. The bill would repeal the provisions relating to the study and report on January 1, 2031.
Existing law requires the Department of Human Resources to establish and adjust salary ranges for each class of position in the state civil service. This bill would require that the salaries of state attorneys and administrative law judges in State Bargaining Unit 2 be no less than the average salaries of public sector attorneys, as specified. The bill would require the Department of Human Resources to annually conduct a survey of salary structures by March 1 of each year, as specified, and determine the average salary of public sector attorneys for each attorney classification, including the minimum salaries for entry-level attorneys, intermediate classifications, and the most senior nonmanagerial attorneys, noninclusive of negotiated differentials. The bill would require that state administrative law judges have salaries not less than the maximum salary of state attorneys classified at a specified level. The bill would require the department to make a good faith offer of parity in salary with respect to public sector agency attorneys' and administrative law judges' salaries in any negotiations with the exclusive bargaining representative. The bill would provide that no state attorney or administrative law judge classification shall be reduced in salary as a result of these provisions. This bill would state that its provisions supersede any memorandum of understanding and shall become effective with respect to salary increases on March 1 of each year. It would provide that its implementation, except for the annual survey, is contingent upon the appropriation of funds in the annual Budget Act and that implementation shall be phased in over 3 fiscal years commencing on July 1, 2026. The bill would also provide that the superior court has exclusive jurisdiction over disputes arising under these provisions.
Existing law establishes the Student Aid Commission as the primary state agency for the administration of state-authorized student financial aid programs available to students attending all segments of postsecondary education. This bill would establish the California Legislative Staff Education Loan Repayment Program, under the administration of the commission, to provide up to $50,000 in student loan repayment per applicant, disbursed in equal monthly installments over 20 years, as specified. The bill would require applicants for the program to be full-time eligible employees, as defined, of the California State Assembly or the California State Senate who have served for a minimum of 12 months. The bill would require an applicant to provide proof of full-time employment and for the applicant's supervisor or manager to attest, under penalty of perjury, that the applicant is in good standing with their employer. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would create the California Legislative Staff Education Loan Repayment Fund and authorize the commission to accept donations for purposes of the program and deposit them in the fund. The bill would require the commission to monitor the program for fraud and to annually report to the Legislature on the program, as specified. The bill would make the operation of the program contingent upon an appropriation in the annual Budget Act or another statute. 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.
